Children’s Book Brief

So the new brief is to create a children’s book and to do this, I wanted to get a range of research of how authors create books and also what Children enjoy reading and whats important in the design of the book. 

I started by looking at the website, The Book Trust as I thought this would be a good place to start and research the most successful children’s books and why they are unique and creative. 

They created a list of the 100 best Children’s books and I looked at what was creative about the design and a few books I recognised. 

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/222/

“We want to celebrate Children’s Book Week by starting a discussion about the very best books for children.  We know there will be some debate around the list, and we welcome it! Has your favorite childhood read been left out? Would your child whole-heartedly agree with us, or be dismayed by an oversight? We’ve tried to include stories for everyone – whether it’s an old picture book, a classic adventure story, or a modern tale tackling contemporary issues – the emphasis for us is on wonderful, wacky, and world-changing narratives.”

The phrase ‘Wonderful, wacky, and world-changing narratives’ is a key quote to start when looking at what I am going to create for the children’s book with both the characters and the narrative. 

Here are a few on the list that I will take inspiration from – 

I Want My Hat Back by John Klassen – 

What I like about this book is the very quirky and creative narrative and the simple, but effective design of the characters. This video is useful in seeing and visualising how the story is read aloud. 

The graphics of the bear are nicely coloured and the colours are simple, with emphasis on the red hat, which is the main feature of the book. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

 

I love the bright and colourful imagery in this book which works with the plain white background of the front cover and the story. The images are engaging for the children and the textures and colour is thoughtfully placed on the page. 

I would like to create a similar style of book and think that this is a good inspiration to start with. 

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt  by Michael Rosen 

The bright imagery in this book and the fun drawings work to create the story in this book and the narrative is very good for reading allowed and has a musical style to it which is nice for a children’s book. I like the way the illustrations are colourful but the background is plain in order for it to be fun and playful. 

Not Now, Bernard by David Mckee

 

I like this design of the book as the design and the drawings are funny for the children and the adults. The colourful images and backgrounds are bold and fun and the narrative works with this. 

I like the bold images in these books and they are interesting and funny narratives which work with the images.