Children’s book research

Anna Malpas

“Mr Tiger Goes Wild” by Peter BrownThis book focuses mainly pictures and doesn’t have that much text. The colours in this book are earth-toned and uses brown, grey, orange, and green tones in the majority of the book. These colours are used when Mr Tiger is in the city and the buildings are the same dull colour and all the animals wear the same clothes. When the tiger goes into the wild, more colour is used, such as the blue waterfalls, green trees and plants, and other animals. The illustrations for this book were made with India ink, watercolour, gouache, and pencil on paper, then digitally composed and coloured. The text is set in Rockwell, which is a clear text to read since it’s a serif font and not a straight lined font which makes the words flow easier, so this is a good font to use for children aged 4 and up. Some text is placed in speech bubbles, and there isn’t that much writing on each page, which makes it easy for young children to follow, and this draws most of the attention onto the illustrations. The book has 40 pages inside but each bit of the story spreads onto a double page. This means that the images can be big without each page size needing to be. The author for this book is Peter Brown, and the book was edited by Alvina Ling and designed by Patti Ann Harris and Peter Brown. It was published by Macmillan Children’s Books.

“Tiddler the story-telling fish” by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

The front cover draws attention straight away because its very colourful with the bright blue background and the colourful illustrations of the sea creatures all around it, which could attract children to it. Also the title is in shiny silver text which makes it stand out. The book inside includes a lot of illustrations and a large amount of colour, and each page has a bit of text, this book would be aimed at children aged up to 5. The story is told with rhythmic text which makes the words flow better when they are read, and the story is also quite repetitive. The illustrations could have been done by hand drawing with pencil on paper, painted with watercolour and then more colour added digitally. The Garamond font has been used, which is a serif font so it is easy for young children to read. There is a small amount of text on each page which is easy to follow as it is paired with the illustrations. There are 30 pages in this book which is an appropriate amount for a children’s story. The author for this book is Julia Donaldson and the illustrations were done by Axel Scheffler. It was published by Alison Green Books.

“Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak

This book focuses mainly on the illustrations and doesn’t have a large amount of text. The text is separate from the images, which makes it easier to read on the white background as well as it also being set in a serif font, and it shows that the illustrations are in the spotlight and the centre of attention. This book would appeal to children aged up to 5 since they would be more interested in visually appealing books and this book has a heavier focus on images rather than text. There is a lot of colour in the illustrations, and it includes a lot of earthy tones such as green, beige and brown as most of the book is set in the wild. There is also a lot of scenery change, for example the boy starts off in his bedroom where it starts to turn into a forest, and then he is sailing in a boat in the sea to a wild forest that inhabits some wild creatures. It has a lot of range which would make it more interesting to a young reader. It has an artistic appeal to it, since the illustrations have all been hand drawn, and you can really see the detail that has been added to it. After being drawn by hand, the drawings may have been coloured and enhanced digitally. This book has 40 pages, and a lot of the illustrations spread out onto a double page. It was written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak and originally published by Harper & Row.