Authors and illustrators work together to create the finished product.
It's not a process where the author sends it and is done with it, then the illustrator picks it up and does their work. It's a common effort and vision to make a picture book happen.
So no, not all credit goes to the illustrator.

It really wasn't good, apart from the illustrations. I don't think a child would appreciate it.:shrug:

Kate's book "Hold Still" went to No. 1 on Amazon the day it was released. She didn't need a thread in which she was lauded as "Queen" or silly comments made like "purr". Her work spoke for itself.

Meghan's book did well despite what it was, however.

In this case the majority of it does imo. :shrug:

Oh ignore the pathetic whining. If Meghan had illustrated it, they wouldn't like the pictures either. :crazy:

if there is 1 page of writing to 20 pages of pictures, then the content is primarily pictures and vice versa. I have no idea what the proportions are, but thats how it would be judged under what category it falls

In your opinion or based on the contract they have signed that I am certain you have read before having an opinion?

…:love:…yeah this is how a children’s picture book works, Meghan chose the illustrator, she isn’t an illustrator/a drawing artist herself but she knew her vision to bring her book/poems to life and chose the person to do that and they worked together to create The Bench…

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/b...wful-1.4588508

Irish Times Rosita Boland
Meghan Markle has written a children’s book. It’s awful.
The Bench apparently began as a message to Harry. It should have stayed between them.

.....The worst crimes of all are contorted lines that don’t scan and rhymes that don’t rhyme.

“He’ll feel happiness, sorrow
One day be heartbroken.
You’ll tell him ‘I love you’
Those words always spoken.”

Those words always spoken? Who speaks like that? Nobody does. Simple stories for children should not butcher a language they are trying to learn. Picture books should help children to read, and use the words they hear around them, not put things back to front in a poor effort at forcing a nonexistent rhyme.

Endings in picture books are incredibly important. They wrap up the story. They reassure. Sometimes they amuse. Ideally, they make a child want to read the story again, or have it read to them. This is the ending of The Bench, spread over no fewer than six pages, with two sets of ellipses:

“Right there on your bench
The place you’ll call home…
With daddy and son…
Where you’ll never be ’lone.”

Where you’ll never be ’lone? Does Meghan mean “alone”? Why change the word? It’s not even as if chopping off a character makes some awful rhyme. It does nothing. The book ends with a word that isn’t a proper word, which I guess is kind of fitting, as it’s not a proper picture book....
..............

Seriously now....:laugh:

Irish Times "writer" talks butchering a language.

:joker:

Poems don't always rhyme. Did he do GCSE English?

How many awful kids books have I read? Literally dozens.

How many of those had journalists shaking their fists in the air and declaring damage to children's learning of language?

Not a single one :joker:.

She's not a writer! She's not a professional children's author, nor (as far as I'm aware) does she claim to be one... she just wrote a little book and decided to publish it. The outrage is hilarious (but totally on-brand, of course).

We don't have GCSEs in Ireland :oh:

To be fair, Kate's book contained photographs submitted by others and then Kate and a team of experts selected the best ones. It wasn't really "her" work but endorsed by her and bearing her name to aide the sales of the book for a worthy cause that is close to her heart. She was not solely responsible for any of the content.

Meghan's book is what it is, I still maintain it is more of a keepsake than something you would read over and over to your child. There are many books like this out there. :shrug:

:hehe:

It seems more like a gift you would get for sentimental first-time parents than for the child itself, but there's nothing wrong with that :shrug:. I mean a crash helmet and some earplugs would be more practical in the long run but we can't take away from that starry-eyed "early parenthood" experience :laugh:. It's nice finding the box of baby stuff every few years and remembering the cosy baby days.

Here we go. She doesn't aim at the Nobel Prize in Literature and people act as if it's in the running for high level prizes :laugh: It's a book for children :shrug:

The idea seems to be "if you can't write the best book ever, don't bother trying to write a book". Which is really a quite sad idea...

Yeah, that's what I meant.

I was bought "I Love You This Much" on my first Mother's Day - I never once read it to me son, but it's in his memory box.

I never liked Celebs putting out over priced stuff that is pretty crap to get people to part with their hard earned cash to line their already well filled pockets. If they are going to capitalize on their name, at least have the respect for their fans to give them something worthy that they are GOOD at. In Meghan’s case “A Grifters Guide On How To Discard Those Who Are No Longer Of Use To You” perhaps? :hee:
Lets face it, Meghan’s book wouldn’t have sold a few dozen copies if it didn’t have the name The Duchess of Sussex on the cover and the big publicity push that went with it. It’s release was very cynically well timed too - Father’s Day; just had a new baby etc.
Can’t abide that kind of brazen cash grubbing exploitation of poor material (at least the illustrations were nice) but its par for the course here. JMO.

:joker: Love Tenacious D.

How lovely for her to give this to the world :flutter:

All this butthurt over a children's book about a bench. :laugh2:

"Meghan releases children's book based on her own kids and their father around the time she has a kid shocker and promotes the father related book on Father's Day OF ALL DAYS !!!"

Yeah interesting

You'd think both Kate & Meghan would be supported in these projects then , but no such luck .

Butthurt are you? Cos you don't like my opinion. Awww....:hehe:

That’s a bit rich considering you fail to recognise that other people have opinions too. Other people are able to form opinions without being unnecessarily hateful about the subject matter.