SLAP HAPPY LARRY

What’s true of short stories is true of picture books:

You should read short stories because each one will give you the full narrative hit—beginning, middle and end—in double-quick time. You’ll get all—well, most of—the satisfaction of a novel, in one small package that might use up 15–20 minutes of your time.

Short Stories and Why You Should Embrace Them, National Short Story Week

Picturebooks are for readers of all ages. Be careful how picturebooks are housed in school libraries.

Unfortunately, many readers leave primary grades with the idea that picturebooks are only for the very young. Par tof this is perpetuated by the separation fo picturebooks within the library. The collection of picturebooks is often referred to as “E Books” (look for the “E” on the spine) or “Everybody Books” or (worse) “Easy Books”. While this is a logistic and accepted solution in some libraries, it often creates a barrier that upper elementary and middle school students won’t cross. Teachers who incorporate picturebooks/illustrated books/books in picturebook format in the instruction and have these books available in the classroom can diminish the reluctance of older readers to return to the pleasure of reading books with many illustrations.

A Unique Visual and Literary Art Form: Recent Research on Picturebooks

A mentor text is a stellar text that can be used as a model to teach students how to write.

Marcie Flintchum-Atkins

There’s no need to put away the picture books once students are older. They come in handy in the high school classroom for teaching:

• Plot structure (See my post Teaching Kids How To Structure A Story, making use of popular picture books.)
• Colour Symbolism
• Irony (especially the difference between words and pictures)
• Camera angles
• and many other things.

Over at Marcie’s blog is a collection of links about making use of mentor texts in the classroom.

"Picture books are "one of the literary world’s great pleasures," writes @PamelaPaulNYT. "When I say kids shouldn’t outgrow picture books, I mean ever." https://t.co/BKOtV1N9wR

— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) February 21, 2021

Australian Picturebooks

• Caleb by Gary Crew and Steven Woolman — a Gothic horror story in picturebook form — what?!
• The Cider Duck by Joan Woodberry — A mid 20th century Tasmanian picture book by two teachers. The cruelty is understated in the story but now stands out as inappropriate fodder for children.
• Millie by John Marsden and Sally Rippin — one of those little girls who kidlit censors don’t like, because she is naughty, and doesn’t get punished!
• Mr Chicken Goes To Paris by Leigh Hobbs — a great ‘scribbly’ style of illustration full of movement, and the best of the stories from this author/illustrator imo
• Possum Magic by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas — an Australian classic
• The Rainbow by Gary Crew and Gregory Rogers — a quiet story illustrated with pastels that feels like it’s set in the inner suburbs of an Australian city
• Tough Boris by Mem Fox and Kathryn Brown — If you only read the words you’ll only get half the story. Look at the pictures closely!
• Where Is The Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek — sometimes simple = popular, and this book is a prime example
• Wolf Comes To Town by Denis Manton — an out-of-print book but I can’t for the life of me understand why. An excellent example of a catchphrase: “I want it, I like it and I’ll take it!”
• Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey — kids love the humour in this book. Compare with its first sequel, which isn’t quite as well-done.
• Pig the Winner by Aaron Blabey comes later and works well.
• Harry and Hopper by Margaret Wild and Freya Blackwood — a picturebook about the death of a loved dog which avoids falling into the hackneyed trap of replacing the dog with a new one, making everything better
• Black Dog by Levi Pinfold — I believe this is an allegory for agoraphobia, though it says something rather disturbing about how to treat strange dogs
• Chatterbox by Margaret Wild and Deborah Niland — a great readaloud
• The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan —an allegory of white invasion in Australia
• Eric by Shaun Tan — a wonderful story full of realistic pencil drawings about a family who hosts an unusual exchange student
• The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan — it’s been made into an award winning short film, too
• Leaf by Stephen Michael King — a story about growing up using a tree as metaphor
• The Useless Donkeys by Lydia Pender and Judith Cowell (1979)  — The Benjamin Franklin Effect illustrated via a picturebook
• Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French — a parody of a diary. We expect that if someone has taken the trouble to write something down then it must be something important. But nothing much happens and that is the joke.
• Waltzing Matilda by Banjo Paterson — the unofficial Australian national anthem is actually pretty disturbing. Even as a picture book.
• Good Morning Mr Pancakes by Chris McKimmie — an underrated Australian book. McKimmie wrote, illustrated and also did the book design.
• John Brown, Rose and The Midnight Cat (1979) — If the child is old enough to read the symbolism, they will know this is a story about death. Otherwise, it’s a little odd.

