verbal-and-visual-literacy-the-role-of-picturebooks-in-the-readi

Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy
Verbal and Visual Literacy: The Role of
Picturebooks in the Reading Experience of
Young Children
Contributors: Maria Nikolajeva
Edited by: Nigel Hall, Joanne Larson & Jackie Marsh
Book Title: Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy
Chapter Title: "Verbal and Visual Literacy: The Role of Picturebooks in the Reading
Experience of Young Children"
Pub. Date: 2003
Access Date: November 28, 2016
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications Ltd
City: London
Print ISBN: 9780761974376
Online ISBN: 9781848608207
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781848608207.n20
Print pages: 235-248
©2003 SAGE Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the pagination of
the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book.
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© Editorial material Nigel Hall, Joanne Larson and Jackie Marsh 2003
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Verbal and Visual Literacy: The Role of Picturebooks in the Reading
Experience of Young Children
There seems to be a common understanding among scholars and educators that referring to
the reading experience of young children we often speak about texts in which words and
pictures are equally represented. Although young children are naturally exposed to other
types of texts, narrative as well as non-narrative – for instance, fairytales and stories, nursery
rhymes, and songs – these will most likely be presented in oral form. By contrast, the child's
first encounter with written texts probably includes images as well as words. Examining a
large number of overviews and textbooks in children's literature, we can clearly see that in
those arranged by the readers' age, in chapters devoted to ages up to seven, illustrated
books prevail (Hearne, 1990; Tucker, 1981). Further, textbooks overtly dealing with literature
for young children (Bennett, 1982; McCann and Richard, 1973; Renck, 1988) are likely to
consider picturebooks.
While such an attitude is by no means an absolute truth, and while there is no comprehensive
empirical research showing that young children's aesthetic appreciation of reading is indeed
dependent on visual support, it is a fact that printed reading matter for young children,
including fairytales, verse and song collections, consists exclusively of books containing both
words and pictures. Thus this chapter will focus on research into picturebooks and their
significance for early literacy. As mediators of literature to young children, we should be aware
of the complexity of the texts we provide, and before we can seriously examine the young
readers' responses to literature, we should investigate the texts themselves in order to see the
potentials and problems of what they offer. While young children in the past were mainly
referred to primers for their reading practices, today they – or rather their parents and
teachers – can choose from a vast and extremely diverse body of printed materials that have
different premises and offer different aesthetic, social and educational experiences. The
intention of this chapter is to show how our knowledge and assessment of this diversity are
relevant for the development of early literacy.
In mapping the research into picturebooks, I will start by looking into the role of picturebooks
throughout history and in different countries and cultures. I will then discuss the word/image
interaction as the most significant aspect of meaning making, and the various kinds of
picturebooks that provide different reading challenges for the child. I will further probe into the
ways picturebooks are used for socialization purposes, as well as some research into visual
literacy as such. The last aspect I will deal with briefly concerns the dual readership of
picturebooks.
In this chapter, I use the terms ‘picturebooks’ and ‘illustrated books’ interchangeably, even
though many critics, as will be shown, make a clear distinction between the two concepts. I
have also decided for the solid spelling of the word ‘picture-book’, so far more widely adopted
by British scholars (for instance, Lewis, 2001).
Picturebooks Throughout History
The first aspect essential for the adult mediator of picturebooks to be familiar with is their
historical and social context. Illustrated children's books are a relatively late phenomenon in
human history. Although one of the earliest books unquestionably intended for young
readers, Orbis sensualium pictus (1685), was exactly what we today call a picturebook, with
pictures supporting words, the emergence of illustrated books was impossible until the
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development of printing technology enabled mass production of full-scale colour illustrations.
Naturally, illustrated books do not appear in a vacuum, and it is essential to study them in the
context of children's literature at large. Any historical survey of children's literature will provide
information about the social, economic and educational background for the emergence of
illustrated printed matter for young readers (see e.g. Hunt, 1995). It is, however, important to
bear in mind that illustrated books, as we know them in our society, are not necessarily
included in children's literature in every country and culture. Furthermore, the view of
children's literature in different countries may vary, and thus in some countries picturebooks
may have purely entertaining purposes, while in others they may be chiefly used for
educational and ideological goals. These factors are valuable to take into consideration in
order to understand the role of picture-books in the development and promotion of literacy.
