Picture Books: Tana Hoban

Picture Books Tana Hoban


So, this week at the library I discovered the work or Tana Hoban, a writer who was very popular when I was a infant. Apparently, she created very unique children’s books for the time period. I think that her work continues to still be unique and relevant despite its age.

Most of her books contain groups of photographs that are arranged by themes. For example Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? Contains many photographs of brightly colored objects in red, yellow, and blue. For example a little girl in a bright red rain jacket and red umbrella plays in the rain. A huge bunch of colored balloons blow in the wind tied to a tent pole. A gumball machine, rows of sunglasses, a stack of yellow crates provide interesting and dramatic pictures for children to look at and pick out colors.

I wish I had Children’s Zoo when my daughter was an infant. The book is on black pages with white text describing the animal on the opposite page. The pictures are all stark and clear, which I think would appeal to tiny baby eyes. Children’s Zoo is still fun to read now, but the girler’s attention span is shorter. She is more interested in the fact that the pages turn rather than what is actually on the pages. This fact does make these books appeal to me. The books are merely pictures so we can go through the book as fast or slow as we please. If girler wants to wiz through the pictures we can, but if one catches her eye we can pause. This picture book experience doesn’t rely on text for timing, which gives them a charm of their own.

There are many different themed books written by Tana Hoban the ones I picked out included:

A Children’s Zoo

Cubes, Cones Cylinder and Spheres

Shadows and Reflections

Let’s Count

More, Fewer, Less

Let’s Count

Shapes, Shapes, Shapes

Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue?