ArticlePDF Available

“Ah, I know why…”: children developing understandings through engaging with a picture book

Authors:

Abstract

This article describes part of a study that explored the responses of nine- and ten-year-old children during a picturebook read aloud in a small group setting in a New Zealand classroom. The read aloud was interactive, where the participants were encouraged to respond to the book and to each other throughout the session. The authors created a framework for analysing the responses, adapting the model of Lawrence Sipe (2008) with its five categories of literary understanding, by expanding on the analytical category to enable a finer analysis of the responses. This article discusses the children's depth of thinking and the understandings they developed as they engaged with the read aloud. It also describes how the adapted framework allowed a closer analysis of these understandings, including the way the elements of art used in the illustrations contributed to the children's ideas. The findings suggest ways picturebooks can be used to promote children's thinking and how teachers can guide discussion about a complex text. Implications for use of the framework in further research are discussed.
Ah, I know why…”: children developing
understandings through engaging with a
picture book
Christine Braid and Brian Finch
Abstract
This article describes part of a study that explored the
responses of nine- and ten-year-old children during a
picturebook read aloud in a small group setting in a
New Zealand classroom. The read aloud was interac-
tive, where the participants were encouraged to re-
spond to the book and to each other throughout the
session. The authors created a framework for
analysing the responses, adapting the model of Law-
rence Sipe (2008) with its ve categories of literary un-
derstanding, by expanding on the analytical category
to enable a ner analysis of the responses. This article
discusses the childrens depth of thinking and the un-
derstandings they developed as they engaged with
the read aloud. It also describes how the adapted
framework allowed a closer analysis of these under-
standings, including the way the elements of art used
in the illustrations contributed to the childrens ideas.
The ndings suggest ways picturebooks can be used
to promote childrens thinking and how teachers can
guide discussion about a complex text. Implications
for use of the framework in further research are
discussed.
Key words: childrens literature, picture books, literary
understanding, childrens responses, interactive read
aloud, thinking skills, community of readers
The importance of story
The activity of sharing stories is a fundamental human
experience. It is a feature of our daily lives and commu-
nications. Stories are a way of ordering our experience,
constructing our reality (Bruner, 1986; Rosen 1986) and
making sense of our lives (Pantaleo, 2008). We recall
events or tell about future happenings using the
structure of a story. An understanding of story fosters
comprehensive literacy skills for readers, but also char-
acterssituations provide readers with opportunities to
more fully understand their own lives (Nikolajeva,
2012; Sipe, 2008). Fisher (1997) states that narrative
comprehension is one of our most complex human
capabilities, yet it is also one of the earliest powers to
appear in a young childs mind. The importance of this
early understanding and interpretation of stories is the
focus of Lawrence SipesStorytime (2008) in which he
develops a theoretical perspective about how young
children develop complex understandings of story
through engaging with picture books. Sipes work fo-
cuses on the literary understandings that picture books
can promote, rather than on their role in childrens liter-
acy development. Literary understandings involve
readers engaging with the words on the page as well
as with narrative shapes and structures, genre features,
and author and illustrator styles (Martinez et al., 2003)
present in the book; in short, engaging with the story in
terms of how it is conveyed and its patterns and
connections.
As a result of analysing childrens responses to picture
books and the narratives within them, Sipe (2008) con-
structed a theoretical model, which aimed to identify
and describe childrens responses to and understand-
ings of the literary nature of texts. He generated ve
key categories of response: analytical, intertextual, per-
sonal, transparent and performative. These are further
described in Table 1. The ve categories value a
breadth of responses, from an aesthetic response of
Wowas a page is turned, to a personal response of
This reminds me of…”, to an analytical response in-
ferring charactersfeelings or theorising about themes.
As part of his work, Sipe (2008) expresses surprise that
the visual aspects of a picture book have not been the
focus of more research, given that they make signi-
cant contributions to the meaning of the story. In a
well-crafted picture book, the pictures and the words
work as a double act (Grey, 2006) or duet (Cech, 1983)
with the pictures conveying different aspects of the
narrative to the words. In such texts, the pictures
and the words create the meaning together, with both
bearing the burden of narration(Huck, 1997, p. 199).
These books are multilayered texts that require readers
to be actively engaged, using clues from both the pic-
tures and the words as they interpret the narrative.
Within such picture books, the words and the pictures
encourage a multi-consciousness that does not happen
when attending only to the words (Meek, 1988). Readers
must take an attitude of careful scrutiny (Arizpe and
Styles, 2008) to interpret the narrative and make connec-
tions between what is shown and what is said
(Nikolajeva, 2010).
We elected to use a picture book as the text for this
study because of the opportunities the features of a
Copyright © 2015 UKLA. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Literacy Volume 49 Number 3 September 2015 115
Literacy
picture book afford in developing a childs literary un-
derstandings. In this article, we explore how the frame-
work we created by extending Sipes categories en-
abled us to consider the role of visual elements as we
analysed the childrens responses in our wider study.
The research study
In our research, we investigated childrens responses
to the picture book, Lukes Way of Looking (Wheatley
and Ottley, 1999) during small group read aloud ses-
sions. The participants were a class of 9-year-old and
10-year-old children from a mid socio-economic area
in a provincial city in New Zealand. The principal re-
searcher took a participant role in the read aloud and
discussion in order for the focus of the research to be
on the childrens responses rather than on how the
classroom teacher facilitated such a session. Children
were encouraged to discuss their ideas during the read
aloud, rather than leaving discussion till the end.
