What Exactly Can Picture Books Teach Our Children? Essay -- Learning T

What Exactly Can Picture Books Teach Our Children? I chose to read and comment on Barbara Kiefer’s â€Å"Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.† Kiefer’s main point in writing this essay was to get the message across that children enjoy picture books that allow them to identify and make connections with the characters or the plots, and that while reading and analyzing the pictures, they gain a better sense of aesthetics and how to interpret them. I agree whole-heartedly with the conclusions that she drew from her observations. It is very hard to get the whole â€Å"picture† from a children’s storybook that has no pictures. The children find it harder to identify with the characters and often find these books boring. Being able to see the pictures helps them to make connections with either the characters or with their personal experiences. For example, all small children can identify with the little monkey, George, in Rey’s Curious George. On page 27 of the book, we see George smoking a pipe because he saw the man in the yellow hat smoking it. At some point in every child’s life, he has seen an adult doing something unfamiliar and wanted to try it, just like George did. This would be a good point at which the child could articulate one of his experiences to a class or friend, helping him to become more comfortable with speaking about and sharing his thoughts. Kiefer points out in her essay that when children vocalize what they think about a story and the pictures, it helps them to become more cognitive thinkers. She also stated that â€Å"the children I observed seemed to be intent on making meaning regarding the picture books †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Kiefer 66). I, too, can see this when I am ... ...s and classrooms should have a wide variety of books available with varying styles of writing and art work. In addition to the books, the children should be given a variety of ways in which to express their thoughts and feelings about these books, either through discussion, writing, or their own art work. I agree because this could only allow children to enjoy reading more and lets them feel like their opinions matter and are appreciated. Having books readily available only increases a child’s desire to read and creates in him or her a love for books that, hopefully, never goes away. Works Cited Kiefer, Barbara. â€Å"Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.† Publishing Research Quarterly 7.2 (1991): 63-75. Rey, H. A. Curious George. Twentieth Century Children’s Book Treasury. Selected by Janet Schulman. New York: Knopf, 1998. 88-95.