British Picturebooks

• Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore (1993) — We all know cats have no loyalty, right? (Inga Moore is Australian/British.) This book is clearly set on an English street.
• Monster Pet! by McAllister and Middleton — There are a good number of stories featuring a child who mistreats a pet, or captures a wild animal and tries to keep it as a pet. This is one harrowing example.
• Dogger by Shirley Hughes — one of Shirley Hughes’s best stories, and we can all learn from the storytelling techniques employed here
• Gorilla by Anthony Browne — an example of a postmodern picture book.
• Zoo by Anthony Browne (1992) — Not a happy day at the zoo. Can zoos ever really be happy places?
• Rufus and the Blackberry Monster by Lisa Stubbs — Some monsters don’t really exist. This story takes you all the way to the bottom of the garden.
• Guess Who’s Coming For Dinner? by John Kelly and Cathy Tincknell — one of my favourite picturebooks which rewards close reading of the illustrations
• Wolves by Emily Gravett — metafiction!
• Cloud Tea Monkeys and Mysterious Traveler by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham  — a modern story created in retro style
• Mog The Forgetful Cat by Judith Kerr — Best-selling picturebooks have become shorter since the Mog series was created, and few illustrators are using coloured pencil in this way
• The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr — a great example of the carnavalesque
• Snow White as illustrated by Burkert and Hyman — Snow White has been illustrated hundreds of times but rarely in so interesting way as this
• The Disgusting Sandwich by Gareth Edwards and Hannah Shaw
• Thirteen O’Clock by Enid Blyton and Tom Barling — for its distinctive 1970s style of illustration, despite being an older story than that
• Who Wants To Be A Poodle I Don’t by lauren child — includes a great example of the leitmotif
• Wolves In The Walls — a girl of about 8 or 10 hears wolves in the walls of her house. But these wolves aren’t as scary as they might at first appear…
• Loveykins by Quentin Blake — Blake’s work is better known when he pairs with an equally famous author such as Roald Dahl or David Walliams, but he has also written a number of his own stories. Is he equally good at storycrafting as he is at illustration? Let’s see…
• The Enormous Crocodile — by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake. I also quote from a Dahl biographer who delves into why Dahl and Blake paired so successfully.
• Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake — A grown man, and a friend to all children, is missing a boot. When Blake writes his own stories he comes up with something far kinder than when he illustratres for the other male stars of children’s literature. This is an excellent example of Blake’s innate kindness.
• Stickman by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler — Donaldson is masterful with rhyme and scansion but also a master of taking pieces from well-known tales and blending them into something new. I also think that sometimes Donaldson’s books get published even when they’re a bit ho-hum — she is an author with a name who can shift copies of anything. But this is one of her best so far.
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler — Donaldson makes use of mythic structure and the popular trickster archetype to create a satisfying tale based on an old Romanian one.
• Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill — my daughter loved these books as a toddler (and beyond). Make sure you don’t buy the cheap versions of these books as they don’t have the flaps, and this series is ALL ABOUT THE FLAPS.
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjery Williams and William Nicholson — These days the best selling picturebooks are much shorter — more like yarns with a punchline, but this is from the second Golden Age of Children’s Literature and does very much feel like it comes from an earlier age. The influence of fairytale is palpable.
• A Squash And A Squeeze by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler — an old woman living in the country learns a valuable life lesson with the help of a wise old man.
• Jack And The Flumflum Tree by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts — not one of Donaldson’s better stories, but nicely illustrated by someone other than Axel Scheffler
• Meal One by Cutler and Oxenbury — Officially the weirdest plot for a picture book that I’ve seen as of the year of our Lord 2020.
• The Snowman by Raymond Briggs — a wordless, carnivalesque tale
• Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs — It works because it is short. Father Christmas is partly making use of a comedic structure rather than classic dramatic structure.
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter — a mythic structure with an appealing, misbehaving bunny
• The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter — similar to Peter Rabbit and with not quite the same longevity, but interesting for its range of ‘animalness’ in the characters.
• The Tale of Ginger and Pickles by Beatrix Potter — idealised capitalism and very creepy if you think about it too hard.
• The Tale of Mr. Tod by Beatrix Potter — has thriller elements. Potter seems to have written this to show people she did not write about fluffy and nothing.
• The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes by Beatrix Potter — I have a modern theory.
• The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy Winkle by Beatrix Potter — When you write a story ‘for girls’ (or ‘for boys’) you probably won’t succeed. Here’s a case study in that.
• The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter — Potter’s most beautiful book, which was to compensate for the slimy-ness of the frog, apparently.
• The Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter — This story is equally about Tom’s sisters. A carnivalesque adventure in which childlike characters get dirty. Ducks are used to comic effect.
• The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse by Beatrix Potter — An interesting case study into the way girls are taught to appease men.
• The Roly-Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter — There’s no other way to say this — pure horror. A cat is abducted by rats and rolled up into a pudding. A dog saves the day.
• The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse by Beatrix Potter — A re-visioning of an Aesop fable in which Potter’s clear preference for the country is evident.
• The Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter — An epic mythic journey in which a pig is cast out into the world and forced to make his own way. Potter put herself into the story and into the illustrations.
• Tad by Benji Davies — a very simple narrative, and a wonderful example of colour that pops as the reader turns the page to reveal something near the end.
• Edwardo The Horriblest Boy In The Whole Wide World by John Burningham and Fabulously Naughty Children — I love John Burningham’s illustrations because they’re just naive enough for a young reader to think they can create artwork just as great.
• Cannonball Simp by John Burningham — What a shame the word simp has since been repurposed. This is a circus story about outcasts who find their people.
• Bye Bye Baby by Janet and Allan Ahlberg — a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek picture book making use of the classic mythic structure but with a baby for a hero.
• Up and Up by Shirley Hughes — a wordless picture book making use of the symbolism of flight and an egg for a portal.
• Moving Molly by Shirley Hughes — a realistic story about a girl who moves from the city to the country. Captures the emotions beautifully.
• Piper by Emma Chichester Clark — a classic mythic journey from an established author and illustrator.
• The Doll House Picture Book by Karas and Riches — The part where the boy visits the girl’s bedroom and she lets him do as he pleases (to her toys) out of etiquette has aged this picture book somewhat.

