The Power of the Picture Book: Matt Tavares

I’ve shared this story before, but it seems worth sharing again, because it was really the first time I fully understood the power of the picture book.

One morning in December of 2000, I was in the library at Reingold Elementary School in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, getting ready for a school visit. My first book, Zachary’s Ball, had just come out earlier that year, so school visits were still a relatively new thing for me. While I was getting set up for my presentation, making sure all my slides were in the right order (I still used real slides back then, and an old Kodak carousel slide projector!), the librarian came over to me and told me an amazing story.

She said there was a first-grader named Juan Carlos who was going to be in the first group of students to see my presentation that day. Juan was a kid who rarely paid attention in class, and she’d had a tough time getting him to sit still and listen. But a couple weeks before my visit, during story time, she read Zachary’s Ball aloud to the class. Partway through the story, she noticed something. Juan was sitting perfectly still. He was looking carefully at every picture. He was actually listening.

Afterwards, when the kids were free to roam the library and choose a book, she handed the copy of Zachary’s Ball to Juan, and told him he could take it home.

The next time Juan’s class came into the library, he returned carrying not only the library’s copy of Zachary’s Ball, but his own copy, which he had written and illustrated himself, at home. He had never done anything like this before. He told her it was a gift for me.

I remember standing in that school library and hearing this incredible story, and feeling like it didn’t even make sense. I was in a room full of books- really good books by real authors like Dr. Seuss and Chris Van Allsburg and Maurice Sendek. How on earth could it even be possible that my little book, this thing I had made as my senior thesis in college, could have that sort of impact on anyone. It was hard to comprehend.

When Juan’s class arrived, his teacher led him over to me. I shook his hand and introduced myself, and he handed me the book he had made. On the cover he had drawn a baseball diamond, with the words “Zachary’s Ball” and “Play ball” circling the pitcher’s mound. I carefully flipped through the pages. It was beautiful. I thanked Juan for this amazing gift, and told him it was really incredible. And I meant it.

It’s been seventeen years since that day in Fitchburg. I’ve published eighteen more books since then, and I don’t even know how many hundreds of schools I’ve visited, or how many presentations I’ve done. Over the years, I’ve had several more experiences not too different from that one, and every time, it amazes me.

But I still remember Juan Carlos. He must be in his twenties now. I like to think that after he returned Zachary’s Ball to the library, the librarian found another baseball book for him to read, and another after that. And maybe after a while, he chose a book that wasn’t even about baseball, and maybe he found that it was actually pretty good. I have no idea if Zachary’s Ball was the spark that led Juan to a lifelong love of reading. But I like to think that maybe, hopefully, it was.

Matt holding the book that Juan Carlos made for him.

 I would be lying if I said that kids like Juan Carlos are the main reason I make books. I write and illustrate books because this is what I love to do. I get to spend my days in my studio, writing stories, and drawing pictures, and painting, and using my imagination, and doing so many things I love to do. I feel incredibly lucky for that.

But every time I send a new book out into the world, and every time I stand in front of a group of students during a school visit, I am fully aware of the tremendous impact that a book can have on a child, and that I can have as an author-illustrator. And I am grateful for that too.

But this isn’t just a story about the power of books and authors. It is also a story about the power of libraries and librarians. It was the librarian who read my book aloud, and noticed that Juan Carlos seemed to like it, and the librarian who took the time to place the book in his hands, and let him take it home. If it weren’t for her, my book wouldn’t have had any impact at all.

Over the years, I’ve gotten to know a lot of teachers and librarians. Our jobs are very different in a lot of ways, but there is one job perk we share. We get to experience the thrill of witnessing the moment when a kid becomes a reader, and knowing we had something to do with it. 




Matt Tavares was born in Boston, and grew up surrounded by books and reading. From the time he was very young, his mother read to him every night, and his family made countless trips to the public library. Years later, as a studio art major at Bates College, he rediscovered his love for picture books, and decided to try to make his own. For his senior thesis project, Matt wrote and illustrated a story called Sebastian's Ball, which eventually became Zachary's Ball, Matt's first published picture book. Since then, Matt has published eighteen more books and has won several awards, including three Parents' Choice Gold Awards, an Orbis Pictus Honor, and two ALA Notable books. Matt lives in Maine with his wife, Sarah, and their two daughters.

