Picture Books for Older Readers
by Joan Hamilton
Read Across America Day was March 3, 2008 -- last Monday. It was celebrated across America by children listening to prominent community members visiting their schools and reading aloud to them. Pierce School was very fortunate to have Congressman Barney Frank who read to the entire fifth grade What to Do about Alice by Barbara Kerley, a picture book about Alice Roosevelt, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt. The book was chosen for him by me, the school librarian.
When first handed the book, he remarked, "Pictures books! Fifth graders! Aren't fifth grade students too old for picture books?" The answer to his question is "Not at all." In fact, Pierce students read picture books throughout their nine years here. They use picture books to learn character mapping, plot structure, themes and motifs in literature, structures of non-fiction and literary terms such as allegory, allusion and point of view. They study imagery, metaphor, visual literacy and genre. They glean from pictures books ways to write tall tales, folk tales, personal narratives and mysteries. They use picture books to learn the reading strategies of compare and contrast, prediction, inference, and synthesis, as well as to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections.
Recognizing this trend, many children's literature websites give special attention to picture books for older readers: Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site--Looking Critically at Picture Books;
Children's Literature: Independent Information and Reviews -- Picture Books for Older Readers; University of Iowa's Curriculum Lab -- Picture Books for Older Students; and NCTE's Read. Write. Think. -- Using Picture Books to Teach Characterization in Writer's Workshop to name but a few.
