From Cover To Cover Part 3

The rhymes themselves don't change, but the ill.u.s.trations do. Each year new editions of Mother Goose nursery rhymes are added to the selection of contemporary children's books. Ill.u.s.trations offer new interpretations or fresh presentations of familiar characters. In his collection Three Little Kittens, and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes Three Little Kittens, and Other Favorite Nursery Rhymes, Tony Ross uses a cartoon style to bring out the playful nonsense inherent in most of the rhymes. He also makes visual asides at some of the more perplexing or archaic references; for example, when Jack (of "Jack and Jill" fame) winds up in bed "to mend his head / with vinegar and brown paper," Ross shows him with a huge wad of brown paper stuck loosely atop his head, staring blankly at a bottle of vinegar he's holding in his hand. Ruth Sanderson takes the opposite tack in Mother Goose and Friends Mother Goose and Friends. Her realistic oil paintings offer a more literal interpretation of the rhymes, showing characters from a past time. She adds a sense of whimsy by including elves and fairies in some of the ill.u.s.trations. Nina Crews takes a completely different approach with The Neighborhood Mother Goose The Neighborhood Mother Goose. Forty-one traditional rhymes are ill.u.s.trated with photographs of contemporary city children that offer a new multicultural dimension to the age-old verses.

How do we evaluate these collections? Look at the ill.u.s.trations to determine what they add to the rhymes. What scenes did the ill.u.s.trator choose to show? Due to the harsh and violent nature of many of the rhymes, literal interpretations will not always work. We may enjoy the image of the baby rocking in his cradle on a treetop, but few parents will want to share a picture that shows his unfortunate descent when the bough breaks. Conversely, everyone wants to see Jack and Jill falling down the hill and Humpty Dumpty falling off the wall. A skilled and thoughtful ill.u.s.trator takes the sensibilities of small children and their parents into consideration.

Look at the selection of rhymes included in the collection. Which rhymes have been included? Is it a fairly comprehensive collection, or is it selective? Are most of the rhymes familiar ones, such as "Little Miss m.u.f.fet" and "Little Boy Blue"? Adults who are looking for collections of nursery rhymes to share with their children generally want to find the ones they remember from their childhoods. Less familiar rhymes may be included, but they shouldn't outnumber the common rhymes, unless that is the point of the book, as it is in the Opies' Tail Feathers from Mother Goose Tail Feathers from Mother Goose, a collection of previously unpublished nursery rhymes from various sources housed in the Opie archive. How does the author provide access to the rhymes? Is there an index of t.i.tles or of first lines (generally one and the same in nursery rhymes)? If someone were looking for the complete version of "London Bridge Is Falling Down," for example, could it be easily found in the collection?

Since most nursery rhymes are short, they don't all lend themselves to single-rhyme editions of picture books. However, some do. James Marshall has given us a hilarious interpretation in Old Mother Hubbard and Her Wonderful Dog Old Mother Hubbard and Her Wonderful Dog by exaggerating the absurdities in the rhyme itself. Bruce McMillan gave us a completely new vision in by exaggerating the absurdities in the rhyme itself. Bruce McMillan gave us a completely new vision in Mary Had a Little Lamb Mary Had a Little Lamb by ill.u.s.trating it with photographs of an African-American girl wearing gla.s.ses and yellow overalls. Tracey Campbell Pearson has created an engaging series of board books featuring individual rhymes such as "Little Miss m.u.f.fet," "Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling," and "Little Bo-Peep" that cast contemporary toddlers in the lead roles. In by ill.u.s.trating it with photographs of an African-American girl wearing gla.s.ses and yellow overalls. Tracey Campbell Pearson has created an engaging series of board books featuring individual rhymes such as "Little Miss m.u.f.fet," "Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling," and "Little Bo-Peep" that cast contemporary toddlers in the lead roles. In Little Bo-Peep Little Bo-Peep, for example, the t.i.tle character is shown as a baby dropping her stuffed-toy lambs over the side of her crib, only to have them retrieved by her parents when she starts crying. In this case, the brevity of the rhymes have made them perfect choices for board book texts.

HUMOROUS POETRY AND LIGHT VERSE.

