Visual aspects of 12 collections of children's writing that were published in South Africa between 1986 and 2003 are considered. The covers, illustrations, facsimiles of original writing and artwork, fonts, colours and author credits create images of childhood and youth and provide clues to the purposes for which the collections were made and published. Spanning the period from the last days of apartheid to today's modern, democratic country, they provide an unusual insight into the changing place of the young in South African society.