PICTURE BOOKS

Picture books, the perfect blend of words and pictures offer a rewarding reading experience for everyone. The picture books are mostly aimed at the children so the language used is very basic to help them develop their reading skills. The choice of words is such that though they could not be read by the children fluently they can still be understood by them. These picture books are first read to the children by the adults while showing them the pictures in order to amuse them and later when they are old enough they read them themselves which enhances their reading as well as imaginative skill. Not all picture books are written for children, there are some that deal with topics that are interesting enough for adolescents.

The illustrations used cover a wide range of media like – digital medium, oil paints, watercolors, sometimes only pencil sketches, acrylics, collage and even quilting. Though the illustrations form the core of the book, the text is equally essential because they are the inspiration for the pictures. There is perfect balance between the illustrations and the text. The pictures are used to complement or emphasize the story and are often found to be more powerful than the text.

Features of Picture Books :

The picture books are often mistaken as a genre but it is not so. They are only a format and usually have the following characteristics- 32 pages is the standard though titles can be 24-48 pages, the text is dominated by illustrations, the illustrations are in perfect unison with the story which bring the narrative to a happy conclusion, less than 500 words are used though there are some books with 2000 words or no words at all.

Types of Picture Books:

There are different types of picture books which are crafted with care and intelligence to provide all the necessary knowledge to a child. The different types are- Toy Books (board books, pull-tab books, flap books, pop-up books, cloth books, and plastic books), Concept Books (introduction to shapes, colors, alphabets, counting, and principles of grammar and time), Wordless Books are fine ways to help children improve language and narrative skills, Easy Readers are sometimes called beginning books and are also considered as transition books for children moving from picture books to chapter books.

Genre of Picture Books:

The principle genres of most of the picture books include- Animal (Anthropomorphic) Stories, Realistic stories, Magic Realism, Traditional Literature and Non-fictional (informational) picture books.

Popular Picture Books:

The most popular picture books include- The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter. The book is about Peter Rabbit and his 3 sisters living under the roots of a large fir tree, and this story is followed by Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is the finest specimen of American illustrated children's literature and it deals with the imaginary adventures of Max, a young mischievous boy. The Story of Babar and the Little Elephant by Jean de Brunhoff and Robert Mccloskey's Make Way for Ducklings are some of the most popular picture story books of the world. The latter is said to have sold over 2 million copies. Almost every country has a section of popular picture books written by their famous writers and which tend to capture everyone's imagination.