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PIC T U RE
T H IS

Visual Literacy as a Pathway to Character

Understanding
Lori Ann Prior

Angeli Willson

Miriam Martinez

What do a mouse, an angry girl, and a terrible monster have in common?

Theyre all characters intentionally illustrated to provide ways for
children to interpret literature for literary understanding.
Alicehaving nothing to dopeeped into the
book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or
conversations in it, and what use is a book, thought
Alice, without pictures or conversations? (Carroll,
1865, p. 11).

t is likely Alice would be even more enamored

with pictures if she encountered contemporary
fictional picture books in which illustrations so
often play a critical role in developing literary
elementsthose building blocks of fiction that enable
readers to understand, interpret, and respond to
literature. Literary elements such as setting, plot, and
character are intertwined and all make significant
contributions to a readers understanding and
interpretations of stories (Lukens & Cline, 1995).
However, we believe that character may be
particularly critical to literary meaning making,
and in this article we explore the kinds of pictorial
information young children use to gain insights into
the characters they meet in fictional picture books
and how teachers can help children learn to more
fully use this pictorial information.

Lori Ann Prior is a PhD graduate from The University of Texas at San
Antonio, USA; e-mail loriprior@me.com.

Characters and Character

Development
Characters are important to readers for many
reasons. First, characters enlist readers, hold their
interests, unravel plots, and affect lives (Martinez
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pp. 195206

& Roser, 2005, p. vi). Kiefer (2010) observed that

characterization in childrens literature is so important
that even long after we have forgotten the names (p.
18) of picture books from our childhood, we often still
recall the names and personalities of many characters
because they came alive in the pages of books, and
will forever live in our memories (p. 19).
However, characters do more than draw readers in
and entice them. Characters have been described as
the driving force of stories (Cullinan & Galda, 1998),
and Emery (1996) argued, character states, such as
their desires, feelings, thoughts, and beliefs, are the
glue that ties the story together (p. 534).
These arguments suggest that character
understanding may be crucial to readers literary
meaning making, especially in light of the
interconnections that exist among character
intentions, conflicts, and thematic understanding
(Golden & Guthrie, 1986). In fact, in her study
of childrens understanding of literary theme,

Angeli Wilson is a doctoral candidate at The University of Texas at San

Antonio, USA; e-mail willson104@hotmail.com.
Miriam Martinez is a professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio,
USA; e-mail miriam.martinez@utsa.edu.

DOI:10.1002/TRTR.01098

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Lehr (1991) found that children

who discussed character motivation
were better able to talk about the
central theme of the stories they read.
Therefore, understanding characters
may serve as an important pathway to
deeper levels of meaning.

Readers must thoughtfully attend to both sign

systemsthe visual as well as the verbalto
deeply understand the characters.

Character Development
Through Illustrations
Characterization in stories
including picture bookscan be
complex, encompassing character
traits, motivations and goals, feelings,
and relationships. In stories without
illustrations, we know that readers
learn about a character through what
the character says and does, through
what others say about the character,
and through what the narrator reveals.
However, how do these different facets
of character emerge in picture books?
The question is important given the
unique nature of picture books in which
stories are told through the interplay of
pictures and text (Arizpe & Styles, 2003;
Nodelman, 1988; Schwarcz & Schwarcz,
1991; Sipe, 2008a). It is because of this
interplay that picture books have been
described as stories told twice, once

Pause and Ponder

Do I value and attend to illustrations as

much as the written text during picture
book read-alouds?

How can we make sure children become

aware of the devices illustrators use to
develop characters in picture books?

