Child & Picture: Children’s Book Illustration in Iran. Vol. 1 (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Child & Picture: Children’s Book Illustration in Iran. Vol. 1 Bahar Eshraq Child & Picture: Children’s Book Illustration in Iran. Vol. 1. By Jamaledin Akrami. Tehran: Madresse, 2005. 415 p. ISBN: 964-385-511-2. After a long hiatus in the publishing of theoretical texts on children’s literature, Jamaloddin Akrami has written two useful theoretical works focusing on Iranian Illustration in children’s books. The text under discussion in this review is Child & Picture: Children’s Book Illustration in Iran, vol., but Akrami also published a second volume of the book, called Child & Picture: The Illustration Elements in Children’s and YA Books. Each text dedicates analytical focus on illustrations of children’s fiction and nonfiction in varying historical eras. Child and Picture, the first volume, discusses the history of illustration in Iranian children’s and YA books, as well as the works of Iranian illustrators in national and international festivals. This first volume consists of ten chapters. The first chapter focuses on illustration as narration and the role of literature in ancient Iran. The second chapter deals with literature and illustration in the Medieval era, specifically fiction, nonfiction, and informational picture books. The third chapter analyzes different illustrative techniques in a specific historical era, from graphics to lithography, and new methods in illustrating books in the constitution era. The section also focuses on the nonfiction books, and the fourth chapter discusses the Ministry of Education’s new programming in Iran; the folktale myths and rewriting the Old Persian stories, the art of drawing, and illustrative diversities. Chapter five engages in fiction and nonfiction, respectively, and includes tales, poems, and documentaries. In chapter six, the author explores Iranian publishers of the 1970s, and explores the characteristics of nonfiction books and their illustrations in Iran during the 1970s. Akrami also analyzes the works of prominent illustrators in the 1960s and 1970s. [End Page 118] Chapter seven shifts to literary features of present illustrators and those from different eras of illustrating, and compares illustrative features in non-fiction books from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Chapter eight analyses textbook illustrations from 1921 to 1981, and also explores illustrated textbooks from 1981 to the present. Chapter nine concentrates on international festivals and Iranian illustration award winners, and also on national illustration in Iran. Lastly, chapter ten discusses literary genres along with comparative analyses of the illustration of nonfiction books in the USA and Europe. Akrami extends his scholarship into another volume of his Child & Picture text, called Child & Picture: The Illustration Elements in the Children’s & YA Books, vol. 2, and this volume delves further into illustrated narratives and artistic techniques. The book outlines the difficulties of research and criticism in children’s illustrated books, and tracks the progression from drawing to illustration. Akami focuses extensively on illustrative technique throughout the book, and as the text draws to a close, introduces the works of the world’s most celebrated illustrators and their artistic techniques. Bahar Eshraq Tehran Reference Library Copyright © 2012 Bookbird, Inc