If you love picture books as much as I do then you are going to love the month of November. Picture Book Month is an International Literacy Initiative that celebrates picture books during the month of November.
In prior posts I have shared how picture books help develop early literacy skills and several reasons to use picture books in upper elementary and middle grades / Those posts were setting the stage for Picture Book Month.
What is a picture book?
A picture book is a story intended for young readers. The illustrations and the text work together to tell the story. Picture books are often read to children, not by children. They are for children who are not yet able to read, and help them develop a sense of story with a beginning, middle and end. Picture books have illustrations on every page. The illustration help with understanding the story and learning that words have meaning. The illustrations also help children by providing visual cues to the meaning of the words on a page. Picture book illustrations also strengthens a child’s observation skills, as there is often more happening in the illustration than stated in the text. Most picture books are typically 32 pages long.
What is the age range for a picture book?
Picture books are intended for children aged 3-7. Picture books have a secondary audience: the adult reading the book. Older books are selected by the child, picture books are selected by the parent!
What are the types of picture books?
Board Books
Board books are written for the youngest readers. These books have cardboard pages to withstand wear and tear from little fingers and mouths.
Age: Birth-2 years.
Concept Books
Concept books introduce children to a theme such as the alphabet, counting, colors or shapes. Some can be as simple as “A is for Apple.” Others are more complex like the “Miss Bindergarten” series, where each sentence uses a letter of the alphabet to tell a Kindergarten story.
Age: suggested for ages 2-8
Easy Readers
Easy Reader books, also known as Beginning Readers or Early Readers, use a limited vocabulary and are structured as chapter books. Text blocks are bigger and the included images function more as illustrations than as essential elements in the story. Some representative Easy Reader imprints are I Can Read, Ready to Read, and Easy-to-Read.
Age: 4-8 years and novice readers
Non-Fiction
Non-fiction picture books introduce children to new subjects in a simple way.
Age: 3-12 years
Wordless
In these types of books, the stories are told completely by the pictures. Making up stories to go with the pictures is a perfect pre-literacy activity.
Age: 2-12 years
Reasons to Love Picture Books
Picture books can be good for a laugh – I am not talking about knock knock joke books, but stories that are silly and make children laugh out loud.
Stories are short and easy to follow – Picture books may be shorter, but the illustrations often help children to better understand the story.
Great conversation starters – Children relate to the childhood themes in picture books and can share similar experiences with their classmates.
Picture books can teach us things – Picture books teach children lessons without hitting them over the head with their message. Picture books also help to build background knowledge for a topic of study.
Children of all ages love them!
What are your favorite picture books? How will you celebrate picture book month? Please share with me below.
Requests …
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