A Historical Perspective on Five Classic Picture Books
Who was their intended audience? What made them so appealing? And are they still relevant today?
This is a short essay I wrote for an MLIS class. We are studying how art in children’s books is used to tell a story. My readers will know that I have long been a student of visual storytelling, although until now I’ve only considered film. I hope to apply what I learned as a film student and movie reviewer to picture books.
Introduction
Picture books have long been the foundation for early childhood literacy. They are also educational in many other ways such as exploring themes of obedience, autonomy, responsibility and consequences. Such is the case for these five enduring classic picture books: The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Potter, 1902), Curious George (Rey & Rey, 1941), The Poky Little Puppy (Lowrey, 1942), Goodnight Moon (Brown, 1947), and Madeline (Bemelmans, 1939).
This essay takes a historical look at the above listed titles. It seeks to answer the following questions: what appealed to contemporary audiences? Who was that audience? Are these books still relevant today given the change of cultural norms such as gender roles and technological advancements?
Audience: who were they and what was the appeal?
According to Rich (1929) picture books began as school textbooks with illustrations that also included stories with moral lessons (p. 589). Thackeray’s “The Rose and The Ring” and Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” while not picture books strictly speaking, are nevertheless early examples of using illustrations in books intended for children.
However, Rich (1929) argues that commercial interests lead publishers to appeal to the parent rather than the child. The illustrations are designed in such a way so as to capture the eye of the parent. Indeed, “The amount of detail in the illustrations within is usually far beyond what children notice” writes Rich (p. 589). It is parents - and teachers - who gravitate to well-drawn books. Even childish drawings, according to Rich (1929), appeal more to adults; such books “sell well” (p. 590).
For the children’s part, they seem to like pictures of familiar things with few details (e.g. the backgrounds can be omitted) and vivid colors.
For the classic books here studied this seems to be the case. There are exceptions, but generally speaking each book has familiar objects - people, plants, animals - with very little background detail. For example, most of the illustrations in The Poky Little Puppy are of the dogs set against flat green and blue backgrounds (grass and sky) or no background at all. What few details are included are simple things: flowers and rocks. Madeline is known for its paintings of Paris, but likely that is to appeal to the adults, as Rich (1929) argued. Most of the illustrations are predominantly blank (yellow) space with a few people or things set on top.
Perhaps the most notable exception is Goodnight Moon. Certainly, the room in which the action takes place is vividly drawn. However, the room never changes, and the reader is never taken to another place. Also, every other page is mostly blank. Therefore, it seems that less really is more.
In sum, publishers designed illustrations to appeal to the adults who would purchase the books while also appealing to the simpler tastes of the children who’d read them.
Cultural Norms and Technological Advances
One of the prominent themes of these classic children’s picture books is the tension between obedience and autonomy. In The Tale of Peter Rabbit, the titular character disobeys his mother’s warning and enters Mr. McGregor’s garden, only to face dire consequences. Similarly, Curious George portrays a mischievous monkey whose escapades repeatedly get him into trouble. The Pokey Puppy follows the same pattern.
Zipes (2009) explores this idea in fairy tales and children’s books. He argues that these stories are both cautionary tales and reflections of children’s desire for autonomy. The subtle balance here is in the need for both. Yes, children need to obey their parents for safety's sake, but they also need to explore and face dangers so as to develop anti-fragility (Haidt & Lukianoff, 2018).
The protagonists of these stories exemplify both sides of this equation. Peter, George and the Poky Puppy disobey their respective authority figures, exercise their autonomy and take responsibility for their actions in the form of a punishment. The existence of a punishment ought not be taken as a point against autonomy, but rather as a crucial part of it.
Some argue that books both reflect and shape reality. More likely, art represents what the artist sees in society. Any shaping is purely incidental. With that in mind, the books here present traditional parental figures. The man in the yellow hat is like father to George. Peter Rabbit and Goodnight Moon present a traditional mother figure. They are nurturing, caring and a source of stability. This aligns not just with mid-20th-century Western norms but norms across time and cultures. Madeline may have been considered progressive (small “p”) for its time, but it should be noted that a bevy of like female protagonists predate Madeline: Carroll’s Alice, Jo March, Dorthy Gale, Anne Shirly, etc.
Technological advances in printing have made picture books cheaper and more vibrant. Culturally there is little to say on the matter. Despite a few outdated technologies in Curious George, the stories hold up. This will be discussed further in the next section. One point of concern is the advent of the e-reader. How might the loss of tactile interaction affect these classic books? That’s a question for another essay.
Are the books relevant today?
The visual storytelling techniques used in these titles transcend time. Shulevitz (1997) provides a thorough understanding of said techniques. The use of geometric shapes, for example, can lead the eye to and thro. In Curious George, Rey and Rey use zig-zag lines to draw the reader's eye through a succession of images that progress the narrative through time. Bang (2016) and Nodelman (1988) provide more understanding. Simple shapes and colors can provoke emotions, diagonal lines can create the illusion of speed. Goodnight Moon uses deep colors and black and white images to create a calming atmosphere. Peter Rabbit runs at sharp angles down the page, affecting movement and velocity.
Because these techniques are universal, the books hold up. What is not universal (arguably) are the themes. However, authority figures, a child’s individuation and adoption of responsibility are a part of (nearly) every life. Because these are the major themes in these five titles, I suggest they transcend time as well. Even Madeline is nothing new: there were norm-challenging female protagonists before her, and there are still norm-challenging female protagonists today.
In sum, classic picture books remain relevant today because the storytelling techniques employed, and the ideas discussed appeal to the universally human.
References
Bang, M. (2016). Picture this (Anniversary, expanded ed.). Chronicle Books.
Bemelmans, L. (1939). Madeline. The Viking Press.
Brown, M. W. (1947). Goodnight moon (C. Hurd, Illus.). Harper & Row.
Haidt, J., & Lukianoff, G. (2018). The coddling of the American mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure. Penguin Press.
Lowrey, J. S. (1942). The poky little puppy (G. Tenggren, Illus.). Golden Books.
Potter, B. (1902). The tale of Peter Rabbit. Frederick Warne & Co.
Rey, H. A., & Rey, M. (1941). Curious George. Houghton Mifflin.
Rich, S. (1929). The illustration of children’s books. The Nation, 129(3359), 589–590.
Shulevitz, U. (1997). Writing with pictures: How to write and illustrate children’s books. Watson-Guptill.
Zipes, J. (2009). Relentless progress: The reconfiguration of children’s literature, fairy tales, and storytelling. Routledge.
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