Sipes (2008) studies showed that childrens conversa-
tional turns increase in both quantity and quality when
they are allowed to talk and respond during a read
aloud. The interactive read aloud approach enables
the children to listen attentively and responsively to
the book and to the ideas of others, to frame and ask
questions, to present and evaluate ideas, and to argue
and justify points of view (Alexander, 2004). Our aim
was for the childrens voices to be heard (Hansen, 2004)
without a dominance of adult instigated questions
(Myhill and Dunkin, 2005) but rather for the teacher role
to be one of co-participant. The selected approach and
the small group setting allow for the children to explain
what they see and wonder about on each page as the
book is read, ensuring a partnership between partici-
pantsideas and the ideas in the text (Rosenblatt, 1978).
Prior to the formal research sessions, the participant re-
searcher outlined the study to the class as a whole so
the children could make an informed decision about
their participation. This whole class session involved
a picture book read aloud and a brief explanation of
the art techniques illustrators use to create their mes-
sage. We grouped the 25 participating children into
ve groups and each group engaged in one interactive
read aloud session led by the participant researcher
with the selected picture book. The childrens re-
sponses were recorded and analysed using Sipes cate-
gories. This rst analysis led us to create the adapted
framework, which was then used to analyse the chil-
drens response for our nal results.
The selected picture book
We selected a picture book where the pictures and the
words enhance or expand on each other (Nikolajeva
and Scott, 2001), demanding a high level of reader in-
teraction (Nikolajeva, 2010). Lukes Way of Looking by
Nadia Wheatley and Matt Ottley (1999) is a narrative
about Luke who does not seem to t in at school. His
classmates thought that Luke was weirdand Mr.
Barraclough is enraged by Lukes artworks. On each
page, the words and the illustrations work together,
so a reader must engage actively to develop an under-
standing about Lukes character and his way of seeing
the world.
The book begins with establishing the characters in the
story: All the boys in Mr. Barracloughs class saw things
the same way, except for Luke, who looked at things differ-
ently. The words are carefully chosen, giving just
enough information and leaving room for the illustra-
tions to add layers of meaning. The illustrator uses
techniques to introduce Luke (arriving late, looking di-
shevelled, a pencil over his ear) and other techniques
to hint at Lukes feelings about school (lack of colour,
an imposing shadow from the teacher, a window
frame like a cage). This interaction of illustration and
words provided our participants with much to wonder
about and discuss (Figure 1).
The author uses repetition of the teachers question
Why do you do this boy?and the response of Luke
didnt know. So he said nothing(Wheatley and
Ottley, 1999, pp. 4, 8). This phrase occurs twice during
the story and reoccurs a third time as the nal words of
the book, but this time, it is Mr. Barraclough who
didnt know what to say, so he said nothing
Table 1: Categories of responses in literary understanding
Hermeneutic Personal Aesthetic
Creating an understanding
of the story
Relating the story
to oneself
Experiencing the freedom that
art provides
Analytical Intertextual Personal Transparent (receptive) Performative (expressive)
Interpret within Link across Personalise from
or to
See (or be) through Perform upon
Interpreting the plot,
characters, setting or
theme to make sense
of the text
Interpreting this
text in relation
to other texts
Finding links:
text to self or
text to life
Receiving the message
and being part of the
message
Reacting to the message
and taking control
Sipe (2008), p. 182. Five Facets of Literary Understanding: A Theoretical Model
116 Understandings from picture books
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
(Wheatley and Ottley, 1999, p. 29).This simple twist
with the phrase concludes the story in a powerful
way and promotes meaning in terms of plot, character
and theme. The accompanying illustration (Figure 2)
uses a major change in the colour and light, the teacher
no longer an imposing gure and the shadow now one
of wings for Luke.
The illustrations use a range of art media (pen and
ink, coloured pencils and paint on canvas) and sym-
bols (birds, hands and shadows), which are selected
by the illustrator for particular impact (Ottley, 2001).
Colour and light portray emotion, as well as focusing
the viewer on signicant objects (Nodelman, 1988).
For example, the illustrations on the rst pages of
the book use a monochromatic palette (e.g. Figure 1)
except for Lukes paintings. Then as the narrative pro-
gresses, the pictures become more colourful, reecting
how Luke feels about the art gallery in contrast to his
feelings about school. The responses from the children
in our study show that the way the illustrator uses
these visual elements helps readers to understand
the characters, plot and themes of this text.
Using the original framework
Sipes original model, summarised in Table 1, formed
the basis of our initial analysis. We found that chil-
drens responses to Lukes Way of Looking tted the clas-
sications of hermeneutic (both analytical and
intertextual), personal and aesthetic (both transparent
and performative). We found all ve facets to be signif-
icant in helping children create understanding from
the picture book. The general similarities between
Sipes data sets and ours show that the categories of
childrens responses created by Sipe (2008) can be val-
idly transferred to other studies. In our study, as with
Sipes, we categorised the majority of responses in
the analytical category, where the readers make mean-
ing through using narrative elements, both from the
words and the pictures. The overall comparison of
our results and those of Sipe is shown in Figure 3.
