To open a children’s book with no illustrations would be an odd occurrence to many. It is expected that books for children will have artistic components, be it simple line drawings or full, vibrant colour patterns that stretch several pages. In fact, the feelings of childhood nostalgia are often contained within those very drawings. The same cannot be said for books marketed as adult books – they seldom contain any artwork or visual representations. This is a great pity.
In 2017, the publishing company Ladybird announced the release of the first Ladybird-style illustrations in 40 years, with their new book series Ladybird Expert. The new series merged the classic and nostalgic children’s illustrations with a host of new short stories for adults, ranging from The Story of Brexit to The Midlife Crisis to The Wife. The result was a witty and ironic collection of social commentary books that, to an adult audience, blended the timeless drawings of their childhoods with the razor-sharp humour of their current, and very relatable, life issues. The success of the new series gave rise to the question of whether adults can enjoy – or even benefit from – the illustrated and picture books largely designed for children. Ladybird showed that the answer was, overwhelmingly, yes.
The simplicity of the format of illustrated books allowed for deeper reflections on the themes within them, and the pictures held artistic value in their ability to convey meaning, emotion, humour and atmosphere beyond the text. Illustrations can be full of life, character, and colour, providing visuals that aid understanding of texts. Pictures can explore universal themes that transcend generations, such as loss, belonging, and love, and can amplify, even for adults, emotional connections to such themes. I frequently find myself tearing up when reading the book Giraffes Can’t Dance to my cousins, in part due to the final illustration of a giraffe who was told he can’t dance, proudly dancing to the light of the full moon. Who says we can’t have that same feeling of pride looking at our favourite cartoon giraffe when reading a book designed for adults too?
And so we must rid ourselves of the cultural assumption that picture and illustrated books are for children, or for those not intelligent enough to understand a story without pictures. There is plenty of room within the covers of a story for art that can enhance emotional connections to a book, all whilst evoking a sense of sentimentality for childhood stories that were always filled with colour.
Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash
