The activity I have chosen to complete was to create a picture book. I intended the picture book to target early emerging readers at ages three to five years. I believed that simplistic picture books are the most suitable for this age group. The book was intended to be suitable for parents, story time activities and independent reading.

The written text of the story was effective in teaching young children how to count, build their understanding of rhymes, and introduced them to the fantasy genre of fiction. I intended to structure the narrative in a simplistic, chronological manner that used rhyme to count to five. I believed that the written text would be very compatible with story time events as. One weakness of the written text may be that the number of pages is too short. I did not want the picture book to be too long due to illustration difficulties and also considered my target audience as emerging readers but I did not consider that a shorter picture book will be less successful for story time events.

Through this experience of creating a picture book I have improved my understanding of the importance of visual elements in a picture book for young children. I initially believed that children relied on mainly written elements in a picture book to build their understanding of the narrative, while illustrations mainly exists as minimal support. Visual elements allow emerging readers to have images and patterns to refer to as support for their understanding of the words. In Swain’s analysis of wordless picture books, they examined Jeannie Baker’s picture book “Where the Forest Meets the Sea” that won the Young Australian’s Best Book Award in 1988. The book used a variety of visual elements such as collage, clay modelling, fabric and colours to convey narrative ideas such as change in time, distance or setting (Swain, 2014, p. 82-83). Additionally, in their study of picture books for environmental values education, Babb, Mcburnie & Miller have identified that winning and shortlisted picture books from the Children’s Book Council Australia are judged by a panel from both personal values and judging criteria but still suggested overall that there is great emphasis on the quality of illustrations (Babb, Mcburnie & Miller, 2018, p. 727). In Hateley’s analysis of the CBCA’s judging criteria for the Eve Pownall Awards for children’s non-fiction books, she also believes that “graphic excellence, presentation, aesthetic appeal of illustration and integration of illustrations to engage interest and enhance understanding” are the most important elements considered (Hateley, 2013, p.42).

Therefore it is vital that the visual elements support and enhance the written text. The bright colours that I have used, and choice of images were effective for matching the tone of the story. The additional visual elements in the illustration such as the flowers, trees and plants can be additional points of interest for the reader.  However due to difficulties I experienced in the illustration process, while the visual elements are generally supportive of the writing, there is a lot of improvements possible so that the illustrations can better enhance and match the story telling process in detail. Unfortunately, I was unable to draw various things in the picture book due to a lack of familiarity with digital art, time constraints and lack of artistic knowledge. Due to this I adapted by manipulating stock images to achieve my illustration goals.

Some aspects that I did not consider enough were diversity and values education.  In Fullerton et al’s study of picture books, most of the characters were male and of European descent while in contrast there is a lack of stories from other cultures and also a lack of writers from minority backgrounds which limits the amount of perspectives children have access to (Fullerton et al, 2018, p.78-79). This suggests that creators of picture books should be aware of the social and cultural influence their works can have on children. In Hateley’s analysis of children’s book awards in Australia there has historically been a preference for winning books to be about Australia’s historical, cultural and social issues (Hateley, 2012, p.193-195).

Overall, I have learnt about how both written and visual elements of picture books are used to convey meaning, and developed my understanding the qualities of picture books that are selected to win children’s book awards in Australia.

Reference

Babb, Y.M, Mcburnie, J., Miller, K.K. (2018). Tracking the environment in Australian children’s literature : the Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year Awards 1955-2014. Environmental Education Research, 24(5), 716-720. doi: 10.1080/13504622.2017.1326020

Fullerton, S.K, Schafer, G.J, Hubbard, K., Mcclure, E.L, Salley, L., & Ross, R. (2018). Considering quality and diversity : an analysis of read-aloud recommendations and rationales from children’s literature experts. New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 24(1), 76-95. doi: 10.1080/13614541.2018.1433473

Hateley, E. (2013). Paranoid prizing : mapping Australia’s Eve Pownall award for information books, 2001-2010. Bookbird : A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 51(1), 41-50. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1445353282/fulltextPDF/904B65FCC5D84B84PQ/1?accountid=10344

Hateley, E. (2012). And the winner is…? : Thinking about Australian book awards in the library. Australian Library Journal, 61(3), 189-199. Retrieved from https://search-informit-com-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/fullText;dn=719576325788516;res=IELAPA

Swain, J.H. (2014). Looking at a wordless picture book : Quentin Blake’s Clown. New Review of Children’s Literature and Librarianship, 20(2), 81-99. doi: 10.1080/13614541.2014.863657