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Reflect on the article assigned for today's class:  Epilogue children’s literature and the history of the book

1-Choose ONE of the prompts listed in color to the right.

2- Click on the "+" under the prompt you chose and put your name in the title bar. (See example)

3-Briefly reflect on ONE of the prompt statements from the article.  Use examples found in the article to support your opinions, insight, objection, criticism, or appreciation. (See example )

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Picturebooks don't always give form to the fantasy, but part of the fun of picturebooks is the reader interpreting things themselves.

Sometimes picturebooks do illustrate texts though. Seeing how the illustrator interprets the story, as the illustrator is often different from the author is fun.  The article discusses the idea of how words are presented, but the illustrations help tell the story.  Illustrators have a skill to capture things the average person might not see in their own imagination.  When talking about "The Stinky Cheese Man," illustrations can add irony.

Illustrations can give the form to fantasy by breathing life into fantastic creatures that readers might not be able to otherwise imagine.

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1: "John Locke made clear that teaching worked best when the text came with pictures"

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1: "John Locke made clear that teaching worked best when the text came with pictures"

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2. " The illustrated children's books to be manufactured with the chromolithographic process (in 1845), and in the hands of the British illustrator Walter Crane, the technique produced volumes of remarkable aesthetic power." 

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2. " The illustrated children's books to be manufactured with the chromolithographic process (in 1845), and in the hands of the British illustrator Walter Crane, the technique produced volumes of remarkable aesthetic power." 

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3. "Do pictures truly illustrate their texts? That is, do they present the world of the imaginative fiction or the poem genuinely, giving line and form to fantasy?"

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3. "Do pictures truly illustrate their texts? That is, do they present the world of the imaginative fiction or the poem genuinely, giving line and form to fantasy?"

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Technology has always impacted the written word, and children’s books are no exception. In fact, they may represent advances in technology even more than those written using strictly prose. Lerer, Seth, and Myilibrary argued that using illustrations to help readers elucidate the meaning of the text goes back to Byzantine Egypt and there are numerous examples of illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages that use bright colors to highlight the importance of what was written.

The book itself in the middle ages was cutting edge technology and the dyes, and expertise needed to apply them to velum, were advanced techniques that took specialized skills and training. Lerer, Seth, and Myilibrary pointed to two early sixteenth century works for aristocratic children that contained color illustrations of flora and fauna. These were not just pretty pictures, but were a great example of using technology to produce illustrations with text that helped convey the meaning of the content.

By the nineteenth century, authors like Walter Crane were utilizing the most advanced chromolithography techniques, and along with his contemporaries Kate Greenaway and Ralph Caldecott, created the foundations for what we now think of as quintessentially children’s literature.

Technological innovations impacted children’s literature throughout the 20th century, particularly advances in industrial production. Lerer, Seth, and Myilibrary use the examples of pop-up books and gold leafing on a scale that would have been impossible without advanced manufacturing. Japanese manga had an impact on children’s literature in the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This, too, represents advances in technology as most manga and animae is now produced using computer graphics and animation.

Far from being old fashioned or a relic of the past, children’s literature is, and always has been, at the forefront of technological innovation. Maybe that story would make a great children’s book…..

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John Locke may have had different reasons to believe teaching works best with pictures, literacy levels being somewhat lower in 1860s England and America, but the opinion does seem reasonable for children’s literature today.

We know that pre-readers and early readers interact with the story (i.e., they read the pictures) on a more visual level than children able to confidently read the text. Emerging readers use the pictures to aid in identifying and sounding out new words. Once language is attained, it seems that pictures would fade from the necessary to the nice-to-have in fictional/enjoyment reading.

Pictures certainly aid in instructional reading, bringing the world of far-away examples right into the laps of the reading child. Pictures can show us exotic animals and locations that words can only attempt to describe. Pictures can illuminate concepts, processes, and relationships in a way that makes more sense to visual learners than just a written description.

More to Locke’s point, and certainly a future he could not possibly envision, today’s children are learners of a digital age, where electronic devices provide instant information in small, colorful packages at a moment’s notice. Rather than bludgeon young readers with text-only books and disparage the visually appealing media that surrounds them, why not embrace the immediacy of pictures and use them as a vehicle to encourage entry to a love affair with books? Using illustrated books and graphic novels (or graphic non-fiction books) can encourage reluctant readers and more visually-inclined learners.

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John Locke seemed to be an early adopter of differentiated learning. Pictures alongside text can enhance learning and understanding.

“Texts and pictures are both objects of interpretation”. Our social and cultural context in which we live will determine how we read and see illustrations and the meaning we make to them. Readers have always read between the lines of the words on the page, and illustrations are no different. The reader sees between the pictures of the illustration, filling in background and depth where there is none on the page. The readers of Kate Greenaway’s A Apple Pie would see a slice of pie before bed in a different way than readers today would. Similar to how the artists in the mid twentieth century Eastern Europe tried to get around censorship through illustrations. Each reader will see and interpret pictures in different ways. Having both pictures and texts can help give a more rounded and full view of the book.

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Without images, it is often hard to believe that what a text illustrates can be real. The article quotes the novelist G. K. Chesterton, who says, “Don’t believe in anything/ That can’t be told in coloured pictures.” Images create a believable world that the reader can insert themselves into. In a way, the photos can make the text and story in imaginative fiction seem like it can be reality.

