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This study aims to examine research trends in the field of children picture books by analyzing academic papers published as keywords of 'child picture books' from 2000 to 2021. The research target papers were 1,216 domestic academic papers collected using the database of academic research information services, and analyzed using a network analysis method using big data. First, as a result of examining the frequency analysis and connection centrality of major keywords in research papers from 2000 to 2021, studies related to picture books, children, and languages were mainly focused. Second, as a result of analyzing the network visualization of research related to children picture books, papers on picture books, languages, and children were mainly conducted in Wordcloud, but studies related to literature, creativity, activities, and education were also found to be high. Third, as a result of analysis with the Ngram network, studies on literature, emotion, and language showed connectivity. As a result of analysis with the CONCOR network, it was classified into eight groups, and picture books and children were calculated as the highest ranking in topic modeling. This study is meaningful in exploring future research topics and directions related to children picture books and providing necessary basic data as it can objectively grasp the relevance between topics and trends of the times in research related to children picture books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The paper shows the interpretive impact of different constructions of the point of view available to the reader/viewer in book and animated movie versions of a children's picture book, a novel for pre-adolescents/early teenagers, and a graphic novel for adolescents and adults. Design/Approach/Methods: Excerpts from book and animated movie versions of the same story are compared using multimodal analysis of interpersonal meaning to show how the reader/viewer is positioned in relation to the characters in each version, complemented by analyses of ideational meaning to show the effect of point of view on interpretive possibilities. Findings: Focusing mainly on multimodal construction of point of view, the analyses show how interpretive possibilities of ostensibly the same story are significantly reconfigured in animated adaptations compared with book versions even when the verbal narrative remains substantially unchanged. Originality/Value: The study shows that it is crucial to students' critical appreciation of, and their creative contribution to, their evolving digital literary culture that in this new era of educational technology, attention in literacy and literary education focuses on developing understandings of digital multimodal narrative art, and that animated movie adaptations are not presented pedagogically as isomorphic with, or simply adjunct to, corresponding book versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing best practices for teaching mathematics like math manipulatives, children’s literature picture books, and GeoGebra can all be connected and better help to prepare students for a STEM world to develop confident young individuals in doing mathematics in a world of AI, distance learning, and online with emerging technologies. This paper will highlight all the above best practices and share how they can be connected and taught to make math meaningful and help learners be confident with technology and mathematics in a way that helps them see math in a hands-on, visual, and abstract way. Students can digitally engage with GeoGebra, Virtual and actual math manipulatives, and children’s math literature/picture books. This paper will give a synopsis of the theory of these best practices, discuss manipulatives, the use of GeoGebra software in learning mathematics, and show the connections between picture books and everyday life math skills. Using such best practices in mathematics aims to develop confident young learners for a STEM and AI world where so much of the technology now focuses on AI and emerging technologies to stimulate learners, creating blazing new pathways for digital engagement in mathematics learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies Rudine Sims Bishop's multicultural framework of children's literature to environmental picturebooks. The paper provides an analysis of nearly 150 picturebooks paired with preservice teachers' responses to the texts to highlight the importance of diverse narratives and storytelling in environmentalism. The paper argues for the necessity for reading broadly and prioritizing diverse representations of which stories are told regarding environmentalism. Bishop's framework prioritizes the depth and breadth of who can be protagonists in environmentalism narratives, real and imagined, as well as how those protagonists enact responses to climate crises and the range of environmental issues that they respond to. The paper underscores the role of educators in fostering critical perspectives on environmentalism, advocating for disrupting single stories, and ensuring that a collection of texts that includes justice‐oriented and intersectional narratives is used with young readers. The article challenges dominant cultural narratives and promotes inclusivity in environmental activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Storytelling is one of the most important learning activities for children since reading aloud from a picture book stimulates children's curiosity, emotional development, and imagination. For effective education, the procedures for storytelling activities need to be improved according to the children's level of curiosity. However, young children are not able to complete questionnaires, making it difficult to analyze their level of interest. This paper proposes a method to estimate children's curiosity in picture book reading activities at five levels by recognizing children's behavior using acceleration and angular velocity sensors placed on their heads. We investigated the relationship between children's behaviors and their levels of curiosity, listed all observed behaviors, and clarified the behavior for estimating curiosity. Furthermore, we conducted experiments using motion sensors to estimate these behaviors and confirmed that the accuracy of estimating curiosity from sensor data is approximately 72%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it is aimed to examine the knowledge levels of parents with children aged 0-3 regarding the criteria they consider when choosing a children's picture book. The study was carried out with a qualitative research approach. The study group consists of 69 parents with children aged 0-3, and the data of the study were