PBD: Favorite Postmodern Picturebooks





Just a few of my favorite postmodern picturebooks. 

A more detailed book list is available at:

What is interesting about postmodern picturebooks is not necessarily what they are, but what they can do for readers and literacy educators. Postmodern picturebooks invite students to navigate non-linear structures and attend to the various symbolic representations, literary codes and conventions in order to make sense of the complexities inherent in these texts.

Some characteristics of postmodern picturebooks:

  • expand the conventional boundaries of picture book formats 
  • contain non-linear structures and storylines 
  • offer multiple perspectives or realities to the reader 
  • may be self-referential – they discuss their own creation or existence 
  • contain elements of ambiguity or irony 
  • often contain surrealistic images 
  • include the juxtaposition of unrelated images 
  • mock traditional formats 
  • are often sarcastic / cynical in tone 
  • contain overly obtrusive narrators who directly address readers and comment on their own narrations 
  • often contain narrative framing devices (e.g., stories within stories, “characters reading about their own fictional lives 
  • feature typographic experimentation 
  • feature a mixing of genres, discourse styles, and modes of narration 
  • illustrated with a pastiche of illustrative styles 

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