ABSTRACT

This chapter explores what picturebooks are and describes their main characteristics. It deals with the several definitions that have been given to the term picturebook through the years. One of the most common characteristics of modern picturebooks is the presence of intertextual and intervisual references such elements are often intertwined, producing a complex word–image interaction. The chapter investigates what agencies are involved in the production and in the translation process of picturebooks. It deals with the new ways of producing picturebooks: the digitization of picturebooks and applications. Translating picturebooks and translating for children also involves the performance of the story: reading aloud. Some picturebook definitions emphasize the reading situation—that picturebooks often require a performance by an adult for a child. The chapter examines the way we read the combination of words and images in picturebooks—focusing on how we move the focus of our visual attention on the page—and, subsequently, how we interpret the combination of words and images.