collected through a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. After the data were subjected to content analysis, they were presented in tables. As a result of the research, it has been revealed that parents with 0-3 year old children should have quality children's books and the features they pay attention to when choosing children's books, the child's interest, internal structure and external structure. It has been found that when choosing a children's picture book, parents pay particular attention to its suitability for the age and development of the child, its plain language, the presence of vivid colors and its nonviolence. The content of the images is thick cardboard and the book is neatly bound with the appropriate font and image size. By looking at the outer coating and quality of quality paper, they think about whether it is educational, entertaining, creative and contains a concept of value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's picture books are the first books that children come into contact with. They are an important carrier for children to contact and perceive the outside world and are essential for children to form subconscious and basic cognition of the world. Because of the particularity of picture books' audience, picture books must be specially processed before they can be recognized by children and parents, and as children's enlightening reading materials, their cultural attributes cannot be ignored. Compared with foreign countries, picture books in China started late, drawing lessons from and imitating western picture books to a certain extent, which led to the shadow of western culture in picture book materials, which was not conducive to children's cognition and recognition of Chinese traditional culture, and even more detrimental to their cultural confidence. As future preschool educators, preschool education majors are the first teachers of children's culture and life and also users of children's picture books. Therefore, it is of practical significance for preschool education majors to know and understand children's picture books. Firstly, this paper points out the significance and main methods of studying children's picture books and summarizes the development status of picture books at home and abroad. Secondly, it expounds the important functions of children's picture books, explores the characteristics of children's psychology and behavior, and explores the development direction and related theories of children's picture books. Finally, from the perspective of preschool education majors, we understand the educational value of children's picture books that the design of picture books should meet the needs of children and point out that children's picture books are the enlightenment education of Chinese culture and revolutionary spirit. This paper discusses the related understanding of children's picture books from the perspective of preschool education majors and expounds the significance of children's picture books for children's enlightenment education from the aspects of picture book development, picture book function, education and enlightenment value, etc., to carry out theoretical research for the development of picture books in China and help the brand and product development of picture books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on one of the most widely used resources by reading teachers during early‐emergent literacy, the high‐frequency wordlists commonly called 'sight words. Existing sight word resources available to teachers are extremely outdated and/or methodologically unsound. In this Teaching and Learning in Action article, a new research‐based list of high‐frequency words is released for teachers, the Children's Picture Book Sight Words (cpb sight words). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we aim to explore the interconnection between Children's Literature and contemporary technologies, though not from the perspective of technology as a didactic tool or as a media to produce or reproduce literary texts. Instead, we examine how technology is present in books for children and picture books. This approach is based on the concepts of children's literature, and childhood and technologies. We also present an initial corpus of stories and picture books either about technology or in which technology structures the book or the narrative. Our conclusion is that in some texts the encounter of both worlds produces significant literary experiences. However, there is a literary core that cannot be integrated with technology. This tension is also part of the cultural representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nauki o Wychowaniu. Studia Interdyscyplinarne is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Picturebooks offer powerful supports for teaching diverse content across different curriculum areas. Research and curriculum resources document their use in inquiry‐based education practices, particularly in relation to science and philosophy. There is, however, little theoretical analysis of this use or cross‐curricular comparisons. Applying a systematic literature review process, this paper examines existing empirical research on the use of picturebooks in formal inquiry‐based education contexts. The analysis considers the context in which the picturebooks were used, including curriculum context and class level, the role played by the picturebooks in the inquiries and the value ascribed to the use of picturebooks. The review proposes a framework for understanding and contrasting the varying roles played by picturebooks in inquiry‐based education approaches. This framework involves seven uses: invitations, provocations, mentors, models, resources, touchstones and destinations. Varying benefits are attributed to the use of picturebooks, including their practicality, inclusivity, complexity, aid to cognitive learning, emotional engagement and association with child readers. These benefits emphasise both the accessibility and the complexity of picturebooks. The review proposes that inquiry approaches should attend to picturebook form and content and the interdependency of the two. The review's analysis supports extended use of picturebooks across the curriculum, including in history, geography, citizenship and science education, as well as in interdisciplinary approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although gender-role stereotypes in children's literature have been widely explored, the study of the role of mothers and their representation in picturebooks has not received much attention from the academic world, especially as far as Spain is concerned. This paper analyses a sample of seven picturebooks published in Spain over the last 7 years -all by awarded