Non-fiction picture books - Teaching kids using illustrations

William Grill recently won the Kate Greenaway Medal for his children's book about Shackleton's Journey, which was hailed for it's beautiful combination of coloured pencil illustrations and factual information in an intriguing tale of Shackleton's Journey across Antarctica. 

In a talk he gave to our uni last year, he described his love of Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman', which I think is very apparent in his choice of materials and colour schemes. This style of work and the material  choices are things I am seriously considering for my authorship animation. 

It is the way that William Grill's choice of subject matter has changed the face of picture books though. By making a book that is both beautifully illustrated and teaching children about history in fun and engaging way. I particularly love his 'visual lists', which I think are an ingenious way of making tedious information and facts immediately much more engaging.