A Few Fascinating Facts About Children’s Picture Books

In the modern age, children’s lives are saturated with visually entertaining and stimulating images created specifically for them.  Books cater for all age groups, from birth up to young adulthood, and there is an ever-expanding range of style and subject matter. All of them feed children’s imagination and provide hours of amusement.

 This wasn’t always the case: until the 18^th century, children’s books barely existed and no one thought that education should be an enjoyable experience. Children were expected to read purely to learn, and stories always had a strong element of religious or moral instruction. 

The first illustrated book created specifically for children wasn’t a storybook but an encyclopaedia of the natural world, by JA Comenius, in 1658.  He was an early advocate of the notion that children have different educational needs to adults, and that pleasure and learning could be combined.

 By the 19^th century, children’s fiction was flourishing as a distinct genre for the first time.  Fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen were very popular, and many classics were written, such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. 

It became accepted that children could read purely for amusement rather than instruction.  Despite this, illustration as a means to enliven and enhance children’s story books wasn’t a common place idea until the second half of the 19^th century, when a series of technological and artistic innovations took place.

Developments in colour printing techniques allowed a wood engraver named Edmund Evans to develop the ‘toy book’ in the 1860’s.  These books consisted of eight colour pages printed on just one side, and could be reproduced in large numbers. They dominated the printing industry for several decades and greatly enhanced the status of book illustration.

During the Depression years and the Second World War, there was inevitably a decline in interest in children’s book art as publishers were forced to economise.  However, the post-war baby boom saw the demand for children’s books increase to new levels.  By the 1950’s, design and illustration were becoming ever more innovative and sophisticated. 

Traditional pictorial representation began to evolve into a more surreal and abstract approach.  Some work became more decorative, influenced by pattern and the graphic design of the day, which used bold bright colours, unexpected juxtapositions and distorted shapes. 

A classic example of this is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, published in 1963. The illustrations are indispensable to an understanding of the plot, and express character almost without words. 

The story features a young boy called Max, who is sent to his bedroom without supper for being mischievous. The angry Max embarks on an imaginary journey to the land of the Wild Things, where he encounters fearsome creatures. He conquers the monsters to become King of all Wild Things, but soon becomes lonely, and returns home to his bedroom.

Picture books allow children to develop their imaginations and safely explore worlds which are sometimes dark, dangerous and full of powerful emotions.  Perhaps above all, they greatly enhance the rewards of reading for a young audience. 

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