Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking about What They See Hardcover – November 3, 2015

Book has been very helpful while getting my degree in library media

Let me begin by saying that I am an educator who also holds a library degree. I ordered this book because of a webinar I viewed through my state library association, and I’m glad I did.The author of this work, Megan Lambert, is well-known in children’s literature circles; for several years she served on the committee to select the Caldecott Medal winners, the highest U.S. award for illustrators. She remarks that during one story time she had an epiphany, a light-bulb moment: Books are more than just the story, the text; books are the whole book! After reading Lambert's book, I see how true this is, even in books beyond picture books.So Lambert breaks down the “anatomy” of a book – from the size and shape of the book, to the jackets and covers, to all the other elements of a book and how each element can contribute to the story. Readers see marginal notes of the parts of a book’s anatomy in the margins – such as “copyright page,” “front matter,” “gutter” and more—and learn about how each part of a book’s anatomy can contribute to the meaning of the story and enhance readers’ visual intelligence.Lambert uses some terminology of education and librarianship, but she does explain new terms adequately for laypeople. I felt neither “talked down to” nor over my head.Anyone who works with children or youth – teachers, librarians, parents – should read and learn from this book to help foster reading in young people.

Adults often ask children, "Do you see what I see?" Megan Dowd Lambert changes the question in Reading Picture Books With Children so that adults who read picture books ask children, "What do you see?" Children, even the very young, become participants when picture books are read with them rather than to them. The reader becomes a facilitator of active listening and engagement by children in the whole picture book from cover to cover and everything in between. Who would have thought that Eric Carle's very hungry caterpillar left droppings? An active and visually astute child did when Megan Dowd Lambert once read the classic picture book with a group of children. That is but one of many examples she recounts in the book based on her years of experience of reading with children and developing her whole book approach. Reading Picture Books With Children contains a wealth of practical and informative examples, anecdotes, and suggestions for parents, grandparents, teachers, and librarians who want to read picture books with, and not to, children. A guarantee: Adult and child will see what the other sees.

I love reading and I love reading *with* children so this book was a natural choice for me.While reading it I found both things that were familiar and things that were not. I've shared wordless books with children, specifically to draw them out and get them to tell me the story. And I've gone over the parts of the book on a mega-level. Which is to say that I've pointed out the elements of the title page, the page numbers, table of contents and index and that sort of thing. What I never thought to discuss though was the layout of a book. Things like the guttering and why the shape of the book, the color pallate and even the font might have been chosen.So Megan Lambert opened up a whole new jungle of ideas that could be shared. As well as new ways that I could 'step back' and let children use their own imaginations so that we could have new kinds of discussions.~I really enjoyed this book and will revisit it as I begin to more fully utilize the author's suggestions, but I should warn you up front that the author is an evangelist for this approach to books and you need to brace yourself not to put off by her marginalizing of 'the old way' of sharing books. When she says that she's put off by those who succumb 'to a descent into some fuzzy platitudes about the magic of reading' I know there are going to be some of you who are put off.But I hope you aren't for long. I think there are some really good ideas in this book. Not just for moms/dads and teachers reading to early elementary aged children, but for art teachers and English teachers to share with older children and young adults. Analyzing how media effects us is an important part of understanding how we are being manipulated. And the challenge of converting what we understand on a gut level into words so that others can grasp what we are saying has great benefits.I think of Lambert's approach as being an extension of McLuhan's (medium is the message) and Korzybski's (the map is not the territory) work on media and communication. And I think this book holds some great clues on how to share these concepts with very young children. As well as some hints to aid us to step back to let children observe, organize their thoughts, and find their own voice.~review copy~book #16 for 2016

Ever peeked under the paper jacket on a picture book? After consuming Megan Dowd Lambert's Whole Book Approach, I’ll never not peek again! There are so many features we over look when reading these deceptively simple books. “Reading Picture Books with Children” walks the reader through the aspects which lead reader and child into deeper connections to, and understanding of a story. What is an “air frame”? Where is the “gutter” in a book? How do they affect our perception of the events? Ms. Lambert provides easy to follow explanations and the language to talk about and understand how a picture book works. A must read for anyone leading story time anywhere; but also so relevant to anyone sharing books with children. I share hundreds of books with students each year. Every chapter added new tools I now bring to enrich every reading with children! So interesting, so fun!

I'm fascinated by this approach. Not only is it an educational experience for children, but a wonderful way of completely immersing a child in a story. The open-ended questioning of children allows for imaginative, yet pragmatic critical thinking and exploration of a book in it's entirety. There are aspects of a book that I hadn't acknowledged before as having meaning or purpose that I will now pay attention to.