Reading+File+for+May

Kalpana M. Iyengar Dr. Martinez Reading File 2 Sipe, L., & Brightman, A. (2009). Young Children’s Interpretations of Page Breaks in Contemporary Picture Storybooks. //Journal of Literacy Research 41//(68), p. 68-103. This qualitative analysis study examines the importance of page turns in second graders critical thinking skills. The study helps teachers and researchers understand the difference between page breaks in a novel and picture book genre. The page breaks in a picture book is thoughtfully designed by authors, illustrators,, editors, and designers and it has a “complex semiotic significance”. Theorists such as Bader, Iser, Bartow, Barthes guide the premise of this study. Barber’s recognition of the drama in page turns, Bader’s representation of excitement, anticipation, and confusion, and Iser’s indeterminacies that readers have to fill in while reading picture book are mind boggling to someone new to analyzing page turns. Several picture book sare used as examples to explain the above characteristics that the theorists recognized about page turns. For example, Where are the Wild Things are? Was used to help children understand Max’s mood signaled through page turn. The five ways that writers of picture books use as observed by Christopher Maselli provides a lot of interesting insights in to how children process the page turns while reading. Page turns creates a sense of movement, introduces surprise, helps focus on different characters, introduces new art, and creates an urge in readers to continue reading. Christelow and Jensen both affirm the surprise factor while children turn the page(s). According to Kiefer, Lewis, Nikalojeva, & Scott, Nedelman, and Stewig, although the picture book production team observes that page turn as are beneficial to children, books on picture books just mentions about page turn and there is no research related findings. Also, the topic of page turns is related to read aloud in the process of literary understanding in children. This research is based on how children construct mean socially as compared to finding meaning in the text. The second premise of this research is based on how children can arrive at several interpretations based on one text. Bakhtin’s “centripetal” versus “centrifugal” meaning making explains this aspect well. The third call is that teacher exerts limited control over the text so children can come up with multiple interpretations on his or her own. Teacher involvement will thwart the children’s capacity to understand and interpret the text on their own. The authors of this study invite teachers to consider Rosenblatt’s (1978) transaction theory, where “children bring their own store of knowledge and experiences” (p. 77). Such approaches will facilitate greater literary understanding such as plot, character, story elements etc and extending the meaning making process to inference and cognition. Children must be taught to become independent interpreters and storytellers. Talks about page break helps children to become active participants in the process of verbalization about the story. The three effects of talk are – helps struggling children, who depend on their classmates for connections in the book, aid in metacognition by allowing children to think about their own thinking of the story, and recognize the ability to derive at different interpretations and learn that there can be several meanings to one story. This study aimed at second graders interpretation of page breaks in five picture books while the books were read aloud to them in class. The children were introduced with the idea of observing and interpreting page breaks through questioning in class while referring to specific pages of the chosen books. The design here was to help children think about page breaks as part of “Children’s ‘literary tool box’” (p. 81). “No, David” by Shannon encouraged children to look into what happened in the story based on the illustrations because this book has very few words to help children rely on the text. Another book, “My Friend Rabbit” by Rohmann was used to look for children’s interpretations to plot point of one particular incident in the book. The third book, “Don’t Let Piegon Ride the Bus” by Wiliams was used to elicit audience participation, which is a different from looking at page breaks in the other books. The fourth book, “Hondo and Fabian” by McCarty was used to help children look at parallel story telling. The final choice was “Where the Wild Things Are” by Sendak. This book was used because this book is familiar to the children, so speculation about page breaks was easy and it was used to find out if children could recognize the shift in genre through page breaks. The data collected were coded for seven themes – character action, creating dialogue, internal state of the character, setting change, time elapsed, changes in reader perspective, and literary genre change. The authors rightly note that six out of these six themes were the good old literary analysis that children are familiar with. However, the category on changes in the reader/viewer’s visual perspective is the new theme the teachers discovered through the data analysis. This theme focused on the illustrations and how children perceived them as a slow moving movie, where the illustration are closer sometimes and farther at other times. This study was an initial exploratory study and can be expanded to research the alternate approaches to pedagogical practices in literary analysis. According to Sipe and Brightman (2009), “This type of activity adds one more item to children’s literary repertoire, as well as increasing their cognitive and critical literary abilities in general” (p. 98).

Questions
 * 1) Do children think of their own incidents while turning the pages?
 * 2) What happens if children come back to a page after several minutes or do children lose their train of thought if the pages are not turned sequentially?
 * 3) Does page turn facilitate imagination? I know the authors said that it helps create suspense, but I am looking at their imagination. My son would make up his own stories when I would read a book to him. This habit of concoction was more prevalent during page turns because sometimes we both did not know what to expect.

Madura, S. (1995). The Line of Texture of Aesthetic Response: Primary Children Study Authors and Illustrators. //The Reading Teacher 49// (2), p. 110.

