What Do You See? International Perspectives on Children’s Book Illustration

This extensively illustrated book is a collection of the papers given at the 2007 annual conference of the British section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and the National Centre for Research in Children’s Literature (NCRCL) MA course, Roehampton University London. It reflects the convictions of the editors and the participants that picture books and other illustrated texts for children are vitally important as substance for academic debate, and that people in the English speaking world are far too often ignorant of the wealth of literary and artistic material deriving from other cultures and traditions. The papers explore the diversity of modern children’s book illustration and consider its potential as a space for cultural dialogue and exchange. They also look at ways in which illustrations are themselves histories of art and style, arising from cultural tradition, and the extent to which they enable us to traverse boundaries and dissolve barriers. The sections into which this volume is divided to some extent represent different areas of debate: the work of illustrators from Europe and from the rest of the world, and the response to such books by their youthful primary audience. Attention is also paid to some of the new talent in the area of children’s book illustration. While it would be impossible for any book to convey the richness of the visual experience of the conference, we hope that the illustrations may go some way towards recreating it.