| As the publication of picture books is warming up gradually, the children book is regarded as a golden part which is growing up against the trend of the book market. However, the industry of original picture books for children starts late in China with a gap of nearly 100 years. At present, large numbers of children picture books are imported from Europe and America, among which America is the dominant part. The imported picture books occupy more than 50% of the domestic market. This phenomenon shows the growth of the demands for picture books in China as well as the weakness of the domestic original picture book industry. In this paper, the study objects are the winning books of the Caldecott award, which is the most authoritative award for picture books and enjoys a high prestige all over the world. And it has a good survey and analysis about those 327 award winning works on many aspects, including the winning time, illustrators,the situation of import, themes, contents, the related multicultural background, painting styles, techniques, the dissemination features, the lens using in pictures, the editing method between pictures, and other aspects.In the first chapter, it identifies the concept of a picture book, and makes a distinction between the picture books and some other children’s publications, such as illustrated books, comic books, and cartoon books. About the relationship between the text and the pictures in a picture book, many researchers have researched very much. According to the related American researchers’ theory, the relationship between the text and pictures falls into 3 categories:complements for each other, comparison and contrast with each other, and merging into each other. And it is believed in this paper that these 3 categories could probably sum up the text-and-picture relationship in different types of picture books. Besides, pictures and text are defined as two media formats of picture books, and the narrative of pictures is the key focus of this analysis.In this paper, it introduces and analyses in detail the origin of the Caldecott award, the judges, the selection criteria, and the value for cultural industries, on which there has been little research so far. When it comes to the topic and content of the Caldecott winning books, in the paper, it focuses on the domestically scarce topics and the gap on the content with those American excellent picture books. The Caldecott winning books are typed through and analyzed case by case especially in some key respects including the multicultural theme, taboo subjects, biographies, historical and social themes. And it also analyzes features of the content with the reference to the child-orientation—paying attention to children’s psychology and emotional expression—in the Caldecott award criteria, how the award winning works achieve the purpose of edutainment in the actual creation, and how to make the roles attractive enough to convey some truth.In the paper, it analyzes the propagation characteristics of the award-winning works from the four aspects, including the audience segment, the aesthetic value of the painting art, the visual presentation, and the visual rhythm, and shows the Caldecott award winners’ locations and the high quality of the aesthetic value of art. All the winning works take the children’s perspective, understanding, and aesthetic taste as the basis of creation, and regard picture books as a category of art, so that the pictures have a very high aesthetic value. From the paintings’ quality, the overall layout, and the arrangement of visual rhythm, to the presentation of the details, the Caldecott award winners have set an excellent example of good picture books for us. The domestic works really have a great gap with the winners on many aspects mentioned previously. Looking out from the children picture book industry, it is expected to improve the creation and produce of the domestic picture books, in order to provide much more high-quality cultural productions, which involve many topics, have a high level of art skill, and fit the cultural demands, but also are good at children’s early enlightenment education. |
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