Picture Picture BooksBooks

ELE 616 Research in Children’s Literature

Fall 2009

What is a Picture Book?

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What is a picture book? What is an illustrated or story book? What is the difference?

• A picture book is one in which pictures play a significant role in telling a story. According to picture book artist Uri Shulevitz, “a picture book says in words only what pictures cannot show”, as in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.

• An illustrated or story book, on the other hand, is one in which the story is told and understood in words, but is amplified by illustrations, as in Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. – The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art,

Frequently Asked Questions

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Three types of picture booksThree types of picture books1.1. Wordless booksWordless books

– rely solely on illustrations to tell a story

2.2. Picture storybooksPicture storybooks– illustrations and text work together to tell

the story

3.3. Illustrated booksIllustrated books– the text supplies most of the information but

the illustrations augment what is said or serve as decoration • Mendoza, J. and Reese, D.

Examining Multicultural Picture Books for the Early Childhood Classroom: Possibilities and Pitfalls

Reading PicturesReading Pictures

• We librarians [and teachers] can train ourselves, as adults, to think in pictures again. Such thinking is called visual literacy. Developing visual literacy is much the same as learning a foreign language.– Reading Pictures: Searching for Excellen

ce in Picture Books By Gratia J. Banta

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Gratia J. Banta is a former Chair of the Caldecott Medal Committee

• Visual Literacy - What is it? Visual Literacy - What is it?

– The term Visual Literacy, . . . , refers to the ability to understand and produce visual messages.

– Click here to download a sample teaching program for Visual Literacy through Picture Books (pdf) for use with students in Stages 2&3.

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Famous Picture Book AuthorsFamous Picture Book Authors

2009 Caldecott Medal Winner2009 Caldecott Medal Winner

• The House in the Night – The 2009 Randolph Caldecott Med

al

– by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes 

– A timeless good-night book for the very young, inspired by the pattern of the traditional poem, "This is the key of the kingdom”.Pre-K to Grade 1. 

Picture Book ResourcesPicture Book Resources

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• Every Picture Tells A Story is the foremost gallery of the Art of Illustration -- children's book art, fantasy, cartoon and editorial works. Choose from over 80 of the greatest illustrators of all time and your favorite characters from literature. • http://www.everypicture.com

Picture Book ResourcesPicture Book Resources•Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

–is the first full-scale museum in this country devoted to national and international picture book art, conceived and built with the aim of celebrating the art that we are first exposed to as children. Through the exploration of images that are familiar and beloved, it is the Museum’s goal to foster connections between visual and verbal literacy and to provide visitors of all ages and backgrounds with the confidence to appreciate and enjoy art of every kind.

• http://www.picturebookart.org/

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Picture Book ResourcesPicture Book Resources• Looking Critically at Picture Books

– With increasing numbers of picture books aimed at older and more sophisticated readers comes the challenge to teachers and librarians to make those encounters more meaningful and enjoyable. . . . Here are a few of the techniques I've used with success.

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Picture Book ResourcesPicture Book Resources• European Picture Book Collection

– The EPBC was designed to help pupils to find out more about their European neighbours through reading the visual narratives of carefully chosen picture books.

• http://www.ncrcl.ac.uk/epbc/EN/index.asp?

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Native Americans in picture Native Americans in picture booksbooks

• Jingle Dancer by Cynthia by Cynthia Leitich SmithLeitich Smith– The story of

Jenna, a contemporary Muscogee(Creek) - Ojibwe(Chippewa) girl who, in bringing together her regalia, honors the women of her family and her intertribal community.

20082008American American

Indian Youth Indian Youth Literature Literature

Award WinnerAward Winner