The Winnie the Pooh illustrations are among them.

I'm gaining more and more respect for how much the illustrators can do with a minimum of lines and simple colors. They also use fairly basic materials (pen, pencil, colored pencil, watercolors).

I think that picture books are consistently underestimated. The quality of storytelling achieved with the combination of absorbing visuals and parsimonious prose is on par with any chapter book. I expect the full character of the storyline's "world" is communicated more effectively as well. Illustration might even, on occasion, enhance the effect of poetry.

I am a very visual person, but I have always found it easier to express myself through prose. But illustration is, for me, a neglected path-- one with a strong attraction.

I am beginning to see how they do it. I'm starting to feel it in my bones. Just like prose.

It's not about virtuosity. It's about getting just enough across with the lines that the rest of it can be felt. Its about weight and presence and depth more than exactitude.

These are mere gestures, but they denote the fullness of being-- be it word or pencil line.

It is simulating the full spectrum of sun, using only shading. It is simulating the whole world of human activity, using only written words.

It is small things, as stand-ins for the very large.

It's pure magic.