1. ELE 616 Research in Children’s Literature
Spring 2011
Picture
Books

2. What is a Picture Book? 2
http://www.ianbone.com.au/pdfs/PictureBook_IanBone.pdf

3. 3
What is a picture book?
What is an illustrated or story book?
What is the difference?
• A picture book is one in which pictures play a
significant role in telling a story. According to
picture book artist Uri Shulevitz, “a picture book
says in words only what pictures cannot
show”, as in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild
Things Are.
• An illustrated or story book, on the other
hand, is one in which the story is told and
understood in words, but is amplified by
illustrations, as in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of
Peter Rabbit.
– The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Frequently
Asked Questions

4. Three types of picture books 4
1. Wordless books
– rely solely on illustrations to tell a story
2. Picture storybooks
– illustrations and text work together to tell
the story
3. Illustrated books
– the text supplies most of the information
but the illustrations augment what is said
or serve as decoration
• Mendoza, J. and Reese, D. (2001, Fall).
Examining Multicultural Picture Books for the
Early Childhood Classroom: Possibilities and
Pitfalls. Early Child Research and Practice, 3, 2.

5. 5
Reading Pictures
• We librarians [and teachers] can
train ourselves, as adults, to think in
pictures again. Such thinking is
called visual literacy. Developing
visual literacy is much the same as
learning a foreign language.
– Banta, G. (2004, Winter). Reading
Pictures: Searching for Excellence in Gratia J. Banta is a
former Chair of the
Picture Books. Children and
Caldecott Medal
Libraries, 2, 3. Committee

6. 6
• Visual Literacy - What is it?
– The term Visual Literacy, . . .
, refers to the ability to understand
and produce visual messages.
– Click here to download a sample
teaching program for Visual
Literacy through Picture Books
(pdf) for use with students in Stages
2&3.
• http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/bookzone/vislit.html

7. 7
Famous Picture Book Authors & Illustrators
50th Anniversary Edition of The Snowy Day

8. Caldecott Medal 8
• The Caldecott Medal
was named in honor of
nineteenth-century English
illustrator Randolph Caldecott.
It is awarded annually by the
Association for Library Service
to Children, a division of the
American Library
Association, to the artist of the
most distinguished American
picture book for children.

9. 9
2012 Caldecott Medal Winner
• A Ball for Daisy
• The 2012 Randolph Caldecott Medal
– Written and Illustrated by Chris Raschka
– In a wordless book with huge children’s
appeal, Chris Raschka gives us the
story of an irrepressible little dog
whose most prized possession is accidently
destroyed. With brilliant economy of line and
color, Raschka captures Daisy’s total (yet
temporary) devastation. A buoyant tale of
loss, recovery and friendship.

10. What are board books? 10

11. Mouse Board Books 11

12. Picture Book Resources 12
• Every Picture Tells A Story is the foremost
gallery of the Art of Illustration – children’s
book art, fantasy, cartoon and editorial
works. Choose from over 80 of the greatest
illustrators of all time and your favorite
characters from literature.
• http://www.everypicture.com
• (currently undergoing major changes)

13. Picture Book Resources 13
•
–is the first full-scale museum in this country
devoted to national and international picture
book art, conceived and built with the aim of
celebrating the art that we are first exposed to
as children. Through the exploration of images
that are familiar and beloved, it is the Museum’s
goal to foster connections between visual and
verbal literacy and to provide visitors of all ages
and backgrounds with the confidence to
appreciate and enjoy art of every kind.
• http://www.picturebookart.org/

14. Picture Book Resources 14
• Looking Critically at Picture Books
– With increasing numbers of picture
books aimed at older and more
sophisticated readers comes the
challenge to teachers and librarians to
make those encounters more
meaningful and enjoyable. . . . Here
are a few of the techniques I've used
with success.
•

15. Picture Book Resources 15
• European Picture Book Collection
– The EPBC was designed to help
pupils to find out more about their
European neighbours through
reading the visual narratives of
carefully chosen picture books.
• http://www.ncrcl.ac.uk/epbc/EN/index.asp

16. Mouse picture books 16
• A 31-year-old from Eric Carle

17. Leo Lionni 17
A 1968 Caldecott http://www.first-
Medal Honor school.ws/activities/books/animals/wild
Book /frederick-leo-lionni.htm
See also:

18. 18
Meet the mice!
Downloadable Activities

19. A mouse by Tomie 19

20. Beatrix Potter 20

21. If you write a book about a mouse . . . 21
• You might want to be ready to write
sequels!
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
25th Anniversary Edition
• by Laura Joffe Numeroff,
illustrated by Felicia Bond
•

22. 22
A fee-based resource for picture books

23. 23
A free-based resource for picture books
Categories More
• Alphabet • List of Old Picture
• Animals Books
• Fables and Fairy • Teaching with Picture
Tales Books
• Nursery Rhymes • History of Picture
• Rhymes Books
• Using Picture Books to
Teach
• Printable Books

24. 24
The Ezra Jack Keats
and New York Public
Library
New Writer and New
Illustrator Award for
Children’s Books

25. Another version of The 25
Three Bears

26. YOUR TOPIC GOES HERE 26
• Your Subtopics Go Here

27. YOUR TOPIC GOES HERE 27
• Your Subtopics Go Here

28. 28
TRANSITIONAL PAGE

29. Backdrops: 29
- These are full sized
www.animationfactory.com backdrops, just scale them up!
- Can be Copy-Pasted out of
Templates for use anywhere!