Why is it important to understand

illustrators contributions in the
development of characters in picture
books?
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through the text and once through illustration (Agosto, 1999, p. 267).
Given the significant contributions of
both illustrations and written words in
picture books, readers must thoughtfully
attend to both sign systemsthe
visual as well as the verbal to deeply
understand the characters. However,
Sipe (2008a) argued that reading visual
images is not something children do
automatically; rather it is something that
must be learned. Thus readers need to
develop insights into the principles of
visual art, including understandings of
the commonly held meanings conveyed
by color, line, shape, and texture (Sipe,
2008a).
For example, when children
encounter the extensive use of red in
story illustrations, if they are familiar
with cultural associations for the color,
they are likely to perceive anger, danger,
or love depending on the context of
the colors use in the illustration. Also,
when children are taught to understand
artistic conventions such as perspective,
size, position on the page, and the use of
frames, they are better able to interpret
illustrators uses of these devices when
they encounter them in the artwork in
picture books (Moebius, 1986).
Although these principles and
conventions come into play as
illustrators work to craft the various
elements of stories including character,
there is not complete agreement on how
characters are revealed in picture books.
In their discussion of characterization,
Nikolajeva and Scott (2001) maintained

that the illustrations in picture books

lend themselves to developing external
facets of character such as appearance,
gender, and age, whereas internal
facets of character are more likely to
emerge through the authors words.
Nonetheless, these scholars do concede
that some facets of inner character can
be revealed through illustrations by
means of character poses, gestures,
and facial expressions [that] can disclose
emotions and attitudes (p. 82).

Deliberate Attention to Visual

Possibilities
However, illustrations in picture books
may contribute far more to character
development than what Nikolajeva
and Scott (2001) suggested. In their
analysis of the development of literary
elements in picture books, Martinez
and Harmon (in press) found that
visual information in picture books for
younger children played a dominant role
in the development of character traits,
interests, and emotions. Moebius (1986)
and Nodelman (1988) also described
ways that illustrators convey meaning
about character, including through
the use of color and the positioning of
characters on the page.
Given the potential importance of
illustrations in character development,
young children reading (or listening to)
picture books must attend not only to
the words of stories, but also to visual
information if they are to understand
the characters they meet in picture
books. In his investigations of young

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childrens meaning making during

storytime, Sipe (Sipe, 2008a; Sipe &
Brightman, 2005; Sipe & Ghiso, 2005)
found that his subjects did work to
understand the feelings, thoughts, and
motivations of the characters they met
in stories, and illustrations were a rich
source of information the children used
in making these character inferences.
Sipe also reported on some of the visual
conventions the children relied on as
they worked to understand characters,
including the use of color to convey
emotion and line to convey character
movement.
However, illustrators use a variety
of devices to bring their characters
to life, and given the importance of
picture book illustrations in developing
characters, we wanted to gain greater
insight into the kinds of visual
information that young children draw
on in their attempts to understand
characters. Therefore, we undertook
an investigation in a second-grade
classroom to address the following
question: What kinds of pictorial
information do young children use to
gain insights into the characters they
meet in picture books?

What We Did
The second-grade classroom in
which we observed is located in an
elementary school in rural South Texas
that primarily serves white (49%) and
Hispanic (49%) students. There were 12
children, 4 boys and 8 girls, in the class
in which we conducted our study.
Because we wanted to know what
kinds of visual information children use
to understand characters, we selected
three picture books with particularly
rich characterization for the teacher
to read aloud to her studentsWhen
Sophie Gets AngryReally, Really
Angry by Molly Bang (1999), Leonardo
the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems

(2005), and Lillys Purple Plastic Purse by

Kevin Henkes (1996). Table 1 contains
summaries of the three books. The
classroom teacher indicated that she
had never read the three books to her
students.
For each of the three stories, we
selected three illustrations to use in
talking with the children. We chose
each illustration with an eye toward
ensuring that the children would have
the opportunity to talk about pictures in
which illustrators used a variety of visual
elements and conventions to develop
characters.
In Table 2, we describe the
illustrations the children were asked
to talk about and identify devices
used in each illustration that conveyed
information about the characters.
Because the pages in the books are
not numbered, we identify the pages
to which the children responded by
referring to openings, using Sipes (2008a)
definition of the term in which the first
opening is the two pages where the text

of the book begins and the openings are

numbered after this (p. 256).
Over the course of three weeks,
two of us (Lori and Angeli) visited the
second-grade classroom once a week
during story time. On each visit we
observed as the teacher read aloud and
talked with her students about one
of the stories. During story time the
teacher invited the students to sit on the
floor in front of her as she read.
The teacher ensured that each
student could see the illustrations in
the book, and she even asked students
to move closer when she thought they
might not be able to see the pictures.
When there were relatively few words
on a page, the teacher held up the book
as she read so the students could see
the illustrations. For pages with more
extended text, the teacher typically
would read and then hold up the book
so children could see the accompanying
illustration.
Story time was an interactive
experience in this second-grade

