The Language of

Picture Books
English 305
Dr. Roggenkamp

What is a picture book?

Different from an illustrated text or novel
with pictures
Book in which illustrations and text are
equally balanced, equally important
Words depend on the pictures to tell part
of the story, and vice versa
Neither element can stand alone
Together, they complete the story
create a third story between them

Pictures not a universal language

Different cultures read or interpret
pictures differently
Children learn to read pictures based
on the culture in which they live
Perry Nodelman, Words About Pictures
Maria Nikolajeva & Carole Scott, How
Picturebooks Work

Reading pictures a learned process

Pictures wont mean anything to a child
until child is old enough to develop an
understanding of its own environment
Children seem to teach themselves
picture reading skills at very early age
Contemporary culture FILLED with visual
imageschildren learn visual literacy
long before they learn verbal literacy

Do adults lose ability to read

pictures?
We tend to read just the words
Children (especially pre-literate children)
both hear the words and read the
illustrations at the same timeget a
much fuller sense of the picture book

Picture Book Milestones

1658, Orbis Sensualium
Pictus (Johannes Amos
Comenius) argued by
some to be first picture
book
1744, Little Pretty Pocket
Book (John Newbery)
Other didactic books like
Struwwelpeter (1845)

Victorian Illustrated Texts

Genre really takes off late 19th
centurypublishing/printing
changes make extensive
illustration more feasible
Kate Greenaway, Randolph
Caldecott, et al.
Illustration becomes associated
with books for children
Childhood as joyous &
pleasurable; illustrations as
joyous & pleasurable
Image: Illustration by Kate Greenaway

Format and First Impressions

Books physical format directs our
response to that book before we even
open it
Cover, shape, size, feel in our hands,
kind of paper used, etc.

Format and First Impressions

Elements in the BookSpace

Way type is laid out, spaced on page
Borderswhite border or not, shifting
borders (e.g. Where the Wild Things Are)

Elements in the BookColor

Different hues associated with different
moods/feelings
Green=peacefulness, blue=serenity or sadness,
red=anger, yellow=happiness, etc.
Shadesdegrees of brightness or darkness.
Light usually=happier mood; dark usually=more
intense mood
Saturationrelative intensity of colors. More
saturated colors seem more vibrant, less seem
more gentle

Color . . .

Elements in the BookShape and

Line
Rounded shapes associated with
softness
Straight, angular lines associated with
rigidity, tension, energy
Can strongly affect mood of story

Elements in the BookShape and

Line

Elements in the BookArtistic

Medium and Style
Collage, oils, pastel watercolors, black and white
line drawing, woodcuts, etc.
Realistic, abstract, surreal, impressionistic, etc.
Style=the effect of all the aspects of a work
considered together, the way an illustration or a
text seems distinct or even unique (Nodelman
283).
Examplestyle of Beatrix Potter: gentle,
unsaturated watercolors, tiny size, small animals
in human situations

Style affects storyHymans Red Riding

Hood vs. Marshalls Red Riding Hood

Elements in the BookVisual

Objects
Symbolsuse of cross, flag, tree, etc.
Cultural codese.g. dark=evil and
light=good; slumped head=sadness and
uplifted head=happiness; wolf=predator
and bunny=gentle, happiness
Picture books both depend on and teach
such conventional assumptions
(Nodelman 288).

Cultural Codes

Other elementslight and shadow

Other elementssize of figures

Figures in relation to each other
Size of characters in relation to
background

Other elementsfocus (close up

shot vs. long shot)

Other elementsway movement is

suggested

Literary Elements of Picture Book

Plottension, action, conflict; closed
ending vs. open
Characterizationfull, round characters
vs. flat characters; dynamic vs. static
Setting
Point of viewthrough whose eyes is
story told? Is narrator a character, or
outside the action?

Literary Elements of Picture Book

Themeeven simplest picture book can
offer more complex theme or significant
meaning
Importance of friendship & family, role of
imagination, life coming out of death, etc.
Toneserious and somber, light and
joyful, etc.
What mood provoked in reader?

TextContextSubtext
Text
The words themselves
But also the conventions that readers
observesymbolism, characterizations,
genre, narrative style, open vs. closed
ending, etc.

TextContextSubtext
Context
Historical context in which work was
created
How is the text in community with the
era in which it was written/illustrated?

TextContextSubtext
Subtext
Ways textual elements and context work
together to create meanings that are not
always obvious
What is the books possible ideology?
Example: The Story of Babar