Adapting the original framework
We noted two aspects of the childrens responses that
we wanted to further analyse in response to Sipes call
to validate, extend and renethe categories (p. 242):
1. the different levels of thinking the children engaged
in as they made meaning from the text; and
2. the way the children used picture book elements to
make meaning from text.
Our framework includes categories for analysing types
of thinking and picture book elements.
Types of thinking
Sipe (2008) states that the children in his study described,
evaluated,speculated,made inferences,predicted and provided
alternative suggestions (p. 90) as they engaged with a pic-
ture book. We decided to investigate the responses from
our study in regard to the different levels of thinking in-
volved as the children engaged in the interplay between
pictures and words. We collated the childrens responses
to a rst reading of Lukes Way of Looking and compared
Figure 1: All the boys in Mr. Barracloughs class saw
things the same way(p. 2)
Figure 3: Comparison of childrens responses between Sipe
(2008) and our study
Figure 2: Mr. Barraclough didnt know what to say, so he
said nothing(p. 29)
Literacy Volume 49 Number 3 September 2015 117
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
these to thinking skills described in taxonomies of Struc-
ture of Observed Learning Outcomes (Biggs and Collis,
1982) and Bloom (Anderson et al., 2001). We identied
the progression of complexity in the descriptors in each
of these taxonomies, for example, from identifyand
nameas early levels of thinking through to create
and hypothesiseas more developed levels of thinking.
We then used a combination of those descriptors in our
four categories (Table 2) to allow us to analyse the type
of thinking in the responses in our study.
Picture book elements
Sipe (2008) refers to a subcategory of analytical re-
sponses, which he denes as analysis of illustrations
and other visual matter(p. 117). He lists layout, de-
sign, endpapers, and font (as parts of the book) and
media, style, movement, space and colour (as illustra-
torstechniques). Other picture book experts use
frame, line, texture, perspective, shape and scale
(Doonan, 1993; Mallan, 1999; Moebius, 1986;
Nodelman, 1988) as terms to consider. We collated
these various terms for illustration techniques and,
along with consideration of the words, they form the
picture book elements in our framework.
The adapted framework (Figure 4) combines three as-
pects: Sipes categories of literary understanding (her-
meneutic, personal and aesthetic), types of thinking
(dene, combine, integrate and extend) and picture
book elements (the words, the artists technique in the
illustrations and the design aspects of the book itself).
The adapted model (described later) enabled us to an-
alyse the depth of childrens understandings and
helped identify which elements of the book they drew
on to develop these understandings. Table 3 shows the
kind of extended analysis our adapted framework al-
lows, with the two columns on the right showing the
additional level of analysis.
The childrens responses
The childrens responses to the text show how they
used the illustrations and the words to develop their
ideas about this narrative. Our rst example (Figure 5)
shows how the children explored the use of colour and
used the images of shadows to notice and label what
they saw. The terms in square brackets refer to type
of thinking as outlined in Table 2 and picture book el-
ement as outlined in Figure 4.
Alex: Is that supposed to be there or is it a stain?
[Dene; colour]
Researcher: I think its always on purpose.
Alex: So thats like red over there
[Dene; colour]
Georgia: Oh so thats a shadow thats the wall
[Dene; object]
Table 2: Types of thinking in childrens responses from simple to complex
Dene Combine Integrate Extend
Look, notice, identify,
label, unelaborated
statements.
Make simple links,
join, order and
organise.
Compare, contrast, predict,
infer, analyse, explain causes,
relate, check and justify.
Create meaning from multiple
links, reect, assess, generalise,
synthesise, theorise or conclude.
Figure 4: Framework for analysis developed from Sipe (2008)
118 Understandings from picture books
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
This discussion occurs at the beginning of the reading
when the children are establishing how an illustrator
contributes meaning to the print narrative. The chil-
dren continue to explore the mood of a character, using
the clues in the illustrations and in the words. A re-
searcher prompt encourages them to consider further
ideas.
Researcher: How does Luke look here in his shadow?
Georgia: Sad
[Combine]
Talitha: He looks crooked and bent over while in real
life hes straight
[Combine; shape]
Georgia: Ah! I know why thats his way but then you
cant see the man and so thats the shadow
life and thats just him without
[Integrate; symbol]
Talitha: Hes bent there and hes straight there
[Dene/combine; shape]
Researcher: So the shadow life is like another
Caleb: Realm
[Integrate/extend; symbol]
The childrens understanding builds depth with each
conversational turn and the children engage in a chain
of talk that develops into more complex thinking as the
reading event progresses.
The children continue to consider the meanings of
shadows over many pages, culminating in these re-
sponses on the nal page of the book (picture shown
in Figure 2).
Jamie: Hes got wingsits coming from his
(pointing to teacher) shadow the shadow
used to be scary now he makes wings.
[Extend; symbol]
These excerpts illustrate how the children viewed
shadows rst as objects on the page and subsequently
as symbolic, adding to the plot, characterisation and
themes. Other responses show this understanding of
objects and colours acting as symbols. Caleb alerts
the group to the fact that Luke paints the way he sees
things.Over the next two pages, the group gathers
more clues from the illustrations, discussing what
Luke is doing in his paintings (Figure 6).
Georgia: Thats how he sees that building.