Occasionally, illustrations can enhance the text. Pop-up books use illustrations to break the bounds of the book and make it where characters and the setting are no longer confined to the borders of the book. As the text says, pop-up books “make acts of reading acts of interactive manipulation.” I believe that pictures not only illustrate their texts, but they typically add more and are critical parts of the story. They can make fantasy seem like reality while adding more aspects to the story.

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Teaching does work better with pictures. As the text states, "learning to read has been inseparable from learning to see" (p. 321). Students, especially young ones, learn through imagery. Stories come to life. Fiction comes to life. Non-fiction comes to life. Narratives come alive for them when the creative expressions of those words are placed in front of them in an accessible way. What can be more accessible than pictures?

I loved how the text highlighted how illustrations have been embedded in narratives for years. Just like students benefit significantly through read-alouds, they also benefit through the remembrance and contextual information that good illustrations elicit.

I also think that illustrated stories can be a means of teaching more multilingual learners, especially. By matching text to descriptive artistry, this can help meaning overlap between the two.

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As the author of this article explores, illustrated books have been a part of children's literature since ancient times. It is clear that this type of story is important for fostering understanding for children learning to read. He states, "How a book looks, how it feels, even how it smells can affect the experience of reading as much as what it says" (pg. 322) which is true in every way.

However, the author then goes to state that Crane is one of the first great illustrators, which to me contradicts the time the author spent conveying the lengthy history of illustrated books. From this statement, they go on to say, "There is something in his imagery that I, as a medievalist, find uniquely compelling." (pg. 323) and from there they wax poetic about all the finery of this artists work. For the record, I do find this art style to be extremely compelling, however this is from the lens of adulthood. I feel if you were to show a child of today's saturated world, they wouldn't be as interested. That's not to say children of today aren't able to appreciate art, nor that they shouldn't be shown this type of artistry, but comparatively, art of today is now fully animated.

This epilogue is clearly a passion article for the author, which should be applauded. I agree that illustration is shown throughout history to be vitally important to teaching people to read, but there seems to be an undertone of distain for modern illustration that I find compelling at the very least.

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As Jules suggested, it seems John Locke realized that not all learners learn or interpret things in the same way and that pictures can play an integral part in understanding.

Page two of the epilogue starts to discuss studies regarding learning and images and I love the quote that says, "For Ellen Handler Spitz, learning to read has been inseparable from learning to see."

I think by this, what she and Locke mean is that images can aid in the understanding of words. As we age and advance as readers or writers, we are told to 'show not tell' with our words, but while we are learning the words and what specific phrases and sayings imply, mean, symbolize, etc., an image is incredibly helpful in figuring out meaning and definition and can make a story that much richer.

I think this is one of the reasons why picture books make such excellent non-fiction resources on such a wide-variety of subjects, because what better way to explain something to someone, than to SHOW them.

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There is something called the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis which basically means that your language influences your thoughts. This supports John Locke’s argument that teaching works best when pictures accompany text because without the language, you can’t have the thought of it. Kind of obscure, I know!

Let’s say someone asks you to describe hex code #BCC07B and you have no idea what a hex code is. How would you describe it? Now let’s say there is a picture of hex code #BCC07B. It would be a lot easier to describe now that context is available. Same with instructions manuals; the pictures help provide context for understanding new information.

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Pictures are a huge part of children's literature, which is evident when walking through any children's section in libraries or book stores. The author mentions at the beginning of the text that children have been reading books through pictures since way back in history. No matter what language or text may have been used at the time, all children and adults could see the story through pictures whether they could understand the text or not.

Most children's books do not have a lot of text because they are catered to helping children build a love for reading. Pictures are often heavily relied on to help tell the story that the author is trying to get across. The illustrations not only support the text, but help children imagine extra details and feel immersed in the story. The author writes about how the whole purpose of an illustration is to create believable worlds for children to experience through reading. I see this a lot through teaching younger students, as we often teach them to "read through the pictures" if they do not understand all of the words just yet.

While not all texts necessarily need pictures to help tell the story, pictures can also create fond memories and shared experiences. In the text, the author mentions how some books have illustrations that are now inseparable from the books due to how well known they are. I see this a lot when reading books by Mo Willems as the children know exactly who "The Pigeon" is without needing any of the words. As I read to students, they rely on me to tell them what the words say while they are entertained by the illustrations that allow them to follow along with the actions of the story.

All in all, I feel that pictures do truly illustrate their texts. I have never come across a story that hasn't entertained me with pictures that help me imagine myself as a part of the adventure. Just like children enjoy the pictures that illustrate their beloved stories, adults often make movies to help illustrate their beloved chapter books. We seek the imagery that carries us along with our favorite characters and makes us feel a bit closer to the stories we have read.

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As a teacher who is becoming a librarian, John Locke has come up a lot in my training. His perspectives on learning and education are still relevant, even to this day.

This quote from Locke shows that pictures and text work together to create learning opportunities. For visual learners, especially, images in literature help comprehension.

Picture books also help build background knowledge. Often we use books as an "escape", but in a lot of instances books are used to give readers an experience that they may or may not have in life. For example, readers living in a state/part of the world without 4 true seasons may not be able to picture what trees look like in the fall on their own. Real learning takes place when pictures serve as an aid.

The article states that "texts and pictures are both objects of interpretation". Readers have to interpret two different things when reading picture books which builds comprehension and analysis skills. This is why it is so important to emphasize to students, parents, and teachers that graphic novels are "real" reading. Readers are interpreting many things on a page and therefore, learning.