Picture Books for Children Read online

  Barnyard animals continue their popularity. Cows, chickens, and pigs appear in many books, often anthropomorphized. Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin features cows that write letters and protest barn conditions. Pecking, laying eggs, and watching over chicks should be a full-time job for most chickens, but those in some recent picture books have taken to moving out of the henhouse (Coriander the Contrary Hen by Dori Chaconas), traveling on a quest (Buffalo Wings by Aaron Reynolds), and passing along the latest news (Megan McDonald’s Hen Hears Gossip). A very realistic pig stars in Howard Mansfield’s Hogwood Steps Out, where he stays true to his nature. As our society moves further away from its sources of food and many children have no idea what a working farm is like, it is good that barnyard animals remain so prevalent in children’s books.

  The environment and people making a difference inspire picture book creators. Books about gardening, reflecting its popularity in the adult world, adorn children’s shelves. In Peter Brown’s The Curious Garden, a young boy quietly sparks a revolution in his city with his concern for some plants in his neighborhood. And even garbage, or the disposal of it, makes an appearance in books such as Jonah Winter’s Here Comes the Garbage Barge!

  Picture Books about Art and Books

  No doubt reflecting their own passionate feelings about art and books, authors and illustrators have created numerous picture books about these subjects. Appropriately enough, since the picture book represents the marriage of text and illustration, these books encourage the development of aesthetics and an appreciation of art and literature in the young child.

  Creativity via artistic expression comes through as the theme in The Umbrella Queen by Shirin Yim Bridges. Others books introduce the young child to works of art through plot twists, illustration, or magical enter-the-picture adventure. Mélanie Watt’s Augustine includes artist-inspired illustrations, which provide a bridge to art appreciation and the recognition of famous works of art. Appendix 1, “Picture Books about Art,” lists books that will enhance the development of artistic sensibilities in children. As art education faces budget cuts if not total eradication in some school districts, books about art become more important than ever.

  So, too, are the stories that encourage reading and the love of books. In Heather Henson’s That Book Woman, Cal develops from regarding books as a waste of time to eagerly awaiting the next visit of the Pack Horse Librarian. Ron’s Big Mission by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden ties the passion for reading into a story of a young boy’s decision to stand up for his right to check out library books in the 1950s South.

  Some books break through the book-reader divide by leaving the story and addressing the reader. By having characters call attention to themselves as characters and to the book as that which contains them, this device creates a postmodern picture book. In Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek, author Deborah Hopkinson speaks directly to the listening audience in several places, figuratively stepping from behind the book to connect with her readers. Illustrator John Hendrix includes illustrations of a hand with a brush and with a pencil, as if the story is being illustrated while read.

  In these types of books, a story may be interrupted by a character or narrator giving instructions to the reader, as in Don’t Read this Book! by Jill Lewis, where even the title gives a clue as to the tone. In others, the entire book consists of a character or characters talking to the reader; in Jef Czekaj’s Cat Secrets, the wall between reader and story does not exist, with the cat characters looking directly at, and speaking to, the reader.

  Mélanie Watt’s Chester and Chester’s Masterpiece feature a plot in which the title character has wrested control of the story from the author/illustrator, and their struggle is played out in the pages of these humorous books.

  In a classic example, the award-winning The Three Pigs by David Wiesner combines dialogue of the characters with surreal illustrations that take the characters out of the ongoing story to form a new story removed from the traditional tale. With pages from the original story that fly across the book into a new setting, this book is a vehicle for a postmodern Three Little Pigs.

  Because these books cover a variety of topics and do not easily fit into any particular chapters, an annotated list of some recent titles is presented in appendix 2, “Self-Referential Picture Books.”

  Cartoon Art

  As graphic novels gain in popularity among both adults and teens, their artistic styles and conventions have filtered into picture books. Panels—one of the hallmarks of comics and the graphic novel—are used by the artist to portray actions happening in a sequence. Picture and text integrate tightly in both the graphic novel and the picture book.