The history of children's book illustrations is presented in a number of studies with a wide
variety of purposes, from very broad and general, focusing on thematic and stylistic diversity
(Feaver, 1977; Hrlimann, 1968; Marantz and Marantz, 1995; Whalley, 1974; Whalley and
Chester, 1988), to devoted to just one country (Bader, 1976; Bergstrand, 1993; Birkeland and
Storaas, 1993; Christensen, 2003; Doderer and Muller, 1973; Muir, 1982; Parmegiani, 1989;
Steiner, 1999; Stybe, 1983). Historical surveys are also found in catalogues for illustration
exhibitions (Alderson, 1973; Barr, 1986; Blake, 2002; Hearn et al., 1996; Thiele, 1997; Ziersch,
1986). In most of these sources, each illustrator is represented by one single picture. The
sequential nature of picturebooks is ignored, as individual pictures are taken out of their
context and considered outside their relation to the narrative text. Even though such
publications can be useful for general orientation, they hardly address the question of how
picturebooks communicate with their readers. Panoramas of contemporary international
picturebooks can be found in a number of books and essay collections (Cotton, 2000; Halbey,
1997; Schwarcz, 1982, Schwarcz and Schwarcz, 1991; Styles and Bearne, 2003), and some
essays try to capture the specific nature of a particular country or area (Cotton, 2001).
National volumes often contain historical surveys, theoretical approaches, and presentations
of specific illustrators (Baumgrtner, 1968a; Baumgrtner and Schmidt, 1991; Edstrm, 1991;
Escarpit, 1978; Fridell, 1977; Goga and Mjr, 1999; Hallberg and Westin, 1985; Mrck, 2000;
Paetzold and Erler, 1990; Peltsch, 1997; Rtty and Raussi, 2001; Thiele, 1991). Thus for
anyone wishing to become acquainted with a broad variety of international picturebooks, the
opportunities are ample, even though, for obvious reasons, Western European and North
American publications dominate. Yet, there are substantial gaps in the mapping of
international illustration art, owing both to the absence of illustrated books as such in many
countries (often because of the dominance of oral culture) and to insufficient research.
If one is interested in a particular illustrator, the sources are more limited; however, the most
prominent picturebook creators have become objects for critical study. Maurice Sendak is, not
unexpectedly, the artist who has attracted most attention from the scholars, resulting in
several book-length studies (Cech, 1995; Lanes, 1980; Sonheim, 1991; Tabbert, 1987). The
works of Sendak have also been analysed in articles by North American (Ball, 1997;
Roxburgh, 1983; Shaddock, 1997; Sipe, 1996; 1998; Scott, 1997; Stanton, 2000), British
(Doonan, 1986a; 1994), French (Nires, 1980), German (Halbey, 1997) and Swedish
researchers (Rhedin, 1992), to name just a few. Most of these are devoted either to Where the
Wild Things Are o r We Are All the Dumps with Jack and Guy, and take a variety of
approaches, from semiotic to socio-ideological.
Another outstanding picturebook creator is Beatrix Potter, with several books and essay
collections devoted to her art (MacDonald, 1986; Mackey, 1998; 2002; Taylor, 1986) and a
number of chapters and journal articles (Carpenter, 1985: 138–50; Sale, 1978: 127–63; Scott,
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1992; 1994). Great Victorian illustrators such as Walter Crane (Spenser, 1975), Kate
Greenaway (Taylor, 1991) and Randolph Caldecott (Engen, 1988) have been thoroughly
studied. A recent book-length study examines the reception of Crane, Caldecott and
Greenaway (Lundin, 2001). We can also find books on Jean de Brunhoff, the author of Babar
(Hildebrand, 1991; Weber, 1989), Wanda Gg (Hoyle, 1994), and Ezra Jack Keats (Alderson,
1994). Among contemporary illustrators, Anthony Browne (Bradford, 1998; Doonan, 1983;
1986b; 1998; 2000; Perrot, 2000), Chris van Ahlsburg (Neumeyer, 1990; Stanton, 1996),
Satoshi Kitamura (Doonan, 1991) and Peter Ss (Latham, 2000) have received much attention.
A recent volume on Russell Hoban contains several essays on his picturebooks (Allison,
2000). As clearly seen from these references, apart from de Brunhoff, all the illustrators
mentioned are British or American, which is hardly surprising, but far from satisfactory.
Events such as the Illustration Biennale in Bratislava and the Andersen Medal for illustration
usually get noticed in the scholarly world; a collection of essays is occasionally published
(Perrot, 1998), and journals in children's literature, notably Bookbird, carry essays on the
winners. A special issue of Bookbird (vol. 40 no. 2, 2002) is devoted to picturebooks and
features countries such as India, Croatia, and Turkey. A large number of publications in many
countries offer short presentations of illustrators and picturebook creators, often brought out
by library services. The volume of Touchstones, published under the auspices of the
Children's Literature Association, contains essays on best-known picturebooks, including
Virginia Lee Burton's The Little House, Wanda Gg's Millions of Cats, Robert Lawson's The
Story of Ferdinand, and Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (Nodelman, 1989).
