Introduction to Picture Books

I. Share your favorite picture books from childhood in your groups. What are these books memorable and/or important?

In your nb:
What are the memorable qualities of picture books? What are some messages they teach?

What ideas do you have about writing your own picture books?


In this unit, we will be reading a range of picture books, some light-hearted and funny, and others serious and tragic. We will be looking closely at forewords, social issues raised, author’s purpose, and writing craft; the final project is writing meaningful stories for children, stories with important social messages.

The social issues we will be reading and writing about fall into certain categories:

• Social Pressure – How do others tell us how to be? What are the consequences? Ex. Bullying, gangs, war, etc.
• Social Consciousness – What good actions should we be involved with and why? Ex. Increase funds for public schools, volunteer to clean up parks, etc.
• Acceptance vs. Intolerance – Who is and isn’t accepted and why? Ex. Racism, homophobia, etc.

Author’s Purpose – the books we will be reading have different purposes; they do one or more of the following:

• Call to action – urge people to act in a particular way to solve a problem
• Envision possibility – show that there is hope in the future in solving a problem
• Bear witness – focus on the difficulties experienced as a result of a particular problem

Styles – there are different ways to communicate messages around issues:

• Realistic fiction – a fictional story; can also include elements of non-fiction; may be creative non-fiction
• Allegory – a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.
Thus, an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
• Poetry - some picture books consist of an illustrated poem that is often narrative
• Nonfiction - a children's book can be a memoir, autobiography, biography, or other informational text.

II. Society is a community, nation, or broad grouping of people with common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests. Through reading Upfront magazine, writing social awareness writing projects, writing argument essays, and by discussing important topics such as homophobia and censorship, we have been exploring social issues or problems that we as members and citizens of society witness, experience, and/or are passionate about. 

In our next unit, we will continue reading, writing, reflecting on, and discussing many social issues and thinking about how we can use literacy and writing to effect change, raise awareness, and urge people to act in ways that will improve society.

We will be writing children's books for elementary school students to raise awareness and teach messages about social issues.

Essential Questions:

·         What are some social issues or problems in the world that you care about?

·         Who or what inspires us to change the world for the better?

·         How can we make a positive difference in the world?

·         What and how does literature teach about society and the world?

·         How can writing increase social awareness and effect change in the world?

Skills and tasks students will be able to do:

·         Analyze and write about social issues in picture books and other texts

·         Write a picture book on a meaningful social issue

Vocabulary – fill in what you know about each word:

Justice	Fairness
National	International
Bystander	Upstander
Social action	Witness
Tolerance vs. intolerance	Social awareness

III. Reading Picture Books
For each book, analyze and write in your notebook:

1. Title and author   2. Social issues and messages   3. Genre and author's purpose   4. Style and craft