authors and widely reviewed in some of the most popular Spanish blogs on Children's and Youth Literature (CYL)-and focused on the maternal figure. It aims to provide a panoramic view of the representations of the role of the mother as a paradigm of the changes seen in Spanish society, studying the representation of her voice, emotions, and ties to other members of her family through a systemic functional-multimodal discourse analysis applied to picturebooks. The results reveal that, for the first time, the mother's voice and her right to explore her own feelings are included in her characterisation, and also, that her relationship with the rest of the family includes different aspects—children, society, work, partner, and self-care. In conclusion, the conception of motherhood as proposed to Spanish families through picturebooks seems to be finally changing, evolving from fixed stereotypes and allowing the expression of contradictory feelings related to maternity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picture books are part of many young children's lives, whether at home or in early childhood or school settings. Their unique creative combinations of words and visual images can engage children's attention, stimulate their imagination, and support their development as meaning-makers. Nurturing a love of books in young children can foster the development not only of early literacy skills, but also positive reading identities. Early childhood educators therefore have key roles to play as selectors, analysts and mediators of picture books. This article aims to build educators' awareness of these roles through the analytical discussion of a small group of picture books selected for their focus on children's imaginative worlds. Children need to see themselves in books, and given that play and imagination are central to young children's ways of being and learning, picture books about children engaged in imagination and play can be important resources for nurturing a love of reading and fostering positive reading identities in young children. This pedagogical position paper explores a small sample of such books and discusses their value as part of early literacy curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of interactive electronic picture books can strengthen young children's reading comprehension skills. Interactive electronic picture books that involve interaction with sensors, with the interact ion integrated into the story, should be developed to enhance children's reading experience and improve their oral expression skills. Interactive electronic picture books that involved children manipulating stuffed animals containing sensors that provided feedback were developed for this study. Visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli can be used to create an interactive feedback system. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers, who gave their opinions regarding the curriculum of their preschool. The results indicate that the intuitiveness of the system helped improve the children's reading experience, strengthened their motivation to read, and improved their cognitive abilities. In addition, interactive electronic picture books were found to improve the children's oral expression skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent research studies in the field of reading describe a new cultural ecosystem in which analog and digital reading coexist and contribute to transform what is read, either through the way reading is performed or by promoting reading. In this context, the training of critical readers is particularly important, an aspect emphasized by UNESCO and the curriculum frameworks based on its premises. In order to provide data for reflection on this question, this paper presents an essentially qualitative and interpretive documentary study of a sample of 836 virtual epitexts that promote children’s picturebooks. The selected documents consist of the postings by 45 publishing houses between 2020 and 2022 on their YouTube and Vimeo channels. The results of the content analysis present the current tendencies in digital promotion of children’s books and the strategies most likely to encourage critical reading. The insistence on the author’s presence, the emphasis on the materiality of the book as an object, the strengthening of artistic discourse and the hybridization of reality and fiction, among other aspects, all propose a type of reading that favors the development of critical thinking. The results are complemented by a selection of virtual epitexts suggested to mediators and readers as resources of interest in promoting critical reading in socio-educational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's picture books contribute to children's development of gender identity and can impact aspirations and expectations of roles in families and society. However, the world represented in children's books reflects predominantly middle class, heterosexual, male heroes and characters. This paper reports on a cross-cultural study investigating gender representation in frequently read picture books across eight early learning centres in the United States and Australia. Forty-four educators working with 271 children participated. Data were collected from book audits and observations. Unique to this study is the presentation of a new data analysis instrument, Harper's Framework of Gender Stereotypes Contained in Children's Literature. The majority of the books shared by educators in this study promoted traditional, binary and stereotypical viewpoints of gender and gender roles. These findings are concerning as the evidence shows that gender development is a critical part of the earliest and most important learning experience of young children and a requirement of educational policies rooted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's understanding and inheritance of traditional Chinese culture and innovation of Chinese children's picture book art form are of great significance to carry forward traditional culture and strengthen confidence in Chinese culture. As an excellent traditional Chinese opera art, Beijing Opera has an indispensable cultural status. The purpose of this study was to determine cognitive needs of children in view of simplified display form of children's picture books in China through decomposition, extraction, reconstruction, and integration of the Peking Opera character modeling elements, the use of modern design concepts, and the combination of artistic characteristics of picture books. It explored new ideas for the development of traditional culture, proposed application principles, and suggested strategies for the form innovation of children's picture books to make Beijing Opera enter children's