Week 5 Session

How Children Learn

John Holt – Author/Educator

Children have short attention spans

Honest and brutal if not interested they switch off or will admit it

Learning though 5 senses taste, touch, sight sound & smell

School age – auditory, visually, kinesthetic learning stuff whilst also doing it

Eric Carle’s – caterpillar book, uses hole punch to create texture, which helps with senses.

Added Features For Book

Paper engineering

Pull-tabs

Flaps/fold outs

Pop ups

Die cuts

Textures

Specialized inks

Digitized

Stickers

Crayons

Wipe clean

Puppets

Session Task

Book 1

Book - The Wonderful Wizard Of OZ, Robert Sabuda & Matthew Reinhart.

Book Format – Visual, Loads of pop ups, small text wither used but children from 9+ or as a read out, using other added feature like die cut glasses, shiny pages.

Relation to information – Visual, as the pop ups are quite big and gets you to focus on that and takes up most of the page.

Senses – Touch and Sight

Personally the book is very colourful and has way to many pop ups than needed it also has a number of different sized pages which don’t help when reading the reading pages also have pop ups which distract you attention from reading and make it hard to read

Puffins Top 3 Tips

Top Three Tips for New Children's Writers 

So you want to write a children's book but don't know where to start? The first thing you must do is spend time researching the market. The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is a good starting point and is an absolute 'must' for the new writer. It is, basically, a directory of publishers and their requirements but it also has a very good section in it specifically on writing for children. Aside from this guide there are a number of specialist children's book magazines on the market, general writing magazines and books on how to write for children. It is also worth spending time in your local bookshop looking at the most recently published books and, also, studying publishers' catalogues (available direct from individual publishers).

Once you have thoroughly researched the market (and I do mean thoroughly) you will be aware that different publishers publish different types of books. For example, there is no point in sending a picture book to a publisher that only publishes teenage fiction and vice versa. Targeting your work is my second big tip. Don't make the mistake of writing something and then sending it out to all and sundry in the hope that someone will take it. Study individual publishers' requirements carefully and then adapt any ideas you may have to fit in with those requirements. This doesn't mean that you can only approach one publisher with one idea. Very often an idea will suit several different publishers but - and this is important - it isn't going to suit every publisher, so be selective.

Which brings me onto my third tip - approach. It may sound like common sense but do make sure that any manuscript you send to a publisher is presentable. By that I mean that it has to look professional. It should be typed on one side of A4 sheets of paper. It has to be clean. Pages should be numbered but not joined together in any way. To keep a manuscript together some sort of folder should be used. Your manuscript should be accompanied by a brief covering letter and you should enclose return postage if you want your manuscript returned to you. If your manuscript is longer than about 15,000 words it is perfectly sufficient to send the first few chapters accompanied by a one or two page synopsis. If your manuscript is a picture book for much younger children it is not necessary to send illustrations unless you are a professional illustrator yourself. All children's publishers have their own banks of illustrators and will match an illustrator of their choice with your text.

Finally - although this isn't really a tip - do be prepared for rejection. Children's publishing is an incredibly competitive field and, except for the lucky few, not well paid. Rejection of your work is not a personal slight and I truly believe that if you believe in your story you will, eventually, find success.

This text was prepared by Louise Jordan. Louise runs The Writers' Advice Centre for Children's Books, which provides a full support service for new writers. The Writers' Advice Centre Books can be contacted via:

The Writers' Advice Centre, 16 Smiths Yard, Summerley Street, London SW18 4HR.
Tel. 0797 9905353
Web. www.writersadvice.co.uk

Task 3 - Growing Veg

Growing Veg

Task 2

Task 2

Information / Reference title aimed at 9-11 years olds.

            Art Style – Realism

Realistic or representational art portrays the world with faithful attention to lifelike detail. A few artists aim at almost photographic realism, but many prefer to approximate reality. It is particularly suited to illustrate realistic stories with serious content or themes. I think this would be the correct choice as at that age the child will understand and know how and what things look like.

Examples of Realism:

A good example of a book using this art styles would be Make Way For Ducklings by Robert Mc Closkey.

Baby / Toddler - First Objects Book.

            Art Style – Cartoon Art

Cartoons consist of exaggerated caricatures that emphasize emotion and movement. They possess no subtlety, but are simple and straightforward. It is often chosen to illustrate humorous stories. This would be perfect for children and they use of bright colour would attract there attention and keep them focused on the page.

