BookBrunch

It Is hard not to fear that the writing is on the wall for children’s picturebooks when you see a picturebook, with sound and animation, demonstrated on an iPhone, as I did recently with one of Winged Chariot Press’s titles (The Surprise by Sylvia van Ommen), now downloadable from Amazon. We already have libraries full of written books available from publishers – about 100 from Random House and Macmillan, and 150 from Puffin, for instance. And this week there was news of Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore’s latest e-venture (BookBrunch story). Not to mention the blogs, newsletters and websites that are going from strength to strength, from Jacqueline Wilson’s e-newsletter, received by 100,000 fans, to Spinebreakers, Puffin’s website for teenagers written by teenagers. Where novels, non-fiction and reference are going, so might picturebooks follow.

Picturebooks on iPhones have the disadvantage of being small – though that in itself can be appealing to little hands – but they don’t take up space, in your luggage or your house. They offer a satisfying interactivity, as you stroke the pages over (turning them by hand is also an interactive experience, but technology always has a quality of magic). Watching one in action sent a kind of chill into my heart, as I visualised picturebooks as we know them relegated in the foreseeable future to specialist stores, like the ones that now sell the vinyl LPs of my childhood, and to the stacks of the British Library, where one day soon we would call them up to read, and touch them with white gloves.

But Emily Gravett made a powerful case this week, at a Booktrust event in the new Free Word offices on Farringdon Road (with Anthony Browne and Catherine Rayner), as part of the Free Word launch Festival (still ongoing), for the enduring appeal of the picturebook as physical object. Gravett spoke rapturously of the feel of paper, and of hard covers, of the way the book is big enough to enclose a child in an embrace, especially as held by an adult who is reading to a child on a lap, and of the immediacy of the image, which seems distanced by a screen. She also enthused about the smell of paper. That is one thing the iPhones cannot convey – yet.

She also spoke of the value of ownership of the object – the same notion that drove Anne Fine’s Home Library bookplate campaign. A book you can hold and keep, and a copy that belongs only to you, is more valuable, she argued, than one you have downloaded. She and her fellow panellists spoke of young children’s belief, when signed copies had been given to them, that the whole thing was a one-off, drawn and printed individually, specially for them.

I just hope that the perception of the unique value of a printed picturebook survives. After all, a hardcover picturebook has more appeal as an object than a paperback, and yet hardback sales are declining. Not enough people seem to recognise that the physicality of the book matters, at least not to the extent of spending the extra money on it – and booksellers have followed suit by stocking fewer and fewer books in this format. A book collection on a shelf is a wonderful, lasting pleasure, but then so too, once, were the record collections we assembled as we grew up. Youngsters now seem to get a similar delight out of the accumulation of songs in their i-tunes playlist. Perhaps, imminently, even tiny children will all carry their libraries around in their pockets.

Comments (3)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

The importance of a printed picture book
written by Ann Scott, September 25, 2009

I am co-author of two new picture books which my husband and I have published. Through these books I am realising the importance of the printed copy vs. electronic. As a first-time publisher and distributor of two very engaging and highly-visual picture books, I am constantly being challenged by the difficulty of getting people to notice me and my product. It has been come extremely clear over the course of the last few months that I get a 99% positive reaction and sale if I present the actual book rather than pictures of pages or pages on our web site. The book is definitely a winner when in your hands because the quality of print and finish are high and the colours even more vibrant in the 'flesh' rather than on the screen. I agree wholeheartedly with the sense of ownership and delight that children get when they get to unwrap a book, hold it, turn the pages and then arrange it how they want on their bookshelves...

Picture Book Crisis
written by Babette Cole, September 28, 2009

I ,along with all other picture book authors/illustrators, am horrified at the present picture book crunch but look at the advantages publishers involving picture books on i phone. No production,printing,storage costs to name a few!
However there will always be art. It has endured since cavemen first scratched hairy mammonths on walls. It has survived so far but not sure I can on ever diminishing royalties!I have found www.authorsbookshop.co.uk a great help with supplimenting my lack of royalties. I have even got a job lecturing on a cruise ship!I throughtly reccomend all authors and artists to join.
Good Luck
Babette Cole

...
written by Patrick Janson-Smith, October 01, 2009

I guess it doesn't matter in which format pictures are presented (although will there ever be an adequate substitute for the bound book on good paper?) but it does matter that artists get decently rewarded for their endeavours. Now is the time to rally all lovers of illustration, which is why I am actively supporting the fund-raising efforts for Quentin Blake's The House of Illustration in the new King's Cross developments. Only £5.6 million to convert a dream into a reality!