Picture Book or Picture Storybook?

Opinions about what makes a title a "picture book" versus a "picture storybook" vary. With over 22,000 titles in our database, it would be a daunting task to make determinations that everyone agrees upon. Thus, we decided early on to assign the following six categories based on narrative structure to all titles: illustrated, informational picture book, picture book, picture storybook, traditional literature, verse. We encourage users to apply "picture book" and "picture storybook" in a manner that best suits their needs. The bulleted items are genres associated with each category.

ILLUSTRATED

• adaptations, beginning readers, graphic novels, narrative poetry

INFORMATIONAL PICTURE BOOK

• biographies

PICTURE BOOK

• concept books, wordless/almost books, stories in rhyme

PICTURE STORYBOOK

• historical fiction, realistic fiction

TRADITIONAL LITERATURE

• folktales, fairy tales, fractured tales, etc.

VERSE

• poetry, lullabies, nursery rhymes