A Textbook for the Study of Picture Books

More than halfway through 2018, I'm taking stock of my writing and teaching year. A novel draft half-done. A short story taking shape in my mind. Waiting for an editorial letter. Some travel. Some relaxation. It feels like a great balance.The semester off from teaching stretches ahead, but I know it will rush past, so this is also a good time for a little advance planning.I've agreed to teach the picture book semester when I return to Vermont College in January 2019, which reminds me that I need to decide on a common text, something that offers an overview of the form. I've looked at a few options and none of them is entirely satisfactory. Some are too market-driven, others offer formulaic paths to the intricacies of the form. One is brilliant, if dated--more on that in a minute.And then there's Children's Picturebooks: the Art of Visual Storytelling by British academics Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles.In my mind this book that offers a solid background to the picture book form wins hands down over the how-to manuals. While the historical section is arguably Eurocentric--where, for example, is Buddhist narrative art and Japanese scroll painting?-- the account of contemporary books is optimistically international in scope, including American and British classics but also a number of titles that have gained recognition in Europe. My students will gain from thinking about how to extend this reading list by adding books in translation from Asia, South America, and Africa.A chapter on how children respond to picture books offers an opportunity for questions and discussion. Material on the interplay of text and illustration will help writers find ways to decode the layers of meaning in picture books. Pictorial text, the widening of material deemed "suitable" for children, digital impact on art--these are all good places to begin a semester-long conversation about picture books.I may still ask students to read the opening chapters of Uri Shulevitz's Writing With Pictures and just skip the badly dated section on publication and production.  In all, however, Salisbury and Styles offer aspiring picture book writers a common vocabulary, a clear introduction to key concepts, and a contemporary framework for looking at this art form so central to children's literature.