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Children's Book Illustrations as an Art Form EDU 786 Spring 2008

Aliki. __Feelings__. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books, 1984. Carle, Eric. __The Grouchy Ladybug__. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1977. Cooney, Barbara. __Miss Rumphius__. New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 1982. Curtis, Jamie Lee. __I’m Gonna Like Me__. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002. dePaola, Tomie. __Bonjour, Mr. Satie__. New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1991. Ehlert, Lois. __Leaf__ __Man. __ New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc., 2005. Frasier, Debra. __On The Day You Were Born__. San Diego, CA and New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1991. Gwynne, Fred. __The King Who Rained__. New York, NY: The Trumpet Club, 1970. Henkes, Kevin. __Jessica__. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc., 1989. Pilkey, Dav. __The Paperboy__. New York, NY: Orchard Books, 1996. Polacco, Patricia. __Thank You, Mr. Falker__. New York, NY: Philomel Books, 1998. Sis, Peter. __Follow The Dream__. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1991. Super, Terri. __The Pudgy Pat-A-Cake Book__. New York, NY: Putnam and Grosset Group, 1983. Van Allsburg, Chris. __The Widow’s Broom__. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. Weatherford, Carole Boston. __Moses__. New York, NY: Hyperion Books for Children, 2006.
 * Summary ** : This book celebrates the feelings and emotions of a child.
 * Panels ** : Panels are used to slow down the action of the story. The author uses panels to have the reader really learn and think about feelings.
 * Art Element – Line ** : Horizontal and vertical lines are vital to the layout of this book. Lines create rectangular and square panels. Line is also used in the facial expressions of the characters. Panels can be confusing to young readers, so it is important that the illustrator use line for directionality and readability.
 * Summary ** : Over the course of a day, a grouchy ladybug travels great distances wanting to fight everyone he meets.
 * Endpapers ** : An uninterrupted flow is provided between the bright green endpapers and the green found in the leaves, the praying mantis and the grass.
 * Art Element – Texture ** : Eric Carle’s illustrations seem to jump off the pages. Also, the way that the pages are put together (scaffolding) creates a unique dimension to the reader’s eyes.
 * Summary ** : Miss Rumphius lived in a city as a child, but dreamed of traveling to distant places and yearned to make the world a better place.
 * Wraparound Cover ** : The cover with its rolling hills and pathways symbolizes the twists and turns that Miss Rumphius’ life has taken.
 * Art Element – Value/Hue ** : Ms. Cooney used acrylic paints in vibrant and pastel hues. When she writes about Miss Rumphius’ childhood, she uses soft pastel hues to represent the sweet and gentle memories of her youth. She uses bold and bright colors to represent Miss Rumphius’ travels to represent her exciting and energetic adventures. Ms. Cooney uses the same bright and bold colors with Miss Rumphius’ lupine flowers to emphasize how she made the world (her hometown) a better place.
 * Summary ** : Children learn to love themselves for all their unique and wonderful qualities.
 * Typeface ** : This book uses several fonts and distinctive text placements to parallel the highs and lows and twists and turns of a child’s life.
 * Art Element – Line ** : Laura Connell uses simple lines to express each character’s emotions. The text typeface uses linear movement to further enhance the story.
 * Summary ** : Uncle Satie takes us into the Paris art scene and helps two artists end their feud.
 * Text Layout ** : Tomie dePaola cleverly frames the story text like a painting. The placement of the text frame simulates paintings hanging in an art gallery.
 * Art Element - Color ** : Tomie dePaola uses color to illustrate and depict extraordinary artists. It is only natural that dePaola would use color to showcase his illustrations and the Paris art scene.
 * Summary ** : A leaf man takes a journey where the wind blows him.
 * Flaps ** : Lois Ehlert makes a unique use of the flaps. In lieu of a story summary and biographical information, she provides the reader with scientific information and geographical directions of different leaf types.
 * Art Element – Texture ** : The photographic illustrations are created using actual leaves and items found in nature. Die-cut painted pages depicting several landscapes enhance the texture of the natural objects.
 * Summary ** : Debra Frasier’s loving tale celebrating the birth of a baby as the news travels around the planet Earth.
 * Copyright Page ** : The copyright page is found at the beginning of the book. It contains information about the ISBN number, a brief summary and the Library of Congress subject designation. It, also, contains a paragraph about how the sales of this book will help support the Environmental Learning Center in Florida.
 * Art Element – Value/Hue ** : The vibrant, primary colors depict the excitement and joy of a baby’s birth.