Nursery rhymes adhere to strict patterns of rhythm and rhyme and would be technically cla.s.sified as verse verse rather than as poetry. Although the terms "poetry" and "verse" are often used interchangeably, it is fairly easy to draw distinctions between the two, and it's helpful to do so in order to speak and write more precisely. Both poetry and verse use patterned language to condense thoughts and ideas into a structured form. Verse, however, rarely strays from its regular structure; poetry often does. Verse generally deals in lighter subjects and presents ideas as an open-and-shut case, but poetry opens a window onto a thought or experience through the use of metaphor and imagery. rather than as poetry. Although the terms "poetry" and "verse" are often used interchangeably, it is fairly easy to draw distinctions between the two, and it's helpful to do so in order to speak and write more precisely. Both poetry and verse use patterned language to condense thoughts and ideas into a structured form. Verse, however, rarely strays from its regular structure; poetry often does. Verse generally deals in lighter subjects and presents ideas as an open-and-shut case, but poetry opens a window onto a thought or experience through the use of metaphor and imagery.

When verse uses trite ideas and hackneyed language, it becomes doggerel doggerel, an inferior form best reserved for greeting cards. Verse succeeds on a grand scale, however, when it draws humor from wild incongruity or plants verbal surprises within a rigid structure. The nonsense verse nonsense verse of nineteenth-century writers Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll continues to delight today's children with its daft impossibilities. There is something about outrageous absurdity bound up in a tight, predictable structure that elementary school-age children find fall-down-on-the-floor funny. Shel Silverstein is a master at this kind of writing, and his collections of nineteenth-century writers Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll continues to delight today's children with its daft impossibilities. There is something about outrageous absurdity bound up in a tight, predictable structure that elementary school-age children find fall-down-on-the-floor funny. Shel Silverstein is a master at this kind of writing, and his collections Where the Sidewalk Ends Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up Falling Up are among the best-selling children's hardcover trade books of all time. The zany nonsense verses of Ogden Nash, John Ciardi, and Jack Prelutsky are also extremely popular with children. are among the best-selling children's hardcover trade books of all time. The zany nonsense verses of Ogden Nash, John Ciardi, and Jack Prelutsky are also extremely popular with children.

Humor in general holds great appeal, from the cla.s.sic nonsense of Edward Lear to the more subtle uses of humor we see in light verse and poetry. It can open a door into poetry for children and draw them into a vision that offers new insight and meaning. Note, for example, how X. J. Kennedy uses humor to give children a fresh perspective on an ordinary object in his poem "Lighting a Fire": One quick scratchOf a kitchen matchAnd giant flames unzip!How do they storeSo huge a roarIn such a tiny tip?

Many writers of children's poetry excel at using wit and humor to stir children's interest and imaginations. Rather than telling children what is funny, these poets are able to see the humor and incongruities in life that children themselves may notice and wonder about. Other than poets and children, for instance, how may people stop to reflect on what happens when you strike a match?

Nonsense verse and humorous poetry differ, to some extent, in form and content, but both offer the reader surprises that inspire laughter. In verse, these surprises are generally dependent on the tension between words and structure. Poetry uses this but also adds an intangible element in the metaphorical tension of ideas that lie under the surface of the poem. X. J. Kennedy does not explicitly compare a kitchen match to a lion, for example, but he suggests it with his choice of the word "roar." As you evaluate humorous verse and poetry, think about the sources of its humor. Does it come from the description of things, people, and places engaged in absurd actions? Or does it come from a more subtle juxtaposition of unlike things or ideas? How does the structure enhance its surprising and pleasurable aspects? Would you look forward to reading the poems aloud to children? Above all, poems are meant to be read aloud-that's often the best test of a poem.

POETRY COLLECTIONS.

SINGLE POETS.

Children's poems are generally published in collections that may contain anywhere from a dozen to a hundred or more poems. Collections of poems by a single children's poet are quite common, in which case authors.h.i.+p alone may be the one unifying factor. Some poets issue volumes of poetry on a common theme. Douglas Florian, for example, has published separate volumes of poetry on subjects such as winter, dinosaurs, astronomy, and humor. Others issue volumes limited to a certain form. Valerie Worth is known for her collections of very short poems about small things, and Stephen Schnur is known for his acrostic poems about the seasons, such as Winter: An Alphabet Acrostic Winter: An Alphabet Acrostic. Haiku is an especially popular form for children's poets; and there have been many volumes that use this form, including Jack Prelutsky's If Not for the Cat: Haiku If Not for the Cat: Haiku and Michael J. Rosen's and Michael J. Rosen's The Cuckoo's Haiku The Cuckoo's Haiku. Linda Sue Park introduced American children to sijo sijo, a traditional form of Korean poetry that also uses just three lines, in Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems) Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems).

ANTHOLOGIES.

Anthologies contain the works of many poets. There is an art to collecting and anthologizing poetry that calls for a closer look on the part of the critic. Skillful anthologists pull together poems on a common theme or topic and organize them in an arrangement that makes them aesthetically and intellectually satisfying.

Paul B. Janeczko describes how he sees his work as an anthologist: Poems must connect with other poems. Some a.s.sociations are obvious, but I look for connections that may not be apparent at first reading. I want my readers to think about why poems are where they are in my collections. I try to bring order to the arrangement of the poems in a way that will give a timid, inexperienced reader of poetry a gentle nudge in a helpful direction.

We can see how this careful attention to organization is played out in Janeczko's A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout just by looking at the table of contents: just by looking at the table of contents:

Poems for One Voice Tongue Twisters Poems for Two Voices List Poems Poems for Three Voices Short Stuff Bilingual Poems Rhymed Poems Limericks Poems for a Group

Note that in the first six sections, Janeczko alternates simple and more challenging forms to encourage children with different skills. Within each section, there is also a logical arrangement of the poems themselves; and there are even links from section to section. For example, the "Rhymed Poems" section ends with a poem that begins "'What's your name?' / 'Mary Jane' / 'Where do you live?' / 'Womber Lane'" and the subsequent "Limericks" section opens with the cla.s.sic form "There was a young woman from..." There is an overall logical progression, as well: The volume opens with three poems that stress individual ident.i.ty and, as the chorus of voices grows, ends with Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing."

Lee Bennett Hopkins, Nancy Larrick, Michael Rosen, and Jane Yolen are outstanding anthologists of poetry for young readers. Their topical anthologies cover subjects such as animals, family and friends, holidays, science, nature, city life, and bedtime. Both Hopkins and Yolen have compiled collections aimed at particular age groups as well. For Here's a Little Poem Here's a Little Poem, Yolen and coauthor Andrew Fusek Peters selected sixty-one outstanding poems for very young children, arranged into four sections: Me, Myself and I; Who Lives in My House?; I Go Outside; and Time for Bed. Lee Bennett Hopkins excels at creating easy-to-read anthologies for young children on subjects such as pets, school, holidays, and sports. His anthologies include well-known children's poets as well as some adult poets whose work is surprisingly easy to read.

There are numerous anthologies of poetry collected for older children along similar lines. One of the most remarkable skills of anthologists for this age level, however, is an ability to read works originally published for adults and select those poems that will speak to the young as well. This skill combines a thorough knowledge of poetry with a thorough knowledge of children and young teenagers. Ruth Gordon, Paul Janeczko, and Naomi s.h.i.+hab Nye compile stunning anthologies based on poetry from a wide range of times, places, and experiences. These anthologies not only provide young readers with collections of fine poetry but also give them a sense of being connected as individuals to universal human emotions.

Look at the range of poems and poets included in any anthology. Are there new poems as well as older ones? Are the poems selected from a broad range of cultures? Do the poems have a common theme or subject? How are they arranged? Is there an index of t.i.tles and/or of first lines?

In the best anthologies the compiler's enthusiasm for poetry is apparent through the careful selections and arrangements he or she has made.

VERSE NOVELS.

It is not always easy to categorize books that use poetic forms as their narrative structure. In the past decade, we have seen the rise of verse novels verse novels, that is, full-length fiction written as a series of connected poems, generally free verse. Virginia Euwer Wolff is often credited as a pioneer in this area with the publication of her novel Make Lemonade Make Lemonade, although Wolff herself refers to her own writing as "prose in funny-shaped lines." That may be an apt description of many verse novels, but others fall clearly in the realm of poetry.

Sharon Creech's Love That Dog Love That Dog and its sequel, and its sequel, Hate That Cat Hate That Cat, are both written in the voice of young Jack, a boy who claims to hate poetry but eventually finds his poetic voice, thanks to inspiration from a poem by Walter Dean Myers. Throughout both books, Creech plays with poetic forms, as Jack attempts to imitate poems by William Blake, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, and, of course, Walter Dean Myers. Helen Frost is perhaps the most ambitious and the most outstanding author of verse novels for children. Each of her books uses a different type of poetic structure. In Spinning Through the Universe Spinning Through the Universe, for example, she uses a different poetic form-terza rima, haiku, sonnet, quatern, etc.-to represent each character's voice in Part 1. Part 2 is comprised of acrostic poems in which the acrostic is made up of one line taken from all the previous poems. Frost uses concrete poetry in Diamond Willow Diamond Willow; each poem has a diamond shape. Both Creech and Frost use poetry to illuminate and reinforce the themes in their books.

