"Interdisciplinary consideration of art is nothing new, but rarely has it been accomplished with the stunning breadth of this volume. A psychoanalyst and an expert in aesthetics for children, [she] offers art appreciation, history, and criticism richly informed by psychoanalytic, philosophic, and literary theory. . . . Spitz's writing and insights dazzle the imagination. If one learns to write in part by reading, this volume is a teacher to be treasured by all who value art and ideas." --from my review in the Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 31 (spring 1997), pp. 117-120.

Although Ellen Handler Spitz's is written for anyone who deals with children, I found the book somewhat hard to follow. Beside the fact that she refers to books assuming that everyone has read them, most of the books that she does mention are very old books. I also thought that she was analyzing some of the books to death. In the Good Night Moon section, Spitz finds strange reasons for almost every object in the room, such as the red balloon representing another children's book. I think that this is reading too far into the pictures, which lessens the enjoyment of reading the book. As mentioned before, it was also difficult to read and follow what she was talking about when she mentions books that some people may not have read. She refers to them in order to make a point, but her point is lost if you have not read the book being referred too.
The part of the book that I did like was that it was easy reading and that almost anyone would be able to understand it.

Ellen Handler Spitz analyzes many children's stories in her non-fiction compilation entitled, Inside Picture Books. The author examines several of our childhood favorites focusing on the initial positive and negative effects these books have on the children and the long-term psychological effects they imprint in their minds. She focuses on many aspects of these books. She explains how the images within the books can often affect the interpretation of the reader. For example, Ellen Handler Spitz uses the story There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer to show how the endings of these tales can adversely affect children for years after reading them. This example is about a little boy who decides to confront his monster (fears). Upon this confrontation, the monster becomes scared and begins to cry. After an initial feeling of anger, the boy begins to feel empathy and befriends the creature. The book ends with the little boy and the monster falling asleep together in bed while another monster creeps into the bedroom. By ending the book in this manner, the child is left without closure. Ellen Handler Spitz often over analyzes these books resulting in the loss of their enchantment. She wrote this book for someone working with children, specifically educators. It is written in a very scholarly fashion and is often difficult to understand. I enjoyed her analysis of the picture books, but it would have been more useful had she written it using less jargon. Also, it would have been useful if she had included more illustrations when she talks about the scenes occurring in the text. I would recommend this book to a college level children's literature class that is looking to dive deeply into the psychological factors that children's books hold. As for anyone interested in reading about various picture books to just get the basic meanings of them, I would caution them to stay away from Ellen Handler Spitz. Kelly R.

Inside Pictures Books by Ellen Handler Spitz, is an informational narrative that immensely explores and psychoanalytically probes into the power of various picture books. It gives literary, as well as psychoanalytical, critiques and interpretations of numerous pictures and text found in children's picture books. Spitz finds underlying messages in books, not noticed at first glance, which she alerts her readers to. The purpose in writing this book is to make her audience aware that pictures book have the capability to inflict positive and negative affects upon its readers. Due to the vocabulary and topic at hand, this book is best suited for teachers, scholars, and parents.
This book centers on the interpretation of various picture books and the powerful effect of pictorial images in books on the psyche of children. Spitz finds and interprets several commonalities in many bedtime picture books. For example, she explains how books metaphorically use food and the moon to symbolize security and how rhythm is used to ease the transition from an active state to a restful state. She descriptively depicts illustrations and colors, and their aesthetic value and meaning to children. Besides bedtime picture books, Spitz also dissects and reflects on pictures books associated with death and how children cope with devastation and loss. For example, she goes into great depth in covering the story The Accident, by Carol and Donald Carrick. Through this coverage, she reveals the possibility that readers can mirror their personal responses of the book with the character's responses. However, it seems that the response one exhibits depends on their perspective and ability to empathize with others. In addition, she thoroughly explains how the illustrations set the mood and foreshadow later events in the story. She depicts behavior issues found in children's books and relates them to gender, children's needs and impulses, and human relationships. Spitz also analyzes books that praise uniqueness and implicitly and explicitly dispatch a message to their readers about self acceptance. Other underlying threads incorporated into this book include: how children's books portray gender bias's, race, and incorporate common childhood fears, relationships, curiosities, and displays of emotion like anger, fear, and love.
I find this book to be very insightful in understanding how children view pictures, identify with and find comfort in books, and are affected by the morals and themes intertwined in the text and the pictures of books. It suggests the possibility for books and pictures to contain underlying messages, either implicit or explicit, that have an immense impact in various aspects of a child's life. Although I do not fully agree with all of Spitz's critiques, and sometimes feel that she dove too deep into pictures and text to pull out unrelated and unassociated issues, I respect that they come from her point of view. I am left to wonder if her book interpretations parallel the intent of the different writers and illustrators incorporated into this book.
I enjoyed reading this book because of the memories it brought back of my own childhood with books. I would recommend this book to those interested in learning about the power that picture books have in the lives of children. Overall, this book forced me to consider other interpretations of children's book and to compare them to my own. I closed the book with new insights into various books and ways of analyzing the pictures and text found in those books.