life from the traditional stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to reflect on the parallelism between traditional and digital literature while analyzing the offer available on electronic market platforms. Taking into consideration adaptations of children's literature classics and original productions, such as enhanced books and apps, the paper purpose is to focus on interactivity and on the various degrees of involvement of the "digital reader" increasingly direct towards a prefigured visual narration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Argentinian Journal of Applied Linguistics is the property of Federacion Argentina de Asociaciones de Profesores de Ingles and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper analyses the recent protests by mainly Muslim parents against the use of LGBTQ+-friendly story books in a primary school in Birmingham, England, the associated court case, and the broader issues it highlights about the contradictory and complex relationships between liberalism, faith, and democracy. I discuss the case itself, tensions around Relationships and Sex Education, and the wider social and political context for the protest, considering both the position of 'Muslims' in the UK's civic and political society, and how dominant discourses within liberalism responds to 'others' in this present temporal moment. I conclude by briefly considering the potential of deliberative democracy and agonism as approaches to address emotive value clashes, and to emphasise the importance of primary schools as places of shared investments, where families and teachers might move towards developing mutual understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Magistra Iadertina is the property of University of Zadar, Department of Teacher & Preschool Teacher Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reports on an investigation into the reading path patterns in a children's picture book. The primary investigation focused on the semiotic resources involved in the construction of meanings in picture books , i.e. language and image elements. These semiotic resources provide insights into the unfolding of the storylines in the observed picture book. In order to detail the roles of these resources, a picture book entitled Tacky the Penguin (Lester, 1988) was selected and examined by employing two methods: Kress and van Leeuwen's (1996, 2006) structure of information value and Royce's (1998) Intersemiotic Complementarity. The results of the analysis suggest that the whole picture book is built from a page-by-page reading path that allows for a linear and non-linear reading path. While each page presents a different layout of information value, the general pattern leads to a linear reading path from the beginning up to the end of the picture book. The mapping of the reading path is reinforced by the interrelated meanings between verbal and visual resources on the page. Drawing on the analysis results, this paper offers the delve into the flow of information from the language and image resourc es in the picture books that can be used to inform practical use of picture books in EFL classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the medium of picturebooks is a category specifically targeted to the very youngest "readers"—board books. They are designed primarily for babies, infants, and toddlers, a preliterate audience from newborn to 3-years-old. And while board books are still technically picturebooks, their design and construction follows a different set of parameters from older picturebooks. The one thing they do share with their older siblings is that they are typically purchased by adults for child "readers," a paradox that raises complicated questions about the actual intended audience of board books. Furthemore, while board books "help infants learn to recognize familiar objects and to develop basic concepts related to people, animals, possessions, familiar events, and daily routines" (Hughes-Hassell in Inside board books: representations of people of color. The Library Quarterly, The University of Chicago Press Journals, Chicago, 2010), there is a new trend in board books of older books adapted into the board book medium, or for educational, politically driven topics obviously not intended for child readers at all. With sales of board books increasing in recent years (Harbison in Category snapshot: the benefits of the board book boom. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/81736-category-snapshot-the-benefits-of-theboard-book-boom.html, 2019) it leaves one to wonder who are board books really for and what do these "readers" really want from them? This paper examines this new trend and what it says about the medium, from the perspective of a picturebook and board book creator as well as from an academic viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like mainstream children's literature, vegan picturebooks teach children fundamental cultural messaging about food, what (or whom) to eat or not to eat. In doing so, many of these books use some iteration of animals as "friends, not food" to recalibrate the human-animal relationship. Such framing of animals as "friends" or "food" is integral to telling the truth about animal use and consumption by humans, but it can also be problematic because it risks reducing ethical veganism to a dietary practice alone, rather than a holistic philosophy and praxis of animal empowerment. To expose the realities of animal consumption, moreover, some vegan picturebooks include graphic depictions of cruelty to animals, which may not be age-appropriate for younger readers. Informed by critical animal studies (CAS) and vegan studies, this paper analyzes two discursive strategies found in popular vegan picturebooks: encouraging empathy through interspecies similarities ("friends") and foregrounding the impact of what we eat on humans, animals, and the environment ("food"). Vegan picturebooks are selected from recommended lists on vegan blogs, and their popularity is qualitatively analyzed based on reader feedback in online customer reviews. The conclusion reflects on the broader influence of vegan picturebooks on younger readers, provides more context for their focus on animals as food, and considers whether a gentler message of interspecies compassion and an aspirational, rather than identity-based, veganism might be more persuasive in spreading veganism, given its potential to reach vegan allies and other non-vegans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cultivate children's imagination, observation, thinking ability, and aesthetic consciousness, the questionnaire survey is adopted to analyze the design strategies and principles of children's picture books based on augmented reality (AR). Primarily, the related concepts and theories are expounded for the research content. Children in preschool aged 4–5 years are invited as primary participants in this work, and the psychological characteristics of the invited children are analyzed in depth. Then, a study is carried out on the existing AR children's picture books. The problems existing in the design of AR children's picture books are found, and then, related solutions are put forward based on the results of the questionnaire survey. Besides, a design is made on the strategies and interactive design principles of AR children's picture books on mobile terminals that are more in line with the needs of children. The results show that 41.07% of parents do not understand AR technology, and 37.5% of preschool children indicate that they do not operate mobile devices independently. However, they need the assistance of parents to use this kind of picture book. A total of 44.64% of parents believe that the main problem of AR picture books in the current market is the lack of interesting interaction. Given the above problems, five principles are proposed for the design of AR children's picture books based on mobile terminals, namely, easy operation principle, interesting principle, guiding principle, timely feedback principle, and safety principle. A set of universally applicable design methods are proposed for AR children's picture books based on mobile terminals, which provides certain theoretical guidance for the development of related types of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out to investigate interracial adoption narratives in children's picture books and explores how these narratives are constructed through the combined use of verbal and visual metaphors. The study examines a selection of six picture books published in the U.S.A. over the last few years and targeting a readership between the ages of four and eight. Interracial adoption books can help youngsters make sense of their reality and can be relied upon to initiate family conversations about difficult topics such as the lack of genetic bond and resemblance between parents and children. Since metaphors involve talking about one thing in terms of another, they can be strategically used in picture books to make complex concepts accessible to young readers. The study identifies the main metaphorical configurations of interracial adoption discourses in children's books by means of a hybrid methodological toolkit that integrates the approaches of Critical Discourse Analysis, Critical Metaphor Analysis and Multimodal Metaphor Studies. Findings suggest that narratives about interracial adoption are positively biased and often contain oversimplifications or inaccurate descriptions of adoptees' life situations; while these stories aim to offer children reassuring answers about complicated issues such as identity and ethnicity, they frequently fail to provide validation for adoptees' ambivalent feelings towards their new situations and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how the contemporary "refugee crisis" is being presented to children through picture books and teaching materials. It uses the concept of refugeedom as an approach that takes into account the multiple facets involved in the forced movement of people in the past and present and seeks to show the value of historical understandings in educational contexts when framing resources for teachers and students. Design/methodology/approach: The paper examines a sample of high-profile English language picture books about children's stories of forced displacement and the most prominent freely available teaching materials connected to the books. A critical discursive analysis of the books and educative guides considers the ways in which ideas and information about forced displacement is framed for child readers and children in primary school classrooms. The context for the authors' interest in exploring these books and educational resources is that in response to the numbers of children who are part of the current "refugee crisis" alongside a public call for the "crisis" to be explained to children. Findings: The paper argues that picture books open up spaces for children to explore refugeedom through experiences of forced movement and various factors involved in the contemporary "refugee crisis". In contrast, in the teaching resources and some peritextual materials, the child in the classroom is addressed as entirely disconnected from children who are forcibly displaced, students in classrooms are positioned to learn from the refugee "other". When links are made between students in classroom and children who have been forcibly displaced it is through activities that position students in classrooms to imagine themselves as forcibly displaced, or to suggest they act within a humanitarian framework of welcoming or helping refugees. The authors believe that if teaching resources were more directly informed by discipline specific tools of historical concepts, more nuanced approaches to past and present histories of forced movement could be considered and from that more fruitful learning opportunities created for all students. Practical implications: This research provides ideas about how materials to support the use of picture books in educational settings could be developed to promote historical thinking and contextualisation around key social and political issues in the world today. It also makes the case for historians to be involved in the creation of teaching materials in a collaborative way so that academic insights can be brought to teachers and students at all levels of education. Originality/value: The value of this research is to understand how children are positioned in reading and learning about forced displacement and query the impact of decontextualised approaches to learning. It argues for the critical interpretative value that historical understanding can bring to present day issues which are history in the making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's literature invariably reflects the views of adults. Likewise, what they think is desirable or not for children is also reflected in children's literature translations. Yet adult assumptions, or ideology, may not always be in line with how children actually respond. This paper delves into this issue of ideology in terms of character name translation in Japanese picturebooks translated into Korean. While the majority of source text names are retained in English-to-Korean translations through transliteration, they are often changed into Korean names in Japanese-to-Korean translations. Interviews and an online questionnaire survey were conducted with Korean adult readers to find out how they respond to