Week 2 - History and Characteristics of Children's Book Design
Following on from Perrault the next big name in picture books was John Newbury. In the Mid 1750's Newbury began to write shortened versions of longer tales making them more universal for people. At a similar time Thomas Bewick became the first person to make a living from being a book illustrator, mainly because he used the method of woodblock printing so that illustrations could be printed multiple times across many book editions. Due to the improvement of printing methods more artists began to illustrate picture books, such as George Cruikshank and John Tenniel, who became most well-known for his illustrations in 'Alice in Wonderland'.
After the advancements brought around by the Industrial Revolution printing processes advanced even further allowing for colour printing and there was a boom in the demand for children's books as the Middle Classes had more disposable income and wanted to buy more books. Following these drastic changes in the industry of picture books led to to the golden age of picture books in the 1900's, as the introduction of photography eliminated the middle man. So that artists were able to use the medium of their choice and their work could then be photographed and used in picture books. With this progression over the years by the time it got to the 20th Century books for all ages were created and all had differing qualities that made them perfect for the varying learning stages.
For quite a while there weren't any books specifically aimed at babies, as they believed this age range would gain very little from being read to. However, following some research scientists found that babies see best in high contrast and creating these books would in fact help with improving eyesight. Therefore in recent years more and more books for this age range are being produced and the main features that you can see across this genre are the use of bold shapes, and bright colours, but usually only consist of one or two colours.
Picture Books: Ages 3-7
The main characteristics that can be seen across most children's picture books are that the text used is mostly focused around rhyme and repetition as this is a really effective way for children to learn language. A good example of this are the Dr Seuss books, despite them being mostly gibberish the rhyming with the stories really helps a child learn the words. Another feature of children's picture books is that quite often authors/illustrators integrate their text into the illustrations to represent the flow of the story and a good example of this is in Lauren Child's books. Furthermore an element found in many picture books is that there are often clues left in the illustrations, such as an alternative narrative, so that if the child is not of the age to be able to read themselves they are able to explore the illustrations in detail as their parents read the accompanying text. 'Rosie's Walk' is a very strong example of this, as the visual narrative differs greatly from the text narrative, which gives children a fun exprience as they can be under the impression that they truly understand what is going on when their parent is probably just focusing on the text.
Tween: Ages 7-12
Moving on from picture books, children begin to need more of a grown up text that still holds child- like qualities, but not to the extent where they end up feeling patronised by the simple use of language used. There are very clear characteristics as you enter into the tween category of childrens books, such as the text to imagery ratio increases greatly, mainly because by this age children have a good reading abilty and books within this category are mainly utilized to further improve this skill. Plus by this age after being read picture books at a younger age they are likely to have developed their own, rich imagination. Therefore limiting the amount of illustrations and imargery in these books helps the child to imagine things for themselves. Despite the amount of illustrations being reduced they definetly still exist within this genre of books as it helps with the child transitioning from picture books.
Info- Graphics: Ages 12+
As children get gradually older they are a lot less likely to come into contact with illustrations in their books, unless they were to read graphic novels. However they do still occur in the form of info- graphics. Using this method of visualising text helps children to understand things a lot more easily, and grasp concepts that would otherwise be difficult to understand simply using text.
Graphic Novels
As previously mentioned graphic novels are the main way in which older children come into contact with a lot of illustration in their books as an accompaniment for text. Graphic Novels encourage reading at an older age, at a point when children may stop reading as they become interested in other things. However children should be encouraged to continue reading throughout their life, therefore modernising old texts and into graphic novels creates a fun, new way to read stories, as they are visually interesting and engaging.
From reading this book I would surmise that this book is targeted at ages 3-7, as it is a picture book so there is more illustration then text. However There is still quite a lot of text to give an interesting narrative, which also means that when the child gets to the age when they can read for themselves, the book is still suitable. In regards to the style of illustration used in the books are very sketchy, simple, and include a lot of collage. This is a great style choice for a children's book as it means the imagery isn't over-complicated and I think that the use of collage not only helps children to reference back what they see to life but also encourages creativity and imagination in children.
The narrative in these books is also very good for children, as its very simple, yet includes a lot of repetition which helps children remember words, so in turn helps them learn to read. Also the story-line's being based around the relationships between siblings are relatable for children. Plus most of the story's have a moral behind them, which helps children learn from right and wrong.
In books for very young children you are most likely to see reference to art movements such as cubism, as the use of bright contrasting colours and shapes, that communicate a simple message and aren't too busy. A similar art movement that would be used in baby books and span across to picture books would probably be Pop Art, as the clear imagery would make narrative communication very effective.
Picture Books
The art movements that could be seen in this genre of books could range from Pop Art to Surrealism. As children get older narrative and illustrations can go from quite realistic tales that can help children reference back to their own lives, but can also be quite imaginative stories, that encourage children to come up with their own stories and think in new ways. A style like Pop Art or even Realism would be suited to more everyday narratives, whereas for a far-fetched a style like surrealism would be more suited. Surrealism and Abstract art encompasses more of a look that inspires creativity and in the illustrations conveys a more magical world.
Factual Books
As Children get older they are most likely to read non-fiction books. Within these books the artwork is mostly realistic as the illustrations are used as a tool to help understand facts and figures, because visualising these things makes text seem more real and puts it into context. Therefore the art movement of realism would be well suited to this genre as an alternative for photographs. Using realistic illustrations in place of photography can be a lot more interesting for children and can engage them more.