Pictures in Picture Books

  In early books, pictures have a very important part in helping children to make meaning of the story.  My grandchildren love the song, "The Wheels on the Bus".   Then it would go without saying, that  Wheels on the Bus (Raffi Songs to Read) is a constant read with my grandchildren.  The illustrations in this book are ideal for  discussing the story as told through the pictures.  My oldest granddaughter has progressed from just finding the baby on the pages to discussing how and why the baby stops crying to finally the mother getting off the bus with the paper.  She realizes that each page is not an isolated identity, but they are connected to tell a story.  Having this knowledge is huge.  Many early readers experience difficulty understanding that a book tells a story beginning with page one until the last page.

Thus, noting details, when they are drawing and when reading to them helps to give some sense that pictures are not there just to make the page pretty; pictures have meaning.