Picture Books Dragons and more! ELE 616 Research in Children’s Literature Fall 2008

What is a Picture Book?

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 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

Reading 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 Excellence in Picture Books By Gratia J. Banta

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 Excellence in Picture Books By Gratia J. Banta

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.

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.

Famous Picture Book Authors

An Annotated Bibliography, part of:

Picture Books with Dragons

Picture Book Resources 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

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 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/

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/

Picture 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.

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.

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? Picture 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?

New dragons keep popping up in children’s picture books. Possible new angles to interpret them and other traditional characters such as witches, monsters, and stepmothers, against the backdrop of modern society should be explored. To consider the transformation and symbolic meanings of a dragon, is to consider oneself. Questions such as “Why aren't we afraid of these characters any more?”, “Why the traditional views of them have become unacceptable in our world?”, and “What do these characters symbolize in the past and in the present?” might yield a deeper understanding of our children and our human selves. Essay accompanying Dragon Stories -- An Annotated List Scare Them Off or Be Friends with Them: Picture Book Dragons Copyright 1996 Roxanne Hsu Feldman