Randolph Caldecott transformed nineteenth-century picture books by making image and text work together as parts of the same joke or action. Books such as The House That Jack Built, The Diverting History of John Gilpin and Hey Diddle Diddle take familiar rhymes or comic narratives and extend them through lively illustrations that add movement, reaction and details not stated in the words. His figures feel animated, with horses, children and crowds often caught in mid-action rather than posed decoratively. Caldecott's work is therefore best read visually as well as verbally, noticing how page turns and pictures change the timing of a simple text. It fits classic children's illustration, nursery rhyme books and Victorian picture-book history. Read more Less
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