The Power of the Picture Book: Jason Lewis

What Baseball Cards Taught Me

A couple weeks ago, I was book-talking a book to my fifth graders and our conversation took a detour to collecting things. I told them that when I was their age I collected rocks, coins, Garbage Pail Kid cards and baseball cards. My baseball card collection was my pride and joy. At 10, that would have been the one item that I would have taken with me if my house was on fire or if I was going to a deserted island. After my students shared some of the things they collect, I told them that I sadly don’t collect anything anymore.

        One student raised her hand and said, “Mr. Lewis, we’ve only been in your classroom for a few days, but it looks like you still collect something. It looks like you collect picture books!” When she said this, I knew she was right.

        When my friend, Kurt Stroh asked me to contribute to his “Power of the Picture Book” blog series, I couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation my students and I had about collecting things. Questions kept popping into my head: Did my baseball card collecting as a ten-year-old thirty years ago prepare me for collecting picture books? Why do I collect picture books? Will my picture book collection one day sit in my attic alongside my baseball cards? Here’s my attempt at answering those questions.

        Did my baseball card collecting as a ten-year-old thirty years ago prepare me for collecting picture books? The short answer…yes! When I started thinking about collecting baseball cards and picture books, the similarities really struck me. As a ten-year-old, I would make sure that I carefully put most of my baseball cards in shiny sleeve protectors for easy display. Today many of my picture books are handled with great care and also sit on racks throughout my classroom for easy display. As a baseball card collector I was always on the lookout for cards of value. As I think about it now, wouldn’t that be the same as searching out and buying award winning picture books? Thirty years ago, one of my favorite things to do with my baseball cards was trade them with my brothers and friends. We’d sit for hours going through our prized collections trying to come up with the perfect trade. I always wanted those rookie cards. You never knew if that baseball player was going to be the next Ted Williams or Carl Yastrzemski. Although it isn’t as cutthroat as it was at the age of 10, I frequently share my picture books with friends, colleagues and students. I’m just as excited when I get a debut author or illustrator’s picture book in my hands. I can’t help but to think if these authors will become the next Newbery or Caldecott award winner.  There were several different baseball card companies when I was collecting. Each company seemed to try to out-do the other company with their special edition cards that I needed to own. Today there are numerous publishing companies with many, amazing authors and illustrators.

I remember sitting there with an unopened pack of baseball cards in my hand with the excitement of the unexpected. The unopened pack might include “that” card that I needed/wanted. It’s the same with a new picture book. The story/illustrations might be just the story that my students and I need. Opening a pack of baseball cards also came with that hard, pink, powdery piece of gum that I might have chewed for all of thirty seconds but needed to have. It was like a small present from the baseball card company for buying their cards. Isn’t this the same as the “undies” that many picture books have hiding under their book jackets today? They are small presents to the reader before you even open up the book.

While you bought baseball cards for the picture on the front, you were also rewarded with their stats on the back. Before the internet, the back of a baseball card was important. Where else would you find the statistics of your favorite baseball players? Similarly, you’re buying a picture book for the story, but many come with incredible back matter. With the internet and a plethora of information on a topic, the back matter helps focus the reader and gives them a place to start. Once my baseball card collection grew, I would organize and reorganize my collection continuously. Sometimes it was by team, my favorite cards or players, by card company, value, etc. As I collect more and more picture books, I’m always organizing and reorganizing them based on how I use them in the classroom whether it is by genre, theme, or author/illustrator.

Finally, there were card shows where baseball card collectors would go to sell and buy cards, and there were local stores where I could go to find the card I was looking for. This reminds me of the many Nerdcamps popping up all over the country, and conferences like ALA and NCTE where publishers, authors, and illustrators go to publicize their books. Reflecting on my card collecting days, I now realize that collecting baseball cards really did prepare me for collecting picture books.