Irish Picturebooks

• Rosamund and the Purple Jar by English-Irish writer Maria Edgeworth is the oldest picture book I’ve read, first published 1796.
• Stuck by Oliver Jeffers — Technically Jeffers would be in his own ‘Irish American’ category I suppose. Stuck is a great example of what might be described as a ‘gag’ or ‘joke’ picture book which are selling really well at the moment. Others in this category are Mo Willems, Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen. Now, I can’t personally think of any women writing (nor illustrating) best selling picturebooks of this category. The market is dominated entirely by youngish men. I’d really love to know why this is, but the cynic in me suspects it’s not because women aren’t funny.
• This Moose Belongs To Me by Oliver Jeffers — an absolutely perfect example of story structure: Shortcoming/Need, Desire, Opponent, Plan, Battle, Anagnorisis, New Situation. If teaching story craft to your class, use this book. It requires less time than watching an entire movie.

New Zealand Picturebooks

• The Lion In The Meadow by Margaret Mahy — came out at about the same time as The Tiger Who Came To Tea. This was Mahy’s first publication.
• Scarface Claw by Lynley Dodd — Hairy Maclary is the first and best-known of this series but Scarface Claw is an excellent, relatable villain
• Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd — Lynley Dodd writes about cats just as well as she writes about dogs.
• My Cat Likes to Hide in Boxes by Eve Sutton and Lynley Dodd — This was Dame Lynley Dodd’s first publication, written by her cousin-in-law. Though this story is a very simple rhyming cumulative tale, I think it says something about New Zealand attitudes regarding itself and other countries at the time.
• Nickety Nackety Noo Noo Noo by Joy Cowley and Trace Moroney — Another NZ kidlit great takes inspiration from a Scottish folksong to create this children’s tale
• Black Dog by Pamela Allen — This doesn’t appear to be one of Allen’s best selling picture books — others are far more widely known in NZ and Australia, and this is probably because picture books which are metaphors for mental illnesses are niche.

