From Cover To Cover Part 4

Balance gives a sense of comfort by making one part of the picture equal the other. A formal formal, or symmetrical symmetrical, balance is one with an even distribution of shapes that would produce a mirrorlike image if the picture were vertically divided into two halves. An informal informal, or asymmetrical asymmetrical, balance results from an irregular distribution of shapes-for example, a large shape placed closer to the center of a picture balances a small shape placed closer to the edge. Colors can also be balanced visually: Smaller areas of bright color balance with larger areas of weaker ones.

CONTRAST.

Contrast adds excitement to a picture by making an abrupt change in a visual element. An artist may contrast thin lines with thick lines, for example, or an angular shape with a rounded one.

GRADATION.

Gradation adds familiarity by reflecting the sorts of gradual change we see in everyday life. A gradation in color shows the gradual change from one color to another, as we see in nature when the sun sets. Gradation in size can give the illusion of depth. Gradation in shape reflects growth and movement.

ALTERNATION.

Alternation establishes a regular pattern by alternating between two or more types of the same element-for example, two thin lines alternating repeatedly with a thick line. In picture books we see this technique used most often in decorative borders. It is also used as pattern in depicting things such as wallpaper, curtains, or clothing. Because it consists of a regular repeated pattern, a lot of alternation inspires boredom; however, used judiciously, it can have a striking effect.

VARIATION.

Variation makes an overall composition more complex and engaging by changing elements in line, texture, shape, color, and value.

HARMONY.

Harmony gives a feeling of subtle change and continuity by repeating any of the visual elements with only a slight variation. Harmony can be used to slow down the pace without becoming static or boring.

UNITY.

Unity makes the pieces of a picture fit together as a whole so that any smaller part of a picture looks like the rest of it. One way to achieve unity is to repeat or echo one element in another part of the picture.

The artistic elements and principles of design work together to express meaning in picture-book ill.u.s.trations. This may range from a simple representation of characters and action in a story to a deeper psychological interpretation of meaning conveyed through mood and emotions. A critical look at any picture's components and how they are related will help you to think about an artist's intent. It will add depth to your evaluation of a picture book. Many reviewers focus on what what happens in a picture book without paying much attention to happens in a picture book without paying much attention to how how it happens. But if you understand the elements and the principles of design, you can begin to think more critically about the art in picture books, and you can articulate your observations. it happens. But if you understand the elements and the principles of design, you can begin to think more critically about the art in picture books, and you can articulate your observations.

When you look at an ill.u.s.tration, think about the elements and how they are used. What do you notice about the use of line? Does a certain type of line dominate? What effect does this have? Why did the artist strive for this effect? What do you notice about shapes? Are they mostly rounded or are they mostly angular? Does one shape dominate a picture? Why do you think the artist wants to draw your attention to this shape? How is texture used? Does it give a distinctive feeling to the scene? What colors are used? Are they warm or cool? Do they express particular emotions, such as anger (red) or serenity (blue)? How are colors balanced in the picture?

As you turn the pages of a picture book, think about the pictures as they relate to one another. Do you notice continuity or variation in the use of elements? How does this reflect the mood or the action in the story? Do the pictures follow a logical or predictable sequence? Is there a natural movement from one page to the next? Is there an overall sense of unity or harmony in the ill.u.s.trations?

Finally, think about the ill.u.s.trations as they fit into the book as a whole. How do they relate to the story? Do they complement, extend, or highlight the text? Do they provide crucial details that are not present in the text but are an important part of the story? Do they clarify in such a way that they take the story beyond its words?

I will demonstrate how this sort of evaluation works by using a book that is familiar to almost everyone-Goodnight Moon, written by Margaret Wise Brown and ill.u.s.trated by Clement Hurd. On the surface, it appears to be a simple bedtime story, and yet the fact that it has persisted as a favorite book among several generations of young children suggests that there is more to it. In terms of its writing, it has all the important features mentioned in the discussion of text: patterned language, predictability, and a perfect pace. Add to that Clement Hurd's magnificent ill.u.s.trations, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But what exactly is it about the ill.u.s.trations that make them outstanding? Or are they outstanding? Today, amid the eye-catching new picture books on the "plateau of high performance," the ill.u.s.trations in Goodnight Moon Goodnight Moon seem to be rather plain and humble. But the elements and design principles have not changed: Good art is good art, no matter the era. Let's apply our understanding of visual elements and composition to Hurd's well-loved and familiar pictures to see what they reveal. seem to be rather plain and humble. But the elements and design principles have not changed: Good art is good art, no matter the era. Let's apply our understanding of visual elements and composition to Hurd's well-loved and familiar pictures to see what they reveal.