SONGS.

One might argue that songs were meant to be sung, not written down; but as long as human memories remain fallible, there will be songs committed to the pages of books. As they appear in trade books, songs share many features in common with poetry; unlike most poetry, however, they appeared at first in some form other than writing.

Songbooks for children typically include musical notation as an accompaniment to the text. If the lyrics to a single song are written out in story form as the text of a picture book, the musical notation may appear at the end of the book. The quality of the notation should be evaluated as carefully as text and ill.u.s.trations. Is the arrangement simple enough to be accessible to children? Is it in a singable key? Is the notation legible and easy to read? Does it include all the song's verses? Have the verses been conveniently placed so that it is possible to follow along if one is playing or singing the song aloud?

John Langstaff is noted for his compilations of British and American folk songs and ballads, such as Hi! Ho! The Rattlin' Bog, and Other Folk Songs for Group Singing Hi! Ho! The Rattlin' Bog, and Other Folk Songs for Group Singing. The lyrics to each of these songs, drawn from many sources, are accompanied by their musical notation, as well as a brief note that places the song in a historical context. Tish Hinojosa uses a similar approach in her bilingual songbook Cada Nino/Every Child Cada Nino/Every Child, offering historical background for traditional songs and a personal story for the songs she wrote herself.

Other books of song are highly visual. Ashley Bryan is known for the captivating paintings he creates to interpret songs in his books, such as Let It s.h.i.+ne: Three Favorite Spirituals Let It s.h.i.+ne: Three Favorite Spirituals. Picture-book editions of single songs are less common but not unknown. Laura Vaccaro Seeger's playful visual interpretation of a traditional folk song, I Had a Rooster I Had a Rooster, uses heavy-stock spiral-bound pages of progressively decreasing size to build the c.u.mulative lines of the song on the left-hand side of the page. The volume also includes a CD of Pete Seeger singing the song so that children can listen to the music as they turn the pages.

A critical approach to books of song requires consideration of some of the standards we use in evaluating poetry as we look at the presentation of language in a structured pattern. It also requires the sort of critical attention we give to folklore, as we must think about source notes, organization, and, in some cases, retelling. Overall we need to ask whether or not one art form (music) has made a successful transition to another (art and literature).

CHAPTER 5.

Picture Books.

Books for young children combine words with ill.u.s.trations to tell a story. They are meant to be read aloud while children view the ill.u.s.trations. Picture books present a special challenge to the critic because they require evaluation of art, text, and how the two work together to create a unique art form. In evaluating picture books, it is also useful for the critic to have an understanding of common interests and cognitive abilities of young children at different stages in their development.

Picture books as we know them today are a fairly recent invention. Children's books that combined short text and ill.u.s.trations to tell a story were developed by European artists and printers in the mid-nineteenth century; however, it was not until 1928 that the modern American picture book was born with the publication of Wanda Gag's Millions of Cats Millions of Cats. While earlier efforts set story and pictures side by side, Gag was the first to take art beyond conventional ill.u.s.tration: Her pictures helped to tell the story by using negative s.p.a.ce to indicate the pa.s.sage of time; she varied page layouts, and some ill.u.s.trations broke out of their frames to extend across two pages. These innovations were immediately imitated and refined by other artists creating books for young children, and very soon they were considered conventions of the art itself.

In 1938, ten years after the publication of Millions of Cats Millions of Cats, the Caldecott Medal was established to recognize excellence in picture book art. The decades that followed are often thought of as a golden age of American picture books, as this new art form attracted the talents of many gifted artists working in the variety of styles that have flourished in twentieth-century art.

During these years, books with color ill.u.s.trations often required the artist to go through the painstaking process of separating colors by hand for offset printing. An artist was allowed to work with one, two, three, or four colors, depending on the publisher's budget (the more colors, the more expensive the printing). In three-color art, for instance, an artist might choose to use black, blue, and yellow and would then separate the art by preparing the portions of the picture that were black (generally referred to as a keyplate keyplate), then painting on separate sheets, called overlays overlays, the portions that were blue and the portions that were yellow, so that the finished art would actually be the three sheets, layered one on top of another. This technique required commitment, skill, and patience on the part of the artist, in addition to a thorough understanding of color and an ability to visualize the whole by a.n.a.lyzing its parts. What proportions of blue and yellow, for example, would create the exact shade of green needed? In spite of such constraints (or perhaps because of them), we saw many creative approaches to ill.u.s.tration in black and white or with one or two colors due to the efforts of artists who put their hearts and souls into children's book art.

