2. What is a picture book?
0 Most often written for children
0 Content is conveyed through the use of words and
pictures or through pictures alone.
0 Illustrations are an essential part of the structure of
the book. They are as important as the text, if not
more.
0 Tend to be 32 pages because of how they are bound.

3. Picture Books @ CMPL
0 We have 13,276 picture books at the Main Library.
0 Out of 250,000 items at the Main Library, picture
books account for 5%.
0 Our picture storybook circulation accounts for 27% of
children’s room circulation.

4. History of Picture Books
0 Picture books as we think of them today are a
relatively new format.
0 While illustrated books have been around for a long
time, they used to have text on one side of a page and
the illustrations on the other.
0 In the early 1900s, Wanda Gag created some of the
first picture books. She mixed up the pictures and the
text and paved the way for other picture book authors
like Maurice Sendak, Dr. Seuss, and Eric Carle.

5. From Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
1928

7. This is a cover. Important things
that you will find on a book cover
include:
• Title
• Author (who wrote it)
• Illustrator (who drew the
pictures)
• For kids’ books, there will be a
picture that shows what the
story is about.
The cover is important! Kids will
pick up, buy, or check out books
with good covers. If it is boring, has
ugly pictures, or looks torn or
stained, kids will not take the book
home.

8. This is a spine. Important things
that you will find on a book book
include:
• Title
• Author (who wrote it)
• Illustrator (who drew the
pictures)
• A label at the bottom telling you
where the book is shelved. This
one is shelved at E Cronin.

9. This is the front flap. It will usually
include the price of the book in the
top right corner. It will also tell you
about the book. People read the
front flap to decide if they want to
read the whole book.

10. This is called the C.I.P. page. It
will include information for book
catalogers, such as the publisher,
the date it was written, and any
subjects included in the book. At
the library we use this
information to decide where a
book should be shelved.
In picture books, this page will
also include the dedication.
Larger chapter books will give the
dedication a separate page.

11. This is the title page. You will
usually find it after 1 blank page at
the beginning of a picture book. It
will include the title, the author, the
illustrator, and the publisher.
Sometimes it includes a picture.

12. This is the back flap. It includes
information about the author and
the illustrator. Think of it like a mini
biography.

13. This is the back cover. It
sometimes includes a picture. The
important part for libraries is the
code at the bottom. This includes:
• ISBN-13 digit number that
identifies each individual book
title and format. We use this
information when adding items
to the catalog to make sure that
we have the right one.
• Price

15. Board Books
0 Made of cardboard pages
0 Usually half the size of picture books
0 Aimed towards 0-2 year olds
0 They have their own section at CMPL

16. Board Book section @ CMPL
• Notice the drawers at a
small child’s height. We
want them to be able to
pick out books too!
• Little tables and chairs in
this area give them a chance
to “read” their books.

17. Concept Books
0 Introduce kids to a theme, such as the alphabet,
counting, colors, shapes, or opposites
0 Aimed towards 2-8 year olds
0 At CMPL, they are shelved in a separate section called
Concept Books

18. Here at CMPL, we add special stickers or labels to the side of each picture book in
the Concept Book section so you can easily pick out books based on a particular
concept. Here are our labels:
Alpbabet
Counting Colors
Shapes
Opposites

19. Easy Readers
0 Also called beginning or early readers
0 Use less words on a page and many look like mini
chapter books
0 Pictures function more as illustrations than as
essential parts of the story
0 Tend to be for 4-8 year olds
From Frog and Toad Are Friends by
Arnold Lobel

20. Easy Readers @ CMPL
• Split into 4 sections by
reading levels. Books are
ER1, ER2, ER3, or ER4.
• Each side of the shelves is a
different ER level
• ER1 is the easiest, while
ER4 is the hardest

21. Nonfiction
0 True books
0 For ages 3-12
0 Shelved by subject. You will see a J and a number on
their spine to identify these books.
Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan Roth
J598.71 R

22. Picture Storybooks
0 These are your traditional picture books that don’t fit
into any other category.
0 The illustrations are at least as important as the text.

23. Wordless
0 Stories are told completely by pictures.