North American Picturebooks

• Bears In The Night by Jan and Stan Berenstain — in pressing matters, is Berenst*in spelt with an ‘a’ or with an ‘e’? — Come the 2020s, an Internet meme has circulated which tells us the Berenstain mother is only 27 years of age.
• Just Me And My Puppy by Mercer Mayer — Mercer Mayer seems to have gotten sick of this series (imho) because the later books are nothing on the earlier ones. They’re even more elaborately illustrated. This is one of the earlier ones.
• The Trip by Ezra Jack Keats — Keats was one of the first picture book creators to depict children of colour and also to present the city as an interesting, non-terrible place.
• Rosie’s Walk — Use this classic to teach the concept of ‘dramatic irony’, since there is a big gap between the words and the illustration here, creating an ‘ironic distance’ between illustration and text.
• Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban — What happens when you get too much of a good thing?
• This Is Not My Hat by John Klassen — a good example of what’s popular in picturebooks in the 2010s — stories which are basically gags — but I don’t say this in a disparaging way.
• Z Is For Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky — a hilarious story, and the best abecedary I have seen. And we thought it was impossible to make a fresh ABC book! This one works far better than its sequel, about shapes. I think I know why — what do you think?
• No Roses For Harry! by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham — old books could be uncomfortably femme phobic and this is a good example, but Harry is still a great character.
• Harry The Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham — perhaps the most popular of the Harry books. We may have had more if the creators had remained married.
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown — Why is this book such a favourite?
• Mister Dog by Margaret Wise Brown and Garth Williams — Wise Brown is one of the few authors I’ve come across who doesn’t use traditional story structure. Or does she? She uses proxies.
• The Sailor Dog by Margaret Wise Brown and Garth Williams — A parody of the Robinsonnade.
• Wait Till The Moon Is Full by Wise Brown and Williams — Another really interesting story structure which breaks ‘the rules’. (Would Wise Brown get published today?)
• Theodore Mouse Goes To Sea by Michaela Muntean is another Little Golden Book about a mouse character who goes on a sea adventure, though this one isn’t as effective in my opinion. It was worth taking a close look at why.
• Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak — Soooo much has been written about this influential book. In fact, it’s been so influential it hardly even looks special nowadays. Here I take snippets from academics and add a bit to the corpus.
• Outside Over There by Maurice Sendak — a scary changeling story.
• Higglety Piggelty Pop! or There Must Be More To Life by Maurice Sendak — a scary book about the death of Sendak’s beloved dog, if you are old enough to read the symbolism. Otherwise, yeah, still a little creepy.
• Some Things Are Scary by Florence Parry Heide and Jules Feiffer — a retro picturebook from my own childhood with a surprisingly modern feel.
• Olivia by Ian Falconer — a narcissistic little girl in a pig’s body. When the English turned her into a cartoon they moved her from NYC to the suburbs, which changes the feel of the series quite a bit.
• Olivia and the Missing Toy by Ian Falconer — this plot is a failure but still interesting for its use of a McGuffin
• Olivia and the Fairy Princesses by Ian Falconer — is this feminist, or is it just feminist at first glance? (No, yes.)
• Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey — a rare example of a picturebook which breaks ‘the rules’ of storytelling.
• The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen — interesting for its art style and use of topology inside a house. The house is fascinating because it’s obviously not the boy’s real house (there are no parents in the story), but rather a representation of how he psychically feels about home.
