In this article, the author analyzes the existing relationship between pictures and text in children’s literature (focusing specifically on picture storybooks). It is evident that pictures and words support each other in order to make understanding easier for young readers. But, in order to understand them completely, the reader must be familiar with both codes: the drawn and the written ones. These codes can be seen as complex systems of signs (which, at the same time, can be divided into sub-systems). The way in which these systems interconnect is the main object of analysis of this article. Here, the author revisits the four main perspectives used to analyze the relationship between pictures and words: metaphor and analogy, theoretical constructs, typologies/taxonomies and transmediation: phenomenological descriptions.