[Combine; object]
Caleb: He paints what he sees and he paints what he
thinks.
[Extend symbol]
Calebs conclusion that not only did Luke paint or see
differently but also that he thought differently comes af-
ter the groups discussion. Caleb uses the groups ideas
along with the illustrations and words from preceding
pages, including the title of the book, to create this
meaning.
In discussion, Jaiden demands that the group take note
of the words, and Natalie shows how the pictures add
a layer of meaning to those words.
Jaiden: But cant you see that it said he turned
left instead of right”…and over here its all
Table 3: Examples of two-stage analysis of responses
Childrens responses Sipe model Type of thinking Picture book element(s)
Prajina: Theres apple Analytical Dene Object
Alex: He does things differently to other people Analytical Integrate Colour
Symbol
Figure 5: Shadow (p. 4)
Figure 6: Luke paints what he thinks (p. 6)
Literacy Volume 49 Number 3 September 2015 119
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
shaded and over here its quite light.
[Integrate; words/light]
Natalie: Ahhhh not ok (points to the left of the
page)
Ok (points to the right of the page).
Sam uses clues from the words and the pictures when
he responds to the hint of colour seen through the art
gallery doors and combines this with words from pre-
vious pages, Luke used his imagination(p. 5) to pre-
dict and infer what might be in the building.
Sam: Maybe hell like the inside it will be like his
imagination.
[Integrate: words/colour/light]
Sams response builds on Sheldons comment that out-
side was all plain but inside was all colourand
shows a connection to the previous pages, where the
words had mentioned Lukes way of looking(title)
and his imagination. Sam makes a complex connec-
tion, relating information from different pages of the
book to make an inference about the character of Luke.
On another page, the children connect the clues from
the pictures with what they recall from the words on
previous pages.
Jamie: Whats this? Is it scribble?
[Dene; object]
Researcher: Its like wire like hes all wired up.
Hamie: Oh and he cant talk.
[Integrate; words]
Antonio: And he says nothing.
[Extend; words]
The children engage in an extend type of thinking,
building on the initial noticing of the scribble (dene).
Then, using the participant researchers prompt, they
think of the phrase (words) from earlier in the text:
Luke didnt know what to say, so he said nothing.
The children conclude that the scribble or wire across
the creature is a signier of Luke being silent at
school (extend). The children use both the pictures
and the words from across the text to create their
understanding.
Analysis using the adapted framework
A quantitative analysis of the responses revealed up to
200 conversational turns per group in a 20-min session,
showing that the interactive read aloud in a small
group setting with a picture book promoted engaged
discussion with these 9-year-old and 10-year-old chil-
dren. The adapted framework allowed us to further ex-
amine the large analyticalcategory to see how
children engaged in different types of thinking and
which picture book elements they used in their
responses.
Identifying types of thinking used
For this rst reading of Lukes Way of Looking,there-
sponses were distributed across the types of thinking
as follows: Dene(notice, identify, label) 18.5%; Com-
bine(link, order, organise) 52%; Integrate(compare,
contrast, predict, infer, justify) 25%; and Extend(use
multiple links, generalise, synthesise, theorise) 3.5%.
The patterns reveal that the children most readily en-
gaged in a combinelevel of thinking where they make
simple links, order or organise information. A closer
look at the responses allowsus to see how this combine
level of thinking built from the deneresponses and
led on to some thinking at the integratelevel.
Identifying picture book elements used
For this rst reading of Lukes Way of Looking, the re-
sponses were distributed across the picture book ele-
ments as follows: Object and symbol, 43%; Colour
and light, 22%; and Words, 11%. While other picture
book elements (24%) were not selected for specic
analysis for this study, the framework allows for the
selection of any picture book elements that are appro-
priate for a particular text. The patterns reveal that
the children predominantly used the visual elements
of colour and symbol alongside the words to create ini-
tial understanding.
Cross analysis: types of thinking with
picture book elements
Despite visual elements predominating in childrens
responses, cross analysis with the levels of thinking re-
vealed that children engaged in higher levels of think-
ing when they used signicant aspects of the
illustrations alongside the words. The framework
helps us see that the children responded to the way
the words and the pictures work together to convey
this picture books whole message.
Discussion
Our study suggests that combining an interactive
read aloud approach in a small group setting with a
carefully selected picture book allows upper primary
children to engage in natural conversation and develop
their literary understandings. The active discussion
of the book during the read aloud helped the children
to construct meaning within a community of readers
(Chambers, 1993; Nodelman and Reimer, 2003). The
adult as co-collaborator allowed the childrens
voices to dominate and the text to guide the readers
(Meek, 1988). The small group size meant that all
children contributed and that the event proceeded as
a conversation (Peterson and Eeds, 1990) rather than a
set of questions and answers.
120 Understandings from picture books
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
Our framework allowed us to see how the children
made discoveries about the text. The analysis shows
that the children had multiple opportunities to engage
in thinking about this picture book and to develop
ideas through discussion together. Secondly, the chil-
drens ideas developed in complexity as they engaged
with the book and interacted with each others ideas.
Each response made a valuable contribution to
interpreting the text together as a group, and responses
of higher complexity (integrateand extend) were of-
ten built from responses at the levels of deneand
combine. The children made linkages across the text
(Braid and Finch, 2012a, 2012b), using the information
from one page to make sense of another (Arizpe and
Styles, 2003). They referred to images or words from
previous pages, using the clues to build an interpreta-
tion of the whole text as it was being read. Their re-
sponses showed they could synthesise the clues from
pictures and words across the whole text to generate
ideas about the characters and themes in the story.
