There is so much I can say about picture books. When Kurt asked if I was interested in writing a post about the power of picture books my mind started spinning. The possibilities are endless, but what did I want to focus on? One idea kept coming into my head again and again. The examples kept presenting themselves to me over and over, in real life situations. So my friends, what is the power of pictures books? The power of picture books is their ability to give voice.
They give voice to those who are afraid to say they rely on the pictures. To those students who can understand visual representation more than words. To those readers who don’t get everything out of the story just from the words of the story. I see these readers everyday. Readers who are told they should be reading chapter books. Because their peers read them, because their teachers say they should read them, because they are of the age that says they are chapter book readers. These readers come check them out of my room because I have them. Because they know I won’t judge. Because they know when they are done reading them we can talk about them because I read them too. And then they can have those conversations about the story because with the pictures, they can talk more about the characters, they can talk about what happened in the story, they can talk about how this book matters to them and what they think about it. Because now they have a voice. A voice that talks about a book and why it mattered to them. Picture books do that.
Too often I see elementary, intermediate and middle grade classrooms who do not have picture books. They don’t understand the voice they give students. But they also do not understand the voice they can add to their own lessons. Picture book texts are the perfect length. Texts, where every word was painstakingly chosen for a specific reason, can be the voice of their lesson. Picture books pack a powerful punch when talking about characters and theme and craft moves and conflict and resolution and plot and signposts and all of those other details we know we’re to be teaching our students. We tell students during their writing time, “show don’t tell.” But picture books can show. Use them to be the voice of your lesson. Let picture books be the voice, not you doing the telling.
Picture books give voice to those who are confused or need to know more. I see this everyday when kids turn to nonfiction. For my curious readers, for my readers who have questions, for my readers who just need to know - picture books can provide the answer. We expect students to understand so much and sometimes the information is overwhelming. Thank goodness we can turn to informational picture books. With their nonfiction text features that help break things down and support the new understandings, to the visual representations in photographs and illustrations, it connects the unknown to the new understanding. It’s the aha moment of real life knowledge. With that new understanding, picture books give readers the voice of knowledge and learning.
They give voice when we don’t have the words to do it ourselves. I witnessed this first hand this past week. My sister let me know that her daughter was being bullied at school. She needed books to share with her daughter to reassure her she’s beautiful and bright and that her self-worth is way more than a classmate can ever tell her. I also knew she needed words to help her navigate the world when others steer her in the wrong direction. Because it’s not always enough for adults to help. Sometimes it’s seeing themselves within the pages of a book. It’s seeing how others react and helping them to have the power to do the same thing. By giving readers the words and the power to use their voice, these young readers may just grow up to lead the world in a very important way.
I believe in picture books - I think picture books can do something that no other literature does quite as well. Let’s lift up the voices of our students by putting picture books in their hands.
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Michele Knott is a K-4 literacy specialist in the Chicago suburbs. When she’s not at school, she’s either swimming laps in the pool, or on the way to or from driving her daughter to swim laps in the pool (aka “swim mom”). She’s pretty sure that the scent of chlorine keeps her awake in order to read and write as much as she does. Michele blogs at Mrs. Knott’s Book Nook and tweets all about her reading life @knott_michele.
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