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle — even a simple story such as this one follows the unwritten rules of storytelling. There’s also a healthy eating message.
• Duck Cakes For Sale by Janet Lunn and Kim LaFave — a Canadian story from my childhood. I don’t think it’s very well known or easy to get a hold of now.
• The Biggest Sandwich Ever by Rita Golden Gelman and Mort Gerberg — a retro pick from 1980, with a Dr Seussish plot and simple rhyme scheme for emerging readers. A great example of a story that plays with scale.
• The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese — although this is an American production, the illustrator did spend some years in China.
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko — one of those obviously feminist picturebooks from the 1980s.
• That Is NOT A Good Idea! by Mo Willems — children will love this because they know more than the characters do — dramatic irony! Also overturns a stereotype about weak female characters, which I love.
• Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems — an ‘early reader’ series which has genuine universal appeal due to quite sophisticated humour.
• The Pigeon Wants A Puppy by Mo Willems — similar to the Elephant and Piggie series and just as funny.
• Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive This Bus by Mo Willems — taken together, the pigeon books reveal the underlying structure of this series.
• Madeline And The Gypsies by Ludwig Bemelmans — I’m going to put this here because Betelmans wrote the Madeline series in English while he lived in America.
• Madeline In London by Ludwig Bemelmans — another carnivalesque story about the red-headed little orphan
• Thidwick The Big-Hearted Moose by Dr Seuss — One of the earliest picturebooks about moose (which may be a bit on trend recently). This is an example of a cumulative tale and the moral is that there are limits to our kindness, in a format which teaches children, overwhelmingly, to be nothing but kind.
• And To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss — Geisel’s first publication success, with a rhythm inspired by the engine of a steam ship. Interesting for its ‘comic reversal’ as described by Nodelman.
• I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew by Dr Seuss — Great for teaching classic mythic structure, because this story conforms perfectly.
• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss — This is a blend of classic mythic structure and the carnivalesque. Notable for using only 50 different words. A typical odd-couple comedy.
• Doctor De Soto by William Steig — Stieg made much use of Aesop’s animal characters and this story is a great example of miniatures in storytelling, literary dreaming and humour. A consideration of the gender roles lets us know how far we’ve come since 1982.
• The Amazing Bone by William Steig — a wonderful example of an ironic Aesopian animal character and a voice which is so strong it makes up for what might be an otherwise uninspiring plot.
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1970) by William Steig — another wonderful example of melodrama in picture books, making use of folktale tropes.
• Boss Baby by Marla Frazee — the perfect example of humour which appeals equally to children and adults, mostly for different reasons. This is also an ensemble cast, in which both child and parents have their own anagnorisis.
• The Farmer And The Clown by Marla Frazee — a moving wordless picture book, with a contemporary take on the ideology of ‘found family’.
• After The Fall by Dan Santat — a highly metaphorical story about overcoming anxiety, showing how a simple idea done well beats all.
• The Chicken Book by Garth Williams — a simple post-war book which was more fully coloured in the 1970s.
• Scuffy the Tugboat by Gertrude Crampton — with an apt name, Crampton wrote a post WW2 story encouraging children to stay at home rather than go out into the world.
• President Squid by Aaron Reynolds and Sara Veron was not meant to be a book about Donald Trump (it was written before his nomination), but it really absolutely turned out that way.