First, consider the challenge Hurd faced in ill.u.s.trating the text of Goodnight Moon Goodnight Moon. Superficially, the entire story is set in the same bedroom and consists of a list of objects present in the room. But Hurd understood the text on a deeper psychological level and used his understanding to convey meaning through the ill.u.s.trations. In a study of the psychology inherent in Margaret Wise Brown's picture book texts, Dr. Timothy M. Rivinus and Lisa Audet point out that the text in Goodnight Moon Goodnight Moon provides a means of helping the child to separate from a parent at bedtime: "What could be more in keeping with helping the child to acquire-through simple language, plot, poetry, and picture-the pleasure of separation from a parent, to the natural embrace of sleep, to the stars and the quiet night? Learning to be alone in the company of a reading parent is dress rehearsal for the real thing." If we take time to look at Clement Hurd's ill.u.s.trations with a critical eye, we can see how he managed to get this sense across in his artwork as he interpreted the surface elements in the story. provides a means of helping the child to separate from a parent at bedtime: "What could be more in keeping with helping the child to acquire-through simple language, plot, poetry, and picture-the pleasure of separation from a parent, to the natural embrace of sleep, to the stars and the quiet night? Learning to be alone in the company of a reading parent is dress rehearsal for the real thing." If we take time to look at Clement Hurd's ill.u.s.trations with a critical eye, we can see how he managed to get this sense across in his artwork as he interpreted the surface elements in the story.

Hurd sets up a predictable pattern by alternating color full-page spreads ill.u.s.trating the bedroom with pages on which details from the room (a bedside table, two kittens, etc.) are shown in shades of gray. This pattern adds variety and interest, but it also serves to illuminate the theme of Brown's text, as the achromatic pages help the child viewer focus on pieces of the whole as separate ent.i.ties.

The color pages ill.u.s.trate essentially the same scene over and over again with subtle shifts in perspective. This lends a sense of visual harmony that slows down the pace of what would surely be a rapid-fire story if the perspective jumped around from place to place in the room. Straight horizontal lines dominate the composition, leading the viewer's eye to sweep across the page, taking in the enumerated objects in the room. These contrast with a more subtle, diagonal line emanating from a lighted lamp that points right at the restless child in his bed. The eye is also drawn to the rounded shapes that dominate the center of each picture: a large oval rug and a hearth with a burning fire. These comforting, cozy shapes fill the distance between the child and his mother, suggesting that although they are separated from each other, they are still connected.

A subtle gradation in value occurs throughout the book in the color spreads, as the room grows darker with every turn of the page. We see gradation in shape as the moon slowly moves across the night sky outside the bedroom window. Both show the natural pa.s.sage of time.

Hurd also uses balance to create a sense of comfort and security. The strong horizontal line that cuts across the center of each double-page spread represents the line between the walls, which are green, and the floor, which is red. Since red and green are complementary colors, this gives the scene a formal balance. They also provide a balance between warm and cool colors, which might reflect the child's mixed emotions about bedtime.

The achromatic pages show balance as well. The initial pages balance each other by showing different objects of similar size and shape on opposing pages. To accomplish this, Hurd surrounds the objects with amorphous shapes, but as the story progresses, the shapes grow smaller and less like each other, moving from a symmetrical to an asymmetrical balance until we get to the delightfully surprising spread that places "n.o.body" (a blank page) opposite a bowl of mush. The next achromatic page restores perfect balance in a double-page spread that shows the comforting, familiar horizon of a clear night sky. We might ask ourselves, why did the artist do this? What effect does it have? Does it merely serve the purpose of ill.u.s.trating details of the child's bedroom? Or was the artist aiming for something more? If we think about what happens to balance in the pictures and relate it to the action of the story-a child trying to delay sleep by saying good night to everything he sees in his room-we might speculate that Hurd uses the achromatic pictures to symbolize the process of falling asleep. In the beginning, everything is clear and orderly, but things gradually get smaller and more dreamlike. We sink slowly into nothingness (the blank page) and have a momentary flash of wakefulness in which we see a bowl of mush on the bedside table. In the end, sleep takes over as an endless horizon of the world outside the bedroom window.

By looking closely at just one principle then-balance-we can see that Clement Hurd's ill.u.s.trations for Goodnight Moon Goodnight Moon not only complement the story but also actually clarify its meaning in a way that the simple words cannot. They are an integral part of the book and contribute greatly to its success over the decades. And, remarkably, they do it all without being flashy or calling attention to themselves. not only complement the story but also actually clarify its meaning in a way that the simple words cannot. They are an integral part of the book and contribute greatly to its success over the decades. And, remarkably, they do it all without being flashy or calling attention to themselves.

MEDIA.

An artist chooses a medium medium, such as paint, ink, or cut paper, to project a desired effect. Some artists feel more comfortable working with one medium and they use it in every book they ill.u.s.trate. Others use different media for different books. In recent years a lot of attention has been placed on artistic media by reviewers and many have demanded more information from the publishers. In response, some publishers place a note on the book's copyright page about the medium used to create the ill.u.s.trations. Interesting as these notes may be, it is not really essential to be able to distinguish between gouache and tempera paint in evaluating or commenting about art. It is more important to notice how the use of paint affects the artistic expression as a whole.

Media can be broadly broken down into drawing drawing, painting painting, printmaking printmaking, collage collage, and photography photography. Combinations of any two or more of these are referred to as mixed media mixed media. With the technological changes in printing over the past few decades, there has been more reliance on painting and less on drawing and printmaking. Drawing and printmaking emphasize the drawn line and therefore create a linear style linear style; whereas paint emphasizes color and tone, a style aptly referred to as painterly painterly. Both collage and photography emphasize form and volume, which gives a three-dimensional quality to the art.

DRAWING.

Drawing allows for a wide range of styles and expressions through the use of line and value. Lines can express emotion and movement. They can be light and humorous or heavy and serious. Value conveys depth and volume. The most common media used for drawing are: Pen and ink: Makes strong, sure lines that create lively characters and clearly defined settings. Pen and ink is often used to draw pictures that are then colored with paint such as watercolor. Bob Graham uses pen and ink to create detailed background settings and to show a range of human expression in his picture books such as How to Heal a Broken Wing How to Heal a Broken Wing. Mice characters come to life with the lively pen-and-ink strokes from artist Kevin Henkes in his beloved series of books about Lilly, Owen, Julius, and Sheila Rae.

Pencil or graphite: Allows for a full range of value from light to dark to create different moods and a sense of depth. A good example of this range can be seen in the pencil ill.u.s.trations of Peter McCarty in books such as Night Driving Night Driving, by John Coy, and Moon Plane Moon Plane.

Pastel: Powder color, mixed to the desired hue with white chalk and bound with tragacanth and liquids, is solidly packed and used in a form that resembles chalk. It has a soft, opaque quality, as is apparent in Beth Peck's ill.u.s.trations for Just Like Josh Gibson Just Like Josh Gibson, by Angela Johnson.

Scratchboard: Rather than drawing per se, the artist uses a sharp instrument to scratch an ill.u.s.tration into a two-layered black-and-white or black-and-multicolored board. Beth Krommes used this technique in Susan Marie Swanson's The House in the Night The House in the Night that features stunning black-and-white ill.u.s.trations with gold watercolor highlights. that features stunning black-and-white ill.u.s.trations with gold watercolor highlights.

PAINTING.

Painting uses color above all other elements to convey meaning and emotions. Many types of paint are used in picture books. Each begins as a finely ground pigment that is mixed with a different type of liquid to form paint and, as such, has its own distinctive properties.

Gouache: Powder color mixed with an opaque white. Laura Vaccaro Seeger's vivid paintings appropriately call attention to the creative process itself in First the Egg First the Egg, a concept book about metamorphosis that concludes with telling a story and painting a picture.

Poster paint: A coa.r.s.er version of gouache because the color pigment is not as finely ground. The paintings in Ten, Nine, Eight Ten, Nine, Eight, by Molly Bang, use contrasting colors to create a sense of excitement, while rounded shapes convey security.

Tempera: Powder color ground in water and mixed with an alb.u.minous, gelatinous, or colloidal medium. Mique Moriuchi used brightly colored tempera paint on pieces of newspaper to ill.u.s.trate Aileen Fisher's poem about the life cycle in The Story Goes On The Story Goes On.

Watercolor: Powder color bound with gum arabic and glycerine. It is a transparent medium applied with water. By far the most popular medium among children's book artists who use paint, watercolor opens the door to a tremendous range of expression. Artists can use it to portray quiet, somber scenes or the activity in a crowded, busy place. Watercolor is an effective medium for detailed portrayals of people and animals. David Wiesner did all these things in his watercolor ill.u.s.trations for Flotsam Flotsam.

Oil paint: Powder color mixed with linseed oil. It can be applied thickly to a surface to create texture. Paul O. Zelinsky used oil paint in Rapunzel Rapunzel to capture the feeling of Italian Renaissance art. to capture the feeling of Italian Renaissance art.

Acrylic: Powder color mixed with water-based plastic. Like oil paint, it can be applied thickly to create a textured surface. Yuyi Morales's acrylic paintings in Just a Minute Just a Minute maintain a consistent value throughout to give them the characteristic flat appearance of folk art. maintain a consistent value throughout to give them the characteristic flat appearance of folk art.

PRINTMAKING.

In printmaking, the artist creates a negative, reversed image on a surface other than paper, such as wood, linoleum, cardboard, metal, or stone. The surface is then inked and pressed against paper so that the image is transferred to the paper. The very earliest children's books, ill.u.s.trated with woodcut prints, date back to the sixteenth century; and we have many strong examples of the various printmaking techniques in twentieth-century picture books. With the advances in printing technology, printmaking may be cla.s.sified as an endangered art form in picture books. One unfailing holdout is the artist Arthur Geisert, who continues to create stunning picture books ill.u.s.trated with etchings, such as Nursery Crimes Nursery Crimes and and Lights Out Lights Out. Other notable recent examples of printmaking in pictures books are Mary Azarian's woodcut ill.u.s.trations in Snowflake Bentley Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, and Beckie Prange's woodblock prints in Song of the Water Boatman Song of the Water Boatman, by Joyce Sidman.

COLLAGE.

Fragments of paper, fabric, and other material are glued to a background paper to create collage. Because the fragments are often made up of varying substances and thicknesses, collage accentuates texture. It also encourages viewers to look closely at the pieces in a composition as a whole. Steve Jenkins's cut-and torn-paper collages ill.u.s.trate his dynamic picture books about animals, such as What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? and and Actual Size Actual Size. Jenkins uses different kinds of paper in his collages to suggest different textures. Lois Ehlert uses objects such as b.u.t.tons, ribbons, and pieces of cloth for the collages in her picture books; the collages in Leaf Man Leaf Man are created completely from actual leaves, positioned on the pages to resemble different kinds of creatures. Artists Christopher Myers and Javaka Steptoe are both known for their ill.u.s.trations that combine collage and painting. are created completely from actual leaves, positioned on the pages to resemble different kinds of creatures. Artists Christopher Myers and Javaka Steptoe are both known for their ill.u.s.trations that combine collage and painting.

PHOTOGRAPHY.

Photography is frequently used as an ill.u.s.tration medium in nonfiction books for children. We see photography as ill.u.s.tration in children's picture books as well, especially in concept books by artists like Tana Hoban, Bruce McMillan, and Margaret Miller. Nina Crews combines photography and drawing to create fantastical images of a child at play in his home in Below Below, and she uses photographs to ill.u.s.trate her other books as well, such as The Neighborhood Mother Goose The Neighborhood Mother Goose. Charles R. Smith brilliantly uses a combination of color and black-and-white photographs to tell the same story from two points of view in Loki & Alex Loki & Alex. Here we see the world from the dog's point of view in black and white and from the child's in full color.

DIGITAL A ART.

While it's obvious that most picture books with photographs as ill.u.s.tration use some degree of digital manipulation, it's not always easy to tell when this is the case with other media. Prominent picture book artists Don and Audrey Wood have been outspoken about their use of digital art since 1996, but other artists have been less forthcoming. In fact, many artists have played down the fact that they used a computer to create their ill.u.s.trations. This may be due to an overall feeling in the field that computer-generated art is somehow inferior because it is believed to take less effort. But actually computers are just another tool for the artists. In "How I Learned to Love the Computer," Lane Smith writes: "The advantages of the computer are endless for an ill.u.s.trator who likes to experiment. For example, I can now build up an ill.u.s.tration as much as I want without overworking it."

Some picture-book art is completely computer generated, such as William Low's Machines Go to Work Machines Go to Work. Low used Adobe Ill.u.s.trator, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter to create artwork that looks hand painted. Other picture book artists use a combination of traditional media and digital manipulation. In Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Mo Willems created the cartoon drawings with pencil and then used Photoshop to color them. The same techniques were used by Kim LaFave in Shinchi's Canoe Shinchi's Canoe, by Nicola I. Campbell, but for a very different final effect. Whereas Willem's ill.u.s.trations are light and comical, LaFave's are serious and somber.

STYLE.

Style can refer to the features that make an individual artist's work distinctive and recognizable. It can also refer to a particular manner of artistic expression that has been developed over time that can be defined by broad characteristics. In written reviews of picture books, the identification of a particular art style can be very helpful to readers who are trying to get a sense of what the art looks like. If we read that the ill.u.s.trations are abstract, for example, it can help us begin to picture them.

Realistic: Ill.u.s.trations that attempt to depict things as they really look. Objects, animals, and people are shown in proper perspective and proportion. Jerry Pinkney's ill.u.s.trations in his adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling The Ugly Duckling are a good example of a realistic style. are a good example of a realistic style.

Abstract: The artist deliberately distorts perspective and proportion so that objects and people are removed from reality. There are hundreds of examples of the use of abstraction in picture books. R. Gregory Christie's abstract ill.u.s.trations are a perfect match for Jeron Ashford Frame's text in Yesterday I Had the Blues Yesterday I Had the Blues. The elongated limbs and oversized heads on his characters emphasize their emotional moods. The distorted objects and frenetic backgrounds in Yumi Heo's artwork for Henry's First-Moon Birthday Henry's First-Moon Birthday, by Lenore Look, capture the sense of displacement a child feels after the birth of a new sibling.

