On photos and drawings in baby books : a comparison based on dining scenes
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Abstract
This article ofers a comparative analysis of the aesthetic functions of photos vs.
drawings in baby books. Baby books are understood as books for children between 0
and 3 years of age. Since the development of food intake and eating behavior is very
important at this age, appropriate pictures of dining scenes can be found in many
baby books. This article compares picturebooks for babies that show dining scenes,
with two photo books, Trine kan… (1955) and Se hvad vi kan! (1964), and two baby
books with drawings, The Picturebook for BABY (1950) and I See (1985). The null
hypothesis is that photos tend more towards documentary, authentic, and objective
representation, while drawings emphasize a stereotypical, expressive, and subjective
perspective. Important intermittent factors are the concept of portraiture, expressed
cuteness, and the position on a scale from avant-garde to kitsch. The analysis of
the images and the accompanying texts (including the peritexts) shows that the rep resentation of babies is subject to historical changes, which is related to diferent
constructions of what it means to be a baby. In particular, the orientation towards
parental or pedagogical ideals infuences the respective representations.
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Children's literature in education, Version of Record (VoR), Springer Science + Business Media B.V., Dordrecht u.a., 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-023-09542-y