(Pt. 6) What I love about children’s books: Storytelling

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

It’s Children’s Book Week!

In honor of the annual national literacy initiative hosted by Every Child a Reader and sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, I will be sharing a series of the seven elements I love about children’s books. One element will be featured each day through Sunday, continuing with …

STORYTELLING

As both a writer and a reader, storytelling is one of the elements that stands out most to me.

Those who think writing a children’s book is easy — particularly books for younger children that consist of 30 or fewer pages — probably has little to no experience with writing kid lit. Crafting children’s literature is an art that relies on clever use of language, awareness of age-level vocabulary, the imagination to dream up a story children will relate to and love, and the ability to tell a story beyond words.

That last bit is one of the parts that intrigues me the most.

About a month ago, I watched a recorded lecture about children’s literature. The professor told the class about a children’s book in which a hen goes for a walk. To read the book aloud sounds a bit boring. Each page simply tells where the hen walks. She walks around the pond. She jumps over the fence. She walks through the barn. She walks under a tree.

And so on. Simple, straightforward. No conflict. No tension. No story at all, really.

But when you look at the book, it becomes more than a hen’s itinerary. Each illustration shows the hen walking around the pond, or over the fence, or through the barn … with a fox hunting her the entire way. Suddenly there’s an antagonist. There’s danger.

There’s a story.

It’s not just artwork that makes children’s books amazing stories, though. Take B.J. Novak’s THE BOOK WITH NO PICTURES as an example. As the title suggests, the book has no pictures. But as children read, they are encouraged to get involved by reading loudly or softly, making silly noises, or saying preposterous things. (Yes, the word preposterous is in the book.) Children themselves become part of the story experience.

Children’s literature is a playground of storytelling. It’s full of experimentation, multiple media (from pop-ups to interactive e-books to texture books to picture books to books without pictures).

The stories also tend to teach lessons. Whether it’s a Sesame Street book about Big Bird learning to count or a story about a character learning empathy, the stories can be a child’s earliest introduction to being a good member of society. Books can teach ethics and responsibility through endearing characters and entertaining plots.

There’s a lot to love about that.

Read the series to date:

 

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

(Pt. 5) What I love about children’s books: Literacy development

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

It’s Children’s Book Week!

In honor of the annual national literacy initiative hosted by Every Child a Reader and sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, I will be sharing a series of the seven elements I love about children’s books. One element will be featured each day through Sunday, continuing with …

LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

What is the link between GOODNIGHT MOON and academic excellence?

Or how about GREEN EGGS AND HAM and career success?

The question may seem like a riddle, but the answer is no joke.

Early childhood reading can have a lifelong impact on an individual’s success in school, the workplace and beyond, experts say, because it is the building block of a vital skill:

Literacy.

A 2012 national study by The Annie E. Casey Foundation found children are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma if they are below proficient reading level in the third grade. Three years earlier, the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported 67 percent of fourth-graders scored below proficient levels on reading tests.

A child’s literacy development from birth through early elementary school can be a strong indicator of later life success, according to the 2012 study.

The earliest brush with literacy development for most children is through children’s books. GOODNIGHT MOON and Dr. Seuss fling the doors wide open for future success.

How could anyone not love the idea of ARE YOU MY MOTHER? ensuring high school graduation? Or HANK THE COWDOG boosting the chance of a child being collegebound?

The impact children’s books have on literacy and future success is one of the most prominent reasons I love kid lit.

Read the series to date:

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

(Pt. 4) What I love about children’s books: Teaching love of books/reading

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

It’s Children’s Book Week!

In honor of the annual national literacy initiative hosted by Every Child a Reader and sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, I will be sharing a series of the seven elements I love about children’s books. One element will be featured each day through Sunday, continuing with …

TEACHING LOVE OF BOOKS/READING

Embed from Getty Images

The cornerstone of a lifelong devotion to books is laid in childhood.

Each children’s book is a building block for a love of reading. The elements I mentioned earlier this week — imagination, creativity, family bonding — help establish a child’s appreciation for books.

