Children's Book Illustration Research Guide

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The Harold B. Lee Library

• Searching the Harold B. Lee Library Website
• Selected Reference Sources

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I. Searching the Harold B. Lee Library Website

A. Finding Juvenile Books in the Library Catalog

1. Select Advanced Keyword Search.
2. Enter the keyword, author, title, and/or subject that you wish to search in the appropriate search box(es). Use the left pull-down boxes to select the type of search you wish.
3. To search the basic juvenile collection, omitting Big Books, Locked Case materials and Quarto, scroll down to Location and select Juvenile Collection. Click on Search.
4. To search all juvenile books, select AND from the right pull-down box and enter the word juvenile in the next box as a subject. If you want to search only fiction, enter the phrase juvenile fiction. To search all other juvenile books including non-fiction, enter the phrase juvenile literature. Click on Search.


B. Finding Biographies/Criticisms of Illustrators in the Library Catalog

1. Select Find Books. Select Advanced Keyword Search.
2. Enter author's or illustrator's last name first: Sendak, Maurice as a subject search.
3. To view items from subject search, click on author's name and/or the name with the subheading --Criticism and interpretation.


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C. Useful Subject Headings for Finding Books Related to Children's Picture Books

1. Picture books for children
2. Illustration of books
3. Illustrated children's books


D. Finding Interviews with and Speeches of Caldecott Medal winners

1. Access Library Literature & Information Science (EBSCO) database by going to the HBLL Home Page.
2. Click on Find Articles tab.
3. Choose Juvenile Literature subject from drop down menu under Select a Subject. Or click on Databases A - Z.
4. Click on Library Literature & Information Science.
5. Search for illustrator's name as author and subject.


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E. Finding Award Winning Children's Books

1. Select Awards & Prizes Online (Children's Book Council) the most comprehensive source for information about children's and young adult book awards published in English. Includes adult-selected awards, children's choice awards, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and United Kingdom awards, and selected international awards.

F. Internet Sources

• Writing, Illustrating, and Published Children's Books: The Purple Crayon includes articles on children's literature and its market, news, and a blog that provides answers to questions about getting published.
• Illustration for Children's Publishing is an excellent example of a children's illustrator's website and includes links to other useful sites.
• Children's Literature Web Guide (David K. Brown, University of Calgary) provides links to lists of children's books awards, bestsellers, and recommended books; on-line stories; children's writing; resources for reader's theatre, teachers, parents, storytellers, writers, and illustrators; more than 170 authors' web pages; Internet book discussion groups, and children's literature organizations. (www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html)
• Google, a search engine, is a good source to find information, shows, catalogs, about contemporary artists and illustrators.

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II. Print Reference Sources

A. Picture Book Criticism and Evaluation

Stewig, John Warren. Looking at Picture Books. Highsmith Press, 1995.
Juvenile Reference PN 147.5 S74 1995

B. Handbook/Manual

Amoss, Berthe and Eric Suben. Writing and Illustrating Children's Books for Publication. Writer's Digest Books, 1995.
Juvenile Reference PN 147.5 .A48 1995

Pope, Alice, ed. Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market. Writer's Digest Market, 2005. Juvenile Reference PN 147.5 .C48

Salisbury, Martin. Illustrating Children's Books: Creating Pictures for Publication. Barrons, 2004. Juvenile Reference NC 965 .S23 2004

Shulevitz, Uri. Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books. Watson Guptill, 1985.
Juvenile Reference PN 147.5 .S58 1997

Underdown, Harold D. and Lynne Rominger. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books. Alpha Books, 2001. Juvenile Reference PN 147.5 .U5 2001

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C. Biographical Sources

Something About the Author: Facts and Pictures about Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young People. Multiple volumes. Gale, various dates.
Juvenile Reference PN 451 .S6

Cummins, Julie, ed. Children's Book Illustration and Design. PBC, 1992. 2 volumes.
Juvenile Reference NC 965 .C43X 1992

Meyer, Susan E. A Treasury of the Greatest Children's Book Illustrators. Abrams, 1983.
Juvenile Reference NC 965 .M49 1983

The Storymakers: Illustrating Children's Books; 72 Artists and Illustrators Talk about Their Work. Pembroke Publishers, 1999.
Juvenile Reference NC 975.6 .S76x 1999

D. Bibliography

Lima, Carolyn W. and John A. Lima. A to Zoo: Subject Access to Children's Picture Books. 7th ed. Bowker, 2006.
Juvenile Reference PN 1009.5 .P5 X56 2006

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