Table 1 Summaries of Books Used in the Study

Book
When Sophie Gets Angry
Really, Really Angry by Molly
Bang

Summary
When Sophies little sister takes away her toy, Sophie becomes
really, really angry. In her anger, she runs outside and runs and
runs. Gradually Sophie begins to notice the natural world around her
and slowly starts to calm down. Finally Sophie, relaxed and happy,
returns home to her welcoming family.

Leonardo the Terrible Monster by

Mo Willems

More than anything, Leonardo longs to be a terrible monster. After

much research, he selects Sam (the most scaredy-cat kid in the
world) as his victim. When Leonardo sneaks up on Sam and gives
it all he has, Sam begins to cry. Leonardo is delighted by his
successuntil Sam reveals the real reasons for his tears. Only then
does Leonardo undergo a complete change of heart, deciding it is
best to be a wonderful friend rather than a terrible monster.

Lillys Purple Plastic Purse by

Kevin Henkes

When Lilly brings her new purple plastic purse to school, her
beloved teacher, Mr. Slinger, tells Lilly to wait until recess to show it
to her classmates. Lilly cant wait, and when she shares the purse at
an inappropriate time, Mr. Slinger confiscates her treasure. Furious,
Lilly slips a nasty drawing of her teacher into his book bag. At the
end of the day when Mr. Slinger returns the purse, Lilly finds a kind
note from Mr. Slinger inside. Filled with remorse, Lilly must find a
way to make things right.

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Table 2 Book Openings Used in Interviews

Book
Leonardo the Terrible
Monster

Description of opening
Opening 1: Leonardothe sole figure in the
illustrationappears in the lower right-hand corner
of the double-page spread sitting slumped over with
a dejected expression.

Character element(s)
of note
Character feelings

Leonardo the Terrible

Monster

Character feelings
Opening 12 (right-hand page): Leonardo celebrates
having successfully scared Sam by strutting away from
Sam (who is on the opposite page) and doing an arm
tuck. Leonardo is in the lower portion of the page but
now appears in the middle of the page rather than in
the corner.

Leonardo the Terrible

Monster

Opening 16: This double-page spread is completely

filled with a close-up of Leonardos thoughtful-looking
face.

Change in characters
thought/perspective

Opening 6: On the left side of the double-page

spread appears an angry Sophie bent over in a
fighting stance. Her body is outlined by a series
of wavy red, orange, and purple lines. Sophie has
an angry look on her face. On the right side of the
spread, a highly stylized volcano is erupting. The
lava spewing from the volcano is the word EXPLODE
written in large, red letters. The background color is
purple.

Character feelings

When Sophie Gets

AngryReally, Really
Angry

Opening 12: In this double-page spread,

Sophie appears as a small figure sitting on the limb
of a huge tree, looking toward a body of water.
The tree covers most of the left page. The water
is a dark shade of blue, and the sky is an even
darker shade of blue. The grass is a bright
yellow-green. The line outlining Sophies body is
now orange.

Change in characters
feelings

When Sophie Gets

AngryReally, Really
Angry

Opening 15: On the left side of the double-page

spread, a smiling Sophie stands at the door
with outstretched hands. A yellow line surrounds
her body. Next to Sophie are the words Im home!
that are also outlined in yellow. On the right side of
the spread, Sophies smiling mother reaches out her
arms toward Sophie. Her sister works on a jigsaw
puzzle, as her father reads. The room is filled with
cheery colors.

Change in characters
feelings

Opening 7: On the right-hand page of this opening,

Henkes uses a series of panels to illustrate Lilllys
feelings and thoughts. On the top of the page appear
three panels picturing Lilly looking first dejected and
then annoyed.