The Significance of Word/Image Interaction
Until recently, studies of picturebooks have been strictly divided into two separate categories:
those carried out by art historians and those carried out by children's literature experts. While
the first group paid attention to aspects such as line, colour, light and dark, shape, and
space, ignoring not only the textual component, but frequently also the sequential nature of
the picturebook narrative (Cianciolo, 1970; Klemin, 1966; Lacy, 1986), the second group
treated picturebooks as any other children's books, applying either literary or educational
approaches, but often without taking into consideration the importance of text/image
interaction (Kiefer, 1995; Stewig, 1995; Spitz, 1999). The latter is certainly a legitimate position
with its own premises and by no means outdated; yet it is in a way problematic to discuss
picturebooks without paying special attention to how words and pictures cooperate to create a
meaning. Picturebooks are in fact different from other literary texts in their conveyance of
meaning, and as mediators we should be aware of their specific nature. The German volume
Aspekte der gemalten Welt, edited by Alfred Clemens Baumgrtner (1968a), was a pioneer
work in this respect. The essays discuss mostly visual aspects, such as the influence of
contemporary art on picturebooks, as well as psychological and educational issues.
Baumgrtner (1968b) raises the question of the relation between words and pictures, but gives
the verbal text priority in the creative and interactive process, considering primarily how textual
structures are transformed into images. In a later essay Baumgrtner (1990) touches upon the
unique nature of picturebooks in their combination of spatial (image) and temporal (word)
means of expression, moving from his earlier standpoint toward accentuating the complete
parity of word and image. Another early venture into the problem appears in a French study
(Durand and Bertrand, 1975: 83–162), where the dialogue between word and image is
investigated.
Among the first to bring the text/image interaction into the limelight, as the most essential
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feature of picturebooks, were Joseph Schwarcz (1982: 9–20; 1991: 1–19), Kristin Hallberg
(1982), Stephen Roxburgh (1983), David Topper (1984), Perry Nodelman (1984), Blair Lent
(1988), John Stephens (1989), and Peter Neumeyer (1990). Two important landmarks were
the special issues of The Lion and the Unicorn (vol. 7/8, 1983) and Children's Literature
Association Quarterly (vol. 9 no. 1, 1984). All these studies emphasize the unique character of
picturebooks as an art form based on the combination of two levels of communication, the
verbal and the visual. This aspect has been further developed by Clare Bradford (1993), who
regards the complex text/image interaction as a part of the general postmodern trend in
contemporary literature for young readers; Lawrence Sipe (1998), who also provides an
excellent overview of earlier research; and Bettina Kmmerling-Meibauer (1999), who focuses
on the ironical tension between the two narrative levels. In Criticism, Theory and Children's
Literature (1991: 175–88), Peter Hunt draws our attention to the obvious lack of metalanguage
for discussing the complexity of modern picturebooks. Such metalanguage has been under
expansive development during the past decade. In the introductory chapter to the German
essay collection Neue Erzhlformen im Bilderbuch (1991), Jens Thiele also calls for a syntax of
picture-book language, for working tools and concepts necessary to read and understand
‘new’ picturebooks, that is, picturebooks based on complex interrelations between word and
image. Several scholars in the volume (Grnewald, 1991) emphasize this interrelationship and
comment on some specific traits of picturebook narrative, such as movement from left to right,
linear development, framing, simultaneous succession, and point of view. The theoretical
chapters in Thiele's Das Bilderbuch (2000: 36–89) and Hans Adolf Halbey's Bilderbuch:
Literatur (1997: 149–82) add substantially to the general discussions on picturebook
aesthetics. David Lewis (2001: 31–45) and Nina Christensen (2000c) provide a good overview
of the field.
Among the terms proposed to describe the tension between words and images we find
iconotext (Hallberg, 1982), composite text, duet, poly-systemy, and counterpoint (Schwarcz,
1982), contradiction (Stephens, 1992), synergy (Sipe, 1998), and congruence (Thiele, 2000),
which all emphasize that the true meaning of a picturebook is created only by the joint efforts
of the verbal and the visual communication. The variety in the terminology reveals some clear
difficulties: while ‘iconotext’ or ‘composite text’ refer to the static unity of text and pictures,
‘counterpoint’ or ‘synergy’ point at the complex dynamics of interaction in the process of
meaning making. Closer to a more subtle reflection of the wide spectrum of visual-verbal
narrative is Joanne Golden (1990: 93–119), who distinguishes several types of text/image
interaction: (1) the text and pictures are symmetrical; (2) the text depends on picture for
clarification; (3) illustration enhances, elaborates text; (4) the text carries primary narrative,
while the illustration is selective; and (5) the illustration carries primary narrative, while the text
is selective. Some of the favourite picturebooks used by scholars to illustrate how words and
pictures can tell two separate stories are Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins, Come Away from the
Water, Shirley by John Burningham, Not Now, Bernard and I Hate My Teddy Bear by David
McKee, and Nothing Ever Happens on My Blockby Ellen Raskin. Interestingly enough, an
investigation of picturebook translations also reveals the importance of balance between text
and pictures (Desmet, 2001; O'Sullivan, 1999; Oittinen, 2000: 100–14; Nikolajeva and Scott,
2001a: 31–41), as does a study of books with the same illustrations, but different texts
(McCann and Hiller, 1994).
