Illustration In Children's Literature

Illustrations in children 's literature have important functions and complex role; that what make critic like Mable Segun argues “Illustrations are literature in their own right or used by themselves or integrated with written texts” (Segun 3), for Segun illustrations have pictorial language that goes directly to child mind, she thinks pictorial codes better than verbal codes; that what make pre-schools use books with images only for children, for her words make ' 'vague ' ' images in children mind (1-2). The best way to understand Segun argument is to ask what is illustration? And what is literature? In Oxford dictionary illustration is a picture or graphic form, and literature is written form or works, that conceded to be superior (Oxford

Who is Mable Segun? And why she link pictures with literary? Mable Segun is a Nigerian writer and poet, she wrote for both adults and children, her works were well-known, and she received a Nigerian national merit award and other awards (Lagos Books Club). In my view Mable Segun argument relates to some African history, which some of African history survived through oral and pictures only, that why she thinks pictures can be

As we know from definition of picturebook according to Nikolajeva and Scott, they said it 's the perfect integration between words and pictures, which no other literary work done, so from the definition it 's can 't be literature (Nicholas 20-21), for example in Peter rabbit on pages 8-9 we will see the perfect integration between words and image, which the words show us Mrs. Rabbit instruct her children, but the picture show us that Peter is not listening to his mother and his blue jacket confirm his different gender and behavior (Goodman 208), also according to Scott on pages 44-45, words focalises on Mr. McGregore, but the picture focalises on Peter, also on pages 60-61 the words describe that Mr. McGregore create scarecrow form Peter 's jacket and shoes to scare the birds, otherwise, the picture show us the birds are not afraid from scarecrow, so the words and picture create controversial integration between Mr. McGregore and animal point of views which create for us the whole scene (Montgomery and Watson 107-108), Contrary to Mable Segun argument Margaret Mackey argues that the pictures and texts combine together to create meaning, to Mackey we are lost without the text in Peter rabbit, so the pictures could not be literature on their own (95). Other example is where the wild thing are, which from start of the story the text describes what Max do, but the image show