The Importance of Picture Books

A literary discussion by Kate O’Brien. 

I have always been a reader. I’m sure that is very obvious by now. 

Over the years I have built up a collection of books that I am proud of, and I’ve had some of the books since I was very young. 

If you’ve been a reader of my blogs for a while, you already know that I am a Children’s Books Ireland book doctor. I absolutely love it when I have the chance to participate in the CBI Book Clinics. Chatting to young readers about the books they’re enjoying is always so much fun, and I always leave the event feeling inspired in some way. 

If you follow me on Instagram @katelovesliterature, then you’ll already know that last Saturday I was in Galway. I got to join Patricia Forde’s #WholeWideWorldBusTour and it was a gorgeous sunny, book-chat filled day. I had the pleasure of chatting to kids from the ages of three to ten, and I came away from this book clinic with a new appreciation for picture books. 

There’s been some exciting events happening in my life lately. I celebrated my Master’s graduation and I thoroughly enjoyed my ceremony. I have also set off on a new work adventure. After nearly two years of working with the wonderful Beehive Books team, I’ve started a new role. I mention this because the last two Beehive books that I had the pleasure of being part of were both picture books. Skipping Stones by Tatyana Feeney and The Moth and the Moon by Margaret Anne Suggs are both out now and while this piece is not an ad, or paid for in any way, I will say that I’m delighted to see these books on the shelves. 

It is safe to say that lately ideas about picture books have been running through my mind. 

I’ve been thinking about how much I enjoy them to this day, and I’ve also been thinking about how important they are when it comes to our reading journeys. 

Unfortunately picture books don’t always get the credit they deserve. Sometimes picture books are referred to as “Not real books.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. Picture books are hugely important and in this piece I’m going to highlight that. 

My favourite thing about picture books, and one of the most important things to note about picture books, is the way they help young readers develop their visual literacy skills. 

When we are little and just beginning to look at books, before we even start to learn how to read words properly, we engage with picture books. I would argue that visual literacy is developed before we can understand the words on the page. You can understand what is happening in a story by looking at the pictures alone. In time, the pictures and the words work together to create meaning, but for readers who may be struggling with the words aspect, they can glean a high level of understanding from just the pictures. Picture books transcend language barriers. The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”, comes to mind. This is true. We pick up so many visual cues from images and so many factors come together to create meaning. 

When we look at a picture, we look at colours used, facial expressions, placement on the pages, and the scale of the drawings etc. An easy example that I use to explain this further is a playground scene. Imagine a picture of a playground. On one page, everything is bright, there are lots of children playing. Some on swings, some on the slides, they’re depicted smiling and laughing, the colours are bright and rich. Think yellows and oranges and greens. Now on the other side of the page – the other side of the playground if you will – imagine there is a drawing of a child by themselves. They’re smaller. They’re alone on the page. They’re not smiling. Maybe they’re crying, and the colours are muted. Think blues and greys. Let’s think about what all these factors portray when they come together. A picture has been painted of a child who is lonely at the playground. Everyone else is bright and having fun, but the lone child is sad, perhaps telling us readers that they struggle making friends or maybe they’ve been left out. We can decide what we think for ourselves, and by doing so we’re enhancing our interpretational skills and our emotional comprehension skills. 

Looking at pictures and deciphering what they mean by using visual cues is a life skill and it is one that we should hopefully continue to develop as we grow up. For example when we watch a movie, we should be able to pick up on meanings based on what we see. In our personal lives, we may be able to tell how someone is feeling by the look on their face alone. When young readers engage with picture books, they are practising all of these key skills in a really fun way as picture books invite readers into bright, colourful worlds. Looking at beautiful pictures is a great way to encourage a reluctant reader, or it may entice someone who is a visual learner, and regardless, pictures make learning much more fun! 

One of my closest friends is a speech and language therapist and when I told her that I was working on this piece, she told me to feel free to also share that speech and language therapists strongly advocate using picture books because they provide ways to model language by giving visual supports that help children understand what is being spoken about. I was delighted to learn this as I’ve always felt that picture books are an incredible tool in many ways, but even beyond a speech therapy setting, having a visual aid to help us understand what is going on is always appreciated in my opinion.

Picture books, especially wordless picture books, also give young readers a chance to build their confidence and use their imaginations. When you can decide for yourself what is happening based on what you see, you’re letting your creativity soar as well as building up confidence when expressing your thoughts and opinions. 

So if you have some picture books at home from when you were young, don’t throw them out. If you have young readers at home who love picture books, don’t dismiss them. Dive in instead. You may just learn something new.

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