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For other uses, see Picture Book (disambiguation). tend to have two functions in the lives of children: they
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives are first read to young children by adults, and then chil-
dren read them themselves once they begin learning to
read.
Some picture books are published with content aimed at
older children or even adults. Tibet: Through the Red Box,
by Peter Sis, is one example of a picture book aimed at
an adult audience.
2 Subgenres
There are several subgenres among picture books, includ-
ing alphabet books, concept books, early readers, nursery
rhymes, and toy books. Board books - picture books pub-
lished on a hard cardboard - are often intended for small
children to use and play with; cardboard is used for the
cover as well as the pages, and is more durable than pa-
per. Another category is movable books, such as pop-up
books, which employ paper engineering to make parts of
the page pop up or stand up when pages are opened. The
Wheels on the Bus, by Paul O. Zelinsky, is one example
of a bestseller pop-up picture book.
Peter Rabbit with his family, from The Tale of Peter Rabbit by
Beatrix Potter, 1902
3 Early picture books
in a book format, most often aimed at young children.
The images in picture books use a range of media such as
oil paints, acrylics, watercolor, and pencil, among others.
Two of the earliest books with something like the format
picture books still retain now were Heinrich Hoffmann's
Struwwelpeter from 1845 and Beatrix Potter's The Tale of
Peter Rabbit from 1902. Some of the best-known picture
books are Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings,
Dr. Seuss' The Cat In The Hat, and Maurice Sendak's
Where the Wild Things Are. The Caldecott Medal (es-
tablished 1938) and Kate Greenaway Medal (established
1955) are awarded annually for illustrations in children’s
literature. From the mid-1960s several children’s litera-
ture awards include a category for picture books.
1
2 4 EARLY TO MID 20TH CENTURY
children’s books Struwwelpeter (literally “Shaggy-Peter”) Barker, Willy Pogany, Edmund Dulac, W. Heath Robin-
from 1845 by Heinrich Hoffmann and Max and Moritz son, Howard Pyle, or Charles Robinson. Generally, these
from 1865 by Wilhelm Busch were among the earliest illustrated books had eight to twelve pages of illustrated
examples of modern picturebook design. Collections of pictures or plates accompanying a classic children’s sto-
Fairy tales from early nineteenth century, like those by rybook.
the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen were
sparsely illustrated, but beginning in the middle of the
century, collections were published with images by illus-
trators like Gustave Doré, Fedor Flinzer, George Cruik-
shank,[3] Vilhelm Pedersen, Ivan Bilibin and John Bauer.
Andrew Lang’s twelve Fairy Books published between
1889 and 1910 were illustrated by among others Henry J.
Ford and Lancelot Speed. Lewis Carroll's Alice’s Adven-
tures in Wonderland, illustrated by John Tenniel in 1866
was one of the first highly successful entertainment books
for children.
popular, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, published in Japanese author and illustrator Mitsumasa Anno has pub-
1958. Other books in the series were Sam and the Fire- lished a number of picture books beginning in 1968 with
fly (1958), Green Eggs and Ham (1960), Are You My Mysterious Pictures. In his “Journey” books a tiny char-
Mother? (1960), Go, Dog. Go! (1961), Hop on Pop acter travels through depictions of the culture of var-
(1963), and Fox in Socks (1965). Creators in the Beginner ious countries. Everyone Poops was first published in
Book series were Stan and Jan Berenstain, P. D. Eastman, Japan in 1977, written and illustrated by the prolific chil-
Roy McKie, and Helen Palmer Geisel (Seuss’ wife). The dren’s author Tarō Gomi. It has been translated into
Beginner Books dominated the children’s picture book several languages. Australian author Margaret Wild has
market of the 1960s. written more than 40 books since 1984 and won sev-
Between 1957 and 1960 Harper & Brothers published a eral awards. In 1987 the first book was published in
the Where’s Wally? (known as Where’s Waldo? in the
series of sixteen “I Can Read” books. Little Bear was the
first of the series. Written by Else Holmelund Minarik United States and Canada) series by the British illustrator
Martin Handford. The books were translated into many
and illustrated by a then relatively unknown Maurice
Sendak, the two collaborated on three other “I Can Read” languages and the franchise also spawned a TV series, a
books over the next three years. From 1958 to 1960, comic strip and a series of video games. Since 1989 over
Syd Hoff wrote and illustrated four “I Can Read” books: 20 books have been created in the Elmer the Patchwork
Danny and the Dinosaur, Sammy The Seal, Julius, and Elephant series by the British author David McKee. They
Oliver. have been translated in 40 languages and adapted into a
children’s TV series.
[4] Whalley, p.
[7] Four of the top eight books on the Publishers Weekly list
are Little Golden Books.
8 Sources
• Kiefer, Barbara Z. (2010). Charlotte Huck’s Chil-
dren’s Literature.New York, McGraw-Hill. ISBN
978-0-07-337856-5
9 External links
• Children’s Picture Book Database at Miami Univer-
sity
• Children’s Picture Book Collection in Malaysia
6 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
10.2 Images
• File:Alice_par_John_Tenniel_30.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Alice_par_John_Tenniel_30.
png License: Public domain Contributors: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Original artist: John Tenniel
• File:Babes_in_the_Wood_-_cover_-_illustrated_by_Randolph_Caldecott_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_19361.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Babes_in_the_Wood_-_cover_-_illustrated_by_Randolph_Caldecott_-_
Project_Gutenberg_eText_19361.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Orbispictus.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Orbispictus.JPG License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Con-
tributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:PeterRabbit3.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/PeterRabbit3.jpg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: The Gutenberg Project Original artist: Beatrix Potter
• File:Wizard_title_page.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Wizard_title_page.jpg License: Public do-
main Contributors: Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is (was) here Original artist: User User: on en.wikipedia