Although few of these studies focus on the young reader, such approaches lead to a better
understanding of the role of picturebooks in the development of a child's literacy. In learning
to read, we make the arbitrary connections between words – signi-fiers – and the objects or
concepts they refer to – signifieds. The relationship between the signifier and the signified in a
picturebook can be simple, as in ABC books or picture dictionaries, or substantially more
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complex; yet picturebooks provide an excellent training in understanding the relationship as
such. While the empirical studies of young readers' responses to picturebooks reveal how
they make sense of what they see and read or what is read to them (see Martinez, Roser and
Dooley, in this volume), theoretical studies of text/image interaction offer mediators guidelines
in introducing books to children at appropriate levels.
Nevertheless, some of the most comprehensive studies of picturebooks, such as Joseph
Schwarcz's pioneer book Ways of the Illustrator (1982) and Jane Doonan's Looking at
Pictures in Picture Books (1993), while offering excellent tools to decode individual
illustrations, do not pay sufficient attention to the dilemma emerging when the story is told in
two different media. Yet, these works produce an important counterbalance to many studies of
picture-books where pictures are ignored or treated as mere decorations, as pointed out by
Kenneth Marantz (1988). Both Doonan and Schwarcz discuss thoroughly the pictures i n
picturebooks, and their specific way of conveying space, movement, and other visual aspects.
Similarly, while Perry Nodelman's Words about Pictures (1988) repeatedly states that the
meaning in a picturebook is revealed only through the interaction of words and pictures, the
focus is primarily on the visual aspects, mainly the individual communicative elements of the
visual text, such as colour, shape, the mutual position of objects on the page, or the depiction
of movement. Thus the book emphasizes extracting information from individual pictures rather
than extracting a meaning out of the interaction of picture and words, although it does
pinpoint the ways pictures add to the meaning of words. Nodelman's book provides an
excellent grammar for reading and understanding pictures in picturebooks which, because of
their sequential nature, need a very different approach from that which views pictures as
individual works of art. A similar comprehensive grammar is to be found in William Moebius'
essay ‘Introduction to picture-book codes’ (1986).
The most systematic investigation of the nature of text/image relationships is to be found in
the studies by Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott (2000; 2001a), where five categories are
proposed – symmetry, complementarity, enhancement, counterpoint, and contradiction – all of
which can work independently on the different levels of the picturebook narrative, such as
plot, setting, characterization, perspective, and so on. Nikolajeva's Swedish-language
textbook (2000) is based on the same theoretical ground. Whatever terminology one chooses,
it is necessary to bear in mind that text/image interaction can be both relatively simple and
extremely complex, and that the readers' understanding of complex interaction is part of the
literary competence that can and should be trained.
Types of Picturebooks
While scholars indeed agree that word/image interaction is the essential element of any
illustrated text, there is no agreement on the various types of interaction. In assessing
children's understanding of illustrated texts, it is, however, important to realize that words and
pictures may carry different loads in meaning making, and that the relationship between
words and images can considerably affect the young reader's perception of the book. One of
the first attempts at a picturebook typology is found in a short article by the Dane Torben
Gregersen (1974), who makes the distinction between (1) a picture dictionary that carries no
narrative, (2) a picture narrative, wordless or with very few words, (3) a picturebook, or picture
storybook, in which text and picture are equally important, and (4) an illustrated book, in
which the text can exist independently. Most (of the few) scholars who have probed into this
area distinguish between the illustrated book, where the verbal text can exist on its own, and
the picturebook, an inseparable entity of word and image, cooperating to convey a message.
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Schwarcz does not identify any principal difference between illustrated book and picturebook;
however, he does observe the quantitative ratio of text and pictures in different types of
illustrated books (1982: 11). Nodelman (1988) does not problematize the concept. His material
ranges across many categories from picture dictionaries to illustrated fairytales; he also
includes photographic books and non-fiction illustrated books.
The Swedish scholar Ulla Rhedin, in The Picturebook: Towards a Theory (1992), partly leaning
on Nodelman, suggests three picturebook concepts: (1) the epic, illustrated text; (2) the
expanded (or staged) text; (3) the genuine picturebook. While the first category, the illustrated
text, also appears in the other scholars' classifications, the two other categories are somewhat
artificial, for the difference is very subtle and obviously subjective, and no clear criteria are
proposed once Rhedin has exemplified each category by one single picturebook. John Stewig
suggests three types: picture books (including alphabet books, counting books, and concept
books), picture storybooks, and illustrated books (1995: 3–7). These few examples show that
there is no more consensus among scholars about the possible subcategories of picturebooks
than about the nature and variety of text/image interaction. Yet, the different approaches
clearly demonstrate that the corpus of illustrated books for young children is far from
homogeneous, which is necessary to bear in mind when assessing their exposure to
literature. A child's understanding of a text is obviously different depending on whether the
words or the images are dominant, and on whether the child is better trained in verbal or
visual literacy.
The ability to recognize genre conventions is an important aspect of literary competence, and
since picturebooks are the first written texts a child usually meets, the diversity of
picturebooks sets the reader's genre expectations. In most standard textbooks on children's
literature, picturebooks are treated as a separate genre, alongside fairytales, fantasy,
adventure, domestic stories, animal stories, and so on (Cullinan, 1981: 150–217; Lukens,
1990: 210–39; Lynch-Brown and Tomlinson, 1993: 54–86; Nodelman, 1996: 215–44; Norton,
1999: 212–75, just to name a few). The same is true of general histories of children's literature
(Meigs et al., 1969: 369–76, 633–53; Townsend, 1990: 318–46) or thematic essay collections
(Egoff, 1996: 236–75; Powling, 1994: 41–72). However, even a very brief look at the examples
discussed in such chapters reveals that picturebooks encompass all of these genres. There
are hundreds of picturebooks based on classical and contemporary fairytales; books such as
Where the Wild Things Are or Outside Over There have all the unmistakable features of
fantasy; and domestic and animal stories are too many to enumerate. Obviously, genre is not
a sufficient category to differentiate picturebooks from other kinds of children's literature, and
within the scope of picturebooks we can distinguish a number of separate genres or kinds.
While some of these are similar to genres in fiction for older children (fantasy, adventure,
school story, family story), picturebooks display a few unique generic categories, for instance
picture dictionaries, ABC books, counting books, concept books, and wordless picturebooks.
While there are no book-length studies devoted to any of these categories, chapters in
general studies of picturebooks often touch upon the specifics of a particular kind. Most often,
ABC books and picture dictionaries are treated as educational tools used for language
acquisition, without taking the aesthetic aspect into consideration. One of the most
illuminating recent studies examines the changing concept of the ABC book from a simple,
symmetrical relationship between word and image (‘A is for apple’) toward a complex and
playful interaction, involving the young readers' imagination and developing their sense of
language as well as visual perception (Coats, 2000). Studies such as this one emphasize that
picturebooks can enhance young readers' understanding of literature not merely as a simple
reflection of the external reality (a direct connection between word and object), but as a
complex network of referential relationships.
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Similarly, while there are no book-length studies of illustrated fairytales, some essays bring
forward illustrators' choices that reflect not only individual styles, but quite often the values
and ideology of the culture within which they were produced (Bergstrand, 1985; Freudenburg,
1998; Hendrickson, 2000; MacMath, 1994; Mellon, 1987). These are valuable aspects to take
into consideration when assessing children's perception of stories. Illustrated poetry books
containing at least one poem or verse on each doublespread, accompanied by at least one
illustration, seem to be a neglected kind, apparently because the category itself is largely
marginal (some classic examples are CM. Barker's Flower Fairies or the Swiss Ernst Kreidolf's
floral fairytales; good modern examples are Michael Rosen's illustrated verses).
Finally, a special category of picturebooks is non-fiction or information books. Here, a striking
difference from general criticism can be observed, revealing the specific nature of children's
literature research. While there are few, if any, critical studies of non-fiction for adults,
information picturebooks receive a lot of attention owing to their educational purpose. Most
studies of picturebooks include chapters on non-fiction, which, however, seldom take
illustrations into consideration beyond simple acknowledgements of their existence.
The vast majority of picturebooks fall into the loosely defined category of picture storybooks,
that is, narratives in which words and pictures are used together to convey a meaning. The
verbal text can be written in prose or in verse, and the word/image interaction is one of the
above-discussed types, that is, symmetrical, complementary, enhancing, and so on. Themes
vary from everyday stories to fantasy, and styles from refined to grotesque. The characters
can be human beings, animals or animated objects. There are some interesting studies
examining the role of animal (Scott, 1992; 1994) and object (Schwarcz, 1982: 150–68)
characters in picture-books. For an overview of themes and styles, Nodelman (1988),
Schwarcz (1982) and Schwarcz and Schwarcz (1991) are the best sources.
