Childen's book research

1. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
- The cover of the book is very simple and contains the family that are going on the bear hunt, so the
children reading the book will be able to recognise these characters as they appear on the front cover and
are featured in every page of the book. The pages within the book alternate between black and white
illustrations and text boxes to coloured illustrations and text boxes, this could be done to reduce costs of
printing due to the book containing 40 pages. The illustrator for this book has illustrated for other books
such as ‘Farmer Duck’ and ‘The Growing Story’, and they contain very similar interpretations of the
characters, as the way they have been created they have very simple facial features and clothes. The
colouring for the ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ is shown as bitty, with some sections of the characters not
being coloured in, or have gone over the outline slightly, which could have been done on purpose to
appeal to the younger children more as it could be seen as a similar way to how they colour in images.
- The method that has been used by Helen Oxenbury to illustrate ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ is the
original ideas were sketches and then to create the final book Helen drew the characters first and then she
would have used a computer to recreate these illustrations to make them look like they were painted or
drawn, to give the effect of drawings that the children would recognise from their drawings.
- The font that is used for the text within the children’s book is Veronan Light Educational. This font would
have been used because it is simple and clear to read while also containing small flicks off the end of the
letters (such as the t’s and e’s) that help the children to read the text and follow on to the next word.
- Each page contains a similar amount of words, the average amount of words that are on one page consist
of around 4 lines per paragraph, with two small paragraphs being on a double spread page. On some of
the pages there are only 3 lines of two words that are repeated, such as “Squelch squerch! Squelch
squerch! Squelch, squerch!”

2. - This children’s book contains around 40 pages of illustrations and text. The books dimensions are
25.5 x 0.5 x 28.5 cm.
- The Author of the book is Michael Rosen, who is one of the most popular contemporary poets and
authors of books for children.
- The Illustrator of the book is Helen Oxenbury, who is also known for publishing other well-known
children books such as ‘Farmer Duck’.
- The Publisher of the book is Walker Books, who are the world’s leading independent publisher of
children’s books.
Where the wild things are
- Maurice Sendak has created the unique and interesting illustration that covers the front of the book as
well as throughout. He has created these illustrations by combining etching with hand painted/drawn
sketches. By having unique sketches that contain a lot of detail on the characters and surroundings the
book would appeal more to children, as they would be a lot more interested in the images, which can tell
the story by themselves. The page set up is very simple with a sentence on one side of a double page that
is accompanied by a white-bordered illustration. As the story goes on the illustrations appear to get bigger
and end up filling one whole page, and then moving over to cover the page of the text. This could be done
to help engage the children who are reading the book and make them feel as though they are in the story.
- The fonts that are used for this children’s book are san-serif style but the lettering is in bold so it can
stand out more to the children who are reading it. The bold lettering would be easier for the children to
follow, and because there isn’t a lot of text per page the san-serif style would be easy to understand. Each
page contains a sentence.

3. - The Author and Illustrator of this book is Maurice Sendak, who is an American illustrator and writer of
children’s books.
- The Publisher of this book is Harper Collins, who is a well-known American publishing company.
- The dimensions of the book are 23.8 cm x 0.8 cm x 25.6 cm.
Dear Zoo
- The ‘Dear Zoo’ books set up is very simple and is easy for children to follow. The pictures that
accompany the text refer directly to what is said, so the children have something to look at and picture
while they are reading the book. The book was written for children under the age of 5, and the book would
appeal more to this age range because it is classed as a lift-the-flap book, which makes the children
interact with the book, so they will want to read it and turn the pages. The illustrations are very simple
and contain some vibrant colours such as the red cage for the lion and the green snake; these colours
would help to keep the children interested in the book and taking part in lifting the flaps.
- To illustrate this book Rod Campbell would have sketched out the animals and objects first then to create
the final print of the book he would have painted the animals and objects. The paintings would have been
outlined so they stand out to the children as they are reading the book.
- The fonts used in this book are similar to the previous books that I have studied, it contains san-serif
styled text that is bold, and so the writing is easier to read for the children. Per page, there is at least one
sentence; this makes the book easier to read for the children, as they won’t get confused about how many
words are on the page and what they have just read if they only have to read a sentence per page.
- The book contains 20 pages for the children to read, this will mean that they don’t get bored easily when
reading the story, as it is short. By having 20 pages to read, it means that this book can be picked up when
a child is bored for a quick and easy read, while they can also interact with it. As well as allowing the
children to read the book themselves because it is short, it would be a suitable book to read before they go
to bed because it wouldn’t take too long to read.
- The Author, Illustrator and Producer of this book is Rod Campbell, he is a Scottish writer and illustrator.
His interest in publishing lead to him to create Campbell Books, which specialises in book for the very
young.
- The books dimensions are 50.8 cm x 50.8 cm x 50.8 cm. The books shape is a square.