2. There are many different types of children’s books.
These books are targeted specifically to a certain age group, their capability
of reading & how/what they are learning.
Common themes in children’s books include things such as
legends, myths, fairytales & folklore. These themes are most commonly used
because they are easy for children to understand, illustrated easily & are also
well known for teachings.
They will also have a specific look to them depending on the points
mentioned above
The main different types of children's books are:
3. These group is usually broken down into
two, but do overlap
For babies & toddlers, the most common
type of book will be a picture book. This
will usually have basic concepts such as the
alphabet, numbers & shapes. Visually
stimulating to focus the eye of a young
child by using contrasting colors.
As the child ages a little, the books they
read will start containing more words to
combine with the illustrations.
The illustrations used will usually been
made using different media such as
oil, pen, water colour amongst others.
Both parts of the book (the visual & the
written) are important, they have to
harmonize with one another to make sense
to the child.
These books with words will usually be
read to the child first, then once the child
feels confident, they will read it for
themselves.
4. The books these children read are
usually classed as ‘Early Reader Books’
These books allow children to learn
whilst they read. It builds on their
reading skills
In terms of content, compared to the
0-5 books, they still include
illustrations that help with the story.
Again comparing, you will find more
text which helps with the point
mentioned above.
A popular kind of ‘Early Reader Books’
is the ‘The Magic Key' series that
follows Chip, Biff & Kipper by Roderick
Hunt & illustrated by Alex Brychta.
These are part of the Oxford Reading
Tree. They go up in levels, according to
age.
5. Once children are at this age, they
have the reading skills to start
reading chapters.
7-9 short chapters. Short chapters
are appropriate for children these
ages. This is a starter to move on
from just paragraphs. Illustrations
may still be apparent, but are not
used as much.
9 – 11 long chapters. Long chapters
are appropriate for children these
ages. This move the child's reading
skills even further. Illustrations have
almost left the picture.
Different stories, not necessarily for
education, are here now as children
start to know what they like.
6. These books do not
include any
illustrations in them
(for the vast majority).
They are mostly written
text.
These books are
usually in novel format.
They will include a
storyline that the
audience will like:
learning is not
involved.
7. The fonts used in children's books is
important.
Serif fonts such as Times Roman, Goudy,
Garamond, and Baskerville.
These fonts are easy to follow, compared to
non-serif fonts such Arial &Calibri.
8. A graphic novel is narrative that
is vastly telling the story through
illustrations.
There are different ways to
produce such a piece of
narrative, you can use a
traditional formula or a more
experimental path.
A graphic novel is different to a
comic book as it is usually bigger
& more durable in the way it is
produced.
9. Graphic novels inspire & aspire
from a book or TV show
An example of such would be
Scott Pilgrim, as they started
out as a graphic novel series
Other examples of this include
V for Vendetta which started
off as a graphic novel.
10. The illustrations in graphic
novels are what makes them
unique to other types of novels:
it is hugely important
Illustration helps tell the
story, set the scene & helps to
set the tone.
These illustrations can be done
in many different ways e.g.
Black and white
Collages
Contrast colour
Mixture of different media
11. The text also plays an
important role in graphic
novels.
It is used for speech &
parts of the storyline
that are difficult to
portray through graphics
The amount of text used
varies on the piece of
work.
Balloon tale
= speech
Joining bubbles
with connecters
= conversation
Burst Bubble =
loud – broken
speech
Thought bubble =
thoughts of
character (less used
now) (internal
monologue used
instead)
Captions =
Location & Time
Internal Monologue
Spoken Captions
Narrative captions
12. Layouts are also important for a
graphic novel.
The original layout for
comics/graphic novels was 6/9
boxes on one page that you would
read from left to right
As they grew in popularity, the
layouts have become more creative
& challenging. Different shaped
boxes & overlay are commonly
used.
You have to be careful though with
the layout as it can cause problems
e.g. hard to follow
