What Exactly Can Picture Books Teach Our Children?
I chose to read and comment on Barbara Kiefer’s “Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.” Kiefer’s main point in writing this essay was to get the message across that children enjoy picture books that allow them to identify and make connections with the characters or the plots, and that while reading and analyzing the pictures, they gain a better sense of aesthetics and how to interpret them.
I agree whole-heartedly with the conclusions that she drew from her observations. It is very hard to get the whole “picture” from a children’s storybook that has no pictures. The children find it harder to identify with the characters and often find these books boring. Being able to see the pictures helps them to make connections with either the characters or with their personal experiences. For example, all small children can identify with the little monkey, George, in Rey’s Curious George. On page 27 of the book, we see George smoking a pipe because he saw the man in the yellow hat smoking it. At some point in every child’s life, he has seen an adult doing something unfamiliar and wanted to try it, just like George did. This would be a good point at which the child could articulate one of his experiences to a class or friend, helping him to become more comfortable with speaking about and sharing his thoughts.
Kiefer points out in her essay that when children vocalize what they think about a story and the pictures, it helps them to become more cognitive thinkers. She also stated that “the children I observed seemed to be intent on making meaning regarding the picture books …” (Kiefer 66). I, too, can see this when I am ...
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...s and classrooms should have a wide variety of books available with varying styles of writing and art work. In addition to the books, the children should be given a variety of ways in which to express their thoughts and feelings about these books, either through discussion, writing, or their own art work. I agree because this could only allow children to enjoy reading more and lets them feel like their opinions matter and are appreciated. Having books readily available only increases a child’s desire to read and creates in him or her a love for books that, hopefully, never goes away.
Works Cited
Kiefer, Barbara. “Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.” Publishing Research Quarterly 7.2 (1991): 63-75.
Rey, H. A. Curious George. Twentieth Century Children’s Book Treasury. Selected by Janet Schulman. New York: Knopf, 1998. 88-95.
Sensory Imagery: make the reader envision objects and settings in the book with greater detail.
Picture books are one of the first mediums of learning that children encounter. The picture book was first created in 1657 by John Amos Comenius. Comenius’s book was entitled Orbis Pictus (The world of Pictures) and was an alphabet book (Martinez 57). Picture books are used to lay the foundations of the histori...
This activity suits the child’s current stage of oral development will interest them and aid in them progressing in their oral development. Children at this stage of development enjoy listening to stories which is good not only for their receptive skills, but also for their expressive language (Fellows and Oakley, 2014), in all four key components of spoken language. It helps with phonemes by getting the child to focus on the phonological patterns throughout the text (Fellows and Oakley, 214). Syntax knowledge allows them to observe the sentence structure and grammar in the book which allows them to develop a stronger awareness of the syntax. Visual aids in storybooks can aid in the child in the understanding of semantics (Fellows and Oakley’s), as the story is read aloud their receptive skills hear those more difficult words, when paired with a visual cue such as a picture in the book the child understands better and thus they are able to gain a better understanding of how to speak these difficult words. A better understanding of pragmatics can also be gained from storybooks as they understand how people communicate in society such as greetings and asking for things (Fellows and Oakley,
Griffith, John, and Charles Frey. Classics of Children's Literature. 6th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. 21-29, 322-374. Print.
It is very easy to agree with Moebius statement that ‘good’ picture books contain some form of invisible and intangible concepts that keeps the reader returning. In Voices in the Park it is very easy to see Moebius idea due to the ability of technology to create detailed and complex books. In contrast, Potter has produced a book that more subtle in showing this relying not on technology like Voices in the Park but working within severe limitations. Blending page turns, text, colour to create understandable concepts. Goodman comments that some would argue that these elements in pictures interfere with and detract from the text, and thus undermine the confidence of the reader. An extrapolation of this idea is that preconceived ideas and pictures of another spoil the reader’s entrance to literacy.
