3321 MON. NIGHT CHAPTER 7

I like the definition of Picture Books = the marriage of literature and fine arts into a unique literary form. In picture books the reader has the awesome privilege of experiencing the creativity of two separate individuals the writer and the artist. Since there is such a variety of picture books available we can find picture books for different audiences.
Picture books are categorized as "form," not genre. Which genre it exemplifies is usually up to the teacher or librarians to determine. I have never considered the start of the picture books before, so I found it interesting that they started long before books were even put together. On page 148 it is stated that, "Early humans left their picture stories on the walls of caves, many of which still survive. Some of these ancient pictures may have been writing systems with recurring symbols that were meaningful to the community that used them."
Illustrations are very meaningful. The illustration"illuminate" the written word, it gives it life, and meaning. Learning to look more deeply and more thoroughly at how illustrators do this increases our appreciation and knowledge of how picture books work. We learn the importance of how the art and words interact to enrich each other.
Picture books have several visual elements. These are: line-lines show movement, shape, and texture. Color reflect the plot, tone or mood of characters, or euthanizes cultural aspects and the setting of the book. Colors also affect us in feels such as feeling calm, quiet and peaceful.
They also lighten or darken the scene in a story. Shape depict mood or setting, or represent cultures accurately. Texture causes us to be a part of the story and this helps readers to respond to the story. Design or Composition is important, when a design is weak viewers often feel that they are looking at an incomplete, incoherent, or boring picture. The design is complete when the size of the cover, the text, the quality of the pages, the artwork all come together in harmony in the book.
Still, a picture book must be composed carefully. It takes as much work to write a picture book as it does to write a novel. In a picture book an author must have the same quality of story as a novel, but in a smaller amount of space. It is worth the hard work of writing a picture book because it can be enjoyed by all ages and used to teach higher level students. For example, by using wordless picture books a teacher can help develop writers in the intermediate and middle school grades. Critical literacy can be developed in the higher levels as well. Since many picture books are written from an author's personal life, students can learn to write their own books from their life experiences. I have learned so much from this chapter alone, I look forward to learning more from the rest of this book.