        Why do I collect picture books? Again, the short answer…they’re amazing! Where else can you go to find beautiful words and illustrations all wrapped up in a small package? I collect picture books because of the themes and lessons they teach as mentor texts in reading and writing, and for the doors they open, allowing my students to see into someone else’s world. I collect picture books to help my students understand history and to allow them the chance to better understand the world around them. I collect picture books to introduce my students to people throughout history and to people today who are changing the world. I collect picture books to teach my students language and word choice and to appreciate art and beautiful illustrations in a variety of mediums. I collect picture books because I always want to have the right book on hand for whatever occasion arises. I collect picture books to entertain my students. It’s been awhile since most of my fifth graders have had a picture book read to them daily. The smiles, anticipation, and excitement that I see on my student’s faces when I ask them to meet me at the rug for a picture book will ensure that my picture book buying days are far from over.

Will my picture book collection one day sit in my attic alongside my baseball cards?

This is a good question. My baseball cards were such a huge part of my life when I was my student’s age. If I thought, back then, that my collection would be sitting in an attic collecting dust for decades, I would have thought it was a joke. While I don’t collect baseball cards anymore, baseball has remained a big part of my life. Both of my boys play baseball, my oldest year-round. I am constantly at baseball fields and batting cages after school, on the weekends, and throughout the summer. Then there is always a game to watch on tv. Although I won’t be teaching thirty years into the future, I can’t see my picture book collection sitting in an attic (there would be no room!). They’ll be passed on to my children, my students, and colleagues where they will continue to inspire, teach, and motivate young minds for many years to come. Maybe I’ll keep just a few!

*****

Jason Lewis (@jasontes5th) is a 5th grade teacher at Tyngsboro Elementary School in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. Jason’s participation in the Nerdy Book Club has positively impacted the way he teaches and has introduced him to outstanding people he calls friends. When not reading, talking about books, or buying and organizing his growing picture book collection, Jason can be found at the baseball field or basketball court with his boys or trying to tire out his one-year-old chocolate lab.

The Power of the Picture Book: Michele Knott

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.

*****

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.

The Power of the Picture Book: Pernille Ripp

Our year always starts with the same three words, “Come on over…” and they come. Surrounding me and my pile of books as we begin this seventh-grade journey together. They tend to be nervous, questioning what we are doing.  They tend to be tired, not rambunctious like younger students who are eagerly awaiting the year.  They tend to be filled with questions but lacking a voice to say them.  That comes later.  And so we gather around a pile of picture books, we choose one, and with each page read aloud, we build the foundation of our year together.

We are a picture book classroom.  We have hundreds of stories surrounding us.  We speak picture books.  Our experiences are carved around the moments we discover within their pages.  We marvel at the audacity of some writers to share stories never heard.  We wonder about the process.  The call to write.  The how of writing.  And we sink within their pages whenever we can.

The picture books we read become who we are, a part of our story.  A part of this seventh-grade tapestry that seems to be ever evolving.  Within the pages of these books, we find the threads of our own lives.  Kids connect when they see stories that remind them of themselves.  We start hard conversations about death, race, gender, and even the power of words as we read through our piles.

The stories surround us, call to us, wishing to be read.  And the students quickly drop all pretense of being too cool for picture books once they discover what a picture book really is; a short story, a story that will touch you, a story that will change you if you let it. They are much more than just a book.

They become mood adjusters as children whose lives are much harder than my own come into class, the anger or sadness rolling off of them in waves.  A quick stack of Elephant and Piggie and for a moment the life they are dealing with fades away.  They are ready to join us, they are ready to try again.  

They become equalizers as children whose second language is English, who have been labeled struggling readers, or even bad kids in the past, grasp their pages and fully understand what is going on and can speak about it with the best of them.  They become safety, comfort when a child who is not sure how the world will feel about their identity finds themselves within the pages of a book and knows that the world sees them for their beauty. I see them for their beauty.

The messages that our picture books allow me to speak are many; you matter, I see you, we are in this together.  I may only have so many ways to show my students that in this classroom they are welcome to be who they are, but the picture books surrounding us show them I mean it.  So every year, and every child, I have a single wish in mind as we start our seventh-grade journey together; I hope the picture books lead them to joy, to meaning, to safety.  I hope they all find a picture book to call home.

So come on over...our picture books await.  

