Looking at Picture Books

Looking at Picture Books

Six of Jon's Book Ideas That Didn't Make It

but don't steal them cause who knows

Jon Klassen's avatar
Jon Klassen
Aug 08, 2025
∙ Paid

Deep dives on great picture books are here.

We recommend picture books here.

New shirts for sale on the Looking at Picture Books Shop here.


The other night I was telling someone about the first book I ever tried to write (for a job). I couldn’t find the whole book anywhere (though I’ll keep trying cause dammit, it wasn’t bad), but in looking for it, I did find a bunch of other bits and pieces from other things that also didn’t work.

To start things off, here’s the cover (this and one rough spread was all I managed to find) from the aforementioned first book.

It was… not liked very much. But I’ll tell you the story anyway.

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2026 Jon Klassen & Mac Barnett · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture