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A review by lattelibrarian
How Picturebooks Work by Maria Nikolajeva, Carole Scott
4.0
I read this in preparation to a picturebook class I'm taking this fall--it's one of the required readings, and I can see why! Though this book is small, it packs a lot of punch--complete with scans of illustrations to further make Nikolajeva's points.
While using symbolic theory, art theory, and everything in between, she deconstructs how picturebooks are created, how they are perceived, and how they change across editions. However, be warned--most of the picturebooks used are Swedish, so for us American readers, we may have a hard time relating to her examples. Nonetheless, her analyses are concrete, sound, and clearly have a lot of thought behind them. This is definitely a must-read for someone who wants to analyze picturebooks in the same way old classics are analyzed.
While using symbolic theory, art theory, and everything in between, she deconstructs how picturebooks are created, how they are perceived, and how they change across editions. However, be warned--most of the picturebooks used are Swedish, so for us American readers, we may have a hard time relating to her examples. Nonetheless, her analyses are concrete, sound, and clearly have a lot of thought behind them. This is definitely a must-read for someone who wants to analyze picturebooks in the same way old classics are analyzed.