What exactly is a children's book? How is children's literature defined as a genre? A leading scholar presents close readings of six classic stories to answer these questions and offer a clear definition of children's writing as a distinct literary form.

Perry Nodelman begins by considering the plots, themes, and structures of six works: -The Purple Jar, - Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Doolittle, Henry Huggins, The Snowy Day, and Plain City--all written for young people of varying ages in different times and places--to identify shared characteristics....

This volume represents the current state of research on picture books and other adjacent hybrid forms of　visual/verbal texts such as comics, graphic novels, and book apps, with a particular focus on texts produced for and　about young people. When Perry Nodelman's Words about Pictures: the Narrative Art of Children's Picture Books　was published almost three decades ago, it was greeted as an important contribution to studies in children's　picture books and illustration internationally; and based substantially on it, Nodelman has recently been named the 2015...