******
Since Pernille Ripp was a child growing up in Denmark, she knew she wanted to work with kids. She began her journey in education as a math resource teacher, then transitioned into the classroom as a 4th and 5th-grade teacher, and has now found her home as a 7th-grade English teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin. Pernille is also a speaker, author, blogger at pernillesripp.com, mom, and passionate advocate for education. She's an award-winning expert in literacy and technology integration, and dedicates her life efforts to uplifting engaged and empowered students. She is also the founder of The Global Read Aloud that has connected more than 4 million students in more than countries. Pernille's books and blogs are sources of tremendous inspiration and insight for teachers, parents, and educators around the world with her newest book, Passionate Readers - The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child, recently released.  She believes in having the courage to change and even break the rules for the good of kids and education. Besides being with her own family, there is no place she would rather be every day than in the classroom, teaching her awesome students.

The Power of the Picture Book: Elly Swartz

A Lasting Imprint

All the feels. That’s what a picture book can do. Make you feel all the feels. Joy. Loss. Fear. Hope. Heart. Picture books teach, inspire, and connect us. With such eloquent brevity and beautiful illustrations, they make a lasting imprint on our hearts. And in that, is their true magic.

These powerful pages hold the reader close and whisper in her ear. They show her that she is not alone, she is loved, she matters. They introduce her to new worlds and the magic of the imagined.

When my sons were little, we read The Secret Shortcut by Mark Teague. Over and over and over again. They relished in the characters’ adventures and outlandish tales of alligators and rickety bridges and pirates. Laughter and imagination bound us as we shared this story. 

Years later, with my sons now in their twenties, I’m still in love with picture books and the forever stamp they have on my heart.

In I Wish You More by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld, we learn to wish big and love deep. We learn the world is big and our hearts even bigger. My favorite line: “I wish you more we than me.” 

This idea that we are all truly connected is highlighted in the pages of another of my favorites, Dear Dragon by Josh Funk. With each page the world gets a little smaller. We realize we are more alike than different. Understanding brings connection. It teaches us that we are not so different from each other. The heart is the same, no matter dragon or boy.

And in Beekle, by Dan Santat, we learn to go after our dreams.  To be brave.  To step beyond what’s known and understood. To venture further. To find our person. 

Courage is also brilliantly tucked into the beautiful illustrations and text of Radiant Child, by Javaka Steptoe. In those pages, we learn about a boy with a dream. A big, wonderful dream.  A dream that shows him the beauty in art. And the power of believing in oneself.

And in What Makes A Monster by Jess Keating, we learn how knowledge quells fear. Information makes the monsters less scary. A lesson that goes far beyond the pages of any book.

The messages tucked into the words and illustrations of a picture book extend well past the story. They help, comfort, guide. They inspire. And connect.

Picture books are a gift. A lasting, loving, gift filled with all the emotions. So to all the picture book authors and illustrators, and the educators who read them to their students, I say thank you! Thank you for sharing your heart, fears, hopes and dreams.

You have made a difference.

A lasting imprint.

******

Elly Swartz loves writing for kids, Twizzlers, and anything with her family. Her debut novel, FINDING PERFECT (FSG 2016) is about a twelve-year-old girl named Molly, friendship, family, OCD, and a slam poetry competition that will determine everything. In her second book, SMART COOKIE (Scholastic, 2018), you meet the spunky and big-hearted Frankie. Frankie’s all about family with a dash of mischief and mystery! And then in 2019, say hello to Maggie in GIVE AND TAKE (FSG). If you want to connect with Elly, you can find her at www.ellyswartz.com or on Twitter @ellyswartz. 

The Power of the Picture Book: Kurt Stroh

The Power of the Picture Book

Picture books are incredibly powerful.  Big messages in small packages that can do so many things.

They inspire us.

They make us laugh...

...and make us cry.

They quiet our fears.

They acknowledge our similarities...

...and celebrate our differences!

They teach us about the world around us...

...and help us learn from the past.

They challenge us to be better...

...much better!

For the next four weeks an amazing lineup of teachers, librarians, publishers, booksellers, authors and illustrators will be sharing their powerful picture book stories.  

Come celebrate THE POWER OF THE PICTURE BOOK!

******

Kurt Stroh is a teacher-librarian from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  You can follow Kurt on Twitter @strohreads.  He blogs at strohreads.blogspot.com.