Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Narrative Illustration Research. Target age range



When I began looking in to the James and the giant peach noel I couldn’t decide what the target age was. According to Waterstones book store the novel publication is aimed at around 9 to 12 years old. This seems a bit old to me but the picture book variant is aimed at children as young as 4 years. This means the story is aimed at children as young as 4 and as old as 12, I think older readers can enjoy to story but I think this seems right four the target age range. The illustrations remain the same in both copies as they are the classics by Quentin Blake. The picture book just has them printed in colour and is a much larger book.

The original addition of James and the giant peach was published in 1961, much has changes since then in children’s media. Even though the book has some darker undertones I think it still fits well as a children’s book in the current market. A lot of cartoons created with in the last 20 years or so have had inappropriate references which far surpass the righting in this book. 

When I come to my research and design work I need to remember the book is meant for mostly young readers. There are some dark parts to the story but they should be subtly hinted at in the illustration. This book could be taken down a dark rout but I would much proffer to have a wacky childish tack on the book.

No comments:

Post a Comment