Children's Book Design: Selection of non-Fiction Children's Books

I researched non-fiction children's books to get an idea on how they encourage children to be interested about learning and to try activities.

Australian Backyard Naturalist

I have mentioned this book in a previous blog post but wanted to research it further.

- Award-winning book.
- Encourages children to explore the wilderness and become interested in nature.

- In my opinion, the visual language of the front cover does not match the interior of the book. The inside of the book is filled with interesting layouts and exciting activities and illustrations, while the front cover does not provide the same "wow" factor, the excitement it might have to provide to get children interested in this subject.
- Brighter imagery, a quirky typeface and more illustrations might have accomplished this.

- I know for a fact that my brother would have loved this book at a younger age. Any bug-related, creepy-crawly was bound to get his attention, and this page does that by taking up a whole page with a detailed illustration.
- Interesting is quite unusual, positioned in angles, overlapping text and imagery. Yet this works well.

- The book is currently in the non-fiction bestseller list on Amazin.
-Cartoon-like visual language.
- Rounded typefaces. Colourful.
- I don't honestly think that it looks unique or modern, yet it must be doing something right to interest so many people.
- Characters are featured taking an interest in the science equipment.
- Only need household items to make the most of this book.
- Quirky, fun questions will be answered, such as: Can a magnet ever be turned off? Do toilets always flush in the same direction? Can a swimming pool be cleaned with just the breath of one person?
These are silly, fun questions that children will gain interest from.

- Back cover matches visual language of front cover to stop confusion.

Fun illustrations with quirky characters. A lot of different characters to spot on the page; children will look closer, have fun trying to find them all. Encourages them to look outside too to see what they can see outside their own homes.

Illustrations break up text. Only one or two colours to save money on printing.
A small box showing "Words to know" - helpful, fun way to educate.

"Fun Facts" - nice way to interest and educate children.

- Can personalise the book.

- Games.

I Feel Better With a Frog In My Throat

- Gets children interested in history.
- Large, prominent, lovely illustrations.
- Children like anything unusual, sometimes anything gory, so I think something like this will definitely appeal to them and make them laugh.
- Typefaces traditional to go with theme of book.

Humorous "instruction" book.
Detailed illustration.
Muted colours to go with the "olden day" theme.

I like how this book introduces subjects, first asking the child to guess if any of the cures help. It allows them to think and builds up suspense until the answer is revealed.