  Currently, the number of picture books for young children that can be called graphic novels is rather small. A company to watch is TOON Books and Little Lit Library, under the direction of Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman (author of Maus, the graphic novel for adults), which publishes graphic novels for various age levels, including the very young. Independent publisher Blue Apple Books offers graphic novels in its Balloon Toons series. Some mainstream publishers, too, have entered this genre, including Candlewick, which has partnered with TOON Books.

  Some artists use elements of the graphic novel in their picture books. In Otis and Rae and the Grumbling Splunk, Leo Espinosa uses such graphic novel conventions as word and thought balloons, emotion lines, words as parts of illustrations, and panels. Taking a turn away from the humorous cartoon style, illustrator Patrick O’Brien creates richly expressive worlds on a par with adult graphic novels in Kevin O’Malley’s space fantasy Captain Raptor and the Moon Mystery.

  Whether called cartoons, comic books, or graphic novels, this style influences children’s book illustration and bears watching.

  Evaluating Picture Books

  Text

  In evaluating a picture book, one has to consider the text, the illustrations, and the interaction between them. Which is more important: the text or the art? This is not the question; both must work together seamlessly. Because of personal preference, a reader may favor the language over the artwork in a particular book, or vice versa. But critical analysis requires examination of all three factors, whether the objective is to analyze a book for a children’s literature course, to evaluate a book for classroom use, or to consider a book for storytime in the library.

  Reading the text first silently and then aloud allows one to evaluate the text and to develop a feel for the sound of the book, including language, pacing, rhyme (if it exists), rhythm, and dialogue (if it is part of the story). An important point to consider: will this book hold up to repeated readings aloud? The story must be engaging, appealing to adults as well as children.

  Certain subjects will probably always pop up as good material for picture books: a new baby in the house, begging for a pet, school stories, making a friend, the seasons of the year, barnyard animals.

  Some books highlight a real person or event, written in a fictional manner, with imagined scenes or characters. For instance, in The Little Piano Girl, authors Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald introduce the childhood of composer Mary Lou Williams as a fictionalized story and even give a lyrical swing to the text. Antoine Ó Flatharta’s Hurry and the Monarch, a look at the life cycle of a butterfly, supplies animal characters with personality and dialogue and, within that fiction, presents biological facts.

  Other books feature common experiences, with an author’s interpretation. Gillian Shields gives a twist to the standard situation of a child who desperately wants a dog in Dogfish. Just as in the title, the story combines two animals by imagining how a little boy’s goldfish (his mother’s idea of a perfect pet) can act more like a dog. Another common childhood problem, a messy room and toys that spill out into the house, becomes fresh through exaggeration and zaniness in David Shannon’s Too Many Toys.

  Still other books present total fantasy. No child owns a whale in the real world, but a boy does in Mac Barnett’s Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Pro
blem. Every page brings a new dilemma as Billy attempts to fit in at school and at play while dragging along the largest animal on earth. In a dreamy vein, The Weaver by Thacher Hurd takes place above earth, where the title character weaves the cloth with which she dances over many lands to protect those who are going to sleep.

  Like chapter books, novels, and plays, the picture book must hook the reader with its first sentence. It can be funny, incongruous, magical, or mysterious, but it must invite the reader and listener to go on. How the story continues—fast paced, full of action, suspenseful, dreamy—should be appropriate to the plot and theme.

  Then it is on to important elements within the story. Evaluate them by asking the questions and considering the aspects of the following areas:

  Characters

  Who is the main character? Is there more than one? What are the roles of the secondary characters? What informs the characters’ actions and makes them unique? How are the characters portrayed? They may be human, animal, or inanimate object. If animal, they may act as humans, as in Nicole Rubel’s Ham and Pickles: First Day of School. From the text alone, this book could be about human children, but the illustrations feature an animal girl, boy, and classmates. Or the animal characters may act true to their animal nature. In Grandfather Buffalo, the animals behave as buffalo would, although author Jim Arnosky allows the reader to experience the old buffalo’s point of view.

