"Paint a piece of your heart into a picture book …and it will be loved" .
When I was a teacher, I secretly headed to the children’s picture book section of Waterstones. I partook in many purchases over the years and want to share some of my favourites with you here.
I was a Key Stage 2 teacher, but have used picture books for years to stimulate creative writing and characterisation, even with Year 6 pupils.
The illustrations are often as important as the text and even books with no words can stimulate questioning and conversation. As I embark on writing children’s fiction myself, I know that my words on the page will only come alive when the right illustrator interprets them in their own unique way.
From his much-loved debut, How to Catch a Star, Oliver has gone on to create a collection of award-winning and bestselling picture books. He is also the illustrator of the hugely popular The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home, both written by Drew Daywalt. His 22nd picture book, I’m Very Busy, was released in October 2025. He also wrote Imaginary Fred which helps children think about friendships and loneliness.
Anthony Browne’s most popular book Gorilla, was published in 1983. The gorilla is a recurring character in many of his books.
Willy the Wimp is a brilliant way of approaching bullying with children of all ages.
In total, he has published 57 books. In 2000 he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, an international award -the first British illustrator to receive the award.
From 2009-2011 he was the Children’s Laureate.
Flotsam is an extraordinary Caldecott Medal winner and New York Times bestseller by David Wiesner.
A young boy comes to the beach eager to collect and examine flotsam—anything floating that has been washed ashore. But nothing among his usual finds compares with the discovery of a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera with its own secrets to share…and to keep.
This is a beautiful picture book which could lead to pupil’s exploring the discoveries which are found through the camera.
In the book ‘Where the Forest Meets the sea’ a boy and his father travel in their boat, ‘Time Machine’ to a stretch of beach beside a tropical rainforest. As the boy walks among the trees he imagines the forest as it might have been in the past. Dinosaurs emerge, barely perceptible, from a tangle of trunks and vines; the faint outlines of an aboriginal child melt into a background of trees and in the final haunting scene the unspoiled vista readers have toured is overlaid with translucent images of a possible future civilisation.
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a black and white picture book which consists of a series of images, ostensibly created by Harris Burdick, a man who has mysteriously disappeared. Each image is accompanied by a title and a single line of text, which encourage readers to create their own stories. One of the most well known images is Mr Linden’s Library.
