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I think about this a lot. As a new parent, it's been very apparent to me the incredible craft with which certain picture books are made with, and what a subtle art it is too, such that many children's authors and virtually all publishers seem utterly oblivious to what that craft is or looks like.

So here's an example- Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969) is a classic right, everyone loves it. It's surprisingly avant-garde, in both his collage art style and the book's physical construction. But less surprising knowing Carle had Bauhaus trained teachers, since he grew up in Germany.

All his books recall early childhood forest walks with his father in upstate New York, before moving to Germany, a stark contrast with the death and hunger of his later childhood under the Nazis. His works, overwhelmingly about plants and animals, have a relationship to nature like Hayao Miyazaki's.

This is experimental art, written for children, but still Capital A Art. But without sacrificing being for children! Almost all his books are very repetitive, but with variation, usually featuring a repeated situation or refrain, which is important (and comforting) for child readers/listeners.

But compare those with the zombie works made in his name. The "World of Eric Carle" imprint puts out these increasingly grotesque imitations, ever more since his death. The caterpillar is drafted into whatever bland and generic children's book fare they can think of. I hate them.