Chapter 7: Picture Books

I remember reading picture books as a kid, and I still do sometimes today. Some of my favorites were written by Beatrix Potter, an early reader’s copy of The Nutcracker, which is illustrated beautifully I might add, and a few others that escape me right now, but are in a box in my garage. I still have some of my old picture books in my bedroom but my mother has kept all of the ones that my brother and I shared as children. When my brother and I have our own kids someday I have no doubt that my mother will pull them out again so they can read like my brother and I did when we were little. With the picture books that I have in random places in my room right now it is fun to go back and re-read them as an adult and they never fail to bring back memories of when I was a child or just reading the notes that my grandparents wrote in them to give to me for Christmas or my birthday throughout the years.

Picture books are great because they expose children who are able or who are unable to different mediums of art and use of color as well as the story itself. By looking into different mediums of art you can tie these books into history lessons or even into art projects having them work with watercolor’s, or paints and for the more advanced students oils and charcoals. Tying them into history of art or artists lessons you can talk about artists who are famous for using specific mediums.

Talking about the art itself within the context of the story is important to do and works a lot better with older children even into Middle and High School. Having the students analyze the color schemes within the pictures and then compare it to the tone of the writing is a great exercise and shows how both color and text can work together to make something beautiful and a piece of art within its own right. You can also have them analyze bad examples of it and say why it doesn’t work and how they would change the color scheme or the art itself. This allows the students to think critically and use their imaginations to come up with some creative solutions.

It would be an interesting activity to do with your kids is read them the story and then have them illustrate it themselves and then re-read the story again but this time show them the pictures so they can compare and contrast their art work with the illustrator. It would also be a fun little activity to have each child writes their own story and then have the teacher collect them and pass them back out and have another child illustrate the book and then share it with the class. This can even be done with older students into middle school.

Picture books are great for both young children and older students. They can be used in a variety of ways and especially work well within cross-curriculum teaching.