Learning the language of picture books

Horning, Kathleen, T. "Picture Books." In From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reveiwing Children's Books. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.

For anyone wishing to write about picture books, Kathleen Horning's chapter on this subject provides an excellent basic introduction to the elements of picture book text and illustrations, the relationship between the two, and the vocabulary used to descibe the different aspects of each one. For text, she discusses the importance of structure, patterned language, predictability and pacing, using excerpts from well-known picture books to demonstrate the successful use of each. On the topic of illustrations, she covers visual elements, composition, media and style. She provides titles and descriptions of picture books that exemplify these different aspects of illustration, but the reader will need to go to the books themselves for visuals since the book itself has no images. She also provides an sample discussion of Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon as a way of demonstrating how this vocabulary can be used to investigate the success with which specific elements of text and illustration in a picture book work together to create an intentional overall effect.

Horning, Kathleen, T. "Writing A Review." In From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reveiwing Children's Books. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997.

In her final chapter, Horning introduces the novice children's literature reivewer to the history, importance and major sources of literature reviews, focusing on the various strategies and ingredients that make for readable and useful reviews. She provides practical how-to advice, which is supported by numerous excerpts from the work of established reviewers. Her discussion of the balance between the descriptive, analytical and sociological elements of a review is especially useful.