Defining and Evaluating Picture Books

1. Defining and Evaluating Picture Books Source: Picturing Books A website about picture books http://picturingbooks.imaginarylands.org/

2. The Picture Book Defined • Picture books are • art objects. • books in which images and ideas join to form a unique whole. • In the best picture books, the illustrations extend and enhance the written text, providing readers with an aesthetic experience that is more than the sum of the book’s parts.

3. The Picture Book Defined • "One night, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight." • That simple sentence introduces Harold, a pajama-clad boy and his ubiquitous purple crayon. Harold's wanderings through the night are deceptively simple, but his creator's achievement is unmistakable.

4. The Picture Book Defined • Crockett Johnson's understanding of the power of illustration to tell a story is delivered in a series of purple squiggles and lines. • At the center of the book is Harold's boundless imagination. • Johnson allows Harold's own creativity to become the driving force behind the narrative.

5. The Picture Book Defined • After Harold has had his fill of adventure he decides it is time to go home. • He draws window after window, but somehow none of them are right. • Finally, he sees the moon framed inside one of the windows he has drawn and realizes this window will take him home. • It is the same window we see on page one of the book. Deceptively simple...simply genius.

6. The Picture Book Defined • Words and pictures. These are the two principle components of a picture book. • Beyond the words and pictures are the medium, style, placement of text, and selection of typeface. • Sometimes the simple choice of shape or trim size enhances the experience.

7. The Picture Book Defined • The small size of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit was no accident. She created a small book perfect for small hands. • Often indistinguishable, these components are part of the design process; threads woven through the book, adding depth and dimension to the overall visual experience.

8. The Picture Book Defined • A universal definition of a picture book is hard to pin down, but one thing experts agree on is that the interplay of narrative and illustration is fundamental to the book as a whole. • Picture books, picture storybooks, and illustrated books are similar in that illustrations play an integral role in each format. • These terms are often used interchangeably. The difference between the three is the degree to which illustrations play a role.

9. Picture Storybook • Integrate words and illustrations on each page to tell a story • Pictures complement the story • The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant

10. Illustrated Book • Text and art are equally balanced. • Illustrations compliment the story. • The stark black, white, and gray art in Tom Feelings' masterpiece The Middle Passage is an example. • Illustrations capture the despair of people ripped from their homeland and forced across the Atlantic ocean, where they face one horror and humiliation after another in a harsh and cruel new world.

11. Picture Book • A picture book is a fusion of words and pictures. • Outstanding picture books seamlessly meld both components together, forming a rich and rewarding reading experience. • While the illustrations are the core of the book, the text is still essential.

12. Picture Book • Text inspires the pictures. • Snappy dialogue drives the narrative. “Let the rumpus begin.”

13. Caldecott Award • Annual award distributed by the American Library Association for most distinguished contribution in illustration. • "A picture book for children, as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. • A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised."

14. Elements • Picture books are a format (form/design) and not a genre (content). • Evaluate visual aspects of picture books through • Physical characteristics • Elements of illustrations in isolation • Elements of illustrations in the picture book context

15. Elements of Picture Books • 32 pages is standard (though titles can be 24-48 pages). • Illustrations dominate text. • Illustrations integrate with the narrative to bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. • Word count is generally less than 500 words, although picture books can have over 2000 words or have none at all, as is the case with wordless picture books. • Overall design builds a relationship between the text and the illustrations; this includes the front matter, back matter, and the book jacket.

16. Genre • Genre designates a type--for example: mystery, adventure, romance, science fiction, history, traditional literature, informational, and anthropomorphic (animal) stories. • Unlike novels, pictures books have fewer genres. • While they exist, it is difficult to find mystery or science fiction picture books.

17. Toy Books • TOY BOOKS physically engage the reader. • Include board books, pull-tab books, flap books, pop-up books, cloth books, and plastic books (bathtub books), textured books. • Toy books can be simple or very complex.

18. Concept Books • CONCEPT BOOKS foster visual literacy and language development in children. • Concept books introduce children to shapes, colors, the alphabet, counting, and more difficult concepts, such as principles of grammar and time. • ALPHABET BOOKS introduce children to the ABCs and COUNTING BOOKS introduce numbers and counting.

19. Wordless Books • WORDLESS BOOKS are excellent tools to help children develop language and narrative skills. • In wordless books text is absent or minimal, so children apply meaning to the story. • The marvel of wordless or nearly wordless books is the opportunity to retell the story over and over. • Illustrations in wordless or nearly wordless books offer a degree of detail and plot complexity.

20. Easy Readers • EASY READERS, sometimes called beginning books or readers, are transition books for children moving from picture books to chapter books. • They are designed to read with minimal or no assistance from an adult. • Features include larger typefaces, short sentences, sight words, and extra space between words and lines.

21. Animal Stories • ANTHROPOMORPHIC (ANIMAL) STORIES are realistic stories that have animal or inanimate objects as the main character. • Animals and objects talk, walk, dress, and otherwise behave like humans. • There is usually little or no magic because the animals or objects have human characteristics that render them capable of extraordinary feats. • Settings can be imaginary or contemporary.

22. Realistic Stories • REALISTIC STORIES feature sympathetic characters that children identify and empathize with. • For the last two decades or so authors have explored timely, somber topics in picture books, such as cancer, death, homosexuality, adoption, and AIDS--to name a few. • Realistic books can have a contemporary or historical setting.

23. Magic Realism • MAGIC REALISM is a fusion of reality and imagination, with dreamlike imagery that heightens the experience. • Ordinary activities are infused with a sense of wonder and promise--anything is possible: • a boy can take a purple crayon and create a fabulous dream world, • a board game can come to life, or • a boat can transport a frustrated child to a land where Wild Things rule. • These tales can have a contemporary or an imaginary setting.

24. Traditional Literature • TRADITIONAL LITERATURE includes tall tales, fairy tales, folktales, trickster tales, myths, legends, noodlehead tales, jataka tales, beast tales, creation stories, pourqoui tales, Mother Goose, and fables. • Traditional literature features storytelling patterns, rich language, and elements of fantasy. • TRADITIONAL LITERATURE can be set in both imaginary and contemporary settings.

25. Informational Books • INFORMATIONAL (nonfiction) picture books are an alternative to encyclopedias and other reference sources. • Illustrations and/or photographs are bright and colorful. • Accuracy and timeliness of titles is important. Look for source notes, bibliographies, indexes, and a table of contents--the mark of exceptional nonfiction. • Quality informational books are easy-to-read and eliminate threat to young readers.

26. Illustrations and Plot Development • Illustrations • move the story forward • engage the reader on both an intellectual and an emotional level • Expressions of surprise, fear, and consternation express emotion as well as action. (Blueberries for Sal)

27. Illustration and Plot Development • Artwork may show mounting tension by increasing the size of the pictures. (Where the Wild Things Are) • Pictures become larger as Max’s dream becomes more fantastic. • After the climactic wild rumpus, which is portrayed on three full-sized spreads with no text whatsoever, Max returns home. • The pictures decrease in size, although never down to their original size—just as, symbolically, Max will never be quite the same again after his dream experience.

28. Illustration and Plot Development • Picture book artists also provide clues to the future action of a story. • A close look at the first and second pages of Where the Wild Things Are shows the mischievous Max dressed in his wild-thing suit and stringing up a homemade tent. • A plush toy looking vaguely like a wild thing hangs nearby. • Later those things appear in Max’s dream trip to the far-off land of the wild things.

29. The World of Picture Books