19/09/2024
The Grown-Up’s Guide to Picture Books by Lara Cain Gray, illustrated by Timothy Ide and Lorena Carrington and published by MidnightSun Publishing is a stunning deep dive into picture book goodness. This innovative A-Z guide creatively explores the power of picture books, the science behind them and includes fascinating details about the history of this glorious book format as well as the evidence based benefits of them for readers of all ages. This book is a highly accessible, must have resource to support parents, carers, grandparents, teachers, librarians, educators and all adults to deeply engage with stories in this format.
This guide empowers adults by gifting them the knowledge and language to use to connect with picture books which are sophisticated, layered, nuanced stories that offer possible layers of interpretation and meaning. Gray includes considerations to ponder, question and reflect on when reading and/or sharing a picture book with a young reader. These have been designed to help both young and older readers to actively engage with and amplify the experience when lingering on the pages of a picture book.
The A to Z format brimming with interesting content, presented in a conversational way makes this book one to dip in and out of as readers savour and soak up the expert information. Each double page spread features (mostly) a page of information corresponding to a letter. E is for Endpapers (and the ones in this book, different in the front and back, are clever and symbolic of the transformative power of this book), I is for Illustrations, U is for Underlying Meanings, X is for Xenophobia (and difference and diversity) and Z is for Zeitgeist (all listed in the table of contents). Each subject (or letter) includes talking points for when you are next reading a picture book, perfect for shared reading experiences and ways to practise using the book which often invite readers to analyse the illustrations included in the book.
The whimsical and witty illustrations which often include references to well-known stories, add another layer to this invaluable resource. Combining the illustrators’ very different styles makes for such a unique aesthetic that will no doubt delight and challenge readers.
This timeless, user friendly guide is one that readers can apply to their own picture book collection and experiences to strengthen their knowledge and maximise the ways they deeply engage with this book format. This will be the book I will be giving to each of my children’s teachers and my go to gift for educators!