Surrealistic: Realistic art that achieves a dreamlike quality or sense of unreality through unnatural or unexpected juxtapositions of objects or people. Stian Hole uses a surrealistic style brilliantly to show a young boy's doubts about the changes in his life in Garmann's Summer Garmann's Summer. Frida Kahlo's signature surrealistic style is echoed in Ana Juan's dreamlike ill.u.s.trations in the biographical picture book, Frida Frida, by Jonah Winter.

Non.o.bjective: Part of the contemporary art movement, non.o.bjective art gets away from the idea of depicting objects and people at all and instead uses color, texture, line, and shape to suggest expression and mood. This style is used infrequently in children's picture books, although you will sometimes see it used in backgrounds. Chris Raschka plays with non.o.bjective art in some of his picture books, including Mysterious Thelonious Mysterious Thelonious, where musical notes are matched to the values on a color wheel, and Another Important Book Another Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown, where geometric shapes represent the ages one to five.

Impressionistic: A highly influential style developed by nineteenth-century French painters who used dabs of color to re-create a sense of reflected, or broken, light. Impressionists concerned themselves with the changing effect of light on surfaces to capture a subjective or sensory impression of a scene or object rather than a detailed depiction of reality. Maurice Sendak used this style in his artwork for Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, by Charlotte Zolotow.

Expressionistic: An influential twentieth-century movement developed into a style that expresses the artist's personal response to the subject. It is closely related to abstract art. Since it is concerned primarily with the emotions, it is widely used in picture books. Vera Williams's A Chair for My Mother A Chair for My Mother provides one of many examples. provides one of many examples.

Naive: Depicts scenes out of the artist's own experiences in what appears to be an untrained, awkward style. There is no depth in the pictures, and all people and objects appear flat and one-dimensional. West African artist Pierre Yves Njeng used this style in Vacation in the Village Vacation in the Village, a book that shows the typical daily life of children in Cameroon. Picture-book artist Barbara c.o.o.ney has used the naive art style in several books that cover the life spans of ordinary, fictional characters. For an example, see Ox-Cart Man Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall.

Folk art: There are many variants in folk art style, as each is developed in a particular time and place and reflects the aesthetic values of the culture from which it comes. What they all have in common is a striking use of color, lack of perspective, the use of stylized pattern, and simple shapes. Folk art in its pure form has been used in picture books such as Goha, the Wise Fool Goha, the Wise Fool, retold by Denys Johnson-Davies, that uses khiyamiyas khiyamiyas, a traditional form of applique created by artisans in Cairo. Other artists have used styles inspired by folk art. For example, Nancy Hom based her paintings for the Hmong folktale Nine in One, Grr! Grr!, Nine in One, Grr! Grr!, told by Blia Xiong, on the style used by the Hmong people in their embroidered story cloths. The style Paul Goble uses in all his retellings of Lakota folktales, such as told by Blia Xiong, on the style used by the Hmong people in their embroidered story cloths. The style Paul Goble uses in all his retellings of Lakota folktales, such as Iktomi and the Buzzard Iktomi and the Buzzard, was inspired by nineteenth-century Lakota ledger art, an art tradition started by imprisoned Lakota warriors who drew detailed accounts of battles in ledger books.

Cartoon art: The artist uses fine line to create stock characters marked by exaggeration and absurdity. This style is widely used in humorous picture books that contain a lot of slapstick action. Harry Bliss, well known for his New Yorker New Yorker cartoons, also uses cartooning in his humorous ill.u.s.trations for picture books like Doreen Cronin's cartoons, also uses cartooning in his humorous ill.u.s.trations for picture books like Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm Diary of a Worm. Many artists combine it with design elements popularized in comic strips by using sequences of panels and speech balloons in their compositions. Mini Grey does this brilliantly in Traction Man Is Here! Traction Man Is Here!, a hilarious story about a boy who imagines his action figure as an action hero. Cartoon art is also frequently used to lighten a heavy subject and to put a comfortable distance between the child reader and a potentially disturbing theme. Steve Bjorkman uses a cartoon style effectively for this purpose in his ill.u.s.trations for I Hate English! I Hate English!, Ellen Levine's story of a refugee child's difficult adjustment to life in the United States.

For every picture book, an artist chooses the medium and style he or she thinks will best serve the story. Many artists vary both medium and style from book to book: John Steptoe and Ed Young come immediately to mind as two artists whose picture books reflect an enormous versatility in both areas. Steptoe, for example, used heavy black lines and brightly colored stylized shapes to ill.u.s.trate his urban tale Stevie Stevie, and he created detailed watercolor paintings for his retelling of an African folktale, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. Ed Young has used traditional cut paper (The Emperor and the Kite), pencil sketches (High on a Hill), pastels and watercolors (Lon Po Po) and collage (Seven Blind Mice) in styles ranging from realistic to non.o.bjective. Other artists choose to use the same medium and style again and again, and offer us a visual display of variations on a theme. Whatever the case, think about how the chosen medium and style work in the picture book you are evaluating. How is the media used to express the action or emotion in the story? Is it effective? Does the art style match the textual style? If not, is there a reason for this incongruity? Picture-book creators sometimes purposely contrast the visual and verbal tone in a story for the sake of irony. A direct, understated text may be ill.u.s.trated with scenes filled with action and wild antics, so that the story springs from the deliberate conflict between the two, as Marla Frazee did with A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever.