Character feelings and

thoughts and changes in
feelings

When Sophie Gets

AngryReally, Really
Angry

Lillys Purple Plastic

Purse

Two rows, each composed of three panels,

appear at the bottom of the page. The first panel
shows Lilly with her finger to her head appearing
to think. In the second panel, Lilly is portrayed
with huge eyes that are round, red spirals. Curly
lines emanate from her body. The third panel
shows Lilly with her left arm outstretched. An
image of a light bulb (symbolizing an idea) is drawn
next to her. In the next two panels, Lilly draws furiously,
and in the final panel she looks gleefully at her paper.

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Pictorial device(s) used to develop character

Facial expression
Body stance
Positioning of character in lower corner of the
page

Character actions
Facial expression

Zoom technique that reveals a close-up of

Leonardos face
Facial expression
Use of strong colors (reds, orange, yellow,
purple)
Use of lines surrounding Sophie that mirror
her stance
Character stance
Facial expression
Use of a symbol (volcano)

Use of cool colors (blues, green, white)

Change of the color outlining Sophie
Character stance

Use of bright colors (oranges, reds, yellow,

blue, and green)
The change of the color outlining Sophie
Characters stance

Facial expressions
Character actions
Distinctive use of line (downward eyebrows,
spiral eyes, curly lines emanating from Lilly) to
convey feelings
Use of a symbol (light bulb)

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Table 2 Book Openings Used in Interviews (Continued)

Book
Lillys Purple Plastic
Purse

Lillys Purple Plastic

Purse

Description of opening
Opening 9 (left page of the opening): At the top of the
page are two panels. In the first, Lillysurrounded
by musical noteslooks in her purse. In the second
panel, she reads a note, and the musical notes appear
broken. Her eyes are big and round. Four panels
appear at the bottom of the page, each depicting Lilly.
However, in each panel Lilly is drawn progressively
smaller.
Opening 15 (right page of the opening): Four panels
each depict a smiling Lilly. The first two panels show
her running; the third panel shows her jumping, and
the final panel shows Lilly leaping out of the panel (i.e.,
breaking the frame) with the tip of her right foot not
even in the picture.

classroom. The teacher typically began

each story session by talking a bit about
the issues in the story. For instance,
before reading the When Sophie Gets
AngryReally, Really Angry, she asked
the students to think about what makes
them happy and to think about what it
feels like when they are angry.
During and after the storybook
reading, the teacher asked questions
and invited discussions about the book.
During the reading, the children were
often asked to make predictions about
what might happen next in the story.
The teacher also posed simple recall
questions and encouraged students
to make connections between the
experiences of story characters and their
own personal experiences. However,
little if any of the talk during the readalouds focused on characterization as
revealed through illustrations.
The first week we visited the class,
the teacher read aloud When Sophie Gets
AngryReally, Really Angry; the second
week, she shared Leonardo the Terrible
Monster; and the third week, she read
aloud Lillys Purple Plastic Purse. As we
observed each read-aloud, we audio
recorded the talk and took notes so that
we could more fully describe the story
time interactions. Immediately after each

Character element(s)
of note
Change in characters
feelings

Change in characters
feelings

read-aloud, we talked with each student

individually in the school library.
During these interviews, we showed
each child the pre-selected illustrations
from the book one by one and asked,
What do you see in the illustration?
We typically followed up this initial
question by asking, How do you
know? or What clues help you know
that? Although we were interested
in gaining insight into the pictorial
information children used to understand
the story character, we never specifically
asked the children to talk about
character. We transcribed the audio
recordings of the interviews.

