Eight Great Ways to Savor Picturebooks

Eight Great Ways to Savor Picturebooks

Children have a natural inclination to savor a picturebook.  They read and re-read favorite books, noticing different elements every time.  Both of us learned from the great Dr. Nancy Roser one summer in a University of Texas graduate class, “The Art of the Picturebook”, and we dived into the deep, rich waters of Lawrence Sipe to learn more about the peritext features of books cleverly written for children to savor. As we share a picturebook with our students, there are many ways to help children slow down and appreciate. Enjoy our Eight Great.

1. Is there a surprise under the cover?  We try to read the hardcover version of books whenever possible. Illustrators love to hide masterpieces underneath the dust jacket.  Before we even open the book, we unwrap it and check for a secret gift left by the illustrator.During a recent skype visit with the Fan Brothers, who wrote The Night Gardener, they mentioned the extra costs associated with adding the surprise under the jacket. This is probably why the surprises aren’t more common. Based on the response of our 2nd graders when they find one, the result is well worth the extra cost!
2. The Endpapers- I love this quote: “The artist and illustrator Will Hillenbrand likes to think of the endpapers (also called end pages) as the stage curtains for a play, which are the first thing the audience sees when it enters the theater, as well as the last thing seen when the play is over.”. (Sipe, 1998, p. 40). The endpapers provide a great way to lead the children into predicting mood, events, and themes.
3. How do the pictures add to the story? Have you read Klassen’s This is Not My Hat? This is a perfect example of the impact illustrations have on meaning. Try reading it to your class without showing the pictures. Allow them to experience the book a second time with the pictures and talk about how the pictures added value to meaning. When children learn to interact with both pictures and text, it changes the way they experience picturebooks. Their book talk changes because they now view the book as ornamental and see the moves authors and illustrators make as purposeful.
4. Medium- Michael, a sporty 2nd grader, was known for his skill on the basketball court. However, that is not how he saw himself. When we recently took our Nerdy Birdy (You have to read this book!) Picture, where each child dressed in a way that represented their true self, he dressed up as an artist. He is a brilliant sketch artist. Studying the medium choices illustrators make in picturebooks offered us another way to confer with our writers. Finding mentor texts to aid our illustrators as they, too, used pictures to amplify their text, armed our writers with tools to craft their own books.
5. Typography- Typography is so much more than font choice. Bold typed words, words taking shape to create action, dialogue assigned to characters by color and shape, and so much more add to the special effects typography can add to a story. Perhaps the most amazing example of typography use in a book belongs to The Night I Followed My Dog by Nina Laden. It is full of words taking shape like additional illustrations. Children love it, and it is sure to inspire some creative typography use in their own books!
6. Elements of Design- We love to use Molly Bang’s Picture This: How Pictures Work with our students. Through the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, Bang, through her artwork, details how the elements of design in picturebooks tell a story on their own. Bang guides us all to learn more about how color, shape, whitespace, and line work to build emotion. Sharing this book with students elevated their book talk and added an analytical layer to the classroom.
7. Get to Know the Author/Illustrator Team- Children love to connect with the creators of the books they love. Studying their books help them find patterns in the body of work. This knowledge helps them try on various writing and illustrating styles as they develop their own skills. Building in Author and/or Illustrator Studies through book floods, video interviews, book trailers, skype visits, and visiting their websites all provide ways for young readers and writers to build their reading and writing identity.
8. Provide Time and Choice- Perhaps Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer, says it best:

“Without spending increasingly longer periods of time reading, they won’t build endurance as readers, either. Students need time to read and time to be readers.”

-Donalyn Miller, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child

Children need time to read and read and read. They need to be empowered with choice. Time and choice motivate readers to fall in love with books. Books have the power to transform lives, which is something we all need more of in our lives!