How to Look at a Picture Book: Getting Started with Picture Book Evaluation

• First look at the cover.

• Check the endpapers.

• Look at the illustrations throughout the book.

• See if you can tell the story from the pictures.

• Read the book.

• Do the pictures extend the story?

• Is the medium (the material, eg. paint, collage, photo, etc.) appropriate for the story?

• Are the illustrations appropriate for intended age level?

• Consider the format of the book as a whole (how it's all put together).

For more evaluation tips, try some of these sites:

• ALA's Official Caldecott Award Criteria
• Online Visual Literacy Project - provides a brief introduction to visual literacy and information on the basic visual elements
  
• Look Again: An Art Director Offers Some Pointers on "Learning to See", by David Saylor, School Library Journal, 1/1/2000

Does anyone have other resources to suggest for evaluating picture book art?