These are just a few samples. There are so many more!
Pets go Pop! by Bob Staake – fun and colourful pop-up book that literally jumps off the page.
Ghost of Shandon by Alan Corbett – at last, a graphic novel that’s really for kids! Beautiful autumn palette and a historical adventure with some real characters from 18th-century Cork.
Spells by Emily Gravett – I absolutely adored the illustrations in this book about a frog who wants to be a prince. There’s a brilliant section in the middle of the book where you can flip the top or bottom half of the page to see a transforming image.
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler – a classic that has been turned into an animated film and a live theatre production.
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems – a clever blend of photographs of New York City and Mo Willems’ illustrations and a cute story. A Caldecott Honor book.
The Night Pirates by Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright – A fun story with great illustrations. The thing I particularly liked about this book was the way the text and font was incorporated right into the illustrations and became part of the book and not just the bit you had to read.
What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety by Dawn Huebner and Bonnie Matthews – a non-fiction, self-help activity book for children with black and white illustrations throughout.
Tuesday by David Wiesner – winner of the Caldecott Medal and one of my absolute favourite picture books! There’s only about four pages with any text, the rest is all in the images. So much is left to the reader to interpret. It’s great fun, slightly mad, and definitely unique.
Mister Got to Go: The Cat that Wouldn’t Leave by Lois Simmie and Cynthia Nugent – this is a true cat tale from Vancouver about a stray who wandered into the Sylvia Hotel and decided to stay. I love it because of the humour and great pictures, and friends of mine used to go to that hotel pub regularly.
Beware of the Storybook Wolves by Lauren Child – I like how she puts photos of patterns into her illustrations. This is a brilliant story that mucks around with a few familiar fairy tales but really has a lot of fun, so you just don’t know what’s going to happen next.
The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean - for the life of me, I can’t find this one, but I know I had it in my collection. I had to include it here because it’s a book that is a hybrid of picture book and graphic novel for younger kids. Great stuff, a bit darker and scarier, not for the wee tots.
What are your favourite illustrated books for children and why?
To read about the SCBWI Ireland meet-up with Alan Corbett, click here.
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