Implications for teaching
This study highlights the need for teachers to know how
picture books work and how to facilitate discussions.
When we engage with a picture book, we benetfrom
having a vocabulary of visual elements and from taking
an attitude that everything an artist includes is a poten-
tial carrier of meaning (Doonan, 1993). Everything from
the books title to the endpapers and title pages convey
meaning for readers to explore. The elements the illus-
trator uses in the pictures are clues for the reader to con-
sider as they engage with the text as a whole.
Knowledge about how picture books work also helps
the teacher to select texts that will foster effective discus-
sion and an in-depth literary understanding.
The study shows that a teacher role that involves guid-
ing readers to explore and make connections can result
in benecial discussion outcomes. When the teacher is
one of the collaborators in the conversation (Cullinan,
1993), it allows the children to explore each page and
develop ideas together. The teacher can at times give
direction or input and at other times be part of the
chain of talk that arises from the exploration. This ap-
proach allows the text to teach the reader how it is to
be read (Meek, 1988), instead of the teacher s opinions
leading the discussion.
Implications for further research
The adapted framework needs to be used in other
studies to see if it can be generalised to other books
and contexts. The results from this study could be com-
pared with those from other studies to observe pat-
terns of response. For example, are all groups
responses mainly at the deneand combinelevels,
and do such responses always provide the launch-
pad for integrateand extendthinking? Would more
experience with picture books change these propor-
tions? Would a rereading of Lukes Way of Looking after
some exploration of the symbolspossible meanings al-
low children to think further about the text? Studies
could explore how the choice of text inuences the
types of thinking in which participants engage and
the picture book elements they use. While this article
explores the analyticcategory, further investigation
could examine how responses from the aesthetic
and personalcategories contribute to readersen-
gagement with and understanding of texts.
Further studies into interactive read alouds with differ-
ent picture books using this framework would begin to
build a more solid evidential foundation for how
readers respond to text. The patterns from our study
could form a useful comparison with other studies of
childrens responses to picture books.
Conclusion
We set out to investigate whether the model used by
Sipe (2008) in his studies could transfer to a different
group of children and a different picture book. We
discovered that the pattern of responses that Sipe
(2008) reported in his studies was closely matched
by our study with older children in a different edu-
cation jurisdiction. The adapted framework showed
how understandings grew as the children engaged
with the book and with each other in discussion.
Our analysis suggests that picture books, with their
essential interdependence of pictures and words,
both demand and foster a complex level of thinking
as teachers guide children through the texts. Based
on the evidence from the analysed responses, we
suggest that the framework could help educators to
see opportunities for children to engage with books
in ways that foster development of both literacy
and literary understandings. We hope that this work
adds to an understanding of the breadth and depth
of learning that the thoughtful use of picture books
can generate.
Acknowledgements
Our thanks to Matt Ottley for his generous permission
to use his images from Lukes Way of Looking in publi-
cations about this research. Special acknowledgement
is also made to Lawrence Sipe and his body of work.
We acknowledge our colleague, Ken Kilpin, for his
critical reading of this article. We thank Jan MacFarlane
for her design of Figure 4.
References
ALEXANDER, R. (2004) Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Class-
room Talk. Cambridge, UK: Dialogos.
Literacy Volume 49 Number 3 September 2015 121
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
ANDERSON, L., KRATHWOHL, D., AIRASIAN, P.,
CRUICKSHANK, K., MAYER, R., PINTRICH, P., RATHS, J. and
WITTROCK, M. (Eds.) (2001) A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching
and Assessing: A Revision of Blooms Taxonomy of Educational Objec-
tives. New York: Longman.
ARIZPE, E. and STYLES, M. (2003) Children Reading Pictures:
Interpreting Visual Texts. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
ARIZPE, E. and STYLES, M. (with COWAN, K., MALLOURI, L.
AND WOLPERT, M.) (2008) The voices behind the pictures:
Children responding to postmodern picture books, in L. Sipe and
S. Pantaleo (Eds.) Postmodern picture books: Play, parody, and self
referentiality. New York: Routledge.
BIGGS, J. and COLLIS, K. (1982) Evaluating the Quality of Learning:
The SOLO Taxonomy. New York: Academic Press.
BRAID, C. and FINCH, B. (2012a) Childrens responses to a
picturebook during a small group, co-constructed read-aloud.
Unpublished Masters Thesis. Massey University, New Zealand.
BRAID, C. and FINCH, B. (2012b) Play it again and again: develop-
ing a concept of appreciation in primary lm education. Screen
Education, 65, pp. 8088.
BRUNER, J. S. (1986) Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press.
CECH, J. (198384) Remembering Caldecott: the three jovial hunts-
menand the art of the picturebook. The Lion and the Unicorn, 7.8,
pp. 110119.
CHAMBERS, A. (1993) Tell Me: Children, Reading and Talk. Stroud,
Gloucestershire: The Thimble Press.
CULLINAN, B. (1993) Childrens Voices: Talk in the Classroom. Dela-
ware, USA: International Reading Association.
