Children’s Book Research

Demi Jay

Book 1 – Elmer.Elmer is a book written and also illustrated by David McKee; the book was first published by Anderson Press in 1989. There then was a Red Fox Edition published in 1990; followed by a newer Red Fox version in 2005.

This book contains a total of 31 pages; not including the front cover and back cover of the book. This book is an average childrens book size it is small, thin and compactable it is slightly smaller than an A4 sized book.

This Is an example of one of the pages from the ‘Elmer’ book. As you can see the visual style used is very colourful and bright; there are many colours included in this page of the book making It appealing to look at. It has a very busy style approach on the pages throughot the book; there is not a lot of space on the book that dosent include a image, object or text. The images used appear to be hand drawn; they do have a slight cartoon feel however they are more artistic and unique.

The layout of the pages in this book are double page spread’s of each part of the story. The image takes up the whole page and the text of the page is placed in and amongst the images. On each page there is a small paragraph of about 4/5 lines; and the font is very basic and standard so it’s easy to read and understand.

Book 2 – The GruffaloThe gruffalo is a book which was written by the author Julia Donaldson; the illustrator of this book was Axel Scheffler. The book was published by Macmillian first as an A4 book in 1999; and then a later edition of this book was published at a smaller size in 2002.

In total the book has 32 pages; the size of the book is a typical childrens book size of A4 meaning the images and text can be big and clear for them to see and read. However, there is an alternative size of this book which is a slightly smaller size.

Here is an example of a page from the book; the visual style used in this book is quite cartoon like however I believe that the images have been hand drawn. I feel the images used are very detailed and appear to be somewhat realistic especially the setting of the pages. The colours used in the book are more darker colours however the book is still bright and vibrant; as lighter tones are used too.

The layout of this book varies from page to page; the book includes double page spreads in which the image and text take up the full pages. In addition, there are single pages with a white background with one or a few small images and the text around them. Each page has a small paragraph of around 4/5 sentances on each page, and like Elmer the book the font is simple.

Book 3 – Tiddler the story-telling fish.

Tidder the story-telling fish Is a book written and illustrated by the same people who made ‘The Grufflo’. The author is Julia Donaldson and the illustrator is Axel Scheffler. The book was published by Alison Green Books in 2007 and then in 2008 a newer paperback version was published.

In total there are 32 pages in the book; the book is a large rectangled shaped book. Roughly the same size as an A4 sheet of paper; the book is quite thin as there isn’t too many pages.

This is an example of a page from the book; as you can see the book is very bright and colourful. The book includes a lot of vibrant tones and colours such as blue, yellow and green. The book images in the book appear to be hand drawn as there is a specfic look to them which is the same as the ones in the gruffalo. The pages are very busy with lots of images and text and not much blank space.

The layout of this book dosen’t stay the same throughout the product; there is different styles of layouts in this book that change. For example there are single pages with a white background and images on there with the text around it. In addition, there are double page spread pages with the image covering the whole page and the text In amongst the image. Each page varies with text amounts but most pages have around 4/5 sentances or a small paragraph; and the font used is simple and plain.