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"Picture Books for Older Readers"
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From: Paula Cairo <paulac>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 08:54:00 -0800 (PST)
I can think of a couple of different categories within the larger area of "picture books for older readers." One of these is the book in which the pictures are fairly complex in gesture and movement and take the kind of close scrutiny by a more sophisticated viewer to appreciate them fully. I am
thinking of the wordless *Clown* with those marvelously whimsical and nuanced illustrations by Quentin Blake, a book which my own college-aged children (??) fell in love with. Steven Kellogg's books about American folk
heroes also have that kind of enjoyably complex pictorial quality, though they aren't "wordless." The pages of *Johnny Appleseed* and *Paul Bunyan,* to mention only two of these for instance, are so crowded with interesting bits to be noticed that I find they can engage the imagination of the older viewer.
A second type (mentioned tentatively by Debby Churchman already) might be that of the photo essay or photo-illustrated book. Would we define a picture book by its having a picture on every page? How much text could it
have before it would be considered to be in another category? I'm not sure about these criteria either. Would these include books by people who bring history alive for older-young readers? People like Russell Friedman and Jim Murphy?The *Photobiography of Abraham Lincoln*(Friedman) is a book with its meaning rooted in its visual images, one which would not be the same with text only.
Vera B. William's *Scooter* represents another interestingly different picture book/chapter book. This book has pictures on every page, and they really are essential to the meaning and movement of the story. They dance across the page with a life of their own, almost like doodles, illustrating the text as they go along in such a way that the story could not properly proceed without them. But as much as I believe the pictures to be central to the expression of the meaning in *Scooter* (and maybe Jules Feiffer's *Man in the Ceiling* is similar in this) this kind of book may be beyond what we are discussing. Does anyone have a thought on this? Is there a genre-borderline crossed when the book is really a chapter-picturebook?
And what about graphic or comic-style books? Would anyone consider the Tintin books by Herge, and Art Spiegelman's *Maus* (which I imagine is actually in its own category) picture books for older readers?
Paula Cairo K-8 Librarian and 5-8 Technology Coordinator at Friends Select School Philadelphia, PA 19103 paulac at academypo.fss.fss.pvt.k12.pa.us
Received on Wed 12 Nov 1997 10:54:00 AM CST
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 08:54:00 -0800 (PST)
I can think of a couple of different categories within the larger area of "picture books for older readers." One of these is the book in which the pictures are fairly complex in gesture and movement and take the kind of close scrutiny by a more sophisticated viewer to appreciate them fully. I am
thinking of the wordless *Clown* with those marvelously whimsical and nuanced illustrations by Quentin Blake, a book which my own college-aged children (??) fell in love with. Steven Kellogg's books about American folk
heroes also have that kind of enjoyably complex pictorial quality, though they aren't "wordless." The pages of *Johnny Appleseed* and *Paul Bunyan,* to mention only two of these for instance, are so crowded with interesting bits to be noticed that I find they can engage the imagination of the older viewer.
A second type (mentioned tentatively by Debby Churchman already) might be that of the photo essay or photo-illustrated book. Would we define a picture book by its having a picture on every page? How much text could it
have before it would be considered to be in another category? I'm not sure about these criteria either. Would these include books by people who bring history alive for older-young readers? People like Russell Friedman and Jim Murphy?The *Photobiography of Abraham Lincoln*(Friedman) is a book with its meaning rooted in its visual images, one which would not be the same with text only.
Vera B. William's *Scooter* represents another interestingly different picture book/chapter book. This book has pictures on every page, and they really are essential to the meaning and movement of the story. They dance across the page with a life of their own, almost like doodles, illustrating the text as they go along in such a way that the story could not properly proceed without them. But as much as I believe the pictures to be central to the expression of the meaning in *Scooter* (and maybe Jules Feiffer's *Man in the Ceiling* is similar in this) this kind of book may be beyond what we are discussing. Does anyone have a thought on this? Is there a genre-borderline crossed when the book is really a chapter-picturebook?
And what about graphic or comic-style books? Would anyone consider the Tintin books by Herge, and Art Spiegelman's *Maus* (which I imagine is actually in its own category) picture books for older readers?
Paula Cairo K-8 Librarian and 5-8 Technology Coordinator at Friends Select School Philadelphia, PA 19103 paulac at academypo.fss.fss.pvt.k12.pa.us
Received on Wed 12 Nov 1997 10:54:00 AM CST
