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‘Picturebook’ is a broad term and there are many different types of picturebooks. They come in a wide variety of formats and genres (fiction and non-fiction, concept books, poetry, rhymes and songs, traditional tales and modern retellings, ABC books, cumulative, fantasy, rhyming, wordless, postmodern, amusing, serious and so on). They also incorporate a wide variety of subject matter, themes and illustrative styles. Picturebooks are either fictional or non-fictional and many fall into different categories.
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Fiction picturebooks feature fictional characters, settings and plots and the themes often promote values such as friendship, perseverance, tolerance, facing fears etc. Fictional characters can be people, animals or objects or fantasy or imaginary creatures.
Non-fiction picturebooks are often referred to as informational or factual picturebooks. They combine words and pictures to create an aesthetic literary experience and to impart knowledge, facts and ideas about the world in a truthful and reliable manner. High quality informational picturebooks present information in a way that inspire children to think, question, feel, connect and wonder rather than simply accept an explanation.
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Informational picturebooks appear in a variety of genres using different formats and media. They include topic books which address one specific theme such as dinosaurs or insects, concept books, number books, ABC books, (auto)biographies, activity books, picture dictionaries, pop-up books and wimmelbooks. They present real-world information to extend existing knowledge. They include a melange of visual media to support the words, such as artwork, photography, diagrams, maps, charts, and include different formats and layouts such as text boxes, cut-away pages, flaps, author’s notes, glossaries, indices and content pages. Many include diverse typographic features such as differences in typeface, font, size and directionality of text. For example, text may be written vertically, in wavy lines or follow the contour of an illustration or diagram.
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There are generally three main types of informational picturebooks that lend themselves well to the ELT classroom:
- Non-fiction which uses an expository/descriptive and explanatory writing style to convey information, facts, figures. These picturebooks often form part of a topic-book series such as the Picture Puffin Fact Book Series. Literary devices are sometimes used, for example, alliteration (Wiggling Worms at Work) or onomatopoeia (Splish, Splash, Splosh!), a book about water.
- Fiction or verse – information is conveyed through a narrative, for example, The Great Kapok Tree or through verse such as Compost Stew.
- A hybrid form combining elements from 1) and 2) – children follow a narrative and factual information is presented separately as statements to differentiate from the narrative. For example, The Emperor’s Egg, The World Came to My Place Today, 10 things I can do to help my world.
Reference: ELT Footprint March 2020: Using picturebooks to inspire children to become environmental advocates.
Bibliography:
10 things I can do to help my world, Melanie Walsh, Walker Books.
Compost Stew – An A – Z Recipe for the Earth, Mary McKenna Siddal, Illustrated by Ashley Wolff, Dragonfly Books.
Splish, Splash, Splosh! Mick Manning and Brita Granström, Franklin Watts.
The Emperor’s Egg, Martin Jenkins illustrated by Jane Chapman, Walker Books.
The Great Kapok Tree – A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest, Lynne Cherry, Voyager Books.
The World Came to My Place Today, Jo Readman illustrated by Ley Honor Roberts, Eden Project Books.
Wiggling Worms at Work, Wendy Pfeffer illustrated by Steve Jenkins, Harper Collins.
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Concept picturebooks educate and teach children about various concepts and subjects in a simple and engaging way. Concepts include colours, size, shape, time, numbers, alphabet, opposites, cause and effect and more complex concepts like emotions, diversity, environment, science, geography, etc. Concept books can belong to both fiction and non-fiction categories.
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Wordless picturebooks are picturebooks with no, or very few, words. In fact, all wordless picturebooks do contain some words in the title, the author’s name, the blurb on the back cover etc. Many also contain intra-iconic text which is where text and words form part of the image such as those shown on environmental text as in street or shop signs. However, the narrative is told through the pictures which must be read as carefully as any words. Wordless picturebooks teach essential narrative conventions which are as much a part of a reader’s competence as the ability to decode print.
Learners often develop a very special feeling for wordless picturebooks as they are invited to decode the pictures for themselves. Each learner will read the book in their own unique way and according to their own personal lived experiences and backgrounds. They feel active and powerful in their role of finding words to shape the story. Where the narrative medium is solely the images, learners seem more aware of their own contribution in making the pictures tell a story and feel satisfaction in the productive partnership they enter with the artist – they begin to acquire metacognitive strategies. A wordless picturebook offers an open invitation where personal interpretation counts rather than finding a right or wrong answer, and they promote a sense of power, creativity and freedom. As learners decode the picture narrative, they develop visual literacy and emotional literacy as they interpret gestures and facial expressions in the illustrations.
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According to IBBY, wordless books are sometimes also referred to as silent books and have been used in response to the arrival of refugees from Africa and the Middle East arriving on the Italian island, Lampedusa, as they can be understood and enjoyed in a community that does not speak a common language.
You can read more about the project here:
Here are some wordless picturebook recommendations and a parley (video) by Gail Ellis, Tatia Gruenbaum & Sandie Mourāo for PEPELT, titled: Wordless Picturebooks:Dispelling Myths.
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“My aim is to foster conversations between the lines of my penwork and the eyes of the reader. I want to help them slow down. To stay awhile. And in doing so, provide a path for a personal decoding of the story; something unique for each reader to hold and feel and explore. Without words to dictate what they ought to be looking for they have to find their own way. Without words to pace them for their page turns, they’re welcome to dwell as long as they like. And somehow, through this odd exchange something mysterious is born. Sometimes it’s empathy as they project themselves onto the voiceless characters within. Sometimes it’s excitement or surprise as they find answers on their own. I’d like to think there’s wonder in there. Curiosity. But perhaps the most meaningful result would be an awareness of self that only comes when we’re quiet enough to feel it.”
Extract from Aaron Becker’s acceptance speech for the 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration for his wordless picturebook The Tree and the River.
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- Ellis, G. 2018. ‘The picturebook in elementary ELT: Multiple literacies with Bob Staake’s Bluebird’ in Using Literature in English Language Education edited by Janice Bland. London: Bloomsbury Academic
- Ellis, G., Gruenbaum, T. 2023. Picturebook lesson series : Exploring social issues. British Council.
- Ellis, G., Gruenbaum, T. & Mourāo, S. (2021). Wordless Picturebooks: Dispelling Myths. PEPELT.
- Nodelman, P. (2015), ‘The Scandal of the Commonplace’, in Janet Evans (ed.), Challenging and Controversial Picturebooks. Routledge.