DOONAN, J. (1993) Looking at Pictures in Picturebooks. Stroud, Glos:
Thimble Press.
FISHER, R. (1997) Stories for Thinking: Developing Critical Literacy
Through the Use of Narrative. Analytic Teaching, 18.1, pp. 1627.
GREY, M. (2006) Acceptance speech for 2005 Boston Globe Horn
Book Awards, picture book. The Horn Book Magazine,
January/February, pp. 1720.
HANSEN, C. (2004) Teacher talk: promoting literacy development
through response to story. Journal of Research in Childhood Educa-
tion, 19.2, pp. 115129.
HUCK, C. (1997) Childrens Literature in the Elementary School, 6th
edn. Boston, Mass: McGraw Hill.
MALLAN, K. (1999) In the Picture: Perspectives on Picturebook Art and
Artists. Australia: Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt
University.
MARTINEZ, M., ROSER, N. and DOOLEY, C. (2003) Young chil-
drens literary meaning making, in N. Hall, J. Larson and J. Marsh
(Eds.) Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage, pp. 222234.
MEEK, M. (1988) How Texts Teach What Readers Learn. Stroud: Glos:
Thimble Press.
MOEBIUS, W. (1986) Introduction to picturebook codes. Word &
Image, 2.2, pp. 141158.
MYHILL, D. and DUNKIN, F. (2005) Questioning in learning.
Language & Education, 19.5, pp. 415427.
NIKOLAJEVA, M. (2010) Interpretative codes and implied readers
of childrens picturebooks, in T. Colomer, B. Kummerling-
Meibauer and C. Silva-Diaz (Eds.) New Directions in Picturebook Re-
search. New York: Routledge, pp. 2740.
NIKOLAJEVA, M. and SCOTT, C. (2001) How Picturebooks Work.
New York: Garland Press.
NIKOLAJEVA, MARIA (2012) Reading Other Peoples Minds
Through Word and Image. Childrens Literature in Education, 43,
pp. 273291.
NODELMAN, P. (1988) Words About Pictures. Athens, GA: Univer-
sity of Georgia Press.
NODELMAN, P. and REIMER, M. (2003) The Pleasures of Childrens
Literature, 3rd edn. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
OTTLEY, M. (2001) Illustrators Notes by Matt Ottley. Raps and Book
Raps. Retrieved on January 1, 2014 from http://www.schools.nsw.
edu.au/raps/luke/monotes401.htm
PANTALEO, S. (2008) Exploring Student Response to Contemporary
Picturebooks. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
PETERSON, R. and EEDS, M. (1990) Grand Conversations: Literature
Groups in Action. New York: Scholastic.
ROSEN, H. (1986) The importance of story. Language Arts, 63.3,
pp. 22637.
ROSENBLATT, L. (1978) The Reader, the Text, and the Poem: The
Transactional Theory of the Literary Work. Carbondale, IL: Southern
Illinois University Press.
SIPE, L. R. (2008) Storytime: Childrens Literary Understanding in the
Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.
WHEATLEY, N. and OTTLEY, M. (1999) Lukes Way of Looking.
Australia: Hodder Childrens Books.
CONTACT THE AUTHOR
Christine Braid, Institute of Education, Massey
University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North
4442, New Zealand.
e-mail: c.braid@massey.ac.nz
122 Understandings from picture books
Copyright © 2015 UKLA
... Proper book selection is essential in implementing read-alouds. In fact, the type of text will influence the type of thinking in which students engage (Braid & Finch, 2015). While selecting and planning for read-alouds, identify the purpose for using the text and anticipate the types of thinking it may initiate. ...
... Traditional teacher read-alouds position students as passive listeners, whereas interactive read-alouds encourage the involvement of both students and teachers (Fisher et al., 2004;Fisher et al., 2020;Johnston, 2017;Wright, 2018). As students take charge and interact with the text and each other, their ideas expand and evolve (Braid & Finch, 2015). Students can learn just as much from each other as they do from their teachers. ...
... Dialogue is the foundation for making teacher read-alouds more interactive and should occur before, during, and after reading the text (Fisher et al., 2004). The teacher assumes the role of "facilitator" and enables students to actively think about and control the conversations (Braid & Finch, 2015;Wright, 2018). When sharing picture books, students should be discussing the various facets of the book. ...
Article
Full-text available
Read-alouds not only reinforce story time traditions but also hold significant educational value when used strategically. Reading aloud benefits all students, no matter the grade or achievement level. This article explores a number of research-based academic benefits of reading aloud in K-12 classrooms. The author shares practical tips for prioritizing read-aloud time, selecting appropriate text, modeling various reading strategies, making read-alouds interactive, and promoting vocabulary and language development. The author provides a list of current, award-winning K-12 picture books and chapter books to elevate classroom read-aloud experiences.
... The personal impulse is the need to relate the story to one's personal life. Lastly, the aesthetic impulse is seen when the reader responds as though they are in the story or when they use the story for their own creative expression (Braid & Finch 2015;Sipe 2000;Van der Pol 2012;Wolfenbarger & Sipe 2007). ...
