Photo books "better" than picture books?

Sarah Womack reports on a recent study by the American Psychological Association on books for toddlers in today's Telegraph.

Here's the upshot:

"Thirty-six children aged 18 months were then asked to mimic actions that had been shown in the book using three objects - a wooden ball, a stick attached to a plastic lid and a plastic jar. The children scored twice as well when they had looked at a colour photograph book of a rattle being made than when they looked at a book with coloured pencil drawings.

While none could make the rattle, most put the ball in the jar and about half tried attaching the lid to the jar."

But, then, Womack interviews the National Literary Trust (British?) and they have this to say: "while a photograph may help a child learn a specific action, it could not convey the depth of meaning of a Quentin Blake-style illustration."

Hmmm....what say you?