New Picture Books and Child Development
SASAKI HIROKO, Ph.D.
Book Start Japan, a non-profit organization, was founded in Tokyo in 2001. It was started
under the slogan, “Babies need milk for the spirit as well as for the
body. Picture books are
like milk for the spirit.” I have been a member of Book Start Japan's
board of directors since
2001.
Book Start movements are conducted by local self-governing bodies. They make a gift of
two picture books to all new babies born in each Book Start locality,
and accompany it with
a message to parents about the importance of parent-child interaction through
reading.This
takes place at the occasion of the medical examinations that are conducted
at the local
public health centers. As many self-governing bodies take part in this movement, there has
been much discussion about why to give the babies picture books.
Picture books, which have a long history in Japan, are one of the most
important cultural
resources for children. What kind of influence does a picture book have on child development? There is a great deal of academic research on picture story books that
focuses on their
educational benefits, such as socialization and language acquisition.
I have been studying the way children relate to picture books psychologically
from the
developmental point of view for over 30 years. I have observed and researched
how babies
interact with picture books, and I found that different types of reading occur depending on
the kind of picture book used and on the child's character. Generally speaking,
many people
believe that a child's ability to read picture books grows with developing memory, cognition
and communication ability. The process is very easy to understand, and
is based on current
theories of cognitive development. It is said that children go through
various stages as they
gradually negotiate meaning while reading picture books.
Children enter the world of meaning by reading picture story books
When do children have meaningful encounters with picture books? Since ten years ago,
educators have agreed that children can relate meaningfully to picture
books from the age
of one. Picture books which are suitable for young children generally illustrate daily life and
familiar objects. By pinning pictures to words, and words to ideas, picture books are like
textbooks that enlarge the world of the young child. If we think from the
viewpoint of cognitive
psychology, the process whereby children read a picture book has the following
structure.
1) The child “reads” the pictures
When children look at a picture which is familiar in their daily life, they enjoy naming it and
talking about it. The child and the reader-a parent, a teacher, an older relative, etc.-have a pleasant time chatting about it together.
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2) The child “reads” the reader's expression
Children look at the reader's expression frequently. They want to grasp
the meaning of the
pictures correctly. Because children have few experiences, they try to confirm through the
reader's expression whether their understanding is right or not. Children
often look at the
reader's expression more than at the pictures.
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3) The child reads the words
Children want to read the text. They often ask the reader about words they cannot understand.
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4) The child “reads” the reader's temperament.
Writers and illustrators often depict deep humanity in their picture books. When children
have a hard time understanding the meaning, they try to grasp it by recognizing
the feelings
and attitude of the reader. Children can't understand the contents of a
picture book well
unlessthe meaning is clear to the reader.
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5) Children can develop their identity and self-image through reading picture story books.
When children become able to read the contents of a picture book independently,
they
can interpret the character's heart. At that time, the children begin to
recognize their own
thoughts about the character. The children begin to have a rudimentary
metacognition, or
a dialog with themselves.
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Children begin to understand the concept of “being” or “existence”
and their
place in the world through reading picture books with nursery rhymes and nonsense picture books
1) Picture books featuring nursery rhymes build an important relationship
between parents
and babies through the shared pleasure of language, songs, and traditional
hand routines that
accompany nursery rhymes.
Picture books with nursery rhymes function fully only when they are read
aloud while being
looked at by young children. If children are lucky, they are infants when they first encounter
and enjoy humor-filled nursery rhymes and their accompanying hand and finger
play.
Japanese traditional hand and finger-play routines accompany the simplest rhythmical
songs. I think these kinds of traditional routines and rhymes are the best
introduction to
picture books. There are so many rich nursery rhymes and hand and finger-play
routines in
the world, but sorry to say, we are losing many of them. I think we will
be better able to
promote spontaneous interaction between babies and parents if these kinds
of nursery
rhymes are published more in picture books.
A good example of this type of picture book for babies, Matsutani's Peek-a-boo!
(Doshin-sha, Japan), is still widely read despite having been first published about forty years ago. This is one of the classic baby picture books in Japan. Why has this picture
book been
well received by babies for so long? It's because of the traditional Japanese hand-playing
routines for young children.
