By Ovidiu Veliscu
Freelance Writer
Illustrated books are books where the story is accompanied by illustrations — pictures that depict the story or significant aspects of the story. The illustrations for illustrated books are usually painted or drawn with oil, acrylics, watercolor, or pencil.
Illustrated books are recommended for children especially, when the child is beginning to learn to read. The main reason is that many young children are more attracted to pictures than text. Some young children find it tiresome to read, because they do not yet have the skill of reading at a steady pace.
Usually, young children need to read and reread a word, and sometimes must reread a whole sentence or paragraph, in order to comprehend meaning. This makes it harder for young children to create an entire mental picture, which is why illustrated books can help. Illustrated books provide the child a beforehand image of the story, so it is easier for them to associate a mental picture with the narrative.
An example of this effect is the popular Funny English Errors and Insights — Illustrated (2010), even though the book is a different kind of illustrated book than a children's book per se. Intended for older children, students, teachers, and parents alike, the book includes more than 30 illustrations that help convey the humor in some of the student bloopers and other funny English errors that the book contains. For example, the following edited illustration** explains the ambiguity in the farmer’s question to the editor of a rural newspaper: “Can you tell me how long hogs should be fed?”
Although illustrations are found mainly in children’s books, they also appear in other types of books, such as collector’s editions, fantasy books, and textbooks.
In the case of collector’s editions, the illustrated books usually have hand-drawn illustrations of the story on several pages. The genre of the book does not matter, although collector’s editions are usually the complete works of literary renowned writers, such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and John Fowls. These illustrated books usually have leather covers and resemble the early editions of the books.
Fantasy books are usually accompanied by illustrations that help the reader get a better idea of the fantastical character or magical location that the author wants to convey. These illustrations are usually done in watercolor and they usually appear on consecutive pages.
A good example of this kind of illustrated book is Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. In most editions, there are watercolor images representing the characters in different circumstances, such as the final scene with Frodo and Gollum fighting over the ring.
Textbooks and learning books will usually have illustrations. The reason for this is that, for many people, the human mind is more receptive to images than letters and words. No matter the subject, you will more likely remember the image; and if it the image is humorous, then the probability grows even higher.
Illustrated books can be the most heart-warming and fun books. As the old saying goes, an image can sometimes be worth a thousand words, and maybe more.