Changes in technology in the mid-1980s, however, had an enormous impact on book production, especially in the area of picture books. Advances such as high-speed presses, computer technology, and scanning devices not only allowed for accurate reproduction of full-color art but also accomplished it at a lower cost. These changes encouraged the entry of many new fine artists into the field, who employed a great variety of techniques and styles. Children's book art expert Dilys Evans has characterized this as a visual renaissance in which "full-color printing has reached a new plateau of high performance." Even the slightest, most pedestrian story is given the level of art production that was formerly reserved for established and highly acclaimed book creators such as Ludwig Bemelmans, Maurice Sendak, and Marcia Brown.

In the midst of this ever-changing world of picture books, perhaps the factor that remains most constant is the children themselves. Young children may enjoy being dazzled by the latest bold venture in picture book art, but at the same time they may ask to return again and again to the familiar comforts of Goodnight Moon Goodnight Moon. Just what is it about this book that has ensured its success for more than sixty years? It scores high marks in all the areas that matter when it comes to picture books: outstanding text, excellent ill.u.s.trations, and successful integration of the two. In addition, it holds enormous appeal for young children whose obvious pleasure is then transferred to adults who share the book with them. But, of course, the child's chance at experiencing any picture book as a whole is completely dependent on someone who is willing and able to read the text aloud. Because picture books function best as a shared experience between a fluent reader and a prereader-generally an adult and a young child-in order for a picture book to find true success, it must be good enough to spark this symbiotic relations.h.i.+p.

While all these factors work together to create an aesthetic whole, the critic must break the picture book down into its individual parts in order to evaluate how its components fit together. In this chapter we will look at the picture book in terms of words, pictures, and how the two work together.

TEXT.

Anyone who has ever read picture books aloud to children knows just how important the words are. Since most picture books are thirty-two pages in length, and since most of those pages are covered with ill.u.s.trations, their texts are necessarily short. There is another reason for the economical use of words: Preschoolers simply have limits as to what they can and will take in. Lengthy descriptions and sophisticated abstractions are unnecessary and pointless. In picture books, as in poetry, every word counts. But beyond telling a compelling story in few words, a good picture book text has a distinctive structure structure based on familiar patterns. In order to evaluate picture books, we must ask ourselves not only "What is this story about?" but also "How is this story told?" And when it comes to studying the structural elements of a successful picture book text, we can find no better model than the laureate of the nursery, Margaret Wise Brown. based on familiar patterns. In order to evaluate picture books, we must ask ourselves not only "What is this story about?" but also "How is this story told?" And when it comes to studying the structural elements of a successful picture book text, we can find no better model than the laureate of the nursery, Margaret Wise Brown.

STRUCTURE.

Not too long after Wanda Gag launched American picture books with the publication of Million of Cats Million of Cats, writer Margaret Wise Brown entered the scene. As a teacher of two-to five-year-olds in the Bank Street Experimental School during the mid-1930s, Brown was a keen observer of the developmental behavior of her young charges. She was also greatly influenced by the groundbreaking work of her mentor, Lucy Sprague Mitch.e.l.l, who a.s.serted that, when it came to words, rhythm and sound quality were more important to young children than meaning. It was during this time that Brown began to write her picture books.

PATTERNED LANGUAGE.

Rhythm and sound are the hallmarks of Brown's picture-book texts. She accomplishes this by building a pattern with words that are rooted in a young child's experience and understanding of the world. In Brown's Noisy Books, for example, routines in the everyday world are made extraordinary as children are asked to consider them from the perspective of a little dog named m.u.f.fin who experiences the world by hearing it: And then there was a rattle of dishes. Thatmeant lunch.What kind of noise did lunch make?They had celery for lunch.Could m.u.f.fin hear that?And soup.Could m.u.f.fin hear that?And raw carrotsand steakand spinach.Could m.u.f.fin hear that?And some very quiet custard for dessert.

All the elements of patterned language that contribute to the success of picture book texts for young children can be found in the above-quoted pa.s.sage from The Indoor Noisy Book The Indoor Noisy Book. They are rhythm, rhyme, repet.i.tion, and questions.

