What are Picture Books?
Picture books combine visual and verbal narratives, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor, and pencil, among others. The illustrations are as important as (or even more important than) the words in telling the story. In picture books, there are illustrations on every page or on one of every pair of facing pages. While most picture books are written for younger children, in recent years, a number of excellent picture books for upper elementary and middle school readers have been published. Picture books help young children understand that words convey meaning, well before they are aware of the text. Pictures can help increase vocabulary, an important building block for reading. Books can help young children identify colors, shapes, numbers, and letters, as well as names of people, places, animals, and everyday objects. Picture books can also help build background knowledge that is essential to successful reading. Picture books help older kids with comprehension and prompt them to read critically. They can use the pictures to predict what's going to happen next.
Elements of Picture Books:
~ Illustrations
~ Simple plot
~ Characterization
~ Conflict
~ Plot
~ Dialogue
~ Theme
~ Pacing
~ Humor
~ Rhyme
~ Patterns
~ Beginning and ending
TIPS ON READING PICTURE BOOKS ALOUD
Courtesy of Dr. Richard Burke
· Child involvement gets children involved, in part by asking them to read along, to predict what will happen next, to fill in missing words, etc.
· Eye contact keeps the listeners linked to the reader
· Expression makes for more effective reading and reduces monotony; variety is important, but don’t let voice be too loud or too soft, too high or too low. And let the book guide you: if the words are printed in ways that show you something about the voice (e.g.: tiny letters or big ones), read accordingly
· Pointing point out meaningful words or picutres while reading to help students not just see what is important but concentrate on it as well
· Knowledge of the story you can read more effectively if you don’t have to read every word from the page; not just more eye contact, but more expression is possible
· Large and appealing books seems obvious, but is true nonetheless: big enough for the kids to see, interesting enough for them to care
· Seating arrangements group students so they can all see the books (and hear) with a minimum of difficulty; this will commonly require that they move from their desks
· Highlighting let students know what’s important by emphasizing rhymes or important / interesting words, discussing unfamiliar words, and emphasizing repetition.
These tips come from Donna E. Norton's textbook Through the Eyes of a Child, fifth edition, p. 257.
Picture books combine visual and verbal narratives, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor, and pencil, among others. The illustrations are as important as (or even more important than) the words in telling the story. In picture books, there are illustrations on every page or on one of every pair of facing pages. While most picture books are written for younger children, in recent years, a number of excellent picture books for upper elementary and middle school readers have been published. Picture books help young children understand that words convey meaning, well before they are aware of the text. Pictures can help increase vocabulary, an important building block for reading. Books can help young children identify colors, shapes, numbers, and letters, as well as names of people, places, animals, and everyday objects. Picture books can also help build background knowledge that is essential to successful reading. Picture books help older kids with comprehension and prompt them to read critically. They can use the pictures to predict what's going to happen next.
Elements of Picture Books:
~ Illustrations
~ Simple plot
~ Characterization
~ Conflict
~ Plot
~ Dialogue
~ Theme
~ Pacing
~ Humor
~ Rhyme
~ Patterns
~ Beginning and ending
TIPS ON READING PICTURE BOOKS ALOUD
Courtesy of Dr. Richard Burke
· Child involvement gets children involved, in part by asking them to read along, to predict what will happen next, to fill in missing words, etc.
· Eye contact keeps the listeners linked to the reader
· Expression makes for more effective reading and reduces monotony; variety is important, but don’t let voice be too loud or too soft, too high or too low. And let the book guide you: if the words are printed in ways that show you something about the voice (e.g.: tiny letters or big ones), read accordingly
· Pointing point out meaningful words or picutres while reading to help students not just see what is important but concentrate on it as well
· Knowledge of the story you can read more effectively if you don’t have to read every word from the page; not just more eye contact, but more expression is possible
· Large and appealing books seems obvious, but is true nonetheless: big enough for the kids to see, interesting enough for them to care
· Seating arrangements group students so they can all see the books (and hear) with a minimum of difficulty; this will commonly require that they move from their desks
· Highlighting let students know what’s important by emphasizing rhymes or important / interesting words, discussing unfamiliar words, and emphasizing repetition.
These tips come from Donna E. Norton's textbook Through the Eyes of a Child, fifth edition, p. 257.