Children’s picturebooks are the very first books we encounter, and they form an important, constantly evolving, and dynamic sector of the publishing world. But what does it take to create a successful picturebook for children?

In seven chapters, this book covers the key stages of conceiving a narrative, creating a visual language and developing storyboards and design of a picturebook. The book includes interviews with leading children’s picturebook illustrators, as well as case studies of their work. The picturebooks and artists featured hail from Australia, Belgium, Cuba, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.

In this publication, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles introduce us to the world of children’s picturebooks, providing a solid background to the industry while exploring the key concepts and practices that have gone into the creation of successful picturebooks.

Martin Salisbury is an illustrator and Professor of Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, where he leads the UK’s first Masters programme in children’s book illustration. He is the author of Play Pen: New Children’s Book Illustration (2007).

Morag Styles is Professor of Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Art, Narrative and Childhood (2003).