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Research proposal statement

Why do we tell stories to children? The importance of children’s books and how to keep them relevant.

I have always loved books ever since I can remember. I have so many memories of my parents reading to me and putting on silly voices. The beautiful illustrations transported me to a different world allowing me to believe that I could be or do whatever I wanted. A world where animals wear waistcoats, twits played tricks, shooting stars, Scottish landscapes, naughty siblings and families with weird and wonderful pet animals. I learnt so much from these stories, they helped me get through bad times and made me learn about myself and the world around me. For instance, books from the likes of Beatrix Potter, Mairi Hedderwick, Julia Donaldson, Raymond Briggs. I have been interested in the children book industry for a while and thought this would be a perfect opportunity for me to learn more about it. Looking at the children book industry will help my personal practice, informing me how it works, and how it can relate to the position I am in. I will be looking into the origin of reading and children’s books by looking into folklore and how it shaped the industry that is today from the likes of Vladimir Propp. I will be looking at why its important children read and how we can encourage reading to be a part of a child’s routine. I will be going to local independent children’s bookshops to see how they encourage children to read and to look at their displays and workshops. I will look at the publishing industry and their policy on ethics over profits. I will also be looking at trends in books, to see what people are buying and why. I think this would be interesting to see the variety of books that exist and how it is evolving. For example for International Women’s Day the increase in books about strong female leads. Have they been there all the time or hidden at the back of the shelves? I also will be looking at illustrators and how children’s illustrations have changed with the use of digital illustration alongside traditional. This will be of interest to teachers, parents and people who want to get into the industry. This will help them understand how books and illustrations are still important and how they can be kept that way. They can see modern books that are on offer that can teach their children about our growing world and promoting equality.

Children are introduced to new worlds with books, they can meet new people from the present and past and they can really affect their lives. It sparks their imagination, develops thought provoking and critical thinking and helps them develop empathy. Reading allows children to have skills they will need for their future to help them thrive at school, work and life. (Cowell, 2018) Reading for pleasure is also important for mental health as well as economic success research states. ‘One in eight disadvantaged children in the UK do not own a single book of their own, and primary school libraries have closed across the nation.’ Another factor for why children are not reading is because of parents not having time to read with their child. ‘19% of parents struggle to find energy at the end of the day’ also 16% said their child prefers to do other things. Another struggle some parents find is not feeling comfortable in bookshops, with feeling overwhelmed by the variety of books. However, 61% of parents are concerned about how much screen time children are having. (Flood, 2018)

An interview between Quentin Blake and Lauren Child shows the way they draw and write for both adults and children. Child says how she treasures Blake’s comment about how young children can read a book even if they can’t actually read. ‘Whether I’m doing an adult book for The Folio Society or a book for a five- year old, it’s the same job and you should take it equally seriously.’ Child wants to address a similar method by speaking to both adults and children. ‘I think there is a misunderstanding about writers and illustrator for children. As if they don’t take their work as seriously as those who write and illustrate for adults. When actually it’s the same, the same thought process and integrity. It’s easy to feel you are there to be some kind of children’s entertainer at festivals for example.’ (Williams, 2017) The world of picture books owes much to John Burningham. His ‘visual poetry’ pushed boundaries of how much can be left unsaid. ‘He always treated the reader’s imagination with the utmost respect, whatever the reader’s age might be.’ He was able to communicate to children in their language ‘and in his understand of the mutually exclusive worlds of childhood and adulthood. (Salisbury, 2019)

During my research I am planning to look at themes in children’s books, looking at trends in books and why. I have broadly looked into how children’s books help and teach children about ��difficult issues.’ Difficult meaning the effort to be able to deal and understand. (Dictionary, 2019) I have investigated why books like this need to exist for children and how it can help them. ‘All children deserve to be listened to: to have the chance to talk about their worst fears, their hopes and their dreams. (Edge, 2015) I have also explored what is suitable for children. How far can children’s books push the boundaries of what children should know and in what way. (Styles, 2012) I then started to investigate different topics that could be considered as ‘difficult’ or ‘taboo’; Such as equality, LGBT, death, illness, elderly, family and love.

