THE NEW YORK TIMES printed a controversial article recently about the decline of picture books. The article presents children’s book publishers and booksellers who note the drop in sales and an acceleration of young children toward chapter books.
Librarians were quick to respond. An excellent blog on the topic can be found at EARLY WORD. Blogger, Lisa Von Drasek, notes the importance of picture books in the lives of children. Picture books provide young listeners an exposure to higher level vocabulary as well as visual literacy. For a list of great read-alouds, check out this site, as well as more info on my website:
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Reading Aloud
Don’t give up on picture books! Reading would never be as fun without these colorful, clever, WONDERFUL books.
Thanks for blogging about this article. I too noticed the absence of libraries in the NYT discussion of picture books. (And commented so on my blog at http://www.monkeypatch.blogspot.com.) In her comment to the NYT, one librarian noted that the number of picture books checked out of her library had actually increased in the last few years. And my son's fourth grade teacher sent home a note urging parents to pick up picture books with older children as a way to read together and entice reluctant readers. I'm glad authors are speaking up and supporting the picture book as an important part of children's lives across the age span.