This study looks at children's perceptions of visual arts and their appreciation to the genre through author-illustrator studies. The study opens with a book dialogue between children while the teacher listens quietly, who later comments, "Their discussion includes reactions to the text, appreciation for the visual beautyof Ehlert's work, and observations of their own experiences with collage, the technique Ehlert uses to illustrate her books." (Madura, 1995, p, 111). So, children are capable of interpreting illustrations if given a chance. This article is classified based on the history of children’s interpretation of illustrations, introducing the author/illustrator unit, initiating through reading, reading and discussing, art exploration, and extensions through the curriculum. Organizing and implementing an author/illustrator unit section focuses on how children appreciate art intermingled with text. This aspect was explored using author/illustrator studies. Both the teachers and the children corroborated the value in this exercise through a learning experience. Ultimately, the children became illustrators, writers, and readers. The different mediums of art were discussed with children to find out what children “repeatedly use one art medium (watercolour, collage, coloured pencil) or artistic style (realism, impressionism, cartoon, folk art)…” (p. 113). The books they studies and the genre of writing were explored as well. Several illustrated books such as Eric Carle, Ezra Jack Keats, etc were used in this study. A media center visit to explore the author/illustrator database was initiated. The reading, rereading, and discussing project after the author/illustrator study enabled children who were progressing readers to scaffold while encouraging all children with bloom’s taxonomy. Children could make inferences and comparisons between authors. The researcher asked five questions on books to elicit responses from children about Eric Carl’s books – their design elements, visual appeal, characters, motif, peritextual features. Children were able to identify aspects such as journey themes, natural settings, animal characters, and rich language. After week one, the children were able to discuss “…how author/illustrators can use repetitive features of theme and patterns in many different situations” (p. 114). Finally, the researchers were able to consolidate children’s perceptions and understanding of picture books. Real life experiences enabled children to connect to their experiences through reading. Art exploration was conducted using //The Very Hungry caterpillar//. Children were asked to manipulate with the medium and the different stages of the caterpillar. Later, the children wrote about the section they had created and the teacher provided intervention for those students who could not respond comfortably. Children’s perceptions of picture book design elements before teacher intervention and after were recorded for comparison. The children were able to indentify the process (Hannah’s discussion), suggest improvement (Kelsey’s comments), and offer suggestions (Hannah’s comments). Overall, the children were able to work collectively and learn using the socio-cultural interaction. Ultimately, children were able to recognize how “The text informs but also entertains.” This aspect was used as an extension of teaching materials. The text provided children with a working model so they could explore, discover, and apply what they learned. The author finally invites teachers and parents to consider aesthetic responses because this aspect provides children with “tools for expression that they might otherwise never experience”. Such experiences will have a long lasting effect in children’s literary exploration and children will be able to make connections to real life situations through art. Picture book is an excellent platform for children to explore the beauty of art and life.

Questions
 * 1) How can this curriculum incorporated in ELL classroom?
 * 2) Are children capable of co-constructing knowledge with regard to design elements and visual elements?
 * 3) What is the role of media in thwarting children’s interest in printed picture books?

Colmen, P. (2007). A New Way to Look at Literature: A Visual Model for Analyzing Fiction and Nonfiction Texts. //Language Arts 84// (3). Research Library, p. 257- 268.

This article deals with fictitious and non-fictitious text analyses. The author discovers how non-fiction is underrepresented in our schools and libraries today. Although non-fiction facilitates readers to think critically and form knowledge based on life experiences, this genre is underrepresented because of the existence and preference of fiction in our society. It is through non-fiction that we learn about life, society, and the world we live in. Zena Sutherland’s coinage of the phrase informational books paved way to the introduction of biographies, history, true adventure, science, sports, essays, memoirs etc. Another reason why non-fiction is not preferred is because of the cost involved in the production of such books. The design elements are expensive and the illustrations are very costly. Also, fiction is safer than non-fiction, where the readers can stay detached to the characters, for example, in fiction. The several misunderstandings and make pre conceived ideas about non-fiction as listed on pages 258 and 259 discourage readers from selecting non-fiction. The one that alarms me is the myth about non-fiction is how this genre does not help students learn how to write. I used to read Mahatma Gandhi’s “My Experiment with Truth” and Anne Frank’s “Diary of Anne Frank”. The language is so lucid in these books that I used to use them as models to write my literature papers in graduate school in India. Also, such stories are important for our children to understand hegemony and atrocity of powerful people on weak and vulnerable. The victim’s first had experiences as recalled by the persons is more appealing than a fictitious recreation of the events. The movie “Gandhi” brings home the suffering of Asian Indians, but a non-fiction rendered by a victim is beneficial and appropriate. Hybrid books are those that have both the elements of fiction and non-fiction. Studet’s version of “faction” is the author’s hybrid books. Colman designed a visual model for analyzing fiction and non-fiction texts using nine elements – made-up material, information, structure, narrative and expository text, literary devices, author’s voice, front and back matter, and visual elements.


 * **Made-up material**

Fictionalized or based on incomplete/unverifiable information or evidence Eg: Biographies and social histories || **Structure**

Organization of material with respect to chronology, theme, episode, etc. Simple with one layer of organization and complex with multiple layers of organization. Eg: The Temple Bombing, and Last Man Out and A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins || **Narrative and** Story and informative texts. Eg: Corposes, Coffins, and Cypts: A History of Burial || **Literary devices**
 * Expository text**

Techniques such as diction or word choice; metaphors, repetition, and details to evoke response Eg: Adventrous Women Who Made a Difference || **Author’s Voice**

Reader’s sense of a author’s presence or style in the text. Eg: Girls: A History of Growing Up Female in America || **Front and Back Matter**

Peritextual features

Eg: Adventrous Women


 * Visual Elements**

Illustrations, photos, maps, diagrams, etc

Eg: Same as above ||

The dichotomy that exists between fiction and non-fiction is over simplified to a level where teachers do not know how to use these genres to teach students. The demand for fiction has eclipsed the value of non-fiction in our children’s lives. It is important to resurrect the genre so children are aware of true incidents in the world.

Question
 * 1) Why is fiction most bought? Is it because they are cheap or is it because teachers do not support the genre of non-fiction?