we loosely refer to as “books with pictures” describes any of the formats that focus mainly on heavy illustration and few words. Books that have pictures are therefore perfect for babies and growing toddlers, as well as in formats such as graphic novels and some middle-grade fiction. We walk you through the various formats that we consider books with pictures in the following sections.
Baby-friendly board books
Get yourself a chunky book with a heavy stock, rounded corners, and bright, eye-catching pictures, and you’ve got yourself a board book (see Figure 2-1). Perfect gifts for little ones, these books are for the youngest readers — so young, in fact, that they don’t even read yet! What’s Wrong, Little Pookie? by Sandra Boynton (Little Simon) and indeed most of Boynton’s books are published as board books. Fabulous picture books that are republished as board books include Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny, both by Margaret Wise Brown (HarperFestival), Jamberry by Bruce Degen (HarperFestival), and Hug by Jez Alborough (Candlewick Press).
a) Why Is Baby Grumpy? by Joey Spiotto. Copyright © 2021 by Joey Spiotto. Reprinted by permission of Scholastic Inc. b) ROAR: A Dinosaur Tour © 2018 and c) CHOMP: A Shark Romp © 2019 by Michael Paul. Reprinted with permission of the author/illustrator Michael Paul, and Penguin Random House.
FIGURE 2-1: Example board books.
We fill you in on the basics of board books — and how to write a great one — in the following sections.
Beginning with the basics of board books
Board books get their name because they’re made of cardboard or chipboard, which makes their pages stiffer and heavier than regular paper — and able to withstand use by small hands that don’t have the fine motor development to turn regular paper pages without tearing them. Board books are perfect for kids from newborn to 3 years old.
Most board books are 10 to 14 pages long, with very little, if any, text. We’re talking a few sentences at most, and sometimes only one word to a page. These books vary in size, from 2 x 3 inches to 14 x 16 inches.
Writing great board books
Terrific topics for board books include early learning concepts, such as shapes and colors, and daily experiences, such as mealtime and naptime. But you don’t need a lot of words to get your concepts across. Board books employ simple rhyming and repeated text and a lot of bright, colorful, engaging pictures to attract baby’s attention.
To write a good board book, you need to have relatable content. To figure out whether you do, you need to research the titles already out there. Take a good look at the board books that continue to sell, and sell, and sell, such as the ones we mention in the section “Baby-friendly board books,” earlier in this chapter. The best board books have a few elements in common:
Simple concepts or story lines appropriate for babies and toddlers.
Minimal text per page (often only a word or two).
Illustratable text (meaning you don’t include any overly complex concepts). The illustrations or photographs should be clear and evocative; if the words disappeared, the images could tell the story by themselves.
However, because the board-book market is totally inundated with concept books and simple stories about everyday experiences, if you want to sell a board book based on text only, you have to make the text very unique indeed. To make sure your board book stands out, study what’s already out there so that you can create an original concept and story.
Picture books for toddlers
Picture books, like the ones that have wildly different illustrative styles shown in Figure 2-2, are most often hardcover, heavily illustrated storybooks that cover almost every topic under the sun. They can be fiction or nonfiction, told in poetry or prose, and aimed at the literary or the mass/commercial markets. Teachers and parents who work or live with children from preschool age through early elementary years use picture books to speak to children about everything and anything the children might be experiencing at the moment: holidays, new siblings, moods, a fascination with birds or princesses — you name it, picture books cover it.
a) Wild Colt reprinted courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. © 2012 Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. b) The Kissing Hand and c) Chester the Brave reprinted courtesy of Tanglewood Books.
FIGURE 2-2: Example picture books.
One of the most popular picture book series of all time is Ian Falconer’s Olivia series (Atheneum Books for Young Readers). This book provides a perfect example of a picture-book author/illustrator creating a fleshed-out character who looks, feels, and behaves just like the kid next door — even though she’s a pig. The minimal text, limited color palette, and evocative yet restrained illustrations all work together in just the way they should in a picture book. Other bestsellers, all very different from one another, include Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems (Hyperion), Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series (Viking Books for Young Readers), Seriously, Just Go to Sleep by Adam Mansbach and illustrated by Ricardo Cortes (Akashic Books) (and the children’s version of this duo’s Go the F*ck to Sleep, which is definitely aimed at parents), and Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes
