Children’s Literature

There are a few things to consider when picking story picture books for elementary students. Here are the criteria for picking out good picture storybooks:

  • Design should be logical and creative
    • books should have consistency between the pictures and the text, both of which should be visible at the same time
    • the layout of pictures and text should vary in size and location to dispel monotony
  • Illustrations should enhance the story development
    • characters should be developed by illustrations in addition to the text
    • mood in the illustrations should enhance that of the text
    • the reader should be able to predict the action of the story by looking at the the illustrations (so that the youngest readers can follow along easily)
  • The story should be meaningful and valuable to the audience
    • it should have a message for the audience
    • the audience should be respected and understood

The ALA maintains a list of award wining children’s book on their website.

(I really need citations for this information. It came from lectures during one of my Masters classes.)