 * Summary ** : A little girl learns that not everything her parents say is true. This book features a play on words.
 * Dual Image Covers ** : The front cover features a king drawn up in the sky with water dripping implying that the story is about a king and the weather. The back cover features fairies with tails making the reader think that the story is about fairies. In truth, the story is a play on words with a king who “reigns” and fairy “tales”.
 * Art Element - Color ** : The illustrator uses a unique watercolor technique. The faces of the characters are painted with bold, bright colors to draw attention to their reactions. The rest of the illustrations are painted with more muted tones to draw emphasis away from the scenery and onto the characters.
 * Summary ** : A little girl named Ruthie discovers that a friend named Jessica can be real or imaginary.
 * Vignettes ** : Kevin Henkes cleverly places small illustrations next to the text that offer snapshots into what Ruthie is thinking. The small rounded illustrations add variety and interest for the reader.
 * Art Element – Color ** : The use of bright colors is dominate in the illustrations. The strong purple color is used to shade and highlight the strong and willful character of Ruthie. A soft shade of green is used when Ruthie is with her calm and gentle friend, Jessica.
 * Summary ** : A boy and his dog enjoy their paper route during the quiet morning hours.
 * Gutters ** : Dav Pilkey takes advantage of the page gutters to give a full page view of the boy’s adventures during his morning paper route.
 * Art Element – Value ** : The darkness of the illustrations elicits a quiet, calm night mood. As the morning light begins to appear during the boy’s paper route, yellow and white are added to the paintings to represent the rising sun. The lightness of the illustrations elicits a hopeful and exciting mood of morning.
 * Summary ** : This autobiographical tale closely follows the struggle of a girl trying to read and the teacher who changed her life which was Ms. Polacco’s struggle in school.
 * Double-Page Spread ** : The double-page spread of this story allows the reader to enter the scene and feel the emotions of the character. Each double-page spread gives a 180 degree view and elicits a response by the reader through the scenery and facial expressions of the character.
 * Art Element – Line ** : The use of line in this book is in the facial expressions of the characters. Curved lines help capture the emotions of a character from worry lines (Mr. Falker’s concern), sad frowns, delight (riding in a car), anguish (the girl being teased) and isolation (the girl feeling different).
 * Summary ** : This is a unique look at Christopher Columbus’ dream to travel to faraway places and the journey to the New World.
 * Borders ** : Intricate borders add details to the illustrations. Historical data, architectural renderings, ocean life and geographical directions are incorporated into the borders to provide the reader with additional information.
 * Art Element – Line ** : Peter Sis uses horizontal lines in his illustrations. Since the story is a timeline of Columbus’ New World Journey, the horizontal lines provide the reader with a sense of direction. It evokes the feeling of moving from one page to the next page, similar to an explorer moving from one adventure to the next adventure.
 * Summary ** : Little bear cubs go on an adventure for a day and meet several nursery rhyme characters.
 * Shape of Books ** : The book is shaped like a bear to draw the child’s attention to the story. A child will enjoy discovering the bear shape on each page in the story.
 * Art Element – Shape ** : The curved bear cutout shape of the book is used as a design element. Round and curved shapes are used to illustrate the animal characters.
 * Summary ** : A widow who enjoys the company of a worn-out witch’s broom learns that her neighbors can be just as wicked and dangerous as their opinions.
 * Single Page Illustration ** : Chris Van Allsburg uses his full page illustrations to emphasize the emotions of the characters. The large scale pictures correlate to the way the characters blow a situation out of control.
 * Art Element – Texture ** : There is a mysterious feeling to Van Allsburg’s illustrations. He used pencil, ink and paint to evoke a tactile feeling. The realistic pictures have a softness to them that makes the reader want to touch the illustrations.
 * Summary ** : The story depicts Harriet Tubman’s brave escape to freedom and the strength of the human spirit.
 * Single Image Cover ** : The cover showing a detailed portrait of Harriet Tubman with outstretched sunlit hands evokes the feeling of possibilities. The title, __Moses__, is cast in sunlight as if lighting the way from heaven to freedom. The back cover is a continuation of the blue cover color with a few yellow sun-kissed clouds representing the sky.
 * Art Element – Value ** : Kadir Nelson’s paintings incorporate bright and dark color values. Dark blue and black are mixed with the illustrations to represent the dark and dangerous struggle to freedom. Yellow and white are mixed in the paintings to represent the joy of freedom and the heavenly light guiding Harriet Tubman.