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This A-to-Z collection of tips for understanding modern picture books is a unique and essential tool for parents, educators and all who have an interest in children’s reading.
Feature image credit: Midnight Sun Publishing
With an overwhelming range of choices in today’s marketplace, choosing great books for the young people in our lives can seem like a daunting task. How to know what’s engaging and well suited? The creators behind The Grown-Up’s Guide to Picture Books each bring their comprehensive experience and talents to this valuable ‘how to’ resource, aiming to empower us in our search for inspiring combinations of words and imagery.
Dr Lara Cain Gray, the guide’s writer, is the current head of acquisitions at Library For All, a nonprofit publisher with a mission to support global literacy and deliver cross-cultural children’s books to remote and low-income communities. In addition to diverse writing and editing roles, her professional experience includes library and museum curatorship and academic research.
The illustrations are the combined effort of Timothy Ide and Lorena Carrington and feature a vibrant mix of styles, including collage, line drawing, and photography.
Ide’s previous works include Tom the Outback Mailman (written by Kristin Weidenbach and awarded the Eve Pownall CBCA award in 2013) and The Lanternist (2021) with Stephen Orr. His first book as both author and illustrator, Medieval Monsters and Other Creatures, was published in 2023.
Lorena Carrington’s layered images are constructed using digital montage techniques. Her work has been exhibited in many Australian galleries, and she was the recipient of the 2020 Australian Fairy Tale Society award, for her ‘outstanding contribution to the field of Australian Fairy Tales’.
Shelves in bookshops (and department stores and other retailers) are groaning under the weight of picture book choices for children. From fiction to non-fiction, marketing tie-ins (think publications related to TV shows and movies) and new releases by much-loved authors and illustrators, to celebrities with no track record, the options are overwhelming. Spotting the gems can be so difficult it can be tempting to reach for the first familiar title or character and opt for a quick and easy choice.
The Grown-Up’s Guide to Picture Books removes the need for guesswork. This resource by Adelaide’s MidnightSun Publishing starts with the basics — What is a picture book? — and leads the reader through a detailed and informative look at what makes the best books special. Arranged alphabetically with an entry for each letter, the guide covers expected topics (such as genre, language, illustrations and narrative structure) as well as others that are less obvious.
Each topic spans two pages, featuring explanatory text and related imagery. Sections on Baddies, Heroes, Xenophobia and Yucky Stuff tackle trickier themes and discuss ways of addressing these. A recommendation for offering young readers ‘a hearty soup of “windows” and “mirrors”’ aims to foster children’s understanding of their own and others’ identities.
J is for Joy, reminding us that reading — in addition to boosting literacy and building knowledge — can be enjoyed as a purely pleasurable activity, creating fond memories that can last a lifetime. Picture books can also explore moral nuances and equip children to better handle social and emotional challenges, breaking down subject matter through sensitive story and illustration.
At the end of each section, there are opportunities to delve deeper by reflecting on talking points or completing short practice exercises. We all judge a book by its cover (initially, at least), but after reading this informative guide you’ll have the confidence to assess so much more.
Reviewed by Jo Vabolis
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: NewSouth Books
Released: September 2024
RRP: $34.99
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