In the lead up to international women’s day, I found lots of displays and books about women. I started to do research into equality, and how it’s presented in children’s books. Still in todays modern world, when an author reveals the gender of a creature it was 73% more likely to be male than female. Male creatures are also more likely to be shown as strong and dangerous and compared to animals like tigers and dragons. Whereas women are shown as more small and sensitive creatures such as birds and butterflies. Although there are new picture books with strong female characters, they didn’t make the bestseller list. However, illustrators and authors understand the importance of equality and it is slowly changing. However, parents are still buying books they know and trust from their childhood. Which aren’t perhaps promoting equality. (Ferguson, 2018)

I found a project called ‘No Outsiders’ in which UK primary schoolteachers looked at ways of addressing sexual equality in primary schools. It’s important to get the balance into how to educate children about sexuality for them to understand that everyone is different. The idea of the project was to prevent homophobia. In order to do this it would require talking about gender, sexuality and diversity openly in school. However, there was parents who protested against this causing a school to temporarily withdraw from the project. The aim of this project was to reduce bullying, which parents (Love, 2019) supported. However they were saying ‘our child is coming home and talking about same- sex relationships when we haven’t even talked about heterosexual relationships with them yet.’ A woman said that her 10 year old daughter came home from school after reading a couple of these books and said ‘We can’t have these books in the house, people might think we’re gay or something.’ The woman then stated how she realized in that moment that her daughter was already being ‘bombarded with peer pressure.’ ‘She had already realized and made her mind up that gay is bad and we can’t go there. If at this age they’re already saying that we can’t accept people for their life choices, then we have to start educating them earlier.’ A project teacher gave her own interpretation of homosexuality and did a story called ‘If I had 100 mummies.’ A girl responded by putting her hand up and said she had two mummies. ‘We framed it that she is the luckiest one to have two mummies, because we’d all like 100 kisses at bedtime and 100 ice creams if we went out to play.’ This empowered the child’s parents, as they came in and said how pleased they were that this was being addressed and their situation being framed as the norm. (DePalma, 2016)

Another aspect I have researched is about illustrators and how they are treated in the industry. This is something I want to look more into especially for children’s illustrators. An illustrator surveyed 1261 illustrators about their pay, workload and contracts. He found that most illustrators are based at home while only 11% share studios. Illustrators found that the most work they got was from the publishing industry with 24% and editorial work with 19%, closely followed by prints and exhibitions at 18% and 16% from advertising. Most of their work came from self-promotion 33% and repeat clients 30%. Social media is a big impact with it helping 21% of the illustrators, agents however only bringing 9%. Instagram was the most important social media source for those surveyed. It is an easy way for illustrators to get their work out there and for a large amount of people to see at a click of a finger. However there is still some way to go. 69% felt they could not earn a suitable amount to live sustainably just from illustration and have had to have side jobs. (Brewer, 2018)

The children book industry is a big area to research. I want to find out things that are going to be relevant to my practice and potential future in the industry. I want to look at illustrators and how they’ve entered the industry. I will be doing research into whether they have an agent or if they are freelance. Comparing this to international illustrators such as Sweden and Norway who have wages whereas many illustrators in the UK tend to work freelance. Why is this? How do freelance illustrators find work? I want to look into whether having an agent is needed and look at well-known illustrators and their journey in children’s books. I am planning to look at different agents and their clients seeing how successful they have been. Has social media been a big impact on the illustration industry? How has it helped illustrators and impacted their lives mentally. I also would like to look into techniques illustrators use. Looking at traditional illustration such as Beatrix Potter compared to digital illustration such as Jim Field who uses digital techniques in his work. Is the change with advanced technology good for the industry or bad? Why do people choose to draw digitally and does it have the same effect as using traditional methods.

Another area to look into would be in the publishing industry. Looking at the type of books they sell and what they promote, for example around international women’s day there were displays in every bookshop and in chains such as Waterstones. Yet where are these books on a normal day? I want to look further into who decides the market focus is right and how can it be changed to promote equality and issues such as LGBT, race, diversity and so on. Another research point would be to look at certain publishing houses such as Penguin, reviewing the books they have on offer for children, I want to see the trends in books they sell and doing an analysis on what’s popular and why. It might also be interesting looking at the type of books children read at school and how they involve books in education. Another area I want to look in is the increase in EBooks and Audio books. With the increase in young children using tablets are they likely to use these than read an actual book or be read to. What is this doing to children, what are the benefits?

I have found some books that I feel will be helpful for my research and the understanding of the children book industry. For instance How to be an Illustrator by Darrel Rees. I have already read some of this book before but I think it will give me a good insight into the illustration industry. Other books I am planning on reading are: Illustration: What’s the point? By Mouni Feddag and Becoming a Successful Illustrator by Derek Brazell. Books that are more specific to the children’s book industry are: How to Write a Children’s Picture Book and Get it Published by Andrea Shavick; Illustrating Children’s Books- Creating Pictures for Publication by Martin Salinsbury; Drawn from the Archive: Hidden Histories of Illustration by Seven stories Press; Little Big Books: Illustration for Children's Picture Books by Robert Klanten and 100 Great Children's Picture books by Martin Salisbury and Illustrating Children's books by Martin Ursell.

I am planning on doing some primary research over the holidays. I have a few ideas of what I could possibly do, but this will likely change once I have done more research on my subject. Also the type of questions and focus may change slightly with more knowledge and understanding of my subject. One idea I had would be doing an interview with an independent children’s bookshop owner. I am planning to visit some over the summer and there is a few local book shops dedicated to just children’s novels. I would want to ask the owner about their opinion on the industry, to find out are people still buying books like they used to. Do they hold any workshops, book readings/ signings, if so do many people attend? I would ask about their ethics over profits and the type of books they sell and why. Another possibility would be to do an online questionnaire asking friends and family about their experience with children’s books. Over the summer I want to visit as many independent book shops as I can. While doing some research I discovered some local ones The Childrens Bookshop in Hay- On- Wye and Booka Bookshop in Oswestry. I am also hoping to go to London and bookshops I would like to go to are Chiltern Bookshops in Gerrad’s Cross, Foyes in Charing Cross, The Owl Bookshop Kentish Town, Kew Bookshop, London Review Bookshop in Bloomsbury and Daunt Books in Marylebone. I would also like to go in some museums and galleries such as The Cartoon Museum, The House of Illustration, House of MinaLima, Chris Beetles Gallery and Marianne North Gallery in Kew gardens.

References

Ben_the_illustrator. (2018/2019) Illustrator's Survey [online] Available at: https://bentheillustrator.com/illustrators-survey [Accessed: 15/04/19]

Brewer, J. (2018) This illustrator surveyed 1261 illustrators about pay, workload, clients, contracts and more [online] Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/ben-the-illustrator-illustration-survey-2017-160118 [Accessed: 19/04/19]

Briggs, R. (1994) The Bear [online] Available at: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/299935/the-bear/9780141374079.html [Accessed: 25/04/19]

Cowell, C. (2018) If we want our children to thrive, teaching them to read is not enough – they must learn to enjoy it. [online], Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/children-reading-for-pleasure-learning-to-read-a8666611.html [Accessed: 16/02/18]

DePalma, R. (2016) Gay Penguins, Sissy Ducklings ... and Beyond? Exploring Gender and Sexuality Diversity through Children's Literature. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37 (6), 828-845.

Dictionary, O. (2019) Difficult [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/difficult [Accessed: 01/04/19]

Edge, C. (2015) How Can Stories Help Children Explore Difficult Subjects? [online] Available at: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teachers-librarians/2015/11/how-can-stories-help-children-explore-difficult-subjects [Accessed: 25/02/19]

Ferguson, D. (2018) Must monsters always be male? Huge gender bias revealed in children’s books. [online], Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/21/childrens-books-sexism-monster-in-your-kids-book-is-male [Accessed: 07/03/19]

Flood, A. (2018) Only half of pre-school children being read to daily, UK study finds. [online], Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/21/only-half-of-pre-school-children-being-read-to-daily-study-finds [Accessed: 18/04/19]

Hedderwick, M. (1986) Katie Morag And The Tiresome Ted [online] Available at: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1000937/katie-morag-and-the-tiresome-ted/9781849410953.html

Love, J. (2019) Julián Is a Mermaid [online] Available at: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567578/julian-is-a-mermaid-by-jessica-love/9780763690458/ [Accessed: 26/03/19]

McKee, D. (1968) Elmer [online] Available at: https://www.waterstones.com/book/elmer/david-mckee/9781842707319 [Accessed: 25/04/19]

Potter, B. About Beatrix Potter [online] Available at: https://www.peterrabbit.com/about-beatrix-potter/ [Accessed: 25/04/19]

Salisbury, M. (2019) John Burningham Obituary [online], Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/07/john-burningham-obituary [Accessed: 18/04/19]

Sethi, A. (2018) Browse a bookshop: Moon Lane Books, south London. [online], Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/07/browse-a-bookshop-moon-lane-books-london [Accessed: 20/04/19]

Styles, M.S.a.M. (2012) Children's Picturebooks The art of visual storytelling. London: Laurence King.

Williams, S. (2017) 'Drawing is the most important thing there is': Quentin Blake talks to Lauren Child. [online], Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/drawing-important-thing-quentin-blake-talks-lauren-child/ [Accessed: 18/02/19]

Youtube. (2011) Ladybird Classic Me Books App | Interactive Picture Book [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h1EYwDg8lU [Accessed: 15/04/19]

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