Unique children’s books are the books that you remember well into adulthood. We’ve all got one or two all-time favourites, haven’t we?
I love children’s books. Always have and always will. I think the day you grow out of children’s books is when you really get old. If you don’t feel your heart swell when you read the dialogue between Pooh and Piglet, notice the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention at a tense Potter extract, snort with laughter at the latest Sue Kendra or Kes Gray, or feel a wash of genuine childlike joy at the mere sight of a Julie Donaldson and Axel Scheffler effort, then, and only then, should you consider yourself officially over the hill.
Until then, you’ve still got it, kiddos.
Adventure is the best introduction to story time – and, as it happens, unique children’s books!
In 2017, I took my then 6-year-old son to Northern Ireland for a mummy-son adventure. One evening, after a day exploring the beach and hidden waterfalls, we cosied up on our big double bed together. I read him a book that we’d picked up from a second-hand bookshop whilst he dozed off. Towards the end of the story, my son opened his eyes and sat up to look at one of the few illustrations. He studied the page for a while before saying, “That’s not how I imagined it in my head, Mummy”. He went on to tell me that when I was reading, he imagined the story in his head.
My son had conjured up the characters and setting – and they didn’t match those in the book. We talked about what he had imagined, and then we played a game of describing something and imagining it in our head and then sharing what and who we had created. This activity was loads of fun, but it also sparked something inside me. Something that would eventually become a growing series of unique children’s books – Picture-This Books™.
Tainted love
Once this switch had been flicked, I couldn’t turn it off. The more children’s books I read to my son, the more I noticed the similarities between the character and setting illustrations. The illustrations were wonderful, but certainly, when it came to the human characters, everything looked incredibly manicured and almost uniform. Weird considering what wonderful and imaginative stories were being told. I went through hundreds of children’s books. I realised there was also a notable lack of characters of colour – in the stories themselves as well as the illustrations – particularly in terms of influential characters. I’m embarrassed to say I had not noticed this before. Now, remember how much I love children’s books!
Representation matters
It wasn’t that I was suddenly against children’s books or hating my favourites (never!), but I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with what I saw. And I know that ‘uncomfortable’ is a ridiculously privileged reaction to something that runs much deeper for so many.
I kept digging, and I looked into other areas of representation and inclusivity. Everything from additional needs, mental health, family units, and class. I cringed at the stats and the discrepancy between the world being portrayed in our children’s books and the one they wake up to and go to sleep in every day. Something was amiss. Something is amiss.
Not only are we showing our children a perversely whitewashed version of the world, but we are also selling it to them as normal. I began looking at children’s books very differently from that moment on. After all, if our children see the same characters and settings over and over again, to the point where they consider those characters and settings ‘normal’ but can’t actually relate that normal to what they see every day, how does that leave them feeling?
Abnormal. Different. Weird. Like they don’t fit. Uncomfortable. Awkward. Embarrassed. Out of place.
Not cool, right? We agree. This is why Picture-This Books™ is every child’s place.
Discover a series of truly unique children’s books with Picture-This Books.
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