ABSTRACT
Simple descriptive books for children between the ages of 2 and 3 are definitely not the focus of picturebook research, let alone the focus of literary studies. For instance, there is no article on descriptive books in the recent Oxford Handbook of Children’s Literature (Mickenberg and Vallone 2011). This is in sharp contrast to the huge interest these books may arouse in children. It is also in contrast to the important historical contribution that descriptive books have made to children’s literature in general. Arguably, Orbis sensualium Pictus (The Visible World, 1658) by Johannes Amos Comenius is one of the first works of children’s literature (Fassbind-Eigenheer and Fassbind-Eigenheer 2002) Why do most adult scholars – with the notable exception of researchers engaged in the children’s literature–education interface – neglect the study of these books? The reasons are obvious. From their point of view, these books do not contain an interesting story, the pictures merely represent everyday objects, and the apparent joy they may trigger is a superficial and somewhat trivial phenomenon not worth pursuing. But these attitudes are only prejudices. At least from the point of view of a cognitive theory of picturebooks, this view seems completely misguided (see Kümmerling-Meibauer and Meibauer 2013).