Examples of Cartoon Art:

A good example of a book using this art styles would be Cat In The Hat by Dr Seuss.

Picture book aimed at 3-6 year olds.

            Art Style – Impressionism

Impressionistic art depicts natural appearances of objects by giving fleeting visual impressions with an emphasis on light. Color is the most distinctive feature of this, especially the interplay of color and light, often created with splashes, speckles, or dots of paint as opposed to longer brush strokes. This is the age where children want to know what things are and starting to understand things, which is why this style would fit as it would be a impression of the real thing with life like colours.

Examples of Impressionism:

A good example of a book using this art styles would be The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

Defining Picture Books

Defining Picture Books

Task 1 - Part 2

Task 1

Quentin Blake

Quentin Blake was born in London in 1932 and has drawn ever since he can remember. He went to Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School before studying English at Downing College. He did a postgraduate teaching diploma at the University of London.

He made his living as an illustrator, as well as teaching for over twenty years at the Royal College of Art, where he was head of the Illustration department from 1978 to 1986. His first drawings were published in Punch while he was 16 and still at school. He is known for his collaboration with writers such as Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen, John Yeoman and, most famously, Roald Dahl. His books have also won numerous prizes and awards.

I have chosen Quentin Blake as I find his work very effective and eye catching I like the fact the work is ruff but neat and doesn’t follow with perfect line colouring. His would is also very colourful.

Quentin illustration style is very naturalistic, his work is more out of the line and not perfect colouring and is work is a lot less textured.

Quentin Blake work is mainly aim at younger children from the age of 5+ but he also does drawing for grown-up, which he doesn’t make much distinction between as quotes by him “Do you do drawings for grown-ups? The truth is I don't make much distinction between the drawings that I do for children and the ones I do for grown-ups. To me, it's all just drawing. In fact I didn't start off illustrating children's books. I drew for magazines, I drew jokes, I did drawings for the covers of paperbacks - such as the novels of Malcolm Bradbury, Evelyn Waugh and Margaret Drabble.”

Overall I find his work good to look at and find his drawing style simple and creative.

http://www.quentinblake.com/en/

Task 1

Task 1 - 4 Different Illustrators

Neal Layton

Neal prides himself on making his illustrations ‘as fresh and spontaneous as possible’. This is certainly true when we look at his chosen media - which includes old toothbrushes and leaves! Neal has received numerous awards, most notably for Jennifer Jones Won’t Leave Me Alone, by Frieda Wishinsky, which was awarded three children’s book awards. Neal’s work comprises often humorous and eye-catching illustrations that really capture children’s imaginations and beautifully accompany the story.

Susan Mitchell

Susan lights up the books she illustrates with a gentle whimsical approach that delightfully accompanies each tale. Susan graduated from the Edinburgh College of Art in 1984 with a degree in drawing and painting, and took various jobs before moving to Quebec with her husband and becoming a children’s book illustrator. Her recent books include Pumpkin Baby by Jane Yolen and Too Many Fairies by Margaret Reed MacDonald. When not drawing, Susan spends her time creating gorgeous soft dolls for her Etsy shop.

Mick Inkpen

Illustrator and author of numerous successful children’s books, Mick Inkpen has an impressive back-catalog including Kipper The Dog, Wibbly Pig and Lullabyhullabaloo.  His 2009 release, This Is My Book, makes reading and words fun, featuring a dragon that eats the dots off the i’s and forces the other characters to hunt down more o’s from the ghosts of Wollywolves. A multi-award winner, Mick began his career as a graphic designer and formed a friendship with author Nick Butterworth, with whom he developed a cartoon strip for the Sunday Express magazine. Being both the author and the artist, Mick draws his characters to match exactly how he envisages them which may have contributed to his overwhelming success in children’s literature.

Quentin Blake

Quentin always drew, from a very young age he enjoyed drawing and often illustrated for his school magazine. He found his interest in children's illustrations in his 20’s when he persuaded his friend to write a book so he could illustrate it.  The book titled ‘A Drink of Water’ was just the start.  Quentin has since gone on to illustrate for some of the most famous and best loved children’s books written by the famous author Roald Dahl, bringing some of our much loved stories to life. Quentin was honored to be awarded the title of Children’s Laureate in 1999, a role in which he would use his experience to promote children’s literature.  His incredible and unique style is loved and enjoyed by children and parents Worldwide.