An Apology for Pictures

For many children whose Grandma or Dad spent hours reading to them from illustrated books, these hours have opened the gateway to reading for themselves. Once the children's curiosity is aroused, talking with them about the stories and their illustrations will lead them to look for themselves, to ask questions, decipher speech bubbles and captions, and soon find themselves on the road to reading. Adult readers, who are often not practised readers themselves, will benefit from the illustrations in much the same way, by helping them to visualise characters and settings. In the period between the two world wars, many people in France, Germany and Britain were grateful for the illustrated novels published in inexpensive but nonetheless quality series, and even became collectors. The comparative study of these books reveals much about how texts and pictures interact, and at the same time shows up cultural developments and differences.