RHYTHM.

Note the variation in line lengths, which, as in poetry, gives the reader clues as to how to read the words. But even if these lines were written in paragraphs, they would still maintain most of their rhythm due to Brown's choice of words; "rattle of dishes" sounds very much like what it describes, and the succession of the three trochees, "very quiet custard," naturally causes readers to slow down and speak in softer tones. The line "That meant lunch" packs a punch with its three accented beats that grab and hold the listener's attention. It has the same familiar rhythm as the parental attention grabber: "I said no." Because young children are often inexperienced listeners, their attention wanders easily. Brown places this sort of rhythmic hook at regular intervals to draw them back.

RHYME.

While rhyme in The Indoor Noisy Book The Indoor Noisy Book is not obvious, as it is in many other picture books, it is in fact there in the pleasing repet.i.tion of sounds and sentences that appear throughout the story. In addition to making a text easier for children to listen to, rhyme also enhances the predictability of a story. When young children listen to a rhyming story, they can generally supply the last word in a couplet or a quatrain, provided the subject is within the realm of their experience. is not obvious, as it is in many other picture books, it is in fact there in the pleasing repet.i.tion of sounds and sentences that appear throughout the story. In addition to making a text easier for children to listen to, rhyme also enhances the predictability of a story. When young children listen to a rhyming story, they can generally supply the last word in a couplet or a quatrain, provided the subject is within the realm of their experience.

REPEt.i.tION.

Brown skillfully alternates repeated lines with the introduction of words or concepts that may be new to children. By doing so she is using a familiar, expected pattern to make children feel comfortable and ready to face the unfamiliar and unexpected. Once she has set up the pattern with, for example, "Could m.u.f.fin hear that?" as soon as children hear the words "raw carrots and steak and spinach," they begin to think about the sounds each of these foods makes. And once they have entered this realm of creative thinking, they are more than ready to face the imaginative challenge of "very quiet custard."

QUESTIONS.

The question-answer mode is a language pattern very familiar to young children. The Noisy Books are filled with questions that inspire children to think about what sorts of sounds m.u.f.fin is hearing and the sources of various sounds he hears. In the context of picture-book texts, questions serve a couple of different purposes. Since questions are generally read with a different intonation, they add variety to the sound and rhythm of the text. They can also serve as hooks that will pull in wandering minds and help to keep the audience's attention focused. In addition, they directly involve the child in the story, something that not only makes a story more interesting for everyone but also enhances the self-concept of the child. With young children, there is no such thing as a rhetorical question: If the text asks a question, you will probably get answers. The answers to some questions may be obvious to some children: "Is this red?" "Noooo! It's blue!" Others, such as "What kind of noise did lunch make?" require creative thinking and may lead to several possible answers. Lastly, questions help the adult reader silently a.s.sess the level of understanding and appreciation on the part of the child audience.

The pleasing sound of patterned language is especially effective in picture books aimed at two-and three-year-olds. It functions almost like a net to catch and hold the young listeners' attention. It should not, however, overwhelm the story. The most successful uses of patterned language reveal themselves when the text is read aloud. Even when preschoolers become more experienced listeners and are able to rely more on meaning, elements of patterned language can greatly enrich stories aimed at three-and four-year-olds, since children at this age level generally enjoy wordplay a great deal.

PREDICTABILITY.

As children gain experience listening to stories, they begin to develop an understanding that stories follow a regular sequence. This idea can be reinforced by repeated readings of the same story (generally at the child's request), as children become so familiar with the story that they can easily predict what will happen next. Sometimes writers of picture books build predictability into the text with repeated actions or phrases or by using the same sentence structure over and over again. Like patterned language, predictable structures make stories easier for children to listen to and comprehend. They also allow authors to introduce more surprising or unusual elements successfully within a carefully constructed familiar context. The contrast between the predictable and the surprising elements often delights adults as well as children.

In the cla.s.sic picture book The Runaway Bunny The Runaway Bunny, Margaret Wise Brown used predictability in two ways: action and sentence structure. In this story of a small bunny trying to establish a separate ident.i.ty from his mother while at the same time testing her unconditional love, each action on the bunny's part elicits a predictable reaction on the mother's part: "If you run after me," said the little bunny,"I will become a fish in a trout streamand I will swim away from you.""If you become a fish in a trout stream," said his mother,"I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.""If you become a fisherman," said the little bunny,"I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.""If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,"said his mother, "I will be a mountain climber,and I will climb to where you are."

Children hearing this text soon pick up on the pattern of the bunny vowing to turn into someone or something else, while his mother responds by placing herself imaginatively in the same context so she can find him. This comforting predictability is also reinforced in Brown's repet.i.tion of the same sentence structure: "If you...I will..." The pleasantly surprising aspects of the bunny's playful threats and his mother's clever responses to them balance perfectly with the predictable elements, so that the text seems fresh, even after multiple readings.

PACE.

While patterned language and predictability are especially important in books for two-and three-year-olds, pace is an important feature in picture books for all age levels. The best writing we find in picture-book texts takes advantage of this unique art form by acknowledging what has been called "the drama of turning the page."

Margaret Wise Brown was so skilled at pacing picture-book texts that she could actually put a great deal of description into her books and still hold the attention of young listeners. To accomplish this, she broke her text up into meaningful segments, filled with words and images that appeal to children's senses, and used the drama of turning the page to heighten tension. Her book, The Little Island The Little Island (written under the pseudonym Golden MacDonald), for example, deals with an encounter between a kitten, who comes to a small island with people on a picnic, and the island itself. The first ten pages of text are devoted to a description of the island before the kitten arrives. There are five pages of text dealing with a conversation between the kitten and the island and, after the kitten leaves, five more pages of description of the island by itself again. Notice how the text is broken into segments to create an appropriately undulating pace. (written under the pseudonym Golden MacDonald), for example, deals with an encounter between a kitten, who comes to a small island with people on a picnic, and the island itself. The first ten pages of text are devoted to a description of the island before the kitten arrives. There are five pages of text dealing with a conversation between the kitten and the island and, after the kitten leaves, five more pages of description of the island by itself again. Notice how the text is broken into segments to create an appropriately undulating pace.

Then one dayall the lobsters crawled in from the seaand hid under the rocks and ledgesof the Island to shed their sh.e.l.lsand let their new ones grow hard and strongin hiding places in the dark.[turn page]And the seals came barking from the northto lie on the sunny rocksand raise their baby seals.[turn page]And the kingfishers came from the Southto build nests.[turn page]And the gulls laid their eggson the rocky ledges.[turn page]And wild strawberries turned red.Summer had come to the little Island.

Each page describes a simple action of one of the natural inhabitants of the island. The author could just as easily have put the seals, kingfishers, gulls, and wild strawberries on one page, but instead she took her time, drawing the description out over four double-page spreads. This has the effect of giving young listeners a sense of natural activity amid the soothing peacefulness of the island.

Due to the manner in which books are manufactured, the number of pages in any hardcover book is always divisible by eight. Most picture books are thirty-two pages long, though we occasionally see picture books that are forty or forty-eight pages. The writer must work within these confines. In the standard thirty-two-page book, there will generally be fifteen or sixteen segments of text. Each of these segments is rather like a chapter in a novel: Something must happen to move the story along or to add to the overall mood of the book. If too much happens in one segment, however, it can throw off the pace of the story. Who hasn't had the experience of reading aloud to a young child who tires of a particular page before all the text has been read? This may be an indication of poor pacing. For that matter, who hasn't had the experience of reading a picture book silently to oneself and feeling a strong urge to turn the page before reaching the end of the segment of text? That is definitely an indication of poor pacing! If the text doesn't hold your your attention, how do you expect it to hold the attention of a small child? attention, how do you expect it to hold the attention of a small child?

Think of this when you evaluate picture books. Do the pages seem to turn in the right places? Does the text flow naturally when you read it aloud? How does it sound? Do you notice elements of patterned language? Are there sentence or plot structures that make the story predictable?

PICTURES.

Just as writers use sounds, rhythm, and words to express meaning, artists use visual elements visual elements. Artists must make decisions about composition composition, or how to arrange the elements on each page. They must determine which medium medium will be most effective for their work and which will be most effective for their work and which style style to use. They take all these factors into consideration, in addition to thinking of the story as a sequence of pictures. to use. They take all these factors into consideration, in addition to thinking of the story as a sequence of pictures.

VISUAL ELEMENTS.

Visual elements are the components an artist uses in creating a picture: line, shape, texture, color, and value. Most or all these elements are combined into any one picture; however, often one element will dominate an artist's work.

LINE.