Most often, a young reader will move from books with very little text (such as picture
dictionaries, which sometimes do not have any text at all) toward books with verbal
dominance. However, the prevalence of words does not necessarily imply a more complex
text; in fact, an illustrated story or fairytale is fairly undemanding in terms of meaning making.
It is therefore important for mediators to be aware of the various subcategories of picturebooks
and the text/image interaction in them in order to provide young readers with adequate
reading experience.
Socialization Through Picturebooks
While some of the above-mentioned sources focus on the aesthetic aspects of picturebooks
and the development of visual literacy in young readers, the overwhelming majority of studies
are devoted exclusively to the content of picturebooks and their socialization purposes. Often
picturebooks are treated as an integral part of children's fiction, with critics employing a
literary approach, discussing themes, issues, ideology, or gender structures. However, such
literary studies frequently neglect the visual aspect or treat pictures as secondary. Although
many of the texts discussed by John Stephens in his well-known study Language and
Ideology in Children's Fiction (1992: 158–201) are picturebooks, he concentrates on the
topics, the depiction of society, ideological values, and adult control, rather than upon the
dynamics of the picturebook form. Most studies, in fact, ignore the vast potential of images to
convey ideology enhancing or occasionally subverting the messages expressed by words.
Since pictures convey ideology implicitly, it is all the more important to train young readers to
read visual messages alongside the verbal ones.
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Yet this is far from common, as most studies are satisfied with discussing the overt social
issues of the books. The chapter titles in Patricia Cianciolo's handbook Picture Books for
Children (1990) are typical: ‘Me and My Family’, ‘Other People’, ‘The World I Live In’, and ‘The
Imaginative World’. Such thematic approaches are helpful for teachers looking for particular
topics. Ellen Handler Spitz's Inside Picture Books (1999) is an example of a study in which
picturebooks are examined in connection with developmental psychology, and which focuses
upon their therapeutic effect on the child reader. Though Spitz is an art critic, this work
concentrates on the messages that picturebooks send, and the chapters are organized by the
relevance of the lessons they teach to various childhood experiences: ‘It's Time for Bed’,
‘Please Don't Cry’, ‘Behave Yourself. The treatment of texts is rather superficial, and the
approach as such feels primitive and outdated. The psychological approach to picture-books
also appears in the study of Tove Jansson's three picturebooks by Lena Kreland and Barbro
Werkmster (1994); in the various examinations of bedtime stories (Moebius, 1991; Galbraith,
1998); or in articles exploring the tension between children and adults (Bradford, 1994;
Christensen, 2000b).
Another approach is investigating the social aspects of picturebooks. Schwarcz and Schwarcz
(1991) offer a wide panorama of themes and issues in picturebooks (for instance, the family,
the representation of grandparents, the quest for identity, the portrayal of the socially
disadvantaged, war and peace), concentrating on educational and social functions of
picturebooks, as well as the psychological aspects of visual perception. Learning about the
world, in a very broad sense, is something a young child is likely to do through books. It can
be questions of international awareness (Christensen, 1999; 2000a), multiculturalism and
ethnicity (Cummins, 2000; Iskander, 1997; Kroll, 1999; LaFaye, 2001; Lamme, 2000; Lempke,
1999; McCallum, 1997; Sands-O'connor, 2001; Smith, 1999; Stephens, 1995; Tabbert, 1995),
traumatic war experiences (Galbraith, 2000a; 2000b), violence (Koehnecke, 2001), disability
(Christensen, 2001), or other social issues. In these studies, the main focus is on the didactic
aspects of the narrative. Holocaust education has become a prominent subject where
picturebooks, according to some critics, can be more effective than novels (Kertzer, 2000;
Thiele, 2000: 170–6; Williams, 2001). Gender is yet another issue that at least a few articles
have touched upon (Chatton, 2001; Pace and Lowery, 2001). The imperialist values of some
picturebooks, such as Babar (Kohl, 1995: 3–29; Malart-Feldman and Yeager, 1998) and
Curious George (Cummins, 1997), have been repeatedly interrogated. The weakness of many
studies is that they fail to observe that images can take the narrative in the opposite direction
from the words. For instance, the text can be gender-balanced and even convey a strong
feminist message, while pictures present characters as clearly stereotypical. The text can
appear neutral and fairly innocent in its treatment of power structures, while images can
produce an undesirable effect. On the other hand, tokenism, for instance the superficial
portrayal of an ethnic group, is more likely to appear in the visual part of the narrative. Before
we can teach young children to discern covert ideology in images, it is essential that we are
aware of it ourselves. Here, research into picturebooks has vast potentials.
