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[CCBC-Net] April Part 2: The Demise of the Picture Book?
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From: Bookmarch <bookmarch>
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:04:34 -0400
I suspect that we are talking about a few overlapping trends. As Jane says, the demographics have favored teenagers for the past decade or so (the baby boom echo), hence the explosion in YA literature. Eventually young love will lead to marriage or at least to families, and there will be a baby boom echo echo, and there will be an explosion in very young children.
The digital world is something else. the classic picture book is, as you all know, a result of printing technology -- 32 pages reflecting efficient ways for machines to fold sheets of paper. Since the digital world does not have that constraint, there is no reason why an illustrated story should unfold in 13 beats (the number of spreads, thus page turns, you get if you subtract title page, table of contents, etc.). To me, that means that true illustrated story telling in the digital world is more like animation -- it is defined by time, by how long the experience of reading/hearing/seeing it lasts, then it is by page turns. Wonderful -- but I then think we will need a whole new set of artists, designers, and authors to figure out what the ideal form of storytelling is in the world of digital animation. And while they do that, we will continue to have the more familiar form of storytelling in picture books.
Marc Aronson
In a message dated 04/21/08 13:47:06 Eastern Daylight Time, JaneYolen writes: I find I have been selling lots of picture books lately, some artfully disguised as "inspirational" books, some as "novelty" books, some as graphic novels. Each time we have a new baby boom, there is a rush to publish more children's picture books.
The real change in the last ten years is the push towards baby picture books. Just as the ten or so years before, we were all talking about picture books for older readers. That seems mostly gone except for Rob ert Sabuda's amazing pop up creations and some generalized Americana history picture books.
Reality check: books on the page in general are being threatened by the electronic culture, but I don't foresee a quick death of picture books. Maybe some retrenching until the next baby boomlet comes along.
As for foreign sales--that is an economic problem more than anything. British publishers, for example, need to have the translation rights in order to print enough books to make their originated books a success. And they print the majority of their picture books there in paper, not hardcover.
Jane Yolen
************** Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.
(http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)
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Received on Mon 21 Apr 2008 01:04:34 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:04:34 -0400
I suspect that we are talking about a few overlapping trends. As Jane says, the demographics have favored teenagers for the past decade or so (the baby boom echo), hence the explosion in YA literature. Eventually young love will lead to marriage or at least to families, and there will be a baby boom echo echo, and there will be an explosion in very young children.
The digital world is something else. the classic picture book is, as you all know, a result of printing technology -- 32 pages reflecting efficient ways for machines to fold sheets of paper. Since the digital world does not have that constraint, there is no reason why an illustrated story should unfold in 13 beats (the number of spreads, thus page turns, you get if you subtract title page, table of contents, etc.). To me, that means that true illustrated story telling in the digital world is more like animation -- it is defined by time, by how long the experience of reading/hearing/seeing it lasts, then it is by page turns. Wonderful -- but I then think we will need a whole new set of artists, designers, and authors to figure out what the ideal form of storytelling is in the world of digital animation. And while they do that, we will continue to have the more familiar form of storytelling in picture books.
Marc Aronson
In a message dated 04/21/08 13:47:06 Eastern Daylight Time, JaneYolen writes: I find I have been selling lots of picture books lately, some artfully disguised as "inspirational" books, some as "novelty" books, some as graphic novels. Each time we have a new baby boom, there is a rush to publish more children's picture books.
The real change in the last ten years is the push towards baby picture books. Just as the ten or so years before, we were all talking about picture books for older readers. That seems mostly gone except for Rob ert Sabuda's amazing pop up creations and some generalized Americana history picture books.
Reality check: books on the page in general are being threatened by the electronic culture, but I don't foresee a quick death of picture books. Maybe some retrenching until the next baby boomlet comes along.
As for foreign sales--that is an economic problem more than anything. British publishers, for example, need to have the translation rights in order to print enough books to make their originated books a success. And they print the majority of their picture books there in paper, not hardcover.
Jane Yolen
************** Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos.
(http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Mon 21 Apr 2008 01:04:34 PM CDT