A picture storybook truly encompasses the art and beauty of literature. According to the book Essentials of Children Literature, written by Kathy Short, Carol Lynch Brown, Carl Tomlinson, "Picture Storybooks can provide a means of developing visual literacy-the ability to read and critique these images-as well as provide a thought provoking story" (50). A picture storybook is best described as a book that is being told through the use of pictures as well as words. In a picture storybook, the illustrations prove to be one of the fundamental elements that provide a more positive experience for readers, engaging and exciting children to read. Picture storybooks reflect a range of genres, [for instance, science fiction, poetry, contemporary fiction,
Refugees have two basic choices. They can return to their home country, or they can try to settle in another country. Most refugees, however, cannot return home because conditions in their native country have not changed sufficiently to eliminate the problems from whi...
Comic books have been used in a number of ways. Besides as an entertainment source they also have been a way to introduce children to reading. This is proved true by the annual event held nationwide called “free comic book day”, which held on the first Saturday of May. With their well-drawn pictures and colorful characters, comic books have been successful in that area. Howev...
Immigration is a top political issue in the United States. There are various differences of opinion that society has toward this issue. However, one factor in regards to immigration in which the majority of society can agree is the Nation’s system is currently outdated. Such an agreement is based upon the foundation that we actually “[h]ave more than 10 million undocumented workers in the country” (Gutierrez, 2013). General public concern is foremost driven by the focus on an extreme increase in immigration of undocumented immigrants in recent decades. There is also intereste in whether the impact of the rapid increase has a negative influence on the economy and contributes negatively to our fiscal situation. Pia M. Orrenius,Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas states in The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, “The undocumented population rose from a few hundred thousand, primarily in agricultural workers, in the late 1960s to two to four million, mainly living in urban areas in 1980. The undocumented population rose further to 8.4 million in 2000 and 11.2 million in 2010” (Orrenius,2012). With this rapid increase, the question often in conflict with members of society is;what is the best step for the United States to take towards such an increase? Since the federal government appeared to not be taking any steps towards finding a solution this issue, state legislatures have in some cases decided to take matters into their own hands. One example is when in “April 2010, the Arizona state legislature passed a law ‘to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States’” (Loftus, 2013). There is su...
With an estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. today, immigration reform has been a volatile issue that hasn’t been adequately addressed throughout the 21st century. With the last major overhaul occurring in 1986, when over 3 million immigrants were granted U.S. citizenship, politicians are saying another major overhaul is needed to address the newer generation of illegal immigrants. Legislations including the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, and the DREAM act of 2012 have all tried to address the depressing need for immigration reform but have failed due to lack of bipartisan support. Still, political leaders urge for immigration reform that is unlikely to pass with such divided political parties. Luckily, the solution was already passed in 1986 but hasn’t been sufficiently enforced for the past twenty years. In order to stop the flood of illegals crossing U.S. borders, the U.S. should enforce the law against hiring illegal immigrants.
We are now in the 21st century and like the beginning of the 20th century the United States finds itself in the throes of a period of mass immigration. More then one million immigrants enter the Unites States, both legally and illegally every single year. Many argue that this new wave of mass immigration may help sustain the success that our nation is having in regard to the way of living that many American have come accustomed to and yet others believe that although our nation was created by immigrants it is time to "shut down" our borders. The truth of the matter is that there will always be issues in regard to immigration and the policies that the government sets forth in order control who comes into this country. Also now more then ever immigration policy has a greater affect on the American people because of the fact that we find our selves living in a time of danger or as some might argue, a perceived danger in regard to terrorism. Also with the proposal of President Bush?s new guest-worker program raises more issues in regard to immigration. The following paper will attempt to overview current immigration policy and also state what immigration policy should be over the next 25 years.
Picture books are books in which both words and illustrations are essential to the story’s meaning (Brown, Tomlinson,1996, Pg.50). There are so many different kinds of children’s books. There are books for every age and every reading level. There are many elements that go into picture books such as line and spacing, color and light, space and perspective, texture, composition and artistic media. Picture books are an essential learning element in today’s classroom.
Children’s processing of information is elementary and so the “copying” of pictures in one’s head is just a crude system of percepti...
... to wake up all the senses of children. When reading these stories children begin to feel, taste, see, smell, and hear the world that the author has created. These senses within the text make children long for more of what the enchanted world has to offer. The authors of these books try to put up a veil in their writing so that it will not show that the child reader’s desire for more is in reality the longing of the author.
Merchant, G. & Thomas, H. (2012). Picture Books for the Literacy Hour: Activities for Primary