For children’s picture books, it is the picture that drives the narrative. The children’s picture book uses the images within its pages to convey the stories and ideas. As such, art in these books holds a great deal more importance than words. After all, for children’s picture books, one of the main categories include the wordless picture books. The other two are the picture book biographies and classic picture books. For children’s picture books, images speak louder than words, and above all else, they paint a thousand words.
Children’s picture books also have the inherent advantage of breaking the language barrier. Just as our ancestors conveyed words and ideas throughout time, or signs and symbols can communicate to foreign tourists directions and warnings, the images in children’s picture books can also convey ideas no matter the language no matter the age.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the art and illustrations found in picture books can be exciting. These images can be basic and straightforward. These are the type of illustrations that can convey their messages plainly and directly. Still, there are other picture books that contain detailed or sophisticated paintings that may not look out of place in a museum. There are even books that are plain revolutionary, wherein the medium of the children’s picture book is turned up on its head to tell its story.
Here are a few and interesting children’s picture books.
Friends Here… There… Everywhere!!!
Friends Here… There… Everywhere!!! is A Children’s Picture Book by Calauti. Rosella Calauti. It is a children’s picture book that was written to enhance social and literacy development. It is a book aimed towards younger children from ages two to five. It is a heart-warming story that tells of friendship and community. The story follows Salvatore, Brandi, Lori, and Lee as they explore their neighborhood communities. Their adventures lead to opportunities that prepare them for the upcoming challenges of what life may bring. Through this, they are able to become true friends. The illustrations by Irene Olds are very simple and clear. It has colorful characters that are able to convey the story to the very young audience that it was intended for.
Good Night Moon
Good Night Moon is a highly acclaimed American children’s book. It is also is a highly acclaimed bedtime story. It was written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. It is the second part of three books by Brown and Hurd that forms the Over the Moon collection. The other stories are The Runaway Bunny and My World. In a way, Good Night Moon is less a story and more of a rhyming poem. It tells of a small bunny as he says good night to various objects, which include a red balloon, a bowl of mush, two kittens, and culminating with the bunny saying good night to the noises everywhere.
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos
The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos is a children’s picture book written by Deborah Heiligman and illustrations by LeUyen Pham. It’s an example of a category of children’s picture books called the Picture Book Biographies. Like all picture book biographies, it serves as an introduction to the life of notable men and women, in this case, that of Paul Erdos, an Eccentric Hungarian Mathematician.
A Ball for Daisy
Among the books on this list, A Ball for Daisy is a wordless picture book. In a way, wordless picture books are some of the most elegant types of children’s picture books as they tell a story without even using any words. The really good ones can evoke emotions within the reader with just the illustration within its pages. This book, in particular, was written and illustrated by Chris Raschka. In this story, Daisy, a small white dog, and her favorite red ball take center stage. Daisy takes her red ball almost everywhere until one fateful incident takes it away from her. It is a very short story about loss and friendship.