Can Re-Illustration Ever Be Justified?

I was sitting down with a colleague the other day and the conversation turned, as all conversations are wont to do, to the subject of William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow. I won’t bore you yet again with my theory that the book would sell like hotcakes if they just bothered to re-illustrate the darn thing (if curious, you can hear me rant here).

The conversation only started with William’s Doll. After a while it went in a different direction. The question is this:

Has a picture book ever been im...