One area where little effort so far has been made is a more general discussion of the
connection between the socializing function of picturebooks and their aesthetic function. The
Swede Kristin Hallberg (1996) has developed a theory of ‘pedagogy as poetics’, claiming that
the overt didacticism of picturebooks is their specific aesthetic feature, and that there is in fact
no contradiction between pedagogical and literary values. Since picturebooks, at least
allegedly, address very young children, the incentive to convey practical knowledge, from
potty training and table manners to mastering aggressions and coping with death,
undoubtedly affects the way picturebook narratives are constructed, on the verbal as well as
the visual level. Graeme Harper (2001) offers an interesting sociohistorical perspective, tracing
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the changes in visual representation as reflecting the changing views on childhood. Some
remaining questions are whether complex artistic forms always produce a stronger effect on
the young reader and thus underscore the socialization purpose; here, empirical research
could illuminate theoretical argument.
Visual Literacy and Aesthetic Perception
The awareness of visual literacy being a significant part of literacy in general is a relatively
new insight in pedagogy; until recently, verbal literacy has been given priority. Much general
research has been done on visual depiction, and many children's literature scholars find
inspiration in the works of Rudolf Arnheim (1954), and more recently W.J.T. Mitchell (1994)
and Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen (1996), to name just a few. One of the latest
contributions to the understanding of the importance of visual education is the bilingual
volume Siest du das? Die Wahrnehmung von Bildern in Kinderbcher – Visual Literacy (1997).
Its main concern is reader response, and all the chapters, focused on concrete cases,
emphasize the importance of images for early literacy. Yet the most profound resource in this
area is Molly Bang's Picture This: How Pictures Work (2000). In this highly unusual book, the
award-winning illustrator explains everything one might need to know about visual perception.
Using four colours and some basic shapes, she demonstrates how composition, size, shape,
and colour affect our ‘reading’ of pictures. She starts with some exciting pictorial experiments
while creating one single illustration to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, offering her own insights in a
plain and comprehensible language. She then proceeds to discuss the most essential
elements of visual design, generously sharing her discoveries, based on her own work as well
as on classroom experience.
Most general studies of picturebooks already mentioned (Doonan, 1993; Nodelman, 1988;
Schwarcz, 1982; Stewig, 1995) include chapters or sections on reading and understanding
images. They embrace such pictorial elements as shape, line, edge, colour, proportion, detail,
and space. Some pay attention to the various techniques employed by illustrators (drawing,
watercolour, woodcut, etching) and book design elements. The composition of individual
pictures is thoroughly discussed, and some critics notice the essential difference between
composition in paintings and in picturebooks, for instance that the centre of gravity in a
picturebook picture is normally shifted toward the right edge. Thus, an analysis of a
picturebook is somewhat different from traditional art criticism. One of the important
observations is that picture-books contain doublespreads (or openings) rather than pages,
and unless a doublespread is one single illustration, the balance between the left-hand page
(verso) and the right-hand page (recto) is essential. Essays by Isabelle Nires (1993; 2000)
treating space and composition open interesting new vistas. Nodelman (2000) discusses the
specific demands that picturebook aesthetic puts on the reader/ viewer. Quite a few
contemporary picturebook scholars, notably Doonan and Stephens, have found inspiration in
the study by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual
Design (1996). The problem with using this source for picturebook analysis is, however, that
while it certainly offers excellent (though hardly revolutionary) tools for analysing visual signs,
it provides no insights into the text/image collaboration characteristic of picturebooks, or into
the sequential nature of the visual narrative. While the book has no intention of addressing
these issues, this fact often affects the way picturebook studies influenced by Kress and van
Leeuwen approach their material.
Two areas within visual literacy are of special significance: point of view and modality.
Nodelman (1991) was among the first to problematize the use of first-person narration in the
verbal text of picturebooks. Pictures in picturebooks seldom convey first-person point of view,
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which creates a confusing contradiction. Picturebooks are supposed to be addressed to a
young, inexperienced audience, yet they use within the same story two different points of
view. While identification with the ‘I’ of the verbal text in itself presents a problem for young
children, the contradictory perspective of the visual text is rather confusing. In a picturebook, a
consistent first-person visual narrator would mean that, while we share his point of view, we
never see him appear in any picture (corresponding to the so-called ‘subjective camera’ in
film). For an unsophisticated reader, this would present considerable difficulties. Nikolajeva
and Scott (2001a: 117–38) discuss some more or less successful ways in which this dilemma
can be circumvented.
