As adults choosing picture books for our children, I think we are often swayed by books with gorgeous illustrations.  But they don't have to be of artistic quality for kids to enjoy them.  In fact, I think kids often enjoy just the opposite: colorful, cartoony illustrations that are more like what they themselves would draw, than a professional artist.

Books with illustrations that look hastily drawn are often interpreted as cheap, but that is not always the case.  For example, I often think about No, David! by David Shannon.  This book was written when the author was just 5 years old, and the illustrations have the same look about them.  According to the author's bio, "it wasn't until he began drawing like a five-year-old that he really got noticed."

Other books with colorful, child-friendly illustrations include ones like the classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other books from the same author, Eric Carle, which are illustrated using cuttings of colored tissue paper.  Other illustrators have been known to use pictures of food, clay, or other items found around the house.

Although we as adults often don't see the charm in these childish types of illustrations, the truth is that children love them.  I think it's partly because kids can relate to them better than the perfect watercolor illustrations that often catch an adult's eye.  Of course, that's not to say that beautiful illustrations can't be appreciated by children -- books like The Polar Express are perfect examples of how classically beautiful illustrations can be loved by readers of all ages.  But I do think there is something to be said for the kind of child-like or cartoony illustrations that one often sees on the pages of picture books!