Children’s books have been around for a long while, all trying to capture the imagination of children that let them explore new worlds and sometimes themes that are difficult to explain in other terms. In order for authors around the globe to do this they must make the appeal to the child (as well as parent; as they are just as important), and this is achieved through the narrative and characters.
The story will revolve around who it involves; whether is it a Gruffalo trying to find friends or discover new things, or a Cat in a hat. So my starting point in creating a story is looking at existing popular children’s books and analysing the elements that make them successful.
One of the first books that came to mind, personally that I remember, is the very hungry caterpillar. This story is iconic across many generations, and it is still in print today, which speaks volumes when it comes to the multigenerational appeal and elements that they look for in a story. I think that the design and style of this illustration is why it has been successful. The collage techniques, which were a new and bold style at the time in 1969 when it was first published, captures the vibrancy of the book and story and keeps the simplistic approach (both narratively and design wise) so that it appeals to the young demographic.
In conjunction with this, the usage of simple and minimalist text draws in the focus to the illustrations, while they each reflect each other to be both educational and fun for the reader. I really love the techniques of this book because they are bold and eye-catching, as well as being distinctive of any other style within this genre of picture book, so I think that it could be a good idea to work with physical techniques to produce textures and further imagery that could be featured in my own book.
Another book that is memorable for many people and also has a great narrative is Where the wild things are. The illustrations are completely different to the very hungry caterpillar but it is just as successful in its approach. The story only consists of 338 words, focusing on little sentences and highly visual representations of the story within the book to display a world that is creative and imaginative.
Where the wild things are explores the theme of anger, which many people this is one of the reasons why it has been so successful amongst the young audience. They want to read something that is interesting and relatable to them, so by having the main character as a normal boy who goes on an adventure and, ultimately, discovers his imagination and ‘wild’ side the narrative is more compelling for the demographic and makes it easier to read.
The visuals, unlike the very hungry caterpillar, aren’t as bright and bold and instead use normal colours that make the illustrations almost look realistic. This style is still eye-catching in a different way by being detailed and exciting to look at, as well as it physically showing the narrative in its visuals.
This is similar to the Gruffalo, however, this uses a wider variation of colours within the palette because of the surroundings and world that he resides in. I like how so far they have all used painting and drawing techniques which work strongly for this style. A digital painting could work well in this style too but that I think that by having it like this it makes it more personal and stylised, equally more imaginative for the child while reading it. The narrative of the Gruffalo uses similar themes and conventions of other children’s books that I have looked at and i think that it is just as popular with the ‘modern’ audience today because of the design and ideology surrounding it.
Traditionally, one of the main influential illustrators of children’s books is Dr. Seuss. The way that the illustrations are vibrant and simplistic capture the imagination of the children, while having a fun and exciting narrative that explores the world it’s set in as well as it appealing to the adult/parent demographic too. I think that I will take this onto my book idea because by using bold, primary colours it could juxtapose what I am trying to convey while also making the narrative enjoyable for the readers.
From these few books that I have researched into I have discovered that a key part of the book is having a relatable character for the children. This progresses the narrative with the audience, both for the child and parent demographic. Another element that I think is extremely important because of the young audience is having an exciting and imaginative world/narrative. This allows the young demographic to imagine themselves in the world, and even make them want to come back to it because of the creativity and excitement involved with it. With these elements in mind, I think that if I take these into consideration when writing and illustrating my book it will appeal to the target audience and, hopefully, be enjoyable for the audience to read.
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