Do you remember the picture books that first brought you joy? The ones that were read to you before you could read, or the ones that sparked your imagination for the first time? When you think about these stories what do you see?
For most of us, we might see our favorite characters or the enchanting setting of our childhood books. We see the illustrations brought to life through our memories.
Picture books bring tremendous benefits to kids who are in the early stages of developing their reading skills. Illustrations shown alongside text offer invaluable tools to help kids build understanding, fluency, vocabulary and other foundational literacy skills. The imagery in a picture book brings the pages to life, serving as a visual roadmap for the story.
Here are five important benefits picture books bring to children who are learning to read.
As kids begin to speak and build sentences, they learn to recognize sounds and patterns within spoken language. This is known as phonological awareness and serves as the foundation for learning to read. The rhythmic cadence of many picture books helps kids develop and practice phonological awareness. Kids may start by repeating passages of their favorite picture books, then go on to make up their own similar rhymes or stories.
Dr. Seuss’ ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! is a picture book that helps build phonological awareness while practicing letter sounds. “Big A little a, what begins with A? Aunt Annie’s Alligator. A…a…A.”
At a most basic level, picture books help kids understand that words convey meaning—connecting the pictures in the book with the words on the page. Kids will check pictures on the page for background knowledge or contextual clues for vocabulary development. They even use the images to learn the names of new objects.
You can ask a child, “Can you show me where the alligator is on this page?” or “What letter does the word alligator start with?”
By organizing the sequence of events in a story, kids can practice their ability to comprehend what they read. Mastering this skill starts with identifying beginning, middle, and end, and summarizing key events that take place (in order) throughout the story.
Visual aids and illustrations remind the reader what happened throughout the story and support their ability to confidently retell the key events. As kids hone their sequencing skills, let them look at the pictures to remind them what happened in the story. If they guess, and guess incorrectly, then use it as an opportunity to re-read the passage. This offers a chance to do an additional check for understanding.
Furthermore, books filled with pictures encourage kids to make predictions and inferences about what’s going to happen next. They can pair the words with the expressions and setting shown in the pictures to make an informed guess about what comes next in the story.
In Miss Nelson is Missing!, readers can infer that Ms. Viola Swamp is Miss Nelson in a costume. Clues in the book, such as the coincidental timing of Miss Nelson’s disappearance and the appearance of Ms. Swamp help lead to this inference.
As you read a book with a child, you are both likely making inferences throughout. The key to helping kids realize when they are making an inference is to talk through the inferences out loud throughout the book. Take breaks to ask questions: “How does Miss Nelson feel when kids misbehave in class?”, “Why do you think Ms. Viola Swamp was outside of Miss Nelson’s house?”, “What do you think happened to Miss Nelson?”.
There’s a lot to learn on the road to becoming a skilled reader. Along with sequencing and summarizing, there are many other essential skills kids must master in order to comprehend the text they read. Some of those skills include; sentence construction, problem solving, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions, inferring, and more.
Books rich with illustrations and photos offer many benefits to help enhance reading comprehension. Here are just a few of those benefits.
Pictures provide visual clues to help us discover more about the narrative.
Pictures show expressions, unwritten details, setting, and context that help us compare and contrast. These details allow us to analyze more complex details of character development.
Illustrations can provide important background knowledge and offer contextual cues based on what’s happening in the story. This helps us “read between the lines” to find meaning that may not be explicitly stated in the text.
When you think about your favorite childhood book, what comes to mind? You may see a sparkling fish with rainbow colors or a tree that gives everything in the name of selfless affection. Maybe you see your favorite characters or other-worldly settings.
The illustrations of a picture book can be enchanting, fun, and inspiring. They can tell a story of their own. Many of us remember picture books as the books that made us first fall in love with reading.
One key ingredient of picture books that we shouldn’t discount is the benefit of pictures in sparking joy and creating a fun and engaging reading experience for kids. Picture books do a better job of holding the attention of kids learning to read than books without pictures. And reading picture books with kids on a regular basis (ideally daily) can help them self-monitor their behavior until they can sit through a whole story and focus on the events.
When kids enjoy particular books or stories, they may ask to read the same book again and again. This is a good sign that this book sparks interest and intrigue for a young reader. Let kids choose the stories they love, read them often, and offer options to explore new books as well.
The subject matter in picture books can introduce social cues and cultural differences that encourage social-emotional development. Books that model social behaviors help hone social language skills and reinforce positive behavior.
In the book The Name Jar, a young Korean girl living in America is teased about her name, Unhei. A passage from the book reads, “She was relieved that the kids on the bus had gone to other rooms, but her face still felt red.” Marked by this bullying, she decides to search for a different name. Throughout the story her classmates and family show gentle kindness, support, and encouragement for Unhei until she is ready to introduce herself and her culture, as Unhei, to the rest of her classmates.
The Name Jar offers a chance for kids to practice empathy for Unhei and observe the outcome of kind, encouraging behavior compared to the negative effects of bullying.
Picture books also explore difficult subjects like fear, grief, taking risks, building friendships, self-control, and so much more. These books offer outlets for kids to explore challenging subjects in a format that’s approachable to them.
The illustrations in a book can help kids relate to the characters and setting portrayed. Picture books featuring protagonists of different identities, races, cultures, and abilities allow kids to relate to the texts where they see their own image reflected back. Furthermore, #ownvoices books written from the perspective of an author who shares a certain identity can provide an experience that’s profoundly relatable to kids’ differing experiences.
For example, Grace for President, allows young girls of color see themselves as future leaders in positions of power.
Published on: 16 April 2023
Artist, art pyschotherapist and author-illustrator Fransie Frandsen shares how crucial illustrations are when reading books with children.
I am sure that many of us can easily remember our earliest reading experiences, perhaps snuggling up in bed with a parent at the end of the day to read a favourite picture book. Or when all of a sudden, the illustrations of a most cherished children’s book suddenly spring to mind, sparking many joyful memories. Many of us consider picture books as the first books that made us fall in love with reading.
As writer and illustrator of a series of children’s books, called Alexander’s Questions, I am often asked which I consider to be more important: the story or the illustrations? In my opinion, both the story and illustrations in a picture book carry equal weight and work alongside each other to enrich the reader’s experience.
Where the narrative sets the scene, describes the characters and sets out the story line, the illustrations bring the story to life and serve as a visual guide to the reader. In fact, the illustrations are the gateway to the story, inviting the reader in and enticing him or her through colourful visual clues to engage with the story.
Through the illustrations, the child becomes more than a listener or reader, but an active participant in the reading experience. The picture book now becomes a feast for the senses, with the child engaging not only on an audial and visual level but also having the option of pointing at and even touching the illustrations.
Illustrations have many jobs. They clarify and elaborate on the text as well as offering important background knowledge and contextual clues to what is happening in the story, helping the child to read between the lines and to find meaning that may not be specifically stated in the text. Viewing and interpreting the visual information, while hearing the words, helps children to understand the meaning of the words.
Illustrations shown alongside text offer invaluable tools to help kids who are in the early stages of developing their reading skills. They help build understanding, fluency, vocabulary and other fundamental literacy skills. Small children often love repeating passages of their favourite children’s books and then proceed to make up their own rhymes or stories, often inspired by the illustrations.
Beautiful, vibrant and engaging illustrations in a picture book not only spark joy, enrich the reading experience and encourage a child to read, but can also serve as a wonderful tool to explore difficult subjects such as death, fear, grief and anxiety.
Young children do not always know what they are feeling and how to name their emotions. However, through engaging with the illustrations, the child can explore the emotions and feelings of the characters by evaluating their body language and facial expressions as described by the accompanying text and depicted in the illustrations.
With the guidance of a parent or teacher, the child can now be helped to name the feelings expressed by the characters and subsequently also gain understanding of their own emotions and how to name them.
When reading with my own children, I was often amazed how snuggling up with a picture book in bed was not only a bonding and peaceful way to end the day, but could also provide a welcome glimpse into my child’s inner world. Children do not always respond well to ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions and illustrations can serve as a welcome third person through which to gently explore a child’s understanding of the story and characters.
For example, when reading a picture book together about a bear that lost his way in a dark wood, you may ask, ‘I wonder how the bear felt when he was lost in the dark wood?’ or, ‘How do you think the bear will feel when he finds his house again?’
In this way, the child can safely explore his or her own feelings through the story and the characters in the illustrations and learn, with your help, how to put names to these feelings. Additionally, by associating with and relating to the characters in the story, the child will learn to empathise with others, an important tool in becoming an emotionally intelligent individual with empathy for themselves and the world around them.
Such precious moments together will leave the child feeling heard; learning that it is safe to express feelings, which in turn leads to healthy attachment and bonding with the adult. The ability to safely voice emotions is a valuable tool in times of stress and is a skill that will be carried forward into adulthood and perhaps ultimately into parenthood.
In short, reading a picture book together with vibrant, engaging illustrations is not only a chance for bonding, fun and a feast for the senses, but also helps to establish fundamental literacy skills, empathy, emotional intelligence and other essential life skills.
I believe that early childhood experiences, such as reading a picture book together, are irreplaceable building blocks in forming positive relationships, and in helping children to develop into emotionally intelligent individuals with empathy for themselves and the world around them.
Alexander’s Questions is available now.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit bopp sheet labels, bopp film price increase, bopp paper film.