Picture Books: Practical and Powerful

 Ask a children’s librarian for her favorite picture books. Or choose one of your family’s favorites. You’ve just found an easy, inexpensive way to support your child’s language development, spark imagination and curiosity, and foster a love of reading, What a bargain!

Usually designed for children ages 3-8, picture books are meant to be read aloud. Both text and illustrations are important; they work together to tell a story.

Do:

• Choose picture books that both you and your child will enjoy.
• Expect to read a picture book over and over!
• Ask that children’s librarian for help finding titles that support your curriculum.

Before reading, talk about the title and notice detail in the cover illustration. You might give a brief introduction to the story and ask your child:

• What do you think will happen in the story?
• Tip: If your child’s response is “I don’t know…”
• Model a prediction or an inference. Example: “I think this character looks sad. What do you think? or “I think this story happens on a beach. What do you think?”
• Try saying, “Take a guess.” You may have to repeat, “Just guess.” A guess is easier than a direct answer and a guess may spark creative thinking. 

Read with expression and allow your child to participate:

• Vary your speed, pitch, and volume to fit the text. You CAN do this!
• Let your child interrupt, ask questions, fill in words, or tell you how they are relating to the text.
• For very young children, you need not read every word. If your young child is only interested in the illustrations, good! Picture books are often a child’s first introduction to art.

After reading ask open ended questions that require more than basic recall. Examples:

• Did you guess what the story was about?
• Which was your favorite character?
• What did you notice in the pictures?
• For older children:
• Did you see some things in the illustrations that were not mentioned in the words?
• Did you like the ending? How could you end it differently?
• Give the story a rating:  10 is great and 1 is not so good.  Then tell why you rated it that way.

Most important: Enjoy reading to your child!