Modality is a linguistic category expressing the possibility, impossibility, contingency or
necessity of a statement. Modality enables us to decide on the degree of truth in the
communication we receive. The term is used by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) to describe
the way images convey the sense of reality, ascribing photography a higher degree of
modality (‘closer to truth’) and abstract or surrealist art a lower degree (‘far away from truth’).
Stephens (2000) makes use of this concept in his picturebook analysis. Yet, while this use of
the term is certainly acceptable and perhaps fruitful for reading visual images, it is less
applicable to word/image interaction.
Since modality is a purely linguistic category, a visual image in itself cannot convey modality.
Beholding a single picture unaccompanied by words, we cannot as a rule decide whether
what we see is real or unreal, a dream, a wish, a prescription, a permission or a doubt.
However, even in isolated pictures artists have means, based on conventions, to manipulate
the viewers to interpret the image in a certain way, for instance as a fantasy. A sequence of
visual images immediately creates a potential for modality. By adding verbal statements, the
author can further force the viewer to adopt a particular interpretation. In picturebooks,
complex modality can be achieved through the interaction of words and images. While the
verbal story is often told from a child's point of view presenting the events as true, the details
in pictures may suggest that the story only takes place in the child's imagination. The pictures
thus subvert the verbal narrative as an objective story. Nikolajeva and Scott (2001a: 173–210)
propose three modalities applicable in picturebook analysis: indicative (expressing objective
truth), optative (expressing desire) and dubitative (expressing doubt).
Studies of perspective and modality, as well as analyses of picturebooks representing internal
life (Nikolajeva and Scott, 2001b) take the discussion of visual literacy to a higher level,
beyond the questions of composition and style. Other aspects worth mentioning in this
connection are the growing metafiction (Lewis, 1990; Mackey, 1990; Stephens, 1991; Trites,
1994) and intertextuality (Desmet, 2001; Nires, 1995; Thiele, 2000: 31–5; Beckett, 2001) of
contemporary picturebooks. These two aspects are especially prominent in postmodern
picturebooks, the subject of David Lewis’ (2001) book. Metafiction implies that a text
consciously draws the reader's attention to itself as an artistic construction; in picturebooks, it
is frequently expressed by frame breaking (for instance, a character stepping out of the
picture frame and ‘entering’ the neutral space between the narrative and the reader).
Intertextuality (sometimes referred to as ‘intervisuality’ in picturebook context) encompasses
the various connections to other texts: pictorial quotations and allusions, imitations and
parodies. Among contemporary picturebook authors, Anthony Browne has especially
elaborated various intertextual devices.
While metafiction and intertextuality certainly can be appreciated by young readers, much of
their appeal may just as well be addressed to the adult co-reader. This brings me to the final
aspect of research into picturebooks that I would like to point out, namely their dual audience,
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which falls within the recent critical concept of cross-writing. Picturebooks, more than any
other kind of children's literature, are read and appreciated by children and adults together,
most often with the adult reading the book to a child or a group of children. Contemporary
picturebook creators seem to be very much aware of this reading situation, addressing the
adult co-reader parallel to the child, for instance, through specific intertextual and interpictorial references. This does not, however, imply that the adult is addressed at the expense
of the child (the infamous ‘double address’); on the contrary, an intelligent picturebook takes
into consideration the dual audience, offering both parts something to appreciate and enjoy.
An illustrator's experience confirms this statement (Ormerod, 1992). Crosswriting child and
adult in picturebooks has so far been investigated on a very modest scale (Rhedin, 1991;
1999; Scott, 1999; Beckett, 2001); yet it appears to be one of the most promising directions of
further inquiry.
Conclusion
I started this chapter by maintaining that illustrated books are the most essential source of
reading experience for young children. The reading experience is here understood in a very
broad sense, as enjoyment, knowledge of the world, self-knowledge, moral and social
lessons, and so on. Contemporary research provides some insights into these aspects.
Picturebooks are one of the many contemporary multimedia in which the receiver is
challenged to assemble the meaning from different means of communication. Therefore
picturebooks provide excellent training for many other later reading experiences. Further,
picture-books are by no means a homogeneous body of texts, but offer a wide variety of
challenges in extracting meanings. Contemporary research shows that, contrary to common
belief, picture-books are far from simple and can offer profound aesthetic and psychological
experience. Yet not all picturebooks do so, and not all of them intend to do so. Knowing this,
and knowing exactly how different types of picturebooks are supposed to affect the readers,
we would be able to supply young readers with books that satisfy their needs according to
their cognitive level and individual interests, while also meeting educational and socializing
demands.
Maria Nikolajeva
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