The Power of the Picture Book: Travis Jonker

12 Weird, Wonderful Things Picture Books Can Do 

(That Other Books CAN’T)

The very best work comes from a mixture of respect for history and a healthy disrespect for convention.

-Martin Salisbury, 100 Great Children’s Picturebooks

Picture books can . . .

. . . be any shape or size (like Chicken Soup with Rice and How Many Jelly Beans?).

. . . play with color in amazing ways (like Wild About Shapes).

. . . tell four stories at once (like Black and White).

. . . tell a story without words (like Flotsam).

. . . split (like Waterloo & Trafalgar).

. . . turn (like Hattie & Hudson).

. . . pop up (like White Noise).

. . . break apart, literally (like Onion’s Great Escape).

. . . break apart, figuratively (like The Three Pigs).

. . . flip (like Are We There Yet?).

. . . flap (like Flora and the Flamingo).

. . . fold out (like Panorama).

Or not do any of those things and still amaze.

What else can picture books do?

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Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes the children's literature blog 100 Scope Notes on the School Library Journal website and is co-producer of The Yarn podcast. His debut picture book, The Very Last Castle (illustrated by Mark Pett), comes out next fall.