Student Insights
Into Character
Even though we did not ask the children
specifically about the characters in the
stories, this was the literary element all
the children chose to talk about as they
viewed the illustrationsillustrations
chosen because they featured main

Pictorial device(s) used to develop character

Facial expressions
Use of line (downward eyebrows, short lines
around Lillys face) to convey feelings
Use of a symbol (musical notes)
Change in character size across panels

Facial expression
Character actions
Breaking the frame

characters prominently. The children

made a variety of inferences about
the characters, including inferences
about character feelings, thoughts, and
relationships, as well as inferences about
changes in characters feelings, thoughts,
and relationships.
As we looked closely at the
childrens responses to determine
the kinds of visual information they
used to make character inferences,
we found that they were particularly
attentive to pictorial story content,
such as character actions, facial
expressions, and body posture, and the
way in which characters related to one
another. Children also referred to some
of the elements of art in supporting
character inferences, in particular,
the illustrators use of color and line.
However, we found that the children
did not appear to be attuned to many
of the visual devices intentionally used
by illustrators. In many cases, they
typically did not talk about symbols,

The children did not appear to be

attunedtomany of the visual devices
intentionally used by illustrators.
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yielded insights into the character. For

example, in Leonardo the Terrible Monster,
Emma, in discussing opening 12,
supported her inference about Leonardo
by referring to the actions of the
character that were revealed pictorially:
Interviewer (Lori): Whats happening
in this picture now?
Emma:

Hes [Leonardo]
happy because he
scared a little boy
and made him cry.

Interviewer (Lori): Yes? How do you

know that? How
does the picture give
you clues?
Emma:

position of characters, and other visual

content that clearly conveyed important
information about characters.
In the following section, we
share excerpts from the interview
transcripts that reveal the kinds of
visual information the children drew
on in supporting their inferences
about the characters they met in the
three books.

eyes, mouth, and eyebrows in opening

6 (see Table 2 for descriptions of
openings) of the story and understood
what this revealed about the character:
Interviewer (Lori): Tell me about this
picture. What do
you see happening?
Emily:

Pictorial Content
The second graders we interviewed were
all attuned to three types of pictorial
content that revealed significant
information about charactersfacial
expressions, body postures, and
characters actions.
Facial Expressions. In the book When
Sophie Gets AngryReally, Really
Angry, the facial expressions of the
main character conveyed important
information about Sophies (the
main character) feelings. Like most
of the children, Emily (all names are
pseudonyms) talked about the way
in which the illustrator drew Sophies

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It shows her about

to explode because
shes really mad.
Because her eyes
look mad and her
face isnt smiling.

Interviewer (Lori): What is her face

showing?
Emily:

Madness.

Interviewer (Lori): How is it showing

madness?
Emily:

Her mouth isnt

smiling, its just
straight and her
eyebrows are going
down.

Action. The children also discussed

ways in which a characters actions

Cause he is going
like this! [Emma
demonstrates
pulling her arm
in, doing the same
arm tuck done by
Leonardo.]

Interviewer (Lori): Can you describe

that?
Emma:

Going like. Yes, I

can do it!

Interviewer (Lori): It does? But how is

he doing it? He is
holding his hand
how?
Emma:

In a fist and going

like this. [Emma
demonstrates the
action again.]

Symbol. Two of the illustrations

we used contained symbols that
revealed information about characters
(see Table2). Although some of the
children talked about these symbols,
most did not. In opening 6 of When
Sophie Gets AngryReally, Really
Angry, author and illustrator Molly
Bang described Sophie as a volcano
ready to explode and included an

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In justifying their inferences about characters,

most students drew on their understanding
oftwo art elementscolor and line.
actual volcano in the illustration
with the word explode serving as the
lava emerging from the volcano. A
few of the children, including Caren,
talked about the meaning behind this
symbol:
Interviewer (Lori): What do you see in
that picture?
Caren:

Shes getting really,

really angry in this
picture.

Interviewer (Lori): How do you know?

Caren:

Because theres a
volcano over here
and theres an
explosion.

Interviewer (Lori): And what does that

mean to you?
Caren:

Color. In talking about When Sophie

Gets AngryReally, Really Angry,
almost all the children talked about
the illustrators use of color to convey
information about the main characters
feelings, in particular, associating the
use of red with Sophies feelings of
anger. Many also talked about how
changes in color signaled change in the
characters feelings. They stated that the
color red meant Sophie was angry, but
orange meant she was calming down. In
responding to opening 7, Aaron talked
about this change in color:
Interviewer (Lori): Can you tell me
what is happening
in this picture?
Aaron:

It means that shes

really, really, really
angry!

Interviewer (Lori): So when you see a

volcano you think
about.
Caren:

Something getting
angry and blowing
up.

