Children's Literature, Briefly

Chapter 4..... How to Recognize a Well-Illustrated Book

Tunnell, Michael O. and James S. Jacobs. Children's Literature, Briefly. 4e. Upper Sadle River NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008.

Children are much more visually aware than adults.
"The function of art is to clarify, intensify, or otherwise enlarge our experience of life." (30)
Artists use various styles in art, typically painterly and graphic. Painterly media would use common tools such as paint and pencil, while graphic media uses carvings or through a collage.
Artists use visual elements such as lines, shapes, color, texture, and composition. The composition ties all of these elements together to form an illustration.

I like that there are so many different types of art to reach out to children. Simple pictures such as stick figures can do the same job as an ellaborate collage. Pictures are great for helping children to interpret the story, especially for children who cannot read. A girl in class last night mentioned that one of her 3-year-olds loves to "read" a book to her, even though the girl makes up a story by using the pictures.

Illustration is an important form of communication for children, and it is also appealing to the eye.