Picturebooks
Written by: Jovana Vuković
Children’s literature can be defined as a material written, made or produced in order to create amusement, entertainment or provide some valuable lessons and satisfy children’s need for reading. There are many types and genres of children’s literature including prose with fiction and nonfiction, poetry and play. Each of them can appear appealing to children while providing them with a variety of types, forms and genres which speak to them in various ways. It is very important for children to be introduced to reading from the very beginning because literature is a crucial component of teaching and learning a language. Reading extends knowledge and vocabulary while enriching children’s minds. Picturebooks are children’s first introduction to reading, therefore they represent the essential genre of children’s literature.
Due to children’s inability to read at a young age, people have created books with pictures in them – picturebooks. The story in picturebooks is told by two different narrators – illustrations and text which complement each other. There are lots of types of picturebooks, such as baby books, interactive books, toy books, alphabet books, counting books, concept books, pattern books, picture storybooks, easy- to-read books, graphic novels and transitional books. Picturebooks are colourful, joyful and simple, but underneath all the simplicity there are always some educational messages transferred through the book.
A great example of this is Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Thing Are. This picturebook is an important work of children’s literature because it represents a radical departure from the representative products of that age (Flegar 148). It deals with some topics that weren’t discussed in children’s literature that much. The book was published in 1963 and it is considered that it sparked the age of New Realism due to its themes: a child at odds with their parent, showing their temper and emotions. The book is associated with the emergence of New Realism and problem novels (Flegar 148). It is about a mischievous boy Max who misbehaved and then his mum got angry with him and called him a „wild thing“ (Sendak). He got angry with her and went to his room which turned into a forest. It caused Max to sail to a land where he met the wild things. This was Max’s psychological adventure, a fantasy, a vent for his frustration of the anger he was feeling towards his mother. When the wild rumpus with the wild things ended, his anger ended too. After that he felt sad and lonely and wanted to be “where someone loved him best of all“ (Sendak). Finally, Max decided to come back home “where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot“ (Sendak). This picturebook is crucial for children’s literature because it shows young readers that if they want, they sometimes can be wild things because their parents ensured them a home full of love and discipline where they can be whatever they want. In addition, Max’s adventures demonstrate that children’s imagination is a wonderful thing, taking them anywhere they want to go. This book is a great example of teaching children that it is okay to feel all sorts of emotions, including rage and anger.
Another example that shows the great importance of picturebooks is Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the first modern picturebook published in 1901. This was the first picturebook in which both pictures and text told a story. This picturebook is also about a mischievous boy – Peter, who misbehaved and got himself into a trouble. The story combines humour and adventure, “But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor’s garden, and squeezed under the gate!“ (Potter) while also featuring a moral lesson, “I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening“ (Potter). While charming, The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Potter’s later works also introduce young readers to the very real dangers lurking in the adult world and the notion that actions often have consequences (Lowne). Potter herself encouraged the merchandising of the character, patenting her own Peter Rabbit doll and inventing a board game that featured him.
Adaptations are just confirming the popularity of picturebooks. For many decades, well-regarded literary picturebooks in English have been reproduced as animated. Perhaps the best and longest known are those produced by Weston Woods in the USA. Books such as Rosie’s Walk soon appeared as an animated movie, as did Maurice Sendak’s classic picturebook Where the Wild Things Are (Unsworth 29). Other classic literary picturebooks, such as Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit have been made into animated television series (Unsworth 30). More recent years have seen the frequent appearance of movie versions of established literary picturebooks that are highly celebrated within broad popular culture — as was the case with the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are
directed by Spike Jonze (Unsworth 30).
To conclude, children’s first experiences with books must be enjoyable or they will soon not want to be involved with books. Negative experiences could mean that they may never learn to read or to enjoy reading. A selection of picturebooks becomes a matter of achieving a good balance between what children naturally enjoy and what you want to lead them to enjoy (Lynch-Brown and Tomlinson 76). Because of that, picturebooks are the greatest children’s genre.
Works Cited
- Carol Lynch-Brown, Carl M. Tomlinson. Essentials of children’s literature. Allyn and Bacon,
1993. - Flegar, Željka. Convergence and the Beast: A Canonical Crossover Affair. English Literature.
Faculty of Education. University of Osijek, 2020. - Lowne, Cathy. The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 2018.
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Tale-of-Peter-Rabbit) - Tunnell, Michael O., James S. Jacobs. Children’s Literature, Briefly. Allyn and Bacon, 2008.
- Unsworth, Len. Point of view in picture books and animated movie adaptations. 2013. Scan.
- 28-37.
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259527909_Point_of_view_in_picture_books_a
nd_animated_movie_adaptations)