CHILDREN'S BOOK GENRES - 3-6 YEARS OLD

THE CAT IN THE HAT

Dr. Seuss books are great for children who are in the process of learning to read for themselves. The illustrations and stories are equally surreal, and the red and white stripes are iconic for the Cat in the Hat, even fifty years after it was first published. Although the stories can be quite long and wacky, Dr. Seuss limited his vocabulary in a way that younger children could enjoy the stories just as much. For 'The Cat in the Hat', a friend of Dr. Seuss gave him a list of 348 words that every six-year-old should know and he responded with this book, which uses just 236 distinct words.

The colour palette is very distinctive to this story, using just white, blue and red. The illustrations are quite detailed in places, and colour is used to pick out those main areas, and are very humorous. The typography used is more 'advanced' in style than that used in baby and toddler books, utilising a standard black serif type on a white background.

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

Eric Carle's 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' transcends the age genres of children's literature, from babies to toddlers to first readers. The illustrations are beautifully made, and are always interesting, and the story again uses repetition to interest children and give the story rhythm.

This story also uses holes in the structure of the page in the style of books aimed for very young children, giving it a tactile edge. The text is understated and doesn't intrude on the illustrations, so that toddlers can just look and touch, but is clear enough for first readers. Again, the background is blank, so that the type is highly visible, and doesn't make the colourful paintings overbearing.

WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT

This book uses a very traditional illustrative style, in contrast to the others above, with more realistically rendered characters in pen and ink with a watercolour wash. The text on the cover is coloured like the paintings, though the text itself is uninspiring. Although this book was a favourite of mine when I was younger, if I came across this cover without knowing the story I don't think I would be drawn in.

Again, repetition in the text is a theme that follows through the story, with a problem found and overcome on each page. Here the illustrations are in black and white and possibly with charcoal, though I'm not sure if this is the original or if it has been digitally edited.

The illustrator changes the layouts of the pages, and here it resembles more of a comic strip as the action speeds up towards the end of the book where the tale reverses and the characters don't have time to think through their decisions. The onomatopoeic words and phrases such as squelch squerch and swishy swashy are also more interesting for children, especially when emphasised by the reader.