• The Haunted Tea-Cosy by Edward Gorey — a re-visioning of A Christmas Carol.
• The Headless Bust by Edward Gorey — If you know what this absurdist story is about, well-done you.
• The Adventures of Beekle: The unimaginary friend by Dan Santat — A simple mythic journey beautifully written and even more beautifully illustrated.
• Just A Dream by Chris Van Allsburg — An example of an eco-story which now feels very much of its time (the 1990s).
• Tight Times by Shook Hazen and Schart Hyman — The first Reading Rainbow book, of the late 70s, early 80s about a child whose family are experiencing economic hardship. The boy learns that it’s okay for men to cry, too. Some modern readers don’t like that the father comes home after getting fired and pours himself some hard liquor and smokes a cigarette.
• Sidewalk Flowers by Lawson and Smith — This wordless picture book is set in a very specific part of Toronto and is the mythic journey of a young girl who walks home through the park with her father and confronts death in the suburban equivalent of a fairytale forest.
• Ferdinand The Bull Picture Book by Leaf and Lawson — A classic picture book about a bull who is meant to be a fighting bull, but Ferdinand only wants to smell flowers. The illustrations are a notable early example of cinematic viewpoints. The illustrator makes excellent use of white space.
• Ty’s One-Man Band by Pitts Walter and Tomes — a story set in the American South one long, hot summer day. A boy meets a magical man with a peg leg. The man teaches him how to make music out of household items. Because of the title (one-man), I think the man with the peg leg is a figment of Ty’s imagination.
• Wolf In The Snow by Matthew Cordell — a Red Riding Hood re-visioning with an emphasis on kindness. This is an excellent example of the female mythic form.
• The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Hakes Noble and Kellogg — a carnivalesque picture book from the early 1980s with excellent narrative art. Notable because most carnivalesque stories are set in the home, but this one (kind of) starts on a farm. Features an embedded narrative. Surprisingly complex for a carnivalesque picture book.
• Extra Yarn by Barnett and Klassen — a minimalist story both in text and in art. Makes use of old fairytale tropes to craft something that feels brand new.
• Arthur’s Eyes by Marc Brown — Although this wasn’t the very first Arthur book, it was the first to be adapted for TV and is often considered the first. In my article I talk about a massive ideological problem (to do with bathroom use and femme shaming).
• The Fog by Maclear and Pak — Another example of a female mythic structure, which I’m noticing is the preferred mythic form for stories about climate change. (Is it really up to women again, this time to save the environment??) Seriously, an excellent picture book with much to learn and mull over.
• Gaston by DiPucchio and Robinson — Not one but TWO massive ideological issues which would prevent me from reading this story to children, unless it were to older children, for discussion. The art is beautiful, with a soft, warm grey dominating.
• Creepy Carrots by Reynolds and Brown — If you want to know how to write ‘scary’ stories for very young kids without keeping them awake at night, this is your ticket. Has been compared to Twilight Zone, probably because of the big reversal at the end.
• Tawny Scrawny Lion (1952) by Jackson and Tenggren — a Little Golden Book classic, and probably the inspiration for many pescatarians.
• Rupert Can Dance by Jules Feiffer — An excellent example of how quick-looking line work can add movement to a picture book.
• The Crows of Pearblossom by Huxley and Cooney — I despise this book with every fibre of my being.
• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney — An American classic, with an environmental problem that may prove problematic in a country such as, say, New Zealand. Barbara Cooney’s style of artwork is very much in fashion at the moment, decades later.
• Fly Homer Fly by Bill Peet — A bird adventure, featuring the rural/city divide.