such differences, followed by an experiment with Korean children to see whether what adults think, revealed through the interviews and a survey, is consistent with how children actually respond. This paper hopes to shed light on how adult ideology affects children's book translation, and how this can sometimes be misleading to children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore how a group of 10 and 11-year-old primary school children engage with a picture book about a refugee boy from Somalia. As we examine in some detail a video-recording of the children's discussion, we suggest that the children's emotional engagement with the story was pivotal to not only their making sense of the book, but to their critical discussion of the issues the story raised. The discussion we report on here was part of a wider project to examine the use of picture books for critical literacy in schools. Critical literacy is often discussed as a rational endeavour, where children are invited to ask analytical questions about the message a text seeks to communicate and the means by which this is achieved. Following others, for example Anwarrudin (2016), who have challenged this focus on rationalism, we explore the role of emotions in the session. Data show that the children's critical-analytical discussions of the story were closely connected with their emotional engagement. We use Norris' (2004) multimodal interaction analysis to examine the children's emotional and embodied engagement with the book and its story. This analysis of the children's words, gestures, posture, gaze and voice quality reveals the complexity of their reactions to the book and specifically the role of 'emotional collisions' (Kuby, 2012, p. 35) in provoking embodied and affective reactions but also intellectual curiosity and 'critical engagement' (Johnson & Vasudevan, 2012, p. 35). With regards to the role of picture books in critical literacy pedagogy, our paper offers teachers new insights into what processes of thinking, feeling and communicating they can expect to be part of critical literacy lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perhaps because Children's Picture Books are written for a child audience, this relatively new field recurrently has difficulty being taken seriously by scholars in other fields as either literature or as art. Respected artist, book author and professor Johanna Drucker states, in her article The Artist's Book as Idea and Form from A Book of the Book, that Artist's Books interrogate "the conceptual or material form of the book as part of its intention, thematic interests, or production activities" and that they are "almost always self-conscious about the structure and meaning of the book as a form" (378). After assembling a consensus definition of the term "Artist's Book," this paper explores, as a case study, the work of an American author/illustrator who was an early experimenter with this type of book. Peter Newell (1862 to 1924), creator of novelty children's books that explore the book form as a part of the narrative, earned the following description by Michael Hearn, Trinkett Clark and H. Nichols B. Clark in Myth, Magic & Mystery: One Hundred Years of American Children's Book Illustration: "Perhaps the most inventive American children's book illustrator of the period . . . . He was also one of the first artists to recognize the picture book as a unique object." This paper argues that Peter Newell's books deserve careful consideration as possible picture book crossovers into the Artist's Books genre because of the specific way Newell creatively interacted with the book form; because he crossed disciplines in creating his books by writing, illustrating and designing them himself; and because he consciously utilized new media and methods of art production in developing his style. The paper explores Newell's techniques used in his book Topsys & Turvys, The Hole Book, and several other of his still unique, though often overlooked creations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Interaction - above all, food consumption, the fact of eating together - is connected to human representations and human fears. All of these are involved in socialization, particularly in educative mechanisms (such as rules at table, regulation/moderation, apprenticeship) and pleasure (tasting discovery and games). This paper proposes to show the paradox between education (often in relation with health) and pleasure (in all forms) in food, using a cultural object appreciated in childhood, i.e. picture books. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on a sociology thesis about the representations of food in picture books (50 picture books for children under six years of age, which were selected in bookshops to identify how food, the child and daily life are represented in fiction) and how they are used, and on a collection of data from interviews with professionals and parents (qualitative approach to analysis). Findings - The paper finds social representations which corroborate the eater paradox. Between education and pleasure, between discovery and fear, the forms of food consumption are numerous in the picture books. Originality/value - The paper shows that social representations are signified in all items for children and reveals the importance of this medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By ending her first book with this memorable instruction, to play with her research, Field once again reminds readers that books are meant to be material objects and experienced both physically and ephemerally. Hannah Field's interdisciplinary expertise shines in her first book, Playing with the Book: Victorian Movable Picture Books and the Child Reader. By acknowledging how pop-up books transcend the physical confines of their pages, Field pushes bibliographers to reconsider dimensionality (such as page size or width) as one of their primary categorization tools when dealing with picture books. [Extracted from the article]

