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• Picture books originated from nursery rhymes. Playful sounds, rhythmic words and games.

• Beatrix potter was inspired by Caldecott technique of evolving nursery rhymes.

• Using an animal or small child as a character relates to children as they are small and vulnerable. Like Beatrix potter and peter rabbit. She makes him human like with their fitted clothing.

• Short stories and memorable characters are a useful quality.

• Awdry: Thomas the tank engine- turning a play item into a character and story.

• The story can have an element of teaching the child a lesson. E.g. When Thomas didn’t come out of the bridge into the rain as he didn’t want to get his new paintwork ruined. So they blocked up the bridge and took away his tracks so he could get out. He learned that no one would be able to see his nice, new, shiny paintwork.

•  Enid Blyton introduced bright, bold, appealing colours into her works with ‘Noddy’.

• Enid and Blake designed the layout of the children’s book with a logo and layout features.

• She turned toys into characters.

• Some people found her series of ‘Noddy” inappropriate, She used quite a lot of crime and punishment with in her story lines and some people found this unsatisfactory.

• Brian Wildsmith – made the ABC books more stimulating than ‘A is for Apple’ he formed a proper layout using letters and colours for type, then on the opposite page, painted textured images. This was around the time picture books became more popular. A fresh, clean look came into force and publishers grew.

• Rosie’s Fox: this book added more interactivity; there are hidden things that adults reading the book can’t see. The child then experiences power knows something the adult doesn’t.  E.g. the fox is always hidden and doing something but he is never brought up in the text.

• Shirley Huges – Dogger. Images follow the text and adds rhythm. She turns the story into a rollercoaster of emotion for the child. Lost Dogger throughout the story in various events but finds him in the end. She studies a child behaviour to add an element of realism into her illustrations.

• Children who are learning to read or cant read perceive the story through the images.

• John Buningham – Grandpa Book. Brings the old and young together. Uses minimal words but lets the images make a conversation between the readers e.g. the young and old, child and grandparent.

• Books let young children take in information in a static form where as in every day life there’s a lot to take in and its very hectic.