Icelandic

Oliver by Birgitta Sif — a boy with stuffed toys as imaginary friends finds a playmate

Translated into English

• The Magical Life Of Mr Renny by Leo Timmers — an attractively illustrated story which seems inspired by the Chinese folktale about the peasant boy whose paintings turned to real life objects after acquisition of a magical brush. What do you think of the ending?
• When We Were Alone In The World by Ulf Nilsson and illustrated by Eva Eriksson — even when translated into English, the European distinctiveness shines through
• The Story Of The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch — scatological humour at its finest
• Anton Can Do Magic by Ole Konnecke — a humorous picturebook for families who would like to teach their children critical thinking skills
• Beauty and the Beast by Anne Carter and Binette Schroeder (1986) — Originally a French tale, this version is retold by an English speaker and illustrated by a German.
• Which Witch’s Wand Works? by Poly Bernatene — a carnivalesque story with an interesting narrative technique
• More! by Peter Schossow — an almost wordless picturebook translated from German
• Frog Went A’Courtin by John Langstaff — based on the folk song, text written by a well-known musician of the 20th century.
• Cry Heart, But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved and Charlotte Pardi — Imagery of the Grim Reaper softened for children experiencing, or contemplating, grief.
• Tomten Stories For Children — The Tomten are Scandinavian fantasy creatures who roam around at night keeping you safe. (Better than Wee Willy Winky, then.)
• Pettson and Findus Pancake Pie by Sven Nordqvist — First in the Pettson and Findus stories about a man and his toddler-ish cat. The illustrations are especially fetching in my view, which is why I stick to the picture books rather than the TV adaptation.
• Pitschi by Hans Fischer (1948) — Sometimes you don’t have to leave home to have a mythic adventure.
• There’s A Crocodile Under My Bed! by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert — Okay, I’m not sure if this one was originally in Dutch, German or English. I read it in English.

By Genre

Fairytales

• The Magic Porridge Pot — I look at the Ladybird versions and examine food in children’s literature in the context of medieval famines
• Little Red Riding Hood — This tale fascinates me because it says something so terribly bad about rape, yet bowdlerised versions of this tale abound, and suggest none of that… overtly.
• Tom Thumb, Thumbelina And Other Miniature Tales — This post is more about the miniature tales — including mouse tales — than about these fairytales specifically
• Beauty and the Beast by Anne Carter and Binette Schroeder (1986) — My favourite version of the story. It includes notes on the history of this tale — which is not technically a fairy tale at all — in the back.
• The Gingerbread Man — For a contemporary take see Julia Donaldson’s Stick Man. This is the Little Golden Book version I grew up with.

Horror

Picturebooks, by their very nature, are designed to comfort. So it is comforting for a child to learn that something they thought was terribly scary is scary only because they are unfamiliar with it.

See: What Is The Horror Genre For? for a breakdown of what horror is and is not.

• Wolves In The Walls — Lovecraft wrote Rats In The Walls; Neil Gaiman wrote Wolves In The Walls
• Wolves by Emily Gravett  — a metafictional picturebook in which a wolf in a book seems to come right off the page
• The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen — a little boy lives in a big scary house with lots of staircases, a dark basement and a mysteriously busted night-light bulb
• Bears In The Night by Jan and Stan Berenstain — a night-time expedition to find a mythical beast
• Guess Who’s Coming For Dinner? by John Kelly and Cathy Tincknell — again we have the gothic house, the scary contraptions, the aristocratic wolf
• Caleb by Gary Crew and Steven Woolman
• Black Dog by Levi Pinfold — the house in the middle of the snowy forest and the creepy symbolic objects make this a scene from a horror film, not to mention the massive creature peering in through the windows. Did I mention that bit?
• Some Things Are Scary by Florence Parry Heide and Jules Feiffer — a mixture of horror symbols and everyday anxieties make for an overall funny and reassuring book
• Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd — We’ve got the symbolism of the moon, the nighttime setting, the change of character when darkness falls. This is a great gothic horror for the preschool set.
• Beauty and the Beast by Anne Carter and Binette Schroeder (1986) — I’m going to add this one here, too.

Thriller

• Rosie’s Walk — Is the fox going to catch the hen!?
• Scarface Claw by Lynley Dodd — Scarface is a great villain — will the hero win out?

