Pictures that teach: How realistic are the pictures in children’s books?

Level of Education of Students Involved

Undergraduate

Faculty Sponsor

Abbie Thompson

College

College of Arts & Sciences (CAS)

Discipline(s)

Psychology

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Symposium Date

Spring 4-30-2026

Abstract

Parents are encouraged to read to young children, yet little is known about the content of books for those aged five and under. Research suggests that children’s books contain more diverse vocabulary than everyday speech (Montag, 2015), and that children better connect images to real-life objects when illustrations are highly realistic, or “iconic” (Ganea et al., 2008; Simcock & DeLoache, 2006). However, it remains unclear whether parents tend to select books with highly iconic images, or how common such images are in children’s picture books overall.

To investigate this, we compared the top 100 picture books selected by parents with 100 randomly chosen books from six Indiana counties (N=1200), using 2023 library circulation data. Books were categorized as simple lines, basic drawings, detailed drawings, photographs, or mixed (Wagner, 2017).

Preliminary results show no significant difference in iconicity between parent-selected books (M = 2.48, SE = 0.030, Mdn = 2.0) and random books (M = 2.53, SE = 0.057, Mdn = 3.0), t(568) = 0.85, p = .4. Coding of the remaining books will be completed by SOURCE, with updated analyses to follow.

Overall, parent-selected books appear representative of children’s books in general. However, picture books tend to have relatively low iconicity, suggesting a need for greater emphasis on realistic imagery in publishing and selection practices.

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