There are only two types of line in art and in nature: straight and curved. These lines may be thick or thin, long or short. They can move in three possible directions: horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Artists use directional lines for different effects. When horizontal lines dominate, they give a sense of orderly action that moves from left to right. Dominant vertical lines make a picture look still and static, giving it the photographic effect of a moment captured in time. Diagonal lines suggest spontaneous action and excitement, such as that of a person rolling down a hill. Artists use line to guide the viewer's eye across the page. They may also use line to point subtly to the objects in a picture they want the viewer to look at.

SHAPE.

By shape we mean a two-dimensional pattern that is a clear representation of an object (realism), a distorted but still recognizable object (abstraction), or a shape that's an unrecognizable object (non.o.bjective). Shapes fall into two broad categories: curved or angular. Curved shapes are used to represent objects in nature (people, animals, foliage, the moon, etc.), while angular (especially rectangular) shapes represent artificial, man-made objects (buildings, boxes, trains, books, etc.). Artists may use curved shapes for man-made objects for a desired purpose. For example, Virginia Lee Burton used curved shapes to paint the house in The Little House The Little House to characterize it as human and to make it look out of place in an urban environment. to characterize it as human and to make it look out of place in an urban environment.

TEXTURE.

Texture is the nature of the surface of shapes in a picture. Texture is best determined by the sense of touch; however, artists can communicate three types of texture visually: smooth (hard), rough, and soft with the medium used to create a picture (oils, pastels, pencil, etc.) or the medium that receives it (textured paper, wood, etc.). Because texture appeals to our tactile sense, it can be used to give a strong sensual feeling to artwork.

COLOR.

We can speak about color in terms of its hue hue (the name by which we distinguish it, such as "red," "blue"), its (the name by which we distinguish it, such as "red," "blue"), its value value (darkness or lightness of any hue, such as "dark red," "light blue"), and (darkness or lightness of any hue, such as "dark red," "light blue"), and chroma chroma (brightness or intensity). (brightness or intensity). Achromatic colors Achromatic colors are the shades of gray from white to black, and are the shades of gray from white to black, and monochromatic colors monochromatic colors are the various values of one color. are the various values of one color. Primary Primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) can be mixed with each other to produce colors (red, yellow, and blue) can be mixed with each other to produce secondary secondary colors (green, purple, and orange). Together they are divided into two groups. colors (green, purple, and orange). Together they are divided into two groups. Complementary Complementary colors are two opposing hues such as red and green or blue and orange, while colors are two opposing hues such as red and green or blue and orange, while a.n.a.logous a.n.a.logous colors are two related hues such as red and orange or green and yellow. In addition, people often speak of colors as colors are two related hues such as red and orange or green and yellow. In addition, people often speak of colors as warm warm (red, yellow, orange) or (red, yellow, orange) or cool cool (blue, green). (blue, green).

VALUE.

Value refers to the lightness or darkness of any color. A hue is mixed with black to give it a darker value or with white (or water) to give it a lighter value. Value is used in black-and-white ill.u.s.trations to give a sense of depth and volume. In color artwork it can be used to project a mood or to represent the pa.s.sage of time. When color artwork shows no variation in value, we describe it as flat flat.

COMPOSITION.

An artist must carefully plan how to arrange the visual elements on a page to create the desired mood or effect. This is rarely done without a lot of thought. In fact, if you look carefully at the composition of an ill.u.s.tration, you can generally see several design principles design principles at work. While it is entirely possible for an artist to apply any one of the following design principles to all the visual elements in a single picture, it is not necessary for him or her to do so. at work. While it is entirely possible for an artist to apply any one of the following design principles to all the visual elements in a single picture, it is not necessary for him or her to do so.

DOMINANCE.

Dominance gives a sense of order by drawing the eye to certain reference points in a picture. If there are several shapes in a picture, one will dominate. If there are many colors, one will be more important. Artists create dominance by: Making more of something. If an artist wants a rough texture to dominate, for example, he will make more of the surfaces appear to be rough. If an artist wants a rough texture to dominate, for example, he will make more of the surfaces appear to be rough.

Making something larger. To make a particular shape stand out in a picture, an artist can make it appear a lot bigger than the other shapes. To make a particular shape stand out in a picture, an artist can make it appear a lot bigger than the other shapes.

Making something brighter. Even a small shape will stand out as dominant if it's more brightly colored than the shapes around it. Even a small shape will stand out as dominant if it's more brightly colored than the shapes around it.

Giving something more value contrast. Darker objects stand out among light and lighter objects stand out among dark. Darker objects stand out among light and lighter objects stand out among dark.

BALANCE.