Picture books for 12 to 14 years?

That seems to be riding the line between Upper MG and Lower YA.

How would this be different from comic books, manga, and graphic novels? Those tell stories with lots of pictures, so I'm really not sure what you're going for.

Unless you mean a regular novel, written in prose, that just includes pictures every couple of pages?

WriterTrek said:

Unless you mean a regular novel, written in prose, that just includes pictures every couple of pages?

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If that's the case and you're looking for prose that's illustrated with pictures now and then, try these:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Tales from Outer Suburbia
Leviathan
A Monster Calls
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Coraline
The Graveyard Book
Liesl and Po
Lips Touch Three Times
The Child Thief
Larklight

Well, there are graphic novels and comics, and then there are also novels that have some illustrations.

An illustrated novel in that age range I can think of was A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. The e-book version, though, omitted many of the illustrations I believe.

It is certainly possible, I think, to have a novel that includes illustrations. But it wouldn't be formatted like a picture book.

~suki

jawnn said:

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is a good example.

Dare I ask what formatting it could be labeled?

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It's a middle grade novel. That's what it is called. The illustrations don't change it's classification.

~suki

Illustrated books for all ages, even adults, were once very common. This stopped because of the added expense. It costs a lot more to publish a book with illustrations, so such books are most often reserved for top-selling writers whose sales can justify the added expense.

Jamesaritchie said:

Illustrated books for all ages, even adults, were once very common. This stopped because of the added expense. It costs a lot more to publish a book with illustrations, so such books are most often reserved for top-selling writers whose sales can justify the added expense.

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While that might be true for the adult market, in the land of childrens and teen publishing, illustrations in novels are becoming somewhat more common. Still not a given, but not quite the scenario you propose.

~suki

In children's and teens though, the illustrations are telling part of the story. These are not illustrated novels in the old sense. In those, the illustrations showed the text. In the new ones, the illustrations replace text telling part of the story. This is true for Hugo Cabret and some, maybe all, of the others on the list above.

Debbie V said:

In children's and teens thogh, the illustrations are telling part of the story. These are not illustrated novels in the old sense. In those, the illustrations showed the text. In the new ones, the illustrations replace text telling pasrt of the story. This is true for Hugo Cabret and some, maybe all, of the others on the list above.

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I agree that many illustrated novels use illustrations to tell part of the story, but not all. In A Moster Calls, for example, the illustrations supplement the story but do not replace prose. The prose could stand alone.

~suki

Brom always has pictures in his books because he's an artist, but they're for adults. I can't remember if The Looking Glass Wars including illustrations, those are for YA. But yeah, the illustrations were just supplemental.

When you wrote "picture books for 12-14" I immediately thought of the adult picture books like "Go the F to Sleep."

suki said:

While that might be true for the adult market, in the land of childrens and teen publishing, illustrations in novels are becoming somewhat more common. Still not a given, but not quite the scenario you propose.

~suki

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"Common" doesn't mean new writers get illustrated books in the MG and up range very often at all. They don't.

Jamesaritchie said:

"Common" doesn't mean new writers get illustrated books in the MG and up range very often at all. They don't.

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Jeff Kinney's first book was Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Tom Angleberger's first book, written under a pseudonym, has photo illustrations and cartoons. I didn't look for other examples because today is too busy. I'm sure it helps that both illustrated as well as being the authors.

My first MG book was illustrated. So were my next...erm...all of them. Which is gonna be fourteen total by the end of the year.