Determination of the Required Features of Children's Picture Books

Children's picture books are known to play an important role in a child's cognitive, language, and personality development. Also, it is well known that a person's reading habits are most often obtained during childhood. Children's picture books can also aid in increasing their levels of imagination, vocabulary and language development, as well as, provide a dramatic experience for children. As a result, certain principles and rules in terms of content, form, language, and expression in the selection of children's picture books should be followed. A review of related literature established the current state of children's picture books, as well as, what criteria parents and teachers should pay attention too when choosing appropriate children's books. However, there were no studies identified which outlined the necessary qualities of children's picture books for the ages of one to seven. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the recommended qualities of children's picture books based on related literature; in terms of content, format, expression, and language which are written specifically for children aged one to seven. The criteria generally accepted in the literature was determined and discussed by analyzing previous studies of children's picture books. Suggestions and recommendations are provided for audiences, such as; authors, illustrators, book designers, publishers, academics, teachers and parents who may have an interest in improving children's picture books.