Anatomy of a Picture Book

 

Have you ever wondered what makes a picture book a picture book?  This post will guide you through the structure of the book itself as well as the elements used to convey the story inside.  You may find it helpful to refer to a physical picture book as you follow along.

Structure of the Book

• Format/Size: rectangular, horizontal, vertical
• Dust Jacket: the removable paper cover on hardcover picture books
• Casing: In hardcovers, the casing is the hard boards used to protect the pages. In paperbacks, the casing is paper.
• Binding: Usually sewn, but may be glued, especially in paperbacks. Each section of pages is called a signature, which equals 16 pages.
• Endpapers: The pages at the very front and back of the book, which are usually decorated to fit the topic or theme of the book.
• Front Matter: Half title page, title page, copyright page, dedication page—a half title is just the title of the book with no other info, a title page includes the author and publisher information. Some of the other info, like copyright and dedication, can sometimes appear on the same page as something else.
• Back Matter: index, glossary, author’s note, bibliography, further reading—these aren’t in every book, but they’re some of the other elements you might see.
• Gutter: the place in the middle of the book where the pages are folded and sewn/glued.

How the Story Gets Told

• Typeface/Typography
• Text Placement
• Picture Placement
• Double Page Spread: a page which has an illustration that crosses the gutter and covers both sides.
• Borders: Some books have decorative borders or simply lines around illustrations or words to set them apart from the rest.
• Panels: usually seen in graphic novels, these are a series of boxes that quickly tell part of the story one after the other.
• Vignettes/Spot Art: Small illustrations that might be depicted as ovals or circles on the page.
• Page Turner Element: What is it that makes you want to turn to the next page and keep reading?