... The learners began to understand the picturebook as a multimodal text, displaying an increasing interest in the visual elements, as they engaged with the book multiple times. The observations discussed in this section can be seen to be the beginning of visual literacy skills, similar to what Arizpe and Styles (2002), and Braid and Finch (2015) discovered through their work with young children and picturebooks. The learners in my study displayed an appreciation of the aesthetic appearance of the illustrations, while using basic visual literacy skills, such as considering the use of colour and identifying smaller details to analyseand not just observe -the picturebook. ...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Given the ongoing literacy crisis in South Africa, there is a need for teachers, as well as teacher education programmes, to explore various means to enable learners to develop reading comprehension. This study sought to examine the intricacies of a series of small group literacy activities that hinged on the in-depth and repeated engagement with a contemporary picturebook. Furthermore, it aims to evaluate whether children can develop an affinity for these books.Aim: The aim of the study was to explore the ways young readers engage with a contemporary picturebook by way of their oral and painted responses.Setting: The study was a qualitative case study, which took place at an urban public school in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg.Methods: The research design followed that of a case study. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews during two paired readings, as well as a focus group discussion (FGD). Additional data were collected through children’s painted artefacts and their subsequent individual interviews on these paintings.Results: The findings indicate that learners initially had superficial verbal engagements with the picturebook, which was complemented by more creative responses on further readings. Another finding was that the facilitation by the researcher and the interaction with peers improved the learners’ depth of engagement. Lastly, the learners’ initial basic descriptions of what was visible was complemented by a more nuanced appreciation of the aesthetic features of the picturebook.Conclusion: Based on the findings, it is concluded that full depth of picturebooks and their affordances in classroom literacy programmes be introduced in detail to pre-service and in-service teachers in order to foster rich and meaningful reading experiences for learners.Contributions: This research functions to contribute to the limited body of literature surrounding children’s reading experiences of picturebooks and overall learning specifically in South Africa.
... Begitu juga, kesempatan-kesempatan ini memfasilitasi peserta didik secara aktif mendiskusikan cerita, mengidentifikasi huruf dan kata, serta mengaitkan makna kata dengan cerita. Sebagaimana dinyatakan oleh Braid & Finch (2015) bahwa representasi metode cerita dalam meningkatkan kemampuan berbahasa anak meningkatkan pemahaman dan membantu mengembangkan keterampilan berpikir kritis. Hal tersebut juga dinyatakan oleh Rosenblatt (1993) dalam teori membaca bahwa membacakan cerita kepada anak memungkinkan mereka memanfaatkan cadangan linguistic/pengalaman pribadi dalam transaksi teks yang mereka dengarkan, yang pada akhirnya meningkatkan membaca dan perkebangn bahasanya. ...
Article
Full-text available
This article explores the ways in which teachers develop young children’s language skills. An overview of early childhood language skills, the implementation of the story method in learning and the implication of the story method on children’s language skill are analysed in depth. Using qualitative description, this study obtained data through observation, interviews, and documentation. This is done systematically to allow data collection in this qualitative research could explain what has been observed. The result of this study indicated that the use of the story method or storytelling in improving early childhood language skills in the learning process is carried out by teachers systematically. Therefore, not only early childhood language skills are improved, but also social interaction. The active involvement of early childhood in learning is a benefit that could be perceived by the parents of learners. The consideration of digital media in the story method is a concept that needs to be explored specifically in order to make the implementation of learning methods more diverse and further improve early childhood abilities.
... Meanwhile, he also proposed that children's reading response is personalized. Braid and Finch (2015) developed the model system of Sip and proposed the thinking type of literary reaction from simple to complex, but without further describing the overall characteristics of children's reading reaction. However, Chinese scholars' research on reading response characteristics focuses more on oral response (Lin and Zhou, 2012;Li, 2015), while the research on verbal response is still insufficient, We have found only two articles: Lin (2002) made a comparative study on Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org ...
Article
Full-text available
Picture book reading has drawn a great deal of attention, while the reading response to children’s book has barely been noticed. This study therefore used the lag sequence analysis method to conduct an empirical study on the reading reaction of 60 5–6-year old children during collective picture book reading activities. Results indicated that the children had rich and diversified reading responses which mainly consisted of language description and emotional experience rather than careful observation of the picture books and in-depth understanding of the relationship between the pictures and text. In addition, the children’s oral expression and vocabulary are important predictors of differences in the reading responses of children with different reading abilities. “Image observation to personal empirical reaction” is also the key behavioral sequence that distinguishes children with different reading abilities.
... Research supports interactive read alouds as an effective teaching strategy for supporting reading skills (Braid & Finch, 2015), like vocabulary acquisition. While the term interactive read-aloud is currently commonly associated with a specific, whole-group instructional strategy (Fountas & Pinnell, 2018), it is posited that a similar method of occasionally and selectively pausing for conversation as a student thinks and talks about target words in the text can be used to increase engagement, and as a result retelling performance, of a single listener. ...
Article
Full-text available
Reading aloud is recognized as an indispensable first step in reaching and teaching students (Routman, 2018) and is a standard instructional practice across curriculum areas for students of all ages and abilities (Daisey, 1993). In fact, the read aloud has been referred to as the Swiss Army knife of literacy for its numerous, diverse uses, which include its ability to create a class bond, promote a love of reading, share information, model effective reading, and scaffold instruction (Varlas, 2018). Effective read alouds, however, go beyond a teacher spontaneously sharing a familiar book with students by reading it orally. Literacy teacher educators must continually reintroduce, demonstrate, and explain well-established strategies and practices, like read alouds, to pre-and inservice teachers while also communicating the importance of these strategies as related to research-based best practices and current educational initiatives. This article describes an action research study implemented with the cooperation of three elementary teachers enrolled in a graduate reading course. The purposes of the study were to investigate the influence of a read aloud containing deliberate vocabulary elaborations on students' story retellings and teachers' perceptions of an intentional read aloud as an instructional strategy compared with a "simple" read aloud, which does not include planned opportunities for vocabulary development.