Family is one of the most common and influential topics in children's literature. However, depictions of families with non-traditional gender dynamics are still not common in picturebooks addressed to young audiences. In particular, fathers and mothers rarely counteract their gender roles; they usually fulfil socially constructed expectations linked to masculinity and femininity. Parental models are particularly influential in children's construction of gender identity. For this reason, it is fundamental to promote inclusive children's literature. This paper explores a selection of children's picturebooks from different countries in which where new parental gender dynamics are presented. The depiction of gender standards will be related to family structures: children's literature on same-sex families seems to be particularly effective in counteracting gender stereotypes linked to fatherhood and motherhood challenging traditional family structures and parental gender norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce a visual database for children's picture book and we also present an intelligent robot trained on this database. Firstly, a large-scale image dataset is built that contains image samples of book pages. It can be used to verify image indexing algorithms and content recognition algorithms. Secondly, we study the state-of-the-art algorithms in image matching and object recognition. Several approaches are presented and compared from the aspects of computational efficiency and recognition accuracy. In order to improve the speed we proposed a novel hierarchical algorithm for fast search. Finally, using this large-scale database we are able to build a robot that can read children's picture books and initial experimental results are presented. We can see that both the training database and the algorithms are promising, yet there are still a few open challenges concerning the costs and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centres on children's books in which the polyphonic technique of counterpoint has been successfully adopted. It is assumed by the author that the examples discussed in this essay show an intentional lack of coherence of the verbal and visual storylines, thus addressing the dual audience and opening the books up to multiple interpretations. The paper mentions intertextuality, which places Potter's and Janosch's work in children's literature tradition. Through a comparative study of Beatrix Potter's selected tales and two children's books by Janosch, the concept of a ‘book as game’ clearly emerges, in which the text and illustrations play equally essential roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines representations of heteronormativity (and its influence) across several kinds of literature aimed at a child (and sometimes adult) audience, and does so by examining relationships between language and sexuality. The study firstly focuses on the study of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks, giving an overview of research from the literature. The authors look at heteronormativity in these overtly pedagogical texts and consider some implications for textbook writers and analysts when challenging predominantly heteronormative representations of sexuality in these texts. The authors then consider representations of sexuality in children's fiction. The prevalence of heteronormativity in the Harry Potter series is considered in relation to broad aspects of identity (gender, sexuality, class). Heteronormativity vis à vis homonormativity is then discussed in relation to the analysis of a large collection of picturebooks featuring same-sex parents, the results of which suggest that, although gay and lesbian parents feature as central characters, the manner of representation largely reflects heteronormative relationships and parenting discourses. The paper concludes by identifying challenges, in particular for EFL textbook writers and publishers. Producers of these texts have to consider a global audience part of whom is likely to reject material that offers alternatives to heteronormativity. The authors suggest strategies that could be used to offer representations of heteronormativity of a 'lesser' degree (such as same-sex friend scenes) that allow for alternative readings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's picture books are a very effective language that provides models for children to identify themselves through images. This paper verifies the extent to which these publications represent diversity and, in any case, the current reality. To do so, we focus on the study of picture books that transmit values of social inclusion from different points of view: gender equality, multiculturalism, disability, and respect for "the difference." A research and an analysis of the albums published in Spain during the last ten years have been done on the basis of these four categories. This communication shows a selection of albums from different categories and typologies, and practices that can be used to promote values of equality and inclusion in children from six to nine years old. These activities are an example of the potentiality of children's picture books to transmit these values, and they will serve as a starting point to generate a whole catalogue of activities available to schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picture books are an important source of new language, concepts, and lessons for young children. A large body of research has documented the nature of parent-child interactions during shared book reading. A new body of research has begun to investigate the features of picture books that support children's learning and transfer of that information to the real world. In this paper, we discuss how children's symbolic development, analogical reasoning, and reasoning about fantasy may constrain their ability to take away content information from picture books. We then review the nascent body of findings that has focused on the impact of picture book features on children's learning and transfer of words and letters, science concepts, problem solutions, and morals from picture books. In each domain of learning we discuss how children's development may interact with book features to impact their learning. We conclude that children's ability to learn and transfer content from picture books can be disrupted by some book features and research should directly examine the interaction between children's developing abilities and book characteristics on children's learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a talk-in-interaction investigation of the multimodal design of peer correction in reading picture books. The focus is on what Erickson (1982a) calls the “double functionality” of moves involved in engaging in a learning task, where one aspect is subject matter content (e.g., correction of a misread word) and the second is a social relational aspect. In examining these features of children’s peer reading, Goffman’s (1981) notion of footing is applied so as to explore the diverse modalities through which children establish their own social order. This paper argues that by locating the achievement of reading a new word within the situated activity of reading with a peer, we are able to see children’s competence and agency in enacting an environment for language and literacy learning. The evidence presented to support this argument draws into question dominant characterizations of peer talk in classroom settings as being unproductive