Reading develops the mind, introduces children (and adults) to new ideas, teaches empathy, and exercises the imagination. Encouraging a love of reading at an early age improves all of those areas of development.

And how do we encourage a love of reading? By delving between the covers of children’s books with our kiddos.

Read the series to date:

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

(Pt. 3) What I love about children’s books: Family bonding

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

It’s Children’s Book Week!

In honor of the annual national literacy initiative hosted by Every Child a Reader and sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, I will be sharing a series of the seven elements I love about children’s books. One element will be featured each day through Sunday, continuing with …

FAMILY BONDING

Developing literacy skills and independence in reading is a major milestone for children, but there’s a bit of magic during the years a child can’t read and wants to cuddle on an adult’s lap to hear a story.

Reading Bonding

Last year, the husband and I visited his brother and sister-in-law to celebrate the baptism of our nieces, Makenna and Hadley. As family remembers cycled through the house, I retired to the living room with Makenna.

Makenna plucked a book about Sophie the giraffe out of a crate full of books, climbed onto the couch beside me, and handed me the book. I understood my cue and read it aloud. When the story was finished, she slid off the couch to retrieve another book. We made it through eight books before everyone was summoned for lunch.

The moment sticks in my mind because Makenna and I usually interact in a crowd during family events. One-on-one time isn’t a frequent commodity for us. That half hour nestled together on the couch is priceless.

Downy DuckMy older sister and I bonded over reading as well. A long-running family joke is how she hates the book DOWNY DUCK GROWS UP. In kindergarten, I checked out the 176-page early reader at least once a month and insisted someone read it to me. The task usually got assigned to my sister.

But later in my grade school years, she fell in love with the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede and voluntarily read all four books (each 200+ pages) aloud to me. That was my first introduction to one of my favorite children’s series.

Children’s literature offers a golden opportunity for adults to spend time with kids and bond as a family.

Read the series to date:

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

(Pt. 2) What I love about children’s books: Creativity

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Julie Stroebel Barichello

It’s Children’s Book Week!

In honor of the annual national literacy initiative hosted by Every Child a Reader and sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, I will be sharing a series of the seven elements I love about children’s books. One element will be featured each day through Sunday, continuing with …

CREATIVITY

Today’s topic goes hand-in-hand with yesterday’s post about imagination.

Creativity and imagination are siblings. They egg each other on and support one another. They share a lot of DNA, but they have differences.

While imagination is more internal, creativity is external. It takes whatever the imagination visualizes and makes it tangible.

Hundred DressesOne of the amazing powers of children’s literature is its inspiration to create. When I was in elementary school, I read Eleanor Estes’ book THE HUNDRED DRESSES. The story tells of a girl from a poor family who is teased for her shabby dress. She tells an obvious lie that she has 100 dresses at home, and her classmates demand a daily description of each of the hundred dresses. When the school has a drawing contest to design a dress, the girl submits 100 elaborate drawings of dresses, which silence her classmates when they are awed by her artistic skill.

I barely closed the book before I decided to draw 100 dresses. I grabbed my colored pencils, a fresh notebook, and went to work.

I never made it to the double digits in dress designs before I abandoned the project, but I enjoyed every minute of my fashion design while it lasted.

Library story hours also are prime examples of creativity sparked by children’s literature. Most story hours feature a reading, followed by a craft project or activity.

And who can resist Pinterest boards like this one, titled Crafts Based on Children’s Books? (I’m a fan of the toilet paper roll Paddington Bear.)

Children’s books feature some of the most creative, dynamic designs in and of themselves. Pop-up books, texture books, and stories that feature cutouts or moveable parts are common in the young literary market. They showcase creativity of production as well as inspire creativity.

One of my favorite books in grade school was a pop-up book featuring four old-fashioned gardens. I drew and cut out paper dolls to play with in the pop-up gardens. (Never mind that they were tattooed with blue stripes from the lines of notebook paper.)

Do you have any creative projects inspired by children’s books? If so, feel free to share them in the comments below!

Read the series to date:

Posted in Reading | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments