The Primary Purpose Of Artwork Shouldn't To Sell The Books But To Help The Learner Understand

By Author: peter
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Most series for this age group offer fairy tales, often beautifully illustrated and nicely told. These have the advantages for learners of being familiar and using repetition as a narrative device, but some if not all children will feel they have moved beyond fairy tales and want stories more like those they read in Li. Ages 5-7 would perhaps benefit more from Li reading schemes such as the Oxford Reading Tree and from titles from children's publishers such as Usborne. The paperback sized section of Penguin Young Readers is aimed at ages 8-10 but even then includes more fairy tales than modern stories. Ages 8-10 have to look to the 11-15 series, of which the Heinle Foundations Reading Library would seem to be the best bet.

The readability of a text depends hugely on the font and layout. By and large the font used in graded readers is too small. It is astonishing that publishers should be so insensitive to the needs of learners who are unfamiliar with roman letters and unaccustomed to reading. In addition, the type is often too grey, the paper off-white, the text or background coloured, the margins narrow, and the lines ...
... long and close together. Most publishers acknowledge the importance of these factors because they decrease the font and increase the number of lines per page stage by stage. It is time that learners' interests took precedence over economic and artistic considerations.

Publishers seem to feel the ideal font to be that used in the standard Li paperback. This is simply inappropriate and a radical rethink is needed. Using a larger font will increase the number of pages, but such books are more likely to be chosen and the pages are more likely to be read. The trend for a larger page size in 11-15 series allows wider margins and a greater variety of layout but carries with it the temptation to increase the length and number of lines per page, a pit into which some publishers have fallen headlong. A small point may be added. It is important for librarians and programme managers that stages of series be clearly indicated, if not on the front at least on both the spine and the back.

The traditional series use the standard paperback page of 130 x igSmm. Alinea uses a slightly smaller page (115 x igomm), while Black Cat Reading and Training breaks ranks by using A5. The adult series for the most part use mono artwork with Macmillan Readers, Penguin Readers and Oxford Bookworms using colour for their beginner or starter stages. Black Cat again breaks ranks by using full colour throughout, not simply to illustrate a scene but also to present the atmosphere.

The primary purpose of artwork should be not to sell the books but to help the learner understand the text. The most helpful drawings are the very precise line drawings of Alinea but all drawings, mono or colour, do this far better than photographs which give astonishingly little information, particularly if they are film stills. Indeed some film stills contradict the text. No film producer has yet dared to cast a genuinely plain (euphemism for ugly) actress as Jane Eyre, so all have negated a major point of the story. The splendid Black Cat apart, and in spite of their smart glossy covers, the 16+ series look rather dull and formal. A lowbrow series could use a larger page, larger font, wider margins and the occasional half page colour artwork to give a lighter effect.