What do you think?
Rate this book
Illustrated Children's Books
Illustrated Children’s Books is a detailed look into the design and stories of children’s books, focusing on the well-known illustrators and characters that have influenced readers of all ages.
Illustrated Children’s Books goes back and visits the history of children’s books, looking at the design and characters of these well loved tales. It takes us on a visual journey of the development of children’s illustrations throughout the ages, the ‘notion of childhood’, historical facts and the design and illustration of these memorable books. Includes a foreword by the current Children's Laureate Anthony Browne.
From classics such as John Tenniel’s Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh, to well-known illustrators such as Quentin Blake, this book explores the cover design, character illustration and interiors of these well-loved stories. With commentary from some of the most renowned illustrators of the day, the book examines the iconic design of children’s illustrated storytelling and provides background information on the authors and illustrators.
Illustrated Children’s Books features perennial favourites such as Dr Seuss, Miffy, Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are as well as recent successes such as Oliver Jeffers’ The Incredible Book Eating Boy.
With essays from Peter Hunt and Lisa Sainsbury. Peter Hunt is the Professor Emeritus in Children’s Literature at Cardiff University and awarded the International Brothers Grimm Award for services to children’s literature in 2003. Lisa Sainsbury is based at the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at Roehampton University.
Illustrated Children’s Books goes back and visits the history of children’s books, looking at the design and characters of these well loved tales. It takes us on a visual journey of the development of children’s illustrations throughout the ages, the ‘notion of childhood’, historical facts and the design and illustration of these memorable books. Includes a foreword by the current Children's Laureate Anthony Browne.
From classics such as John Tenniel’s Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh, to well-known illustrators such as Quentin Blake, this book explores the cover design, character illustration and interiors of these well-loved stories. With commentary from some of the most renowned illustrators of the day, the book examines the iconic design of children’s illustrated storytelling and provides background information on the authors and illustrators.
Illustrated Children’s Books features perennial favourites such as Dr Seuss, Miffy, Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are as well as recent successes such as Oliver Jeffers’ The Incredible Book Eating Boy.
With essays from Peter Hunt and Lisa Sainsbury. Peter Hunt is the Professor Emeritus in Children’s Literature at Cardiff University and awarded the International Brothers Grimm Award for services to children’s literature in 2003. Lisa Sainsbury is based at the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at Roehampton University.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2009
About the author
Peter Hunt
35 books8 followersPeter Hunt (born 1945) is a British scholar who is Professor Emeritus in Children's Literature at Cardiff University.
Hunt's books include works of criticism, novels, and stories for younger children. The Children's Literature courses that he ran at Cardiff were the first to treat children's literature as a subject of academic study in the UK. He has lectured on the subject at over 120 universities in 20 countries, from Finland to New Zealand; the International Society for the Fantastic in the Arts presented him with its Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1995, and 2003 he won the International Brothers Grimm Award for services to children's literature from the Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka.
He has edited or is editing the Oxford University Press World's Classics editions of Bevis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows. His books have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Persian, Greek, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese
Hunt's books include works of criticism, novels, and stories for younger children. The Children's Literature courses that he ran at Cardiff were the first to treat children's literature as a subject of academic study in the UK. He has lectured on the subject at over 120 universities in 20 countries, from Finland to New Zealand; the International Society for the Fantastic in the Arts presented him with its Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1995, and 2003 he won the International Brothers Grimm Award for services to children's literature from the Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka.
He has edited or is editing the Oxford University Press World's Classics editions of Bevis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and The Wind in the Willows. His books have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Persian, Greek, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 28, 2013
The strength of this book is the illustrations. Uff-da, who woodah thunk? Sorry, I can't think of a better lead. This book is a bit confusing in spots and there is no index. I plowed through the dizzying lists of who's who in children's illustration history with an occassional crossed eye ready to give up only to get reigned in by an interesting section thinking (or thunking), " 'kay this isn't so bad..." Many of the early 1900s illustrators are unbeknownst to me and it was fun recognizing the illustrations and being able to put names with them. I didn't know who the blazes Thomas Bewick and Kate Greenaway were but have read other illustrators refer to them. Greenaway is the English equivalent to the American Caldecott, so I'm a bit embarrassed for not knowing who in tarnation she was in the literary world. I forgot all about Edward Ardizzone and seeing his illustrations resurrected all sorts of memories of perusing his books as a tot. If you want an overview of illustrators with not much depth and terrific illustrations then this book won't disappoint.
Leonard Marcus interviewed a bunch of illustrators who kept talking about the book, "Struwwelpeter," by Henrich Hoffmann that is reportedly violent and grotesque. Lo and behold, this book had the illustrations of "Struwwelpeter," (how do you pronounce a double "w") and they are fascinating in a bizarre way. The boy who sucked his thumb is getting one his thumbs cut off by the traveling tailor, with an intent look and creepy oversized scissors. Maybe the blood squirting in all directions is a wee offensive - not that it is realistic like video games kids use today. On the opposite page is an Edward Scissorhands-looking character with fingers that look like roots of a tree and porcupine-like hair. Weird and memorable characters to say the least. I can see why so many illustrators refer to it.
I wished the sections had dates for the authors, especially the chapter titled, "Author's and Illustrators 1659-1945." I assumed the authors listed are in chronological order but I'm a ninny with numbers and really have no clue if Lewis Carroll was born before or after L. Frank Baum. Plus, if I did know if would never stay upstairs in my gray matter so I would have liked birth and death dates of the authors. No index is a shame too. I can see grabbing this book for reference and wondering where the heck I read about such-and-such author.
