This just in: Adults may be reading less, but kids love books. The wild success of Madison's prolific writer/illustrator Kevin Henkes is proof. Henkes, 46, admits to moments when he thinks the age of literacy is over and worries about what his next job might be. "But picture books - what could replace sitting a kid on your lap and turning pages together?" he says.
Henkes has 37 books and an impressive set of honors under his belt. His picture books often hit the top 10 on the New York Times children's bestseller list - Lilly's Big Day, Kitten's First Full Moon and, most recently, A Good Day, to name a few. Henkes leaves the marketing worries to his publisher, HarperCollins. He doesn't even have e-mail, much less a MySpace page.
Henkes writes novels for older kids, too. Olive's Ocean, for the 10-up set, received a Newbery Honor. "My own kids are 11 and 9. They read voraciously. Look at the Harry Potter craze - all that is over a book. So I'm hopeful."
