Reading Contemporary Picturebooks takes a look at one of the most vibrant branches of children's literature - the modern picturebook. This exciting new book takes a sample of contemporary picturebooks and closely examines the features that make them distinctive and then suggests a way of characterising the 'interanimation' of words and pictures that is the essence of the form. The reasons for the picturebook's vitality and flexibility are also explored and the close bond between the picturebook and its readers is analyzed. Advances in our understanding of how visual images are organized are examined and the book concludes with an attempt to redescribe the picturebook in such a way that pictures, readers and text may be drawn together. Picturing Text will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers interested in reading, children's literature and media studies.
Biography
David Lewis is one of the leading British specialists on picturebooks. He was formerly Lecturer in Primary Education at the University of Exeter.
'Described by its author as eclectic and possibly eccentric, Lewis's book is, for the reader, like accompanying a reflective guide on an exploratory tour of a territory that proves to be vaster and much more intriguing than many travellers might have envisaged. It's a real "teaching" text, with the author's voice coming across clearly: musing, explaining, insisting upon and restating matters, and occasionally sounding mildly critical.' - Jane Doonan
