A lot of people think picture books are just books with pictures. But many books have illustrations without being picture books. Think of a storybook you have read where illustrations show exactly what the words say. The illustrations are nice to look at, but you could read the story without looking at the illustrations and still understand what the story is about. An example of a storybook would be an illustrated telling of Cinderella.
Picture books are different than storybooks. In a picture book, both words and illustrations work together to tell the story. If somebody read you a picture book without showing you the illustrations, you wouldn’t get the whole story.
For example, in the picture book Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins, the book’s words describe the path a hen takes on her walk around the farm. The text tells where Rosie walks (around the pond, over the haystack, etc.) but the text doesn’t describe anything happening during the walk. If somebody were to read this book to you without showing you the illustrations, you’d think it was a pretty boring story. A lot is happening in the illustrations, though. As Rosie walks, the reader sees a fox stalking her. The interesting part of the story is shown in illustrations of what happens to the fox as he tries to catch the hen.
You can see sample pages from this book here:
Sometimes picture book authors illustrate their own books, but often their books are illustrated by somebody else. Did you know that picture book authors and illustrators usually don’t work together? An author writes the words and then the book’s editor picks an illustrator. The author rarely sees the illustrations to their story until the illustrator has finished them.
Here’s a link to an author reading of Chloe and the Lion, written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Adam Rex: https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_0J7H-nRJ1/?igshid=1k8ceayb6hpgx
You can see in this book that an author and illustrator can have different ideas about what a picture book should be about.
Now it’s your turn. Email clydethecoyote@granvillelibrary.org to receive a three-sentence story to illustrate. Write each sentence on a separate piece of paper and illustrate them. As you work, think about how your illustrations can add meaning to the story that the author (me) didn’t include in the words.
When you’re done, take a photograph of each of your pages and email them to clydethecoyote@granvillelibrary.org so we can share your stories online.