  In Kate McMullan’s I Stink!, a truck takes on human characteristics, such as speech and thought. Nonmoving objects may also be anthropomorphized, as in Virginia Lee Burton’s 1942 classic The Little House. In the same vein, the text and illustrations of The House Takes a Vacation by Jacqueline Davies portray a house with human characteristics.

  Do the characters in the book reflect a worldwide view? Differences in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and gender make for a richer, more realistic story. Some books naturally include these factors as part of the story. Examples include Lenore Look’s Uncle Peter’s Amazing Chinese Wedding, where marriage traditions become an integral part of a personal story; Ellen Levine’s Henry’s Freedom Box and its portrayal of an African American slave who literally sends himself to freedom; and Reeve Lindbergh’s My Little Grandmother Often Forgets with its three generations of a family. Others portray ethnicity through the artwork, even if it is not intrinsic to the story. Two of a Kind by Jacqui Robbins stars African American and Asian girls as the main characters, although this diversity is not the point of the plot. Even a simple illustration of a classroom with African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, and other children helps avoid the whitewash that was once the norm in picture books.

  In evaluating picture books, look for these diverse types of portrayals. In addition, books in which characters are immigrants or those that feature characters in foreign countries can broaden children’s perspectives. Books should either mirror a child’s experience (and all children should find books about themselves) or widen the child’s view. The latter objective takes on even more importance if the child lives in a homogeneous neighborhood and goes to school with children who look like him or her.

  Point of View/Tone/Voice

  Is the story told from a character’s point of view? Or is there an omniscient narrator? What is the mood of the story? What emotions are invoked? Is the story told in first, second, or third person, with first and third being the two most popular?

  Setting

  What is the time (contemporary, historical, or future)? What is the place (farm, city, apartment, outdoors, foreign country, etc.)? Are they indispensable to the story?

  Plot

  What happens in the story? What is the problem to be solved or the obstacle to be overcome? What is the outcome? The plot usually is traced as an arc, where the action builds, reaches a high point, and then tapers off to an ending.

  Theme

  Is there a deeper meaning to the story (for example, friendship, the security of home, love)? This does not mean that the story should be didactic or contain an obvious lesson, but that it reaches beyond simple plot.

  Use of Language

  Are unfamiliar words used that children will be able to understand within the context of the story? Picture books often use vocabulary above the child’s reading level because the books are meant to be read aloud to the child. Even if the child is reading early readers or easy chapter books, the language in the picture book encourages the development of a larger vocabulary. This growth can be enhanced if the parent or teacher calls attention to an unfamiliar word and discusses it with the child.

  Is rhyming used? Several categories of picture books incorporate rhyme or the meter of poetry. Some picture books for children consist of a collection of poems, usually about a single theme. For representative titles, see Jack Prelutsky’s There’s No Place Like School or In the Wild by David Elliott. Some books that successfully use rhyming text include Little Black Crow by Chris Raschka, Alice Schertle’s Little Blue Truck, and Come to the Fairies’ Ball by Jane Yolen. For books that do not use rhyming text but incorporate rhythm, pacing, or internal rhyme, see Lauren Stringer’s Winter Is the Warmest Season, Jonah Winter’s Steel Town, and Margaret Mahy’s Bubble Trouble. Look closely at, and read aloud, books that seem to be nonrhyming or straight prose. The best of these use language and rhythm to create text that begs to be read out loud.

  Are there elements of repetition? In Michael Ian Black’s A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea, the title line repeats several times throughout the story, after each example of why a pig parade is not good. Doreen Cronin’s Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type features the repetitive sounds of typing and mooing that Farmer Brown hears from his barn, enough times that young readers could be prompted to chime in on the words.