Although most of the children did not

appear to understand the significance
of these symbols, we believe it is telling
that some children used them to better
understand story characters.

Pictorial Devices
In justifying their inferences about
characters, most students drew on their
understanding of two art elements
color and line.

This is where she

is getting all her
madness out and
she sits there and
is alone and where
she kind of like talks
to herself and tells
herself to calm down
because nobody
deserves that.

Interviewer (Lori): You said that here

she is calming
down. Is there
any clue that tells
you she is calming
down?
Aaron:

Cause it use to be
red around her and
now its turning
orange. She calmed
down and came
back home.

Although color was not a major device

used to convey character information
in Leonardo the Terrible Monster, one
student did pick up on a subtle use
of color when he observed that the
background color of the page was even
darker purple when the character was
feeling sadder.
Line. Most of the children talked about
illustrators use of line to communicate
information about characters. In discussing the seventh opening of Lillys
Purple Plastic Purse, which depicts an
angry Lilly in one panel with swirling
round lines for eyes, Aston had this to
say about Lillys eyes:
Aston:

Theyre red and they

look mad.

Interviewer (Lori): What else told you

that shes mad?
Aston:

The swirly things.

Although the children justified many

of their character inferences by pointing
out illustrators use of color and line,
there were three important pictorial
devices that contributed information
about characters that most children
did not talk aboutthe illustrators
manipulation of size, the position of
characters within the illustration, and
the breaking of frames that surrounded

Many [children]
talked about how
changes in color
signaled change in the
characters feelings.
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Interviewer (Lori): Do you think she

is really getting
smaller?

illustrations. Nonetheless, as the

following examples show, a few of the
children appeared to understand these
devices.

Dallas:

Size. In opening 16 of Leonardo the

Terrible Monster, Mo Willems completely
filled the double-page spread with a
close-up of Leonardos thoughtfullooking face. Yet only JoAnn talked
about the significance of the size
of Leonardos face in revealing an
important change in character:
Interviewer (Lori): Whats happening
on this page?
JoAnn:

He was making the

decisionthat he
would be his friend.
And not scare
anybody anymore.

Interviewer (Lori): You said he was

making a decision,
what kind of
decision?
JoAnn:

JoAnn:

Because of how
they drew his face,
everything is big!

Interviewer (Lori): Whats happening

in this picture?

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Breaking the Frame. In opening 16 of

Lillys Purple Plastic Purse, Lilly is again
portrayed in a series of four panels, and
in the fourth panel, a joyful Lilly is seen
leaping out of the panel (i.e., breaking
the frame). Vickie was one of the few
children to talk about the significance of
this artistic device:
Interviewer (Lori): What is happening
there?
Vickie:

She is getting
smaller and smaller
and smaller.

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Shes getting happy.

Shes smiling and
shes skipping and
hopping.

Interviewer (Lori): How can you tell

shes skipping and
hopping?
Vickie:

In opening 9 of Lillys Purple Plastic

Purse, Kevin Henkes also uses a
change in size to suggest an important
character change. In this opening,
Lilly is depicted in a series of four
panels, and in each panel Lilly is drawn
progressively smaller. In responding to
this opening, Dallas talked about this
change in size:

Dallas:

Although JoAnn and Dallas appeared

to understand the significance of these
size changes, size may be a more subtle
artistic device, because few of the other
second graders made references to these
size changes.

A big decision.

Interviewer (Lori): And what gives you

a clue that its a big
decision?

That she is getting

sad.

Because those
lines make her
hop. [student
pointing to a dotted
line showing
the pathway of
the characters
movement]

What We Learned
The interview excerpts that we have
shared show examples of children
using visual information to better
understand the characters they meet
in stories. However, we also found
that the children were not attuned to
many types of visual clues embedded in
illustrations. This suggests that teachers
have important work to do in fostering
childrens visual literacy.
The second graders supported
their character inferences largely by
attending to the facial expressions,
body posture, and character actions
depicted in illustrations, as well as
their understandings of the ways that
illustrators use color and line to convey
character information. Yet the images
we shared with