media coursework

1. REVIEWING CHILDREN’S BOOKS
TOM BROWN

2. ‘IS THERE ENOUGH ROOM ON THE BUS?’
HELEN PIERS & HANNAH GIFFARDS
• What do they look like?
The book uses simple block colours. The illustration are simple and easily distinguishable. All the
colours used are bright, possibly to catch the child's attention.
• What methods do you think have been used to illustrate them?
The illustrations for this book are computer generated. They were most likely draw freehand, scanned
into a computer and digitally coloured using a program such as Adobe Photoshop. The illustrations
would then have texts added to them, using a program like Adobe Illustrator.
• What kinds of fonts have been used?
The author has used a serif font in this book. The ‘flicks’ on the end of the letters point towards the
next letter or word
• How much text is on each page?
With each page, the amount of text increases. The first page and second pages have 5 lines
combined. By the final pages has 11 lines of text

3. • Who is the author, illustrator and publisher?
The author of this book is Helen Piers. She is a children's
author who usually writes animal care guides, e.g. How to
care for your goldfish. The illustrator is Hannah Giffard. She
is a renowned illustrator but also a small time french
author. She has produced set of 4 books about Pablo the
Fox. The book was published by Frances Lincoln books.
They are an emerging publisher. They have recently won
some prestigious awards.
Page Dimensions: 21.5 x 27 x 0.6
How many pages? 36

5. ‘HAIRY MACLARY’S RUMPUS AT THE
VETS’
LYNLEY DODD
• What do they look like?
The illustrations used in for this book are a lot more detailed than the previous book I reviewed. The layout of the book is
one page of illustration, the next page is text. Not much detail is used in showing the animals.
• What methods do you think have been used to illustrate them?
The illustrations appear to have been sketched out and scanned into a computer. A digital watercolour effects has been
added to the sketch. This gives a different feel to the illustrations, than the previous book. The background colour are all
quite bland and neutral but the animals are given bright coloured collars, cages and leads. This could be used to direct the
childs attention.
• What kinds of fonts have been used?
Again, a serif font has been used. I have noticed this as a trend in children books. There is quite a large horizontal lead
spacing between each letter. this could help with the ease of reading for the child. The text is kept in a straight central box
on each page. the alignment keeps the page looking neat
• How much text is on each page?
The amount of text on each page varies from a single word to 12. There is no real re occurring pattern to the amount of
numbers. The texts uses rhyming couplets. The final lines rhyme with the line below it. this may be another feature to grab
the child attention.

6. • Who is the author, illustrator and publisher?
Unlike the previous book, the author ad the illustrator
is the same person, Lynley Dodd. The hairy Maclary
book set has become her best selling work amongst
other rhyming books. Using rhyming couplets is her
signature. The publisher of this book is penguin books.
They are one of britains most successful book
publishers.
Page Dimensions: 19 x 25.4 x 0.4
How many pages? 32