ü  Bridget Robinson, of the University of North Carolina, Ashville, found in her study that 72% of the students who were introduced to picture books as a vehicle for understanding literary devices found those literary devices were then easier to understand and identify in higher level text.

Picture Books Are Treasure Chests

     If you look at picture books from the 1940’s and earlier, you see plain mono-chromatic r or bi-color illustrations with lots of text.  The world of picture books has exploded since then and there is now one for every taste!  Color explodes off the pages and covers contain enticing hints as to what is inside. Contemporary picture books explore issues such as homelessness, war, drugs, death, violence, racism, and divorce.

     Examine the illustrations of Jerry Pinkney, Jan Brett, Patricia Polacco and Eric Carle.  Eric Carle has a museum of picture book art in New England (if you can’t go there, take a virtual “summer vacation” tour of your own at http://www.picturebookart.org/Home under “Tours”).  You can also take a walk through great illustrations in The Treasury of Great Children’s Book Illustrators (http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Great-Childrens-Book-Illustrators/dp/0810926946). 

     And  the writing?  Maurice Sendak says so much in just a few words.  Bill Martin, Jr. uses simplicity and rhythm to make his stories snap.  Jon Sciezka and his pals from Trucktown (David Shannon, Loren Long and David Gordon) have created a preschool/kindergarten series that sprinkles all shapes and sizes of trucks into a group of books with terrific kid appeal AND a strong literacy core.  And, of course, there’s the master, Dr. Seuss.  One of my favorite “new” authors is Karma Wilson.  There are just too many great writers out there to name them all.

     So what do you do with this treasure chest, especially with standards always on your front plate?  Think about picture books as a critical classroom resource.  Include picture books in your classroom library (even if your students are mostly reading chapter books).  For example, When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest is an exceptional book, written on a 5^th or 6^th grade reading level.  It tells the story of a young girl in the midst of the swarm of immigration to the U.S. during the 1890’s.  That matches 5^th grade and above history standards in most states.

     When evaluating picture books to use in your classroom, focus on standards you need to teach and select a variety of picture books for use in content area classes (ask your local public librarian or your media specialist to help you locate the best resources on particular subjects). Give students a chance to self-select from a group of books for initial reading.  Self-selection of books enhances student motivation to read texts.

Action Steps for Incorporating Picture Books Into Your Teaching

Start by identifying three key standards (from your list of state mandated standards) which are the most difficult for you to teach.  Ask yourself:

Ø  Are there illustrations or examples of this concept in picture books?

Ø  How can I use short periods of time (10-15 minute mini-lessons) to engage my older students in using these simpler texts?

Ø  Who can I collaborate with at my school or in my community to help me maximize this resource?  How can we build a resource which ties to our particular state’s standards?  Can our state media specialist or information technology people help?

Once you’ve begun to think on this track, search for picture books that can help you teach that standard. 

Here are a few examples of ready-for-the-classroom ideas:

From the State of Texas:  for all ages:  A Handbook for Involving the Media Center in Science Learning (includes great book lists) http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/scienceextra/

Great Science Books for PreK (3-5 year olds):  http://www.mothergooseprograms.org/science_books_age_3_5.php. 

1^st Grade: from Indiana University-Purdue University -  History through Picture Books and Photography:  http://www.iupui.edu/~geni/lsort/history_ugrr_mpa.html

3^rd Grade – Teaching Persuasion from the Georgia Performance Standards:  https://www.georgiastandards.org/Frameworks/GSO%20Frameworks/3%20Persuasive%20Reading%20for%20Connections%20Task.pdf

3-5^th Grade – From IRA/NCTE’s joint project Read Write Think – a lesson plan on doing an Author Study with Picture Books:  http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=906

4-6^th Grade – Teaching Social Studies with Picture Books from the state of Washington:  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0STR/is_n1_v107/ai_19844861/

6^th-9^th Grade – from Alaska - Doing a Genre Study with Picture Books in Middle School:  http://middle-school-curriculum.suite101.com/article.cfm/literature_genre_study_for_middle_school.

Teach Writing to Older Students Using Picture Books and the 6+1 Traits of Writing: http://www.geocities.com/oberry1790/narrativebibliography.htm

Teaching University Students Using Picture Books – from Ashland University and Ohio Wesleyan University http://www.ohiorc.org/adlit/InPerspective/Issue/2007-05/Article/vignette2.aspx.

Using Picture Books to Teach Literary Terms in High School – from North Carolina:   http://facstaff.unca.edu/mcglinn/Bridget%20PP%202.ppt