The editors do highlight some famous authors and give quotes and information that I really enjoyed such as Maurice Sendak and Anthony Browne. Sendak was influenced by Mozart, Randolph Caldecott, and George Cruikshank. The latter was a British caricaturist who did illustrations for some of Charles Dickens works. Browne was influenced by Salvador Dali and René Magritte in "Through the Magic Mirror" and "Willy the Dreamer." He was influenced by Walter Crane in "The Tunnel." I like to pull out books and then look at the famous artists who influenced the illustrators and incorporating it into my read alouds. I think this visual literacy gets lost as we become adults and we don't notice the pictures like we did as kiddos. Of course it helps if you pick up a book a bazillion times like kids do.
The section "Illustrators and Authors 1945-Now" was the most interesting and helpful for me. I thought of some ways I can incorporate the information into my library lessons, as well as, some insight into writing reviews and analyzing art in picture books. I ordered many books for my library next year from the references and illustrations. If you are looking for picture books, then you will find this book useful. Tidbits such as "The Gruffalo" comes from a Chinese folktale, that Julia Donaldson wrote this story in two weeks, and Quentin Blake uses a light box (my architect father does the same thing) fed my artistic-starved knowledge base regarding picture books. I also learned that Brian Wildsmith's books are about children connecting and caring for nature. Our school is going to teach students how to care for the environment and I was just wondering what would be good for kindergarteners. This sounds like it might work for teachers.
Grace Lin is coming to visit our school and she talks about illustrators she loved such as Richard Scarry and Arthur Rackham. I quick flipped through the illustrators of the 1800s and found one photo of Rackham's work. It is much quicker to do a Google image search and I'm afraid I might not use this book that much because of the missing index. And yet, I know I'll pull it out as a reference book when I study other authors so all-in-all it is a good addition to my children's reference books. Uff-da, that's a roundabout way of saying I liked it.
Leonard Marcus interviewed a bunch of illustrators who kept talking about the book, "Struwwelpeter," by Henrich Hoffmann that is reportedly violent and grotesque. Lo and behold, this book had the illustrations of "Struwwelpeter," (how do you pronounce a double "w") and they are fascinating in a bizarre way. The boy who sucked his thumb is getting one his thumbs cut off by the traveling tailor, with an intent look and creepy oversized scissors. Maybe the blood squirting in all directions is a wee offensive - not that it is realistic like video games kids use today. On the opposite page is an Edward Scissorhands-looking character with fingers that look like roots of a tree and porcupine-like hair. Weird and memorable characters to say the least. I can see why so many illustrators refer to it.
I wished the sections had dates for the authors, especially the chapter titled, "Author's and Illustrators 1659-1945." I assumed the authors listed are in chronological order but I'm a ninny with numbers and really have no clue if Lewis Carroll was born before or after L. Frank Baum. Plus, if I did know if would never stay upstairs in my gray matter so I would have liked birth and death dates of the authors. No index is a shame too. I can see grabbing this book for reference and wondering where the heck I read about such-and-such author.
The editors do highlight some famous authors and give quotes and information that I really enjoyed such as Maurice Sendak and Anthony Browne. Sendak was influenced by Mozart, Randolph Caldecott, and George Cruikshank. The latter was a British caricaturist who did illustrations for some of Charles Dickens works. Browne was influenced by Salvador Dali and René Magritte in "Through the Magic Mirror" and "Willy the Dreamer." He was influenced by Walter Crane in "The Tunnel." I like to pull out books and then look at the famous artists who influenced the illustrators and incorporating it into my read alouds. I think this visual literacy gets lost as we become adults and we don't notice the pictures like we did as kiddos. Of course it helps if you pick up a book a bazillion times like kids do.
The section "Illustrators and Authors 1945-Now" was the most interesting and helpful for me. I thought of some ways I can incorporate the information into my library lessons, as well as, some insight into writing reviews and analyzing art in picture books. I ordered many books for my library next year from the references and illustrations. If you are looking for picture books, then you will find this book useful. Tidbits such as "The Gruffalo" comes from a Chinese folktale, that Julia Donaldson wrote this story in two weeks, and Quentin Blake uses a light box (my architect father does the same thing) fed my artistic-starved knowledge base regarding picture books. I also learned that Brian Wildsmith's books are about children connecting and caring for nature. Our school is going to teach students how to care for the environment and I was just wondering what would be good for kindergarteners. This sounds like it might work for teachers.
Grace Lin is coming to visit our school and she talks about illustrators she loved such as Richard Scarry and Arthur Rackham. I quick flipped through the illustrators of the 1800s and found one photo of Rackham's work. It is much quicker to do a Google image search and I'm afraid I might not use this book that much because of the missing index. And yet, I know I'll pull it out as a reference book when I study other authors so all-in-all it is a good addition to my children's reference books. Uff-da, that's a roundabout way of saying I liked it.
January 1, 2022
It’s very good but somehow lacks the robustness of Martin Salisbury’s books. It’s just not quite as thoughtful or cohesive as those, although I still very much enjoyed it
July 2, 2022
Technically a really well made and cool book, I just found it a tad boring after the first pass. That’s on me though!
October 11, 2010
Is it even possible to walk into the Newberry Library bookstore & walk out without a new book in hand? Not for me... this one is an overview of the history of British children's books publishing, as well as popular titles & authors - think Alice in Wonderland but also Anthony Browne and Dick Bruna.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews