Our Display
Perfect Picture Books...
Welcome to the children's lit nook at Perfect Books! This display is at the back of the store, nestled within a dedicated children’s and YA section. The picturebook shelves span the back wall, directly across from the YA books.
We chose to focus our exhibit on picturebooks because they are often neglected in serious discussions of literature and representation. In reality, picturebooks are among the most accessible forms of literature out there, readable and enjoyable for both early readers and more experienced ones. Accessible for those who are still mastering reading in English and for confident readers, picturebooks have a wider audience than more challenging books. As our exhibit will show, the fact that picturebooks are easier to read does not mean they can’t tackle issues with complexity.
We chose to look at a section of the lower shelves, at the eye level of younger and smaller readers. Our thirteen books are all in close proximity to each other, offering a random sample of the shelf as a whole.
Explore the back shelves at Perfect Books right now! The picture below is interactive—hover on the buttons to see the book titles, and click for the book’s cataloguing information. The buttons outlined in white highlight the three books we will be pitching to you later on!
By taking a closer look at this display, we found picture books to come in all shapes and sizes and to be a rich platform for stories which deviate from the norm. This makes them an excellent window for diverse story-telling. While this display shows a wide range of diversity, especially in terms of race, ethnicity, and gender, we most often saw diversity in the background of the story, as part of a collective or a group. Books which place the stories of diverse characters at the forefront of the narrative were more rare. Check out What We Found on the next page!
Perfect Books is in the heart of downtown Ottawa. Explore using the map below!