“A is for Bee”: Aesthetic Orchestration in Multilingual Picturebooks

Abstract

Abstract Contemporary multilingual picturebooks combine languages with visual systems in ways that move beyond simple juxtaposition, yet research has largely approached these texts through reader-response theory or pedagogical utility rather than as artistic innovations. We introduce the Aesthetic Orchestration Framework (AOF), which operationalises multimodal semiotic orchestration through five analytical dimensions: artistic technique and visual design, typography and graphical elements, creative integration of linguistic resources, affective and sensory dimensions, and narrative structure and reading pathways. Applying the AOF through collaborative autoethnography, we ex..