In Pictures and In Words Book Study Chapter Severn

Link to Book Study In Pictures and In Words Chapter Seven

I can’t rave enough about how much I have learned from this book study.  I love reading what is in the book, but even more I love reading what everyone else has to say.  Thank you all for sharing.  I have noticed that some people are sharing books for each technique and that is really branching out my “library” of books to use this year so I will do the same.

Onto the techniques:

1.     Crafting with Distance Perspective – “Distance perspective is something children can easily try in their own illustrating.”  Use words like PANORAMA, CLOSE-UP, ZOOM, and PERSPECTIVE. 

Eggbert the Slightly Cracked Egg - From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-The other eggs in the refrigerator admire Eggbert's remarkable paintings-until they discover that he has a slight crack. Because of his defect, he is banished from his home. At first he uses his artistic talent to attempt to camouflage himself, but his disguises are quickly discovered. Then he realizes that the world contains many lovely cracks. Brush in hand, he travels the globe and produces wonderful paintings of fissures found in things such as volcanoes and the Liberty Bell. Back at the refrigerator, his former friends ponder his hand-painted postcards with amazement and a touch of sadness. The story might be read as a commentary on the lives of artists and/or the dangers and blessings of nonconformity; however, young readers will be more engaged by the illustrations than by philosophical reflections. Eggs and vegetables rarely assume such lifelike expressions and stances, and the simple text and clear design add up to read-aloud potential. Eggbert is an egg worth watching.
Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN

I wish I could have shown more pictures from inside.  The perspective in these illustrations is wonderful!  From inside the refrigerator to him painting volcanoes you get to see the world both small and large!  If you go to Amazon you can see some of the illustrations, but I highly recommend you go to the library and check out the book yourself.  My copy is in storage or else I would have taken pictures for you.  I still felt it was worth talking about in this section without having all of the pictures to show you.  Sorry!

2.                    Crafting with Positioning Perspective – “Illustrations have positioning perspective; a central image may be pictured from the front, the back, the side, above, or below.  The illustrator is in charge of how the reader sees the scene.  He or she decides what to picture in the picture, and also where the reader will be positioned to the view that picture.”  Use words like:  ANGLE, FRONT, BACK, SIDE, ABOVE, BELOW.

We all know this is one of my favorite books for perspective!  David Wiesner does a fantastic job taking the reader INTO the story in his illustrations.  Another must check out book for teaching this technique and many of the others in Chapter 7.

3.                    Crafting the Background – “The central image in an illustration may have lots of background behind it, just a little, or hardly any at all”.

This is a very powerful book I use during Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday on my unit of peace, slavery and tolerance.  Yes, I am the teacher that got permission to show ROOTS and staged a school wide March against Drugs and Violence in an inner city school complete with the DARE officer dressed as Dr. King.  We read I Have A Dream and sang peace protest songs.  This is a powerful book that takes kids into a world of a young girl that picks cotton with her family.  The pictures, the background take you there and set a mode that shows how early in the day her work starts.  You must look into this book.

4.                    Showing Two Sides of a Physical Space – “An illustration may show two sides of a physical space simultaneously: inside and outside, above and below”.

Okay, nothing is coming to mind for me on this one so I would love some suggestions!

5.                    Using Scenes to Show Different Actions – “Small, separate scenes show different actions.”

I love this set of books.  The children love them too.  We usually make soup during this unit (great way to get them to eat vegetables).  I liked the way the illustrator used scenes to show different actions (see carrot above) and I had never noticed that before doing this book study.  I really missed a lot by not reading this book earlier!

6.                   Using Scenes to Capture the Passage of Time - “Small, separate scenes can capture what happens over time”. 

Again, my books are in storage so I can’t show you inside of this book, but we used this in December, this version and the kids fell in love.  They did reader’s theater with it too.  Inside it has a great page that shows the little old lady and little old man, using scenes, making the gingerbread boy.  The children would act it out in dramatic play.  I will be using this again this winter but I will concentrate on making this part of their writing as well!

7.    Using Scenes to Show Movement Through Different Places- “Small separate scenes can show movement through different places.

I am weak here and need some suggestions!

8.    Using Scenes as a List – “Small, separate scenes may work like a list, showing lots of different detail but unconnected by any background”. 

I am weak here and need some suggestions!

  

9.    Showing, Not Telling -  “The text tells something general, the illustrations (often a series of small, separate scenes) show something very specific.”

I love this story for comparing and contrasting against the traditional Three Little Pigs.  And I am a drama nerd so I love to act it out too!  The illustrations in this kill me too.  There is a picture of the mixing bowl the wolf is using to make a birthday cake for his grandmother.  If you look closely at the illustration you see bunny ears in the mix.  This really tells the reader that he is making a very WOLFISH birthday cake and helps the reader understand that this is not the typical birthday cake we think of when we read the words BIRTHDAY CAKE.  The illustrations really show us what the wolf is not telling us in the picture!  The illustrations are critical though out the book in helping the reader understand what the character is not telling us in word.

10.  Crafting a “Backstory” – “Illustrations may have characters and/or action that are never mentioned in the words.

The Little House in the Prairie Books are great for this!  The kids in my class, after reading several of these books, wanted to turn the dramatic play area into a cabin.  This had so much to do with the illustrations and the backstory they created.  We had plastic fruits and veggies hanging over the kitchen area like they were illustrated in the books.  I had to say no to hanging meat (like in the attic for winter storage in the books) when the kids suggested that!  We did make corn husk dolls and needle point and quilts.  All things they saw in the illustrations in these books.  Very powerful!

11.  Manipulating Point of View for Effect – “The content of an illustration may directly contradict what the words say, usually for humorous effect.”

I am not sure this book really contradicts what the words say, but the illustrations do a great job manipulating point of view for effect.  I love the farmer standing outside of the barn listening after you just saw what the animals were doing inside the barn. 

12.  Seeing Through the Eyes of a Narrator – “Illustrations may show the perspective of the narrator, so we actually see things through his or her eyes.”

There is a great picture in this book when the little boy hears the doorbell ring and he looks through the peep hole and you see exactly what he sees, the little bit of the pirates beard and mouth.  It is awesome and you really feel like you are looking through that peep hole!

Phew, this was a long post to do but it was really helpful to me.  I am sorry I didn’t have my books available to give more detailed pictures but I hope some of the books I recommended will be helpful!  I can’t wait to read everyone’s posts!  Feel free to follow me and I will follow you so I can see what you say in the next part of this book study!