Summer 2026      Volume 54, Number 3

The Art and Craft of Picturebooks: A Legacy of Meaning Through Words and Illustrations
By Laura Beltchenko

Document: Article  

Introductory Paragraph:   This article is an ode to the art and craft of picturebooks. The art refers to the illustrative qualities and their design features. The craft is for the word choice and storytelling that create an episodic narrative in approximately 32 pages.  For those of you that know me or have participated in any of my conference presentations or professional learning, you know my ultimate passion for these works of illustrative creativity and brilliant composition. Many of the books in this genre category should not be looked on as books that are underdeveloped or too simple for an advanced literacy learner. On the contrary, these books can be sophisticated in their content, with advanced themes and demands of inferencing of both words and pictures. We need to ask ourselves these questions: “How do the primary and secondary characters change throughout the episodic plot development?” “What are the implications of the story setting as they relate to the characters or the plot?” and “Is explicit or inferential meaning making required to understand the problem presented and the journey to resolution?” All of these questions can be answered through critical thinking and careful analysis of picture or illustrated books.  In this article, I will present a brief history lesson outlining how picturebooks of the past created an accessible culture of the world and reading into the lives of children. As educators, we must recognize the importance of both the written word and how illustrations support literacy development and explicit understanding, as well as the demands of interpretative and inferential thinking.

DOI:   https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.54.3.2026.3

Page Numbers:   3-9