Picturebooks
Emerging Literacy of (An)Other Kind
On 21, Dec 2015 | In Picturebooks | By Chris Vitale
Stewart, Michelle Pagni. “Emerging Literacy of (An)Other Kind: Speakerly Children’s Picture Books.” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 28.1 (Spring 2003): 42–51.
Referrer: Carrie Hintz
Categories: picturebooks, oral books, layout
Annotation:
Stewart stakes the claim that picturebooks function in a similar way to oral works. Most interesting, this article discusses the “Oral Performance of Illustrations.” Stewart notes that the visual construction of the page works toward creating a more oral experience for the text. This is done by using illustrations that are not exactly connected to the text of the story or the words on the page. The ambiguity of the pictures gives agency to the child to determine what is being seen. The story is made more interactive and ambiguous, similar to an oral text. Picturebooks for Stewart are by definition the polar opposite of an oral text, but have an element of orality in their execution and the experience that the audience encounters. A text that is speakerly is not necessarily oral.