... Even though the participants were entirely capable of reading the text themselves, they found the read-aloud experiences to be enjoyable and a "nice change of pace" from reading on their own. (Braid & Finch, 2015;Sipe, 2008). All the participants underscored the importance of the illustrations to both stories, and how they helped put the words into context. ...
Article
Full-text available
This study examines the representations of Asian American children and their families in children’s literature, utilizing Asian Critical Race Theory (AsianCrit) to analyze stereotypical portrayals and emphasize counter-narratives. In this study, we conducted a critical content analysis to identify themes in the underlying messages in the children’s literature. As a result, we identified four themes among the selected literature: (1) stereotypical representation of Asian American children and families, (2) counter-narratives against the perpetual foreigner myth, (3) counter-narratives against the model minority myth, and (4) literature as spaces for honoring Asian American voices. Our findings highlight the need to critically examine race discourse in children’s literature to acknowledge and validate the diverse experiences of Asian Americans, moving beyond the model minority and perpetual foreigner myths.
Article
Young children read wordless books as an important early literacy learning activity. This study explores oral narrative construction and image reading of a wordless book by six K-2 children. . Through a cross-case analysis, the results indicate growth of coherence and cohesion building in the verbal narratives across grade levels, as well as a complexity of image reading as children make connections to their lifeworlds and actively use their social imaginations.
Article
Learning History in upper primary requires the development of at least two key skills: historical perspective and historical empathy. Picture books might offer one approach to supporting the development of these skills with these children. Informational Picture Books (IPB) indicate positive results linking the use of the IPB with improved critical literacies. Analysis of the multimodal dynamics of the IPB reveals the necessity for students to be visually literate to realise the history learning potential of this resource. Recommendations developed from this review include requests by teachers for clarification of the Australian History curriculum and improved access to relevant IPB history resources. Professional development in teaching visual literacy may be required. Robust student historical literacies are more likely to develop from a carefully curated collection of resources which endeavour to provide a balanced view of the historical content.
Article
Preface PART 1: TWO NATURAL KINDS 1. Approaching the Literary 2. Two Modes of Thought 3. Possible Castles PART 2: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 4. The Transactional Self 5. The Inspiration of Vygotsky 6. Psychological Reality 7. Nelson Goodman's Worlds 8. Thought and Emotion PART 3: ACTING IN CONSTRUCTED WORLDS 9. The Language of Education 10. Developmental Theory as Culture Afterword Appendix: A Reader's Retelling of "Clay" by James Joyce Notes Credits Index
Book
Despite being a source of continuing interest to educational scholars, research into the literary understanding of elementary school students has emphasized written materials over multimodal mediums such as picturebooks. Focusing on students in Grades one and five, this book describes children's interpretations of and responses to a variety of contemporary picturebooks, specifically those books that employ Radical Change characteristics and metafictive devices. In dealing with picturebooks, Sylvia Pantaleo seeks to show the ways in which literature teaches artistic codes and conventions, critical thinking skills, visual literacy skills, and interpretative strategies. Aside from investigating specific picturebooks, Pantaleo discusses the broader implications of reading, viewing, and creating print and digital texts in schools. These exercises, she argues, reflect the changing nature of communication and representation in the world of elementary school students. Incorporating postmodernism, social constructivism, and other theoretical frameworks, Pantaleo contextualizes her research and examines ways in which literature highlights broader social and cultural characteristics. An extensively researched look at the pedagogical value of literature in the classroom, this book introduces new dimensions to discussions of contemporary picturebooks in elementary education and the social nature of intertextuality.
Article
How Picturebooks Work is an innovative and engaging look at the interplay between text and image in picturebooks. The authors explore picturebooks as a specific medium or genre in literature and culture, one that prepares children for other media of communication, and they argue that picturebooks may be the most influential media of all in the socialization and representation of children. Spanning an international range of children's books, this book examine such favorites as Curious George and Frog and Toad Are Friends, along with the works of authors and illustrators including Maurice Sendak and Tove Jansson, among others. With 116 illustrations, How Picturebooks Work offers the student of children's literature a new methodology, new theories, and a new set of critical tools for examining the picturebook form.
Article
It is easy to be captivated by the lovable and endearing creatures that inhabit the modern picturebook. Whether our taste for picturebooks was formed by the work of Beatrix Potter1 or by that of her distinguished successors, we know, even if we often disavow it, this infatuation with the image of her Mrs Tiggy-Winkle (a hedgehog), Mary Chalmers' Harry (a cat) or Cyndy Szekeres' Pippa Mouse, Ernest Shepard's or William Pene du Bois' bears, Clement Hurd's rabbits, or Bernard Waber's Lyle (a crocodile) and Arthur (an anteater). Disarmed, entangled in a net of affection, we are almost ready to eat, as it were, out of the handling of the illustrator.