The picture book, as the first book a child encounters, plays an important role the way they grow up. The child meets it from an earlilest age. It is very important that the picture book is appropriate to the child and his age. Therefore, the design of the picture book, it is function and purpose are extremely important. The history of the picture book reaches far back to the 16th century and we follow it to this day, until the occurrence of modern multimedia picture books. Picture books can be classified by structure, form, method of production, content, type and technique of production. Picture books do not only have an educational function, but they also have a function in the way the children are brought up, so it is very important for participant sin the educational system to be familiar with all the functions of picture books. In addition to the fact that picture books can be classified according to functions, we can thematically divide them into: family, historical, health, educational, ABC picture books and others, which is also the topic of the thesis. This thesis briefly presents the historical development of the picture book, thematic and formal features of the picture book, the functions of the picture book, thematic horizons of picture books, the way authors write picture books today and picture book topics that children encounter from an early age through the educational process. When discussing contemporary authors, it is necessary to point out that they pay the most attention to family relationships, such as being together, or on the other hand parental divorce, getting a new child ih the family, problems among peers, emotional approach to children from the psyhological perspective,revealing emotions of sadness neglect, so tht children reading picture books could identify with themselves and find a solution to problems ehich they face. Since children do not know how to read at an early age, the role of in reding picture books to children is extremely important, thus influencing ther development and encouraging reading in children. Picture books instill moral values in children and encourage children to empower emotions and emotional development. The most common themes of contemporary picture books derive from problematic events, so they called taboo topics that talk about death, violence, sexuality. Analyzing the themes of contemporary Croatian picture books, it is evident that the Crotian picture book focuses on ecological themes that the raise people˙s awareness o the environment, historical themes, family life themes in wich a single-parent family of 4 dysfunctional and disharmonious relationships ih the family. Picture books that talk about emotions and problems in children are also becoming more common.