The Grown-Ups Guide to Picture Books

By Lara Cain Gray, Lorena Carrington & Timothy Ide
Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

Dr Lara Cain Gray is a librarian, children’s book advocate and esteemed Storylinks reviewer. Her aim with this debut is to create a guide for teachers, parents and carers that encourages a deeper reading of picture books with their children – or just for themselves.  Lara and her creative team have suceeded beyond expectations in productiing a challenging and engaging work that rewards close reading.

In true picture book format the text is arranged under letters of the alphabet with topics presented as double page spreads under each letter. Each entry is a mini essay on an aspect of writing for children. This format allows Gray to range far and wide – distilling her extensive knowledge into page sized nuggets for the reader to enjoy. She writes about all the elements that comprise a picture book: design, content, meaning, changes in attitudes, literacy, illustrations, age appropriateness, and more.

Some examples
in C is Covers she writes about judging a book by its cover, how a cover suggests a book’s contents and its writing style. She also talks about the cover as a marketing tool and how they are designed to appeal to the a book’s gatekeepers – the grown-ups.

A memorable summary from M is for Magic: it can be handy to balance a young person’s love of rainbows and unicorns with an equal amount of solid skills development that is not wand reliant, p34.

For the letter X (always a challenge!) Gray tackles xenophobia (and difference and diversity) advocating for presenting young readers with a hearty soup of windows and mirrors…which…creates an emerging community …with a richer understanding of their own and other’s indentities, p57.

Each entry concludes with suggested talking points for when you are next reading a picture book and questions that allow you to practise by using this book.  Gray’s writing is informed by her extensive academic knowledge but here she addresses the reader in a friendly chatty style that comfortably tackles weighty and complex issues. She is ably supported by the colourful, witty and thoughtful illustrations of Lorena Carrington (Leaf Letters) and Timothy Ide (Tom the Outback Mailman and more) that are pleasing to the eye, full of challenging images and references to familiar stories.

This book should be a standard text for anyone studying education that involves using picture books. Every primary teacher should own a copy and read it regularly. A copy should be given to every new parent. Finally, any adult reading this guide will find that they read picture books now with new enjoyment, appreciation and knowledge.

For more information and teaching materials for those wishing to extend their knowledge the excellent Educator Notes provide much insight and valuable related resources including websites, themed book lists and more.

Highly Recommended

Midnight Sun Publishing 2024
Lara Cain Gray
Lorena Carrington
Timothy Ide