When writing a “regular” book the author has at his disposal a myriad of techniques and, more importantly, space to work with. Describing a scene in detail is possible when writing a regular book. This is not the case with picture books. With picture books, the author is limited in the words they use as well as their length. For instance, let’s look at the following:
Bill stumbled into his bedroom. Sloughing off his filthy clothing he collapsed into bed, pulling the threadbare sheet over his aching body. He closed his eyes, the exhaustion of the day slamming into him like a tidal wave, pummeling him into an unconscious state of fitful slumber.
This is fine for a regular book, but it is clearly not appropriate for a picture book. The words themselves are beyond the comprehension of the target audience of a picture book and the imagery is also most likely beyond their ability to understand.
Billy climbed into his bed...
pulling the covers to his chin.
“You are filthy” momma said.
“My Billy-boy, where have you been?”
Billy drifted off to sleep...
A smile on his dirty face.
Pirates, robots, men from mars...
Billy had been to every place.
This is more on the level of the target audience, provides the reader with almost the same concepts as the first paragraph, but also provides the reader with an idea that Billy has been somewhere really cool! Billy is tired, dirty, and going to sleep. But there is more. Where has Billy been, did he beat the pirates, escape from the men from mars, were the robots friendly? Hopefully this sparks imagination. You need to be able to convey ideas without taking up too much space or using words outside the reader’s level of understanding.
How do you see the future of children’s picture books?
Picture books are perhaps the most important of all books. Picture books introduce children to the world of reading and imagination. At first they attract the attention of the child through the colorful pages and illustrations, but soon the child realizes there is a story, characters, actions and activities that take place as well. A well worn picture book means there is a child that can recite the story, at first from memory, then by recognizing the words on the page.
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