In spite of the great feeling of surprise and spontaneity we often get from them, it is important to remember that nothing ever happens accidentally in a picture book. It is a complex, carefully planned work of art that creates a satisfying interplay between text and pictures to tell a story that a small child can understand. By learning to look for the individual pieces and by developing an awareness of the techniques that are used to make them all work together, we can better understand the work as a whole so that we can clearly articulate our critical and emotional responses.

CHAPTER 6.

Easy Readers and Transitional Books.

It is a common misconception among many adults that picture books are the best books to give a child who is just learning to read. While it is true that some picture books have characteristics that make them accessible to beginning readers, most picture books, since they are intended to be read aloud to children, are written at a reading level that is much higher than that of a child in first grade. There are, however, books expressly written for children who are learning to read that use simple vocabulary, large typeface, and short sentences. These are called easy readers, beginning readers easy readers, beginning readers, or simply readers readers. One step up from readers is another category of books that are most commonly called transitional books transitional books. These books feature simple sentences and short chapters, and serve as a bridge between easy readers and longer chapter books.

Both beginning readers and transitional books are relatively new to the scene in children's trade publishing. In 1954 novelist John Hersey wrote an article in Life Life magazine in which he complained that children in public schools were failing to learn to read because their schoolbooks were bland and unchallenging. He described the characters in these primers as "abnormally courteous and unnaturally clean boys and girls" and the ill.u.s.trations as uniform and insipid. "Why should [children] not have pictures that widen rather than narrow the a.s.sociative richness the children give to the words they ill.u.s.trate-drawings like those wonderfully imaginative geniuses among children's ill.u.s.trators-Tenniel, Howard Pyle, Dr. Seuss...?" magazine in which he complained that children in public schools were failing to learn to read because their schoolbooks were bland and unchallenging. He described the characters in these primers as "abnormally courteous and unnaturally clean boys and girls" and the ill.u.s.trations as uniform and insipid. "Why should [children] not have pictures that widen rather than narrow the a.s.sociative richness the children give to the words they ill.u.s.trate-drawings like those wonderfully imaginative geniuses among children's ill.u.s.trators-Tenniel, Howard Pyle, Dr. Seuss...?"

Soon after the article appeared in print, Dr. Seuss took up the challenge put forth by Hersey. He acquired a limited vocabulary list from the text book division at Houghton Mifflin and spent more than a year shaping just 237 easy-to-read words into a story. The result was the now-cla.s.sic The Cat in the Hat The Cat in the Hat, published by Random House in 1957. Although Hersey had been thinking of ill.u.s.trations in particular when he cited Dr. Seuss, in the end it was the book's text that stood out as remarkable. Dr. Seuss showed that with a little creativity and a lot of hard work, engaging stories could be written with a controlled vocabulary.

The same year Harper & Row came out with Little Bear Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, the first t.i.tle in its influential I Can Read series. While Seuss set the standard for excellence in writing, the I Can Read series set the standard for form. Recognizing that children learning to read are eager to feel like "big kids," Harper designed the books in their beginning reader series to look like skinny chapter books rather than picture books. by Else Holmelund Minarik, the first t.i.tle in its influential I Can Read series. While Seuss set the standard for excellence in writing, the I Can Read series set the standard for form. Recognizing that children learning to read are eager to feel like "big kids," Harper designed the books in their beginning reader series to look like skinny chapter books rather than picture books. Little Bear Little Bear, in fact, is divided into four chapters that not only serve to give young readers natural stopping places for much-needed breaks from the hard work of reading but also help to build the self-esteem of children who pride themselves on reading chapters. The characteristic design of the I Can Read series was imitated by many other publishers as they launched their own beginning reader series in subsequent years, and today it is widely recognized as a standard form.