Crime

In a crime story we see what the criminal is up to.

• Nickety Nackety Noo Noo Noo by Joy Cowley and Trace Moroney — a kidnapping by an ogre, outwitted by a wishy wee woman
• Wolf Comes To Town by Denis Manton — a wolf dresses up as various characters in order to commit various crimes in a town

Detective

In the detective genre, we follow the character who is solving the mystery. Or, the reader is the detective.

• Where Is The Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek — the reader looks for a green sheep somewhere within the book
• The Story Of The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch — poo mystery
• This Is Not My Hat by John Klassen — theft and murder
• Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill — Finding things is the main job of a detective, no?

Comedy

• Z Is For Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul O. Zelinsky
• Mr Chicken Goes To Paris by Leigh Hobbs 
• Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey 
• Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems

Adventure

• This Moose Belongs To Me by Oliver Jeffers
• Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Family Drama

• Who Wants To Be A Poodle I Don’t by lauren child
• Dogger by Shirley Hughes
• Gorilla by Anthony Browne
• Harry The Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham
• No Roses For Harry! by Gene Zion and Margaret Bloy Graham 
• Millie by John Marsden and Sally Rippin
• Just Me And My Puppy by Mercer Mayer 
• Harry and Hopper by Margaret Wild and Freya Blackwood 

Feminist Subversions From The 1980s

• Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole — like a more ridiculous (a.k.a. interesting) ancestor of the Pixar film Brave
• Bossyboots by David Cox — An Australian story set in the Wild West (of NSW) in which bossiness is shown to have its distinct advantages
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko — an example of the ‘big struggle-free myth’ form which has more recently started to take off.

Illustration Study

• Why The Black And White? — Even with colour printing down in cost some illustrators are still working in black and white. Why?
• The Glance Curve — how eyes move across a page and how illustrators make the most of that knowledge
• Grey — examples of picture books which use grey as their main theme, even though ‘kids love primary colours’
• Shadow And Lightsource — In all artwork there are various sources of light, each with varying effects. How does it work in picturebooks?
• Taxonomy of Detail in Character Illustration — words to describe how illustrators draw people
• Panoptic Art In Picture Books — artists such as Shirley Hughes usually include a panoptic scene in their picture books. This is probably an aerial, all-seeing view of a setting.
• Synoptic Narrative In Picture Books — Continuous narrative is sort of like a comic book sequence but without the framing.
• Progressive Narrative In Picture Books — This sort of narrative art is so common in picture books that it hardly needs naming. But if the artist shakes it up a bit they can achieve some very interesting skews.
• Impressionism in Picture Books — Impressionistic painting leaves an ‘impression’, as if the viewer had glanced at it. This style is regularly used in modern picture books to suggest a dreamlike trance or a time in the past.

Other

• The Study Of Film Equals The Study Of Picturebooks
• Stock Yuck In Picturebooks
• Nudity In Picturebooks
• The World’s First Picturebook
• Reading Pictures Is A Skill In Its Own Right
• Naturalistic Animal Behaviour In Picturebooks
• Tobacco Use In Picturebooks
• The Importance of Picturebook Endpapers and Other Peritext
• The Size And Format Of Picturebooks
• Things That Appear In Picturebooks More Than In Real Life
• Concepts and Terminology For Talking About Picturebooks
• Picturebooks And Music
• Picturebooks and Age-Appropriateness
• Thoughts On The Problems With Boys and Picturebooks
• What Makes A Picturebook Re-readable?
• Home Away From Home stories
• The Carnivalesque in Children’s Literature
• Iterative vs Singular Time In Children’s Literature
• The Two Promises Of Picturebooks
• Upside Down Knitting In Picturebooks — and other ways in which illustrators bend reality

On Picturebook Apps

A Categorisation Of Touch Interactivity And Animation In Storybook Apps

Decisions To Make When Storyboarding For Interactivity

Onomatopoeia, Mimesis and Children’s Literature