The art of creating fantastic picture books for children is one that remains somewhat shrouded in mystery. Combining simple, cleverly rhymed and alliterated sentences with illustrations that range from incredibly simple literal translations of the text to complex and abstract impressions of given situations and stories is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of modern story books and not one that can be demurred or taken lightly.
Really the defining aspect of a truly great picture book is in the artwork. The old idiom goes that a picture speaks a thousand words and when you have very few actual words to work with the picture has to not only speak a thousand words, but it has to speak them precisely and concisely to further the plot, reveal information about the characters and environments, and draw the reader in to the believability or suspension of belief in everyday or fantastical situations.
Think for a moment of a classic picture book that so many have been read, and then read to their own children in turn. The Cat in the Hat features Dr Suess’ distinctive art style and signature fantastical characters that are visualized in a way that would be practically impossible to describe to a young child who has a normal limited ability to turn words in to images at a young age. The illustrations massively expand on the story, giving detail to the basic storyline outlined by the text.
The implicit rhythm and tone of good story book writing is also very important and as considerable an art form as any poetry or prose. Dr Suess’ Green Eggs and Ham is another great example of using rhythm and rhyme to great effect.
Most picture story books designed for children are first written by the author and then the illustrations are contributed separately by an artist. These essential co-authors have to be very careful to be sure that the story they are trying to tell is congruent between the pictures and text otherwise a certain lack of direction and confusion can ruin what would otherwise be a perfectly good story.