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When you read a picture book, do you know how the pictures work? Can you “picture this”?
Picture This: How Pictures Work, revised and expanded 25th anniversary edition by Molly Bang. Chronicle Books, 2016. 152 pages.
- Reading Level: Adults
- Recommended For: Adults
When you read a picture that book that just works, can you explain why? Why do the illustrations in The Crayon Man expertly carry the story along? Is it the color? The composition? Do you know what we mean by “composition”? What about the pictures in [insert your childhood favorite]? What makes them work?
Picture This is a crash course in what makes pictures work: how to understand layout, colors, proportion, and more. We require our Picture Book of the Year committee members to read it. I reread it regularly. Why? Because it’s hard to explain in words why some picture books just work and some don’t. Why do some stories, even ones that communicate Truth in their words, fall flat when the pictures enter the scene? Why do other books sing, in both words and images?
Molly Bang gives us “words people” words to describe what makes pictures communicate effectively. She helps those of us without an art school background to recognize what’s going on in our brains when we see certain kinds of shapes or colors or proportions or any combination of the above. If you are baffled when someone tells you a picture book is amazing (or the opposite), you just might need to read a book like this.
Bottom Line: Picture This is a fantastic resource for those who want to learn how to better evaluate the pictures in picture books!
Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader
- Review: Art All Around Us (for kids!)
- Resource: See what Gladys Hunt has to say about the Art of the Picture Book.
- Resource: Picture This is a “Literary Nightstand” title: books about books.
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