A baby, even as young as four months old, smiles when a reader-a parent,
an older relative,
a teacher, etc.-opens this picture book and plays peek-a-boo! When a reader
repeats playing
peek-a-boo, the baby smiles again and again. The reader laughs when the
baby laughs, too. The hearts of two people-a reader and a baby-become strongly connected.
The reader's and the baby's hearts are connected with each other through the intonation,
the vocal sounds and the rhythm of the text. The baby's and the reader's
relationship and
understanding grow through their expressions and their gestures. These kinds of picture
books require the reader and child to take turns expressing themselves
through vocal sounds
and rhythmical hand and finger play.
I think the sharing of the reading experience between adults and children
creates a
foundation for good human relations. Traditional children's rhymes and
play activities with
hands and fingers shoulder the fundamental lessons of communication for
young children. Picture books for babies are complete in their effect only when the baby
has the benefit of
a highly skilled reader. Reading a picture book with a baby requires a
highly creative effort.
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2) Nonsense picture books offer a new logic of life
As I stated above, many people believe young children like picture books
which are
illustrated with bright colors and clear shapes. Children, especially young children, start
to learn to read by looking at stories with pictures. Therefore, many people believe it is
more suitable to give them familiar stories, or stories with plots.
However, more attention should be given to the many nonsense picture
books which
have been published in the last twenty years in Japan. I have a lot of documents showing
how babies and young children love and enjoy such nonsense picture books.
These kinds
of new nonsense picture books are characterized by bright colors, and they
often have no
clear stories.
Younger children, especially babies, usually don't pay attention to the stories in picture
books. Instead, they prefer to enjoy the way the images transform while
the reader says
the funny onomatopoeic words. There are several long-selling nonsense picture
books
which are loved by children of less than two years old in Japan. Mokomoko, written by
Tanikawa Shuntaro, and illustrated by Motonaga Sadamasa (Bunkenn-Shuppan,
Japan) is
one of them. At first, many parents and teachers could not understand why
babies and
young children less than one year-old wanted to read it repeatedly.
Mokomoko is a picture book which depicts changeable figures accompanied by only
onomatopoeic words. There is a purple horizon in the spread of the inside
cover
accompanied by only one onomatopoeic word-“shiin”-which expresses “complete
silence
and lack of movement” in Japanese. Then a soft-edged semicircle figure
appears in the
next spread. The text is only the onomatopoeia “moko” which expresses
a state of
expansion in Japanese. The figures-a semicircle, a circle, a triangle, a little mushroom-like
figure, and so on, are expanding, breaking off, getting brighter, and falling
like snow from
the top of the page.
All changes in the figures are unexpected, and the interesting sounds of onomatopoeia
stimulate children's curiosity. Children clap their hands, swing their
arms and move in unison
to the reader's rhythmical vocal sounds. They enjoy the variations in the figures and are
excited by the rhythmical sounds of onomatopoeia. They become cheerful
and happy.
Children appreciate the feeling of nonsense.
I want to introduce another unique nonsense picture book. Chiheisen no
Mieru Tokoro
(What Appeared on the Horizon), written and illustrated by Cho Shinta,
is enthusiastically
received by young children. Mr. Cho is one of the best authors of nonsense
picture books
in Japan. There is only one word of text written in this picture book-“Demashita”-which
means, roughly, “It appeared” or “There it was.” Every time we turn
the page, we read the
same word all the way to the end. But the pictures are different on every
page. We can see
the face of a boy, the face of an elephant, a wrecked ship, a volcanic
explosion, a penguin
on the ice, and so on.
The pictures have no logical connection and there is no consistent story
in this picture
book. The pictures are illustrated with the colors blue, yellow and green. Many parents say
they can't understand why their children are so enthusiastic about this
picture book. One
child, a one-year, two-month old boy, wanted his mother to read it every
day. He got excited
to hear the text, “Demashita” and laughed every time.
As opposed to nonsense books, parents tend to choose story books for
young children. They are easy for parents to understand and read to their
children. Picture story books are very useful when young children are learning
to read and write. They educate literacy.
Recently, we have various types of picture books besides picture story books. There are
nonsense picture books, fine art picture books, wordless picture books,
pop-up picture
books, and so on. Children should know not only the logic of their construction,
but also
their deconstruction. I hope children learn how to change their point of view and how to
create a new standard of value through nonsense and humor.
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