Photos or Art? Which is Better?

Photographs are not always the best way to illustrate what animals do, especially in books for young children. For animals that live underground or underwater, are active at night, or live in remote locations, sometimes a drawing is better for showing their behavior. One of my recent books, A Walrus’ World, which I illustrated with cut-paper art illustrations is a good example of a book better illustrated with art. It would have been impossible to follow around a mother walrus on an ice floe in the Arctic to get the photographs I needed! I did go to zoos to observe walruses in real life, but creating illustrations made it possible for me to tell my story about walruses in their natural environment.