One has to go back to 1957 to find the reference album Father Castor’s picture book. Each image is accompanied by a caption and gradually leads the child to recognize and name representations of everyday life.
Since then, many artists have appropriated the genre – a French specialty whose term has no equivalent in other languages – to offer children aesthetic, innovative and/or conceptual creations every year, such as the magnificent Stuff like that, stuff like that by Bernadette Gervais (ed. Les Grandes personnes) published last year. 2022 offers a varied vintage to satisfy all tastes.
The most conceptual
In Animals, Bastien Contraire offers a very original reading angle to recognize the animal: a color associated with a word. The artist assumes that the child already has a multitude of animal representations in his memory.
He suggests projecting the image that his mind chooses onto the colored circle. The child thus plays to recognize the animals with no other clue than the color before deciphering the word. A surprising and rewarding exercise in abstraction (La Partie, 24 p., €18, from 2 years).
The most interactive
In Do not confuse, Published for the first time in 1998 and reprinted on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of Seuil jeunesse (280 p., 22 euros, from 3 years), Hervé Tullet offers a book-game in which the young reader is also an actor.
The holes in the images lead him towards a whole series of opposites: far and near must not be confused; order and disorder; inside and out… As the pages go by, the illustrated book gets richer, as does the vocabulary, always playing on the element of surprise. Joyful!
The most giant
A change of scale with this illustrated book entirely in cardboard that makes the Gigantic world tour of plants and mushrooms. Classic in its family classification, it seduces with its impressive design in terms of size.
Each table stands upright, like a mini-theatre, or flat, like a carpet, and displays 150 plants and mushrooms in shimmering color. Enough to delight the curiosity of children (Laure du Faÿ, Sarbacane, 10 p., €25, from 12 months).
The most playful
Also in XXL hardcover format, this illustrated book is above all playful as the title announces. My very great seek and find animals.
On each double page, a legend indicates the animals, as well as their number, to be found in a thematic illustration full of details. This also sharpens the child’s sense of observation (Gwé, Two golden roosters, 10 p., € 14.99, from 12 months).
The most aesthetic
Other animals but what a magnificent bestiary this is Zoological! Seuil jeunesse reprints this aesthetic and spectacular illustrated book published in 2002 with three unpublished double pages. Joëlle Jolivet offers an original classification (animals with spots, stripes, babies, etc.) showing 500 animals illustrated in linocuts. A chameleon is hidden on each double page… Aesthetic and timeless! (48 p., €21, from 3 years).
