Educare lo sguardo. I libri e gli albi fotografici per l’infanzia e l’adolescenza nel panorama editoriale italiano

In recent years the sector related to photographic books and picture books has been at the centre of a lively debate during training events, meetings and exhibitions. In the historical-educational field, it is still a largely unexplored topic, and by “digging” into the catalogs of publishing houses, the richness and variety of the world of photographic books for young readers emerge. In Italy, in the 1970s, photography played a central role in serial publications and also appeared in children’s books, such as Ciccì Coccò by Bruno Munari with evocative images by Enzo Arnone. Today, editorial products that use photography are diverse and varied. Photographs are widely used in scientific dissemination books as well as in products aimed at the 0-3 age group. Some books feature artistic or experimental photography that “plays” with the real object and unleashes the reader’s imagination and fantasy. The aim of this article is to reconstruct the genesis of photographic books to understand their development and uses, and to analyze, without claiming to be exhaustive, the products of the current publishing market, highlighting how photography serves as a language capable of speaking to children.