In the 1970s Arnold Lobel took beginning readers to new heights with the introduction of his Frog and Toad series. Separate volumes in this series have been cited as Honor Books by both the Newbery and the Caldecott committees, an indication of the overall excellence of the Frog and Toad books, since beginning readers are rarely singled out as distinguished for either writing or art. Using a limited vocabulary, Lobel managed to create two distinctive characters by zeroing in on their simple interactions with each other. Their actions and reactions are often based on repet.i.tion, a device that makes the text predictable and easy to read, and also allows the author to introduce surprising, humorous elements to balance the predictability. In Frog and Toad Are Friends Frog and Toad Are Friends, for example, Frog asks Toad to tell him a story to cheer him up when he is sick. Toad seeks inspiration in unusual ways: Then Toad went into the houseand stood on his head."Why are you standingon your head?" asked Frog."I hope that if I stand on my head,it will help meto think of a story," said Toad.Toad stood on his headfor a long time.But he could not thinkof a story to tell Frog.Then Toad poured a gla.s.s of waterover his head."Why are you pouring waterover your head?" asked Frog."I hope that if I pour waterover my head,it will help me to thinkof a story," said Toad.Toad poured many gla.s.ses of waterover his head.But he could not thinkof a story to tell Frog.Then Toad beganto bang his headagainst the wall."Why are you banging your headagainst the wall?" asked Frog."I hope that if I bang my headagainst the wall hard enough,it will help me to think of a story,"said Toad.

Each of Toad's unpredictable actions is clearly shown in the ill.u.s.trations. These pictures give clues to the reader who is struggling to decode the words. Throughout the Frog and Toad books, Lobel provides a comfortable context for beginning readers with both words and pictures. His words provide clues by using repet.i.tion, and his pictures provide clues by depicting action. As beginning reader books, they represent the perfect unity of form and content.

Seuss, Minarek, and Lobel set a high standard for easy readers that few have been able to meet. To encourage excellence in this sort of writing, the ALA's a.s.sociation for Library Service to Children established a new award in 2004, named for Dr. Seuss. The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award recognizes both the author and ill.u.s.trator of a book for beginning readers. Interestingly, it is not limited to books in an easy-reader format; it can also be awarded to a picture book that is easy enough for a child just learning to read.

Unfortunately there has not been a similar progression in the development of books written for children at the next stage in their reading. Parents, teachers, and librarians had for a long time been stressing a need for what they called "third grade books"-books that offered a little more challenge than the hardest easy readers and yet were still a bit easier than the easiest chapter books. Children who were making the transition from easy readers to chapter books were beginning to read mainly for meaning, and yet reading was still hard work for their untrained eyes. They needed books that struck a delicate balance between readers and chapter books. Although most publishers' lists offered at least a few t.i.tles that fit into this category, there was no consistent effort to create this type of book specifically until the mid-1980s.

An outstanding forerunner of transitional books, and one that many hoped would set the standard, was Ann Cameron's The Stories Julian Tells The Stories Julian Tells. This easy chapter book featuring an imaginative young African-American boy and his trusting, gullible little brother, Huey, was perfectly designed for children making the transition from easy readers to chapter books. Like many easy readers, it has a large typeface and the number of lines per page never exceeds fifteen. But The Stories Julian Tells The Stories Julian Tells is designed to look like a thick chapter book, the sort of book that readers making the transition are desperate to be able to read. Many librarians who have had the opportunity to introduce these young readers to Julian have seen this scene played out again and again: As the librarian pulls the book off the shelf, the child hesitates upon seeing its thickness. The moment the book is opened, however, the child shows visible relief, then delight, then pride. Because adults saw this happen repeatedly with a variety of young readers, soon after is designed to look like a thick chapter book, the sort of book that readers making the transition are desperate to be able to read. Many librarians who have had the opportunity to introduce these young readers to Julian have seen this scene played out again and again: As the librarian pulls the book off the shelf, the child hesitates upon seeing its thickness. The moment the book is opened, however, the child shows visible relief, then delight, then pride. Because adults saw this happen repeatedly with a variety of young readers, soon after The Stories Julian Tells The Stories Julian Tells was published, they asked for several dozen more like it. was published, they asked for several dozen more like it.

A few years later when publishers began to develop series to meet these demands, The Stories Julian Tells The Stories Julian Tells and its follow-up, and its follow-up, More Stories Julian Tells More Stories Julian Tells, were not used as models, unfortunately. Publishers opted instead for a standard design that made the books look like skinny chapter books. In order to accomplish this, more text had to be crammed onto each page by using smaller type and more lines per page. Even subsequent volumes in Cameron's Julian series adopted this new look, rather than following the standard for excellence set by the first two books in the series.

The success of both easy readers and transitional books is as much dependent on form as it is on content. Because these books are created especially to meet the needs of children who are developing reading skills, it is helpful for us to have a minimal basic understanding of what happens when a child begins to read so that we can apply this knowledge to these books when we evaluate them. Most children learn to read in the controlled setting of a cla.s.sroom, and they have traditionally been taught using basal readers that are specially designed for this purpose. Easy readers and transitional books were not specifically created to replace the basal reader; rather, they were intended as supplementary reading so that children can practice newly acquired skills and find a wide range of reading material that interests them.

Children who are beginning to read are learning to decode printed symbols that stand for words within their oral vocabulary. To decode the words, they sound them out or say them aloud so that they can hear them. As children learn to read, they develop a store of sight words sight words, common words that they learn to recognize immediately, such as "the," "ball," "mother," "play," and "run." Sight words are most often purposefully taught in the cla.s.sroom, thus we get the concept of "reading at grade level."

