There are a few things to consider when picking story picture books for elementary students. Here are the criteria for picking out good picture storybooks:
- Design should be logical and creative
- books should have consistency between the pictures and the text, both of which should be visible at the same time
- the layout of pictures and text should vary in size and location to dispel monotony
- Illustrations should enhance the story development
- characters should be developed by illustrations in addition to the text
- mood in the illustrations should enhance that of the text
- the reader should be able to predict the action of the story by looking at the the illustrations (so that the youngest readers can follow along easily)
- The story should be meaningful and valuable to the audience
- it should have a message for the audience
- the audience should be respected and understood
The ALA maintains a list of award wining children’s book on their website.
(I really need citations for this information. It came from lectures during one of my Masters classes.)