Pictures in Books

Here are some of my favourite illustrated children's books. It would take too much space and time to list them all, but I will keep adding to the list.

1. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Illustrated by Ruth Jervis who, coincidentally, was Streatfeild's sister. When she was hired, Streatfeild's publisher had no idea of her connection to the author.

2. The Candlemas Mystery by Ruth M. Arthur
Illustrated by Margery Gill

3. Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken
Illustrated by Pat Marriott

4. Another Lucky Dip by Ruth Ainswroth
Illustrated by Shirley Hughes

5. Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome
Illustrated by Arthur Ransome

6. The Gardens of Dorr by Paul Biegel
Illustrated by Eva-Johanna Rubin

7. Uncle Cleans Up by J. P. Martin
Illustrated by Quentin Blake

8. Minnow on the Say by Philppa Pearce
Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

9. The Edge of the Cloud by K. M. Peyton
Illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus

10. The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon
Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard

11. The Adventures of Chunky by Leila Berg
Illustrated by George Downs

12. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrated by Garth Williams

13. The Little Book Room by Eleanor Farjeon
Illustrated by Edward Ardizone

14. The Glassblower's Children by Maria Gripe
Illustrated by Harald Gripe

An illustration from The Glassblower's Children.

18 March 2007, Star Mag

Illuminating illustrations

TOTS TO TEENS
By DAPHNE LEE

I’M happy to see some really nicely illustrated, newly published children’s books in the stores. I don’t mean picture books, which, obviously, have to be illustrated, but storybooks, what the Americans call chapter books.

Once upon a time, most storybooks were illustrated. If you’re in your 30s or 40s (and older) you may remember wonderful books published by Puffin (always edited by Kay Webb) with black and white drawings. 

Probably the most famous illustrated children’s storybooks are Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. 

When I spoke to writer/illustrator John Burningham a few years ago, he said that the main reason storybooks are no longer illustrated is because it adds to the cost of production (in terms of printing and having to pay the illustrator).

He also thought that, somewhere along the line, publishers decided that children, having made the transition from picture books with minimal text to full-length books, no longer needed their stories illustrated.

Shirley Hughes, an award-winning illustrator who has worked on both picture books and storybooks, says, in her autobiography, A Life Drawing, “It is sad that the black and white illustrations once so common in books for older children are now often cut out and the jump from full-colour picture books to an unventilated page of solid text is such an abrupt one.

“We are depriving the child reader of the intense pleasure of opening books, even penalising them for having mastered the magic skill of reading”.

Is there anyone who doesn’t love looking at beautiful pictures? I think even adults would welcome illustrations in the books they read. A picture is sometimes what is needed to unlock the magic of a book, pique the reader’s interest, prod his imagination into action, as it were.

Mervyn Peake’s Gormeghast trilogy features a few black and white line drawings (by the author) that are, to say the least, intriguing. And one of the reasons I loved Reader’s Digest Condensed Books was because they were illustrated. I would pore over the pictures when I was little. The stories didn’t interest me until much, much later.

When people complain about wanting to be left alone with their own ideas of what characters and scenes are like, my response is, “So you’re saying you have a limited imagination?” This usually leads to an argument, sometimes rather heated.

Some say the presence of illustrations interfere with the pictures that pop into their heads when they read a book. They are annoyed when the artist’s portrayal of a character doesn’t match the author’s description. Actually, I understand how they feel as that is my response to movie adaptations of novels.

But somehow, to me, a static drawing, no matter how lively in feel, never intrudes on one’s imagination in quite the same way as a walking, talking actor does (ie, Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma and Possession). Illustrations simply capture moments and interpret emotions. I like to think of them as reflections of the author’s words. They do not consume and assume his ideas like bad acting or a miscast actor can.

The next time you’re in a second-hand bookshop, look out for children’s storybooks published in the 1970s and earlier. Browse through them so you can choose the ones with illustrations. And look out for illustrators like Pat Marriott, Shirley Hughes, Peggy Fortnum, Margery Gill, Garth Williams and Edward Ardizzone.

If you’re shopping for new books, check out The Mysterious Benedict Society (by Trenton Lee Stewart, ISBN: 978-031-605-7776), The Invention of Hugo Cabret (by Brian Selznick, ISBN: 978-043-981-3785), The Valley of Secrets (by Charmian Hussey, ISBN: 978-068-987-8626) and The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs (by Betty G. Birney, ISBN: 978-141-693-4899).

They are just some of the beautifully and imaginatively illustrated children’s books that are now available. Perhaps publishers are beginning to realise that most people are never too old or serious for pictures.