or impoverished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past fifty years, children's picture books have made great strides toward literary equity by including more perspectives from and stories about marginalized groups, such as those whose gender identities do not conform to heteronormative standards. While texts featuring gender-variant male characters engage in topics that are far too often shoved into the proverbial closet, what is yet to be determined is the degree to which they adequately reflect the complexity of (gender) identity and to what extent such picture books can counter narratives related to traditional 'masculinity.' The purpose of this paper is to critically examine picture book representations of gender variance, as exhibited by male characters, in order to determine the books' potential for exploring issues of social justice with elementary-age students. This study utilizes a critical multiculturalist lens to challenge the ways in which gender variance is represented in children's literature and the reasons that young gender-variant male protagonists achieve-or do not achieve-communal acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research on short stories for children has focused in Greece mostly on their literary, pedagogical, linguistic and educational aspects. This paper attempts to approach Short Form Stories for children under the light of social semiotics, the main elements being the author’s choices in sign-creation process and its interpretation by the reader. In the case of short stories, the recipient is the child, who for the first time tries to decode without help the verbal text and to enter - symbolically but also in reality – to the literate society. This moment of the reader's first encounter with a multimodal text is crucial to her/his future reading behaviour. The paper examines the concept of the ‘Horis sosivio’ (without lifejacket) series, as evidenced at the level of visual design and the combination of text and image for the construction of meaning, as well as the interpretation of the visual text by preschool children as participants in meaning production. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children's literatures presently are produced widely through media production either as remediation of printed stories or originally produced in digital form. The current most sought after digitized communicative practice of the media is the digital children's picture book app due to its multimediality and interactivity. This quality of the picture book app paves the path for an aesthetic and cultural transformative exchange. However, these digital children's picture book apps have been found to contain diversity and multicultural gaps. Furthermore, the noncognitive/affective quality of these interactive digital book apps that is evoked through senses like touch, hearing and sight needs further investigation. Hence, through a qualitative approach, the digital children's picture book app version of the Malaysian animated series Upin and Ipin: Storybook: The Rain and The Sea Part 1 was selected as case study for this paper. Selection criteria consisted of three aspects; narration being in English and contained Semiotic Technology i.e. digitized meaning-making modes, the contents reflect characters, symbols and narratives that portray Malaysian culture, history and identity. The research reveals a postcolonial aesthetic that extensively operates based on the ideologies of the dominant class or culture through the representations of ethnic nationalism. This shows a builtin intrinsic value according to the context of the dominant culture that can be found in the aesthetic engagement in the transcultural space of this picture book app. This article contributes to scholarship cross-cultural engagement in the affective space of postcolonial digital picture books. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the concept of biophilia and its potential role in education, particularly in relation to children's literature and school gardens. The authors use personal narratives and reflections to highlight the importance of personal experiences and memories in understanding and connecting with biophilia. They emphasize the need for educators to encourage and foster biophilia connections in their students. The article also discusses the impact of certain books on readers' understanding of their environment and their evolving literate identity. It emphasizes the potential for change and reflection that reading offers. The authors highlight the diverse and multifaceted nature of the natural world and the importance of exploring and understanding it through literature. They also discuss the concept of "autobibliography" and its potential for bringing biophilia into the classroom. The article concludes by emphasizing the awe-inspiring qualities of nature and the impact of such experiences on our understanding of the natural world. The hope is that these experiences can inspire teachers in their work and encourage them to incorporate nature into their teaching. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines a selection of Italian picturebooks that feature representations of diversity, including Piccolo Blu e Piccolo Giallo (Lionni), as well as more contemporary works such as Piccolo Uovo: Maschio o Femmina? (Pardi and Altan) and Qual è il Segreto di Papà? (Pardi and Gucciardini). These titles form part of a corpus of texts focused on diversity, many of which are produced by the publishing houses Lo Stampatello and Settenove. This branch of Italian children's literature has often come under public scrutiny for its content around themes of diversity, thereby intersecting with and contributing to contested ideas about national identity, belonging, and Otherness. Although their narrative and aesthetic representations may contain certain limitations in the degree to which they depict diversity, the examples discussed in this article provide alternative ways of thinking about nationality, family, gender, and sexuality in an era in which conservative ideologies around these topics are prevalent in contemporary Italian cultural discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's literature can serve as mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. They are mirrors for marginalized groups to see themselves represented, windows for dominant cultures to learn about marginalized groups, and sliding glass doors to develop empathy. In this study, I examined Middle East Picture Book Award to address what books are available about Middle Eastern Muslims who experience xenophobia and Islamophobia; and identify the books that serve as mirrors-windows-sliding glass doors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]