While illustrations are commonly used in children’s books, the amazing features they add to the stories starts the discussion on why they are rarely incorporated in adult books. For many children, reading a book without pictures is almost intolerable, but as they grow older, the idea of illustrated books seems to simply fade and reading adult books becomes synonymous with leaving behind their love for illustrations. However, I believe it does not have to be this way. Here are a few reasons for my convictions.

Reason #1 Character development

Nothing develops a character more than simply seeing the character in an image. At this point, all the descriptions and traits fall into place. Imagine someone describing another person to you, then they pull out a photograph of the person; immediately you are able to identify them. Illustrations are beneficial in building realistic characters who, even though they may be described in the book, by including their image, they become authentic and readers can connect with them.

Reason #2 Illustrations are a great reminder

Images stick in our minds longer than words. When a book is illustrated, the story lingers in readers’ minds for long as opposed to when it is just written in text with no illustrations. Remember your favorite children’s’ books when you were younger? Do you still recall the characters you loved so much? Why do you remember them even though so much time has passed? I recall loving particular characters and till today, I still recall who they were and what they looked like in the book.

Reason #3 Adults appreciate illustrations too

There is this common idea that only children appreciate illustrations and including them in an adult book will make them lose their “grown-up feel.” This is not true as in the case of other industries such as marketing. Any salesperson knows the value of using images to capture the attention of potential customers. There is also a reason movies are such a hit in our current times. Adults, just like children, appreciate images, including photos and paintings, and not including them in adult books should have nothing to do with the age group the book is being written for.

Reason 4 # They add to the emotional impact of the story

Many war stories include photos from WWI, WWII, the Vietnam War or other wars that have been fought in the recent past. The photos take you right into the scenes of the wars and help create imagination regarding what it could have been like for soldiers fighting in battle. Seeing the actual places where the wars took place and the people who fought in the war, including some of the soldiers who lost their lives, makes their stories accessible and relatable to readers.

One prominent reason given for not including illustrations in adult books is that it obscures the narrator’s ability to tell the story. While this can be true, when well executed, the illustrations can add to the story and still leave enough space for impactful narration. Including a few illustrations from time to time and not filling the whole book with pictures is a good way of achieving this balance.