"Picturebooks are those books in which images and ideas join to form a unique whole. In the best picturebooks, the illustrators are as much a part of our experience wit the book as the written text (if there is one)" (Charlotte Huck's Children's Literature, Kiefer, Barbara Z., p. 156).
The illustrations play a very important role in overall quality of a picturebook. The illustrations help provide more meaning into the author's words so that the story comes to life for the reader. The pictures help tell the story by adding in character emotions and actions, changes in setting, and developing the plot. The illustrator uses different elements of design to do this. The story, characters, and plot come to life through the use of line and shape, color, value, space, point of view/perspective, and composition. Artists uses a variety of different types of media and techniques to bring the story to life. Some types of media include: woodcuts, collage and construction, computer-generated art, paints/pen/ink, and crayon/chalk/charcoal/pencil.
There are many different themes and subjects that are depicted in children's books. Some of these themes and subjects are family, everyday experiences, cultural diversity, older people, animals as people, modern folktales, humor, fantasy, social concerns, and war and its aftermath. Picturebooks can be used to teach children about a variety of life lessons.