  Sometimes the author’s words emphasize the repetitive action. Each instance builds the tension until success is met. In David Ezra Stein’s Interrupting Chicken, the little chicken stops her dad’s telling of three fairy tales as she enters each story to inform the characters what to do. The bulk of the book Nine Animals and the Well by James Rumford portrays one animal after another showing his or her gift for the raja-king to the animal that came before. The repetition combines a comfortable sense of knowing what comes next with the delicious suspense of wondering what the next animal’s gift will be.

  Even in stories that do not employ repetition, the sequencing of events provides the dramatic tension in the story, as each event or complication moves the story along from the introduction of the situation on the first page. In evaluating the book, note how this sequencing works as the story progresses.

  Illustrations

  Evaluating a picture book’s artwork begins at the cover. After all, the cover offers a major selling point if displayed with that side up, either in a bookstore or library. The cover illustration may reproduce one of the pages inside, or it may illustrate a unique view of a character or scene; either way, the cover invites the reader in.

  In Allen Say’s The Boy in the Garden, a full-page illustration inside the book appears on the cover cropped, but with the central characters the same size as the inside illustration. Similarly, a cropped picture from inside becomes the back cover illustration.

  Illustrated by G. Brian Karas, the front cover of Candace Fleming’s Clever Jack Takes the Cake features Jack carrying a cake, heading out of the frame of the illustration followed by blackbirds from the story. On the back cover, only Jack’s leg is visible as he exits the frame; blackbirds following him lie half out of the frame, too. These pictures do not appear inside the book, although they suggest a major plot point of the story.

  The cover art of The Silk Princess by Charles Santore provides an example of a wraparound illustration, with the mother and daughter of the story large on the front cover. Other characters and objects trail behind the girl, flowing over the spine and onto the back cover, where strands of silk thread stretch all the way to the edge.

  An evaluation of the interior illustrations begins with a silent perusal,
as the reader views the artwork with each page turn. Going through the book again without reading the text, but just concentrating on the pictures, allows closer examination.

  Color

  In many books, the first noticeable visual impact is that of color. The artwork may be multicolored, such as that of Wendy Anderson Halperin in Alice B. McGinty’s Thank You, World and that of Yuyi Morales in Tony Johnston’s My Abuelita. Or it may be a limited palette, as in Anushka Ravishankar’s Elephants Never Forget!, where Christiane Pieper uses black and off-white with blue, and Susan Marie Swanson’s The House in the Night, in which Beth Krommes illustrates with black and white and gold. Warm colors, such as red, orange, and yellow, or cool colors, in the green-blue-violet range, will evoke different moods and energy.

  Blue can mean comfort. Jim Averbeck’s In a Blue Room, illustrated by Tricia Tusa, stars Alice, who insists that everything around her must be blue before she can fall asleep. The last nine pages of the book, in shades of deep blue after her mother turns off the lamp, signal a change in mood and bring the story to its inevitable end. Green and brown, predominant in illustrations of the natural world, signify life (green, growing things) and even coziness. In City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, illustrator Jon J. Muth fills the pages with green in the spring and summer sections, then green and brown and deep orange for fall. During this time, the two main characters share happy moments. When winter comes and frog is gone, the artwork feels cold in its grays and blues. Then spring arrives once more, and the art turns back to greens and happy times again.

  In Oh, Brother!, a collection of poems by Nikki Grimes, a boy finds himself with an unwanted stepbrother when his mother remarries. Mike Benny’s illustration for the poem “Showdown” features a red background, perfect for the confrontational nature of the text and of the artwork: the older boy staring down into the eyes of his stepbrother and pointing his finger at him. Color can also be used as a cultural indicator, as in Kate Aver Avraham’s What Will You Be, Sara Mee? In several of Anne Sibley O’Brien’s illustrations, little Sara is dressed in a traditional Korean tolbok, made with rainbow-striped sleeves and a red skirt.