Part of the challenge children face is in training their eyes to move from left to right across lines of print. The eye is controlled by small muscle movements, and for children small muscle movements are a challenge in and of themselves. When the eyes move across a line of print, they make a series of jumps, stopping briefly to focus. An experienced adult reader typically sees two letters to the left side of the point of focus and six to eight letters to the right. The inexperienced child reader, however, sees one letter to the left and one letter to the right of their point of focus. This physical reality explains why children learning to read find it easier to decode words made up of fewer than five letters. As their eye muscles begin to develop, they are gradually able to take in more on the right side of the point of focus and they can handle longer, unfamiliar words. They can also begin to handle longer sentences. All the while, they continue to add to their store of sight words. All these factors work together, so that with practice children eventually can make a shift from reading aloud to decode the words to reading silently for meaning.

The creators of easy readers and transitional books have taken this process into account in developing their books. They strive to meet the needs of children who are learning to read by paying special attention to both content and design. As we evaluate these books, we should look carefully at the following components of each.

Content: How is the story written to make it easy to read? What sort of vocabulary did the author choose to use? How often are difficult words used, and how does the author use them? How long are the sentences? Are the sentences simple, compound, or complex? How does the author use structure to build context and provide textual clues? How do the ill.u.s.trations support the text and offer help to the reader?

Design: How is the text presented to make it easy to read? Is the type large and clear? Is there a lot of white s.p.a.ce on the page? How long are the lines of type, and how many lines appear on the page? How often do ill.u.s.trations appear, and how much s.p.a.ce do they cover?

EASY READERS.

When we evaluate easy readers, it is important to think about them in terms of what the author and ill.u.s.trator have created (content) and how the publisher has presented the work of the author and ill.u.s.trator (design). Both aspects should be given equal importance by the critic. In the best examples of this type of book, content and design form a unified whole that makes the task of reading easier and thus pleasurable for the child.

CONTENT.

VOCABULARY.

Many easy readers are written using the sight words children learn in first and second grade, combined with short words that are easy to decode. Compound words composed of two short sight words, such as "s...o...b..ll," are also easier to read. Longer, unfamiliar words can be successfully integrated in moderation if there are strong context clues in the pictures or if they are used as descriptors that can be skipped without losing meaning. In looking at the words appearing in easy readers, think about the kinds of words that are used. Are they sight words? If not, have they fewer than five letters? If they are long words, how are they used? Are there picture clues to help the child figure them out? Are the words likely to be part of the child's natural oral language? A word of three or four letters, such as "rue" or "cusp," isn't likely to mean anything to a six-year-old, even if it can be decoded. Notice the way Dr. Seuss ingeniously uses short words and sight words in this pa.s.sage from The Cat in the Hat The Cat in the Hat: "Now look what you did!"Said the fish to the cat."Now look at this house!Look at this! Look at that!You sank our toy ship,Sank it deep in the cake.You shook up our houseAnd you bent our new rake."

SENTENCE L LENGTH.

Children who are concentrating more on decoding the words than on the words' meaning need short, declarative sentences, so that they haven't forgotten the beginning of the sentence by the time they reach the end of it. Sentences made up of five words are ideal for children just beginning to read, but those who are gaining skill and confidence can handle up to ten words per sentence. Even for more competent young readers, however, look for sentences of alternating lengths. An author may, for example, follow a long sentence by a succession of short sentences, as Dori Chaconas does in Cork & Fuzz Cork & Fuzz: Cork bent down and wiggled Fuzz's tail.Fuzz did not move.Cork wiggled Fuzz's nose.He wiggled Fuzz's foot.Fuzz did not move.

Occasionally longer sentences can be used successfully, if they can be broken up naturally into lines of shorter length as in this sentence from Little Bear Little Bear: So Little Bear begins to make soupin the big black pot.

Longer sentences can also work when a writer builds textual context using repet.i.tion, as Arnold Lobel did in the pa.s.sage quoted earlier from Frog and Toad Are Friends Frog and Toad Are Friends or when a writer uses rhyme, as Dr. Seuss did in or when a writer uses rhyme, as Dr. Seuss did in The Cat in the Hat The Cat in the Hat. Both these devices serve to make the text more predictable and therefore easier to read.

In easy readers, sentence length and structure are just as important as the vocabulary used to tell the story. When you evaluate this type of book, look at the sentences. How many words appear in them? If long sentences are used, are they preceded or followed by short ones? Do you notice a lot of commas in the text? If so, this is often an indication of dependent clauses or extra information that makes the text harder to read. "Sam, a mean dog, bit my sister" is much more difficult to read than "Sam was a mean dog. He bit my sister."

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