Children’s picture books

It’s Wednesday afternoon and there I am in the library, keeping track of my children out of the corner of my eye while flicking through the picture books in order to re-stack our library box at home. I only have another few minutes, so my decisions have to be instant.

I pass over dozens of books—the titles are uninviting, and the illustrations are simple and two-dimensional. Inevitably I find myself drawn to the same old books—stories that I know, with pictures that are interesting to look at. An Alfie book by Shirley Hughes goes in the bag. Babar makes his way in too, as does any Bill Peet book that I come across.

If you are a parent looking for good picture books to read your children, you’ve probably had a very similar experience to me. In our humanistic world, the books that are on offer at libraries and even bookshops are pretty mediocre fare. It’s disappointing when you take the time to sit down to read a stack of books to your children and find yourself muttering under your breath at the end of a story, “That was a waste of time” (which I have to confess I have done … more than once). I have frequently wondered how some picture books ever came to be printed. The plot is weak and the illustrations poor. What did the publisher ever see in the work to get it printed?

Many picture books these days seem to be either mediocre in quality or, alternatively, they deliberately promote a worldview and behaviours that are ungodly. I’ve had a few library books make their way into our home that I have had to instantly confiscate once I realised what they were really about. One book I came across at the library the other day was entitled Jack not Jackie, a picture book with a deliberate agenda to normalise gender-identity confusion in the minds of our very young children.

The language used can also be cheap and crude, and frequently authors seem to want to sink to a child’s level, using toilet humour and other unsavoury language to supposedly engage the child.

I’ve just spent the last few months reading dozens of outstanding picture books. What struck me is that many of these books I have never come across at a library or seen in a bookshop. Good picture books have to be hunted down for your home library and captured! That is what the following booklist is for: for you to print out and use as a resource to stock your home with quality books. Or, you can give the titles to grandparents to buy as birthday presents. If you start collecting while your child is a baby, you’ll have a good stack of books to read to your children while they grow.

So, what is it that we should look for in a quality picture-book? What elements will nourish the hearts and minds of our children?

Does the book uphold virtue?

It is never too early to introduce our children to virtue through powerful storytelling. If we want our children to embrace godly characteristics as they grow, it just makes sense to read them books that promote those characteristics. Our Lord and Master knew the value of story when he taught the people powerful lessons through the medium of parables. Children learn consciously and subconsciously through stories. They will learn the characteristic of courage and persistence when they listen to Brave Irene by William Steig, or the principle of being thankful for our blessings in Julia Donaldson’s A Squash and A Squeeze. Without any extra commentary from us, we can teach them the evils of selfishness through reading Babushka’s Doll by Patricia Polacco or the preciousness of books themselves through the reading of The Bee Tree by the same author. Not all enjoyable picture books will have a clear moral lesson—some will just be amusing or entertaining—but having a collection that teaches good lessons is invaluable.

Does the book encourage scriptural male and female roles?

Many books these days seem to push a distinct agenda—the confusion of biblical roles. The purpose is to encourage girls to see themselves as leaders and breadwinners, capable and independent. One such book that springs to mind is Jam by Margaret Mahy, which portrays the male as the industrious stay-at-home dad while the mother is off at work every day. Another push in the picture-book industry is to portray fathers as stupid, irresponsible, and immature while the mother is presented as the intelligent and capable adult. If we want our children to grow up valuing and respecting God-given roles, let’s be careful what role-models we introduce them to through the picture books we read them.

Are the children in the book respectful to their parents?

Children are to obey and honour their parents (Eph. 6:1–3; Col. 3:20). And yet, picture books abound that tell the stories of rude, disobedient, disrespectful children … who get away with it! If we want our children to learn that such behaviour is unacceptable, then let’s give them good examples through books. Children like those in Sarah and Simon and No Red Paint by Edward Ardizzone, who love their parents and do everything they can to help their poor father. Or the girl in The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills, who is deeply grateful to the adults in her life for making her a winter coat, even though it is out of rags. She subsequently goes on to teach her schoolmates a lesson in thankfulness and appreciation. Sometimes children will behave badly in a picture book story, but the important thing is that, in the course of the story, they learn a better way and are reconciled to their parents by the conclusion of the book.

Is the language rich and sophisticated?

Picture books are a fantastic start along the road of building and increasing a child’s vocabulary. I’m not talking about early readers that use simple words and sentence structures. Dr Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat is not that fun to read aloud to your child (I know because, somehow, I found myself reading it just the other night), but it’s a great book for beginning readers to read on their own. Leave the readers to your child to read on their own, and, instead, delve into the rich array of language in a quality picture book. It’s not necessary to ‘dumb’ down language for children. Consider the beginning of When Jessie came across the sea by Amy Hest (illustrated by P.J.Lynch):

“Once, in a poor village far from here, there was a very small house with a slanting roof. Inside were two chairs, two narrow beds, and a table with a fine lace cloth. A potbellied stove warmed the place in winter, and warmed thin soup.
Jessie lived in that house with Grandmother. They had one skinny cow—Miss Minnie- and a patch of garden. Carrots came up here and there, and sometimes a potato”.

The writing style is at once simple and yet rich. Children can understand it, and yet there will be some words (‘slanting’ and ‘potbellied’) that they won’t fully comprehend. No matter. Their vocabulary is being built by listening to rich and sophisticated language that, one day, they will be able to use themselves. If we want them to appreciate quality literature in all its fullness and beauty, let’s begin with well-written picture books.

Is the artwork interesting, unique, beautiful…or flat, cartoon-like and perhaps even distorted?

One of my favourite picture books is the one mentioned above—When Jessie came across the sea, by Amy Hest and P.J.Lynch. I just love looking at the artwork. It draws your eye in; the cosiness of a young girl sewing with her grandmother by firelight, the bleak stormy day as she leaves for America, the hope and resolve on the faces of those who sail past the Statue of Liberty bound for a better life. It’s all there in the artwork (you really need to get this book!) It is simply breath-taking in beauty and detail. Place it alongside many modern picture books and there is just no comparison. The crude, cartoon-like drawings of many books are exposed for what they really are.

Children are never too young to start appreciating beauty. Sarah Clarkson in her book, Read for the Heart, writes:

“In their early years, children are sensory sponges, soaking up every drop of sight and sound as they furnish the landscape of their minds. With every picture and illustration they encounter, they are building an internal expectation of beauty against which they will measure all future experiences with art. They are also outfitting the realm of their imagination, setting up that secret world of pictures to which they will turn later in life as they come across great literature that will demand them to furnish images out of the stock in their own minds.” (page 65)

Let us provide a visual feast for our children so they learn what is good and lovely and true (Philippians 4:8).

There are many unique artistic styles that we can expose our children to. The rich, homely style of Shirley Hughes is quite different to the distinctive artwork of Patricia Polacco, but each artist evokes an atmosphere in their works and provides detail for the eye to rest on. The world our Heavenly Father has created is dense and detailed, and artwork can be a fine reflection of that.

Do YOU want to read this book to your child?

Although picture books are written for children, it’s easy to forget that the ones reading the books are most often us, their parents. It really helps if you actually enjoy reading a particular book to your child, instead of inwardly groaning your way through it. I remember once being given a collection of painfully boring ballet stories that my youngest two just loved and wanted me to read to them. There really was nothing to commend the stories—the plots were trite and predictable, and the artwork was just awful. Night after night they chose this book to read, and I still remember the freedom I felt when I finally did what I should have done much earlier: quietly dispose of the book in a recycling bin. In my opinion, the best picture books are enjoyable for both parent and child. If we enjoy the stories ourselves, we will be far more motivated to make the time to read to our children.

So, those are a few benchmarks I consider when choosing picture books. And while we tend to think of picture books as suitable for very young children, a well-written, beautifully illustrated picture book will appeal to all ages.

After all, as my husband will testify, you’re never too old to enjoy a Bill Peet.

Ten picture books to get started

Here’s a list of ten books to get started.

1. James Herriot’s Treasury for Children. Illustrated by Ruth Brown and Peter Barrett
2. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond
3. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
4. Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
5. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
6. Thundercake by Patricia Polacco
7. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
8. When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest. Illustrated by P.J.Lynch
9. Corduroy by Don Freeman
10. What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

But, we have a much bigger list…

Picture booklist (Download)

Here is my full list of nearly 200 books and their authors along with my comments about them:

• Download “Children’s Books for Christadelphian Families—Picture Books for 3–8-year-olds” (PDF, 3MB).

This is the first in a series of suggested lists of books for children and young people. This list incorporates picture books for three-to-eight-year-olds and is made up of mainly non-biblical stories. We are putting together another list for biblical stories as part of the series.