Non-fiction picture books ignored again
A recent article in the Economist (April 5-11 2008) bemoans the decline of the picture book and the status of illustration generally in Britain, after the author's visit Bologna children's book fair. But the piece is concerned solely with fiction…
True, the international market is tough and publishers have to compete with the internet, put up with big bookselling conglomerates and a myriad other pressures, but the author's assertion that 'most picture books cannot be published for British readers alone' has been true to some extent since the 1970s.
And there is such maddening tunnel vision with respect to storybooks in children's publishing that seems to exclude the validity of all other forms. Non-fiction and information books for children have long been heavily illustrated with drawing, diagrams and photography of all sorts (witness this random spread from an Usborne NatureTrail book or either of these Aventis Prize winners (2007) from DK.)
If anything, illustrated books are expanding and developing! And don't tell me that photographs and diagrams aren't pictures. The enormous value (both communicative and artistic) of all of these forms is ultimately realised much more often in non-fiction than in children's storybooks.
Comments
Non-fiction pop-up as well! A huge field (though maybe stunted after the early death of Kate Petty last year - obit here)
Posted by: alice | April 17, 2008 11:09 AM
p.s. interesting to note that the nominees for the Carnegie medal this year are largely rooted in history. They aren't non-fiction as much as new takes on the genre of historical fiction, but this field is one with a odd connection to professionalised ideas of 'truth'.
Story emphasising this here. Full notes on the awards site.
Posted by: alice | April 18, 2008 01:56 PM
I love those pop-up books -- there was also a series of extra-fat animal history pop-up books around last year (dinosaurs, sea creatures etc) that seemed good, though i forget the name of the series now.
(pop-ups are just a variant of page turning; maybe non-fiction books can be 'popified' in the same way that you can repackage books for adults, for children -- it would be interesting to give this a try, as a lateral thinking publishing project… )
Posted by: Katherine | April 19, 2008 09:04 AM
You see, now I'm imagining a pop-up A Brief History of Time.
I think you mean the Encyclopedia Prehistorica series, the guy who does them (Robert Sabuda) is a big name in pop up art. He's done some fantastic adaptations of classic kids books (Wizard of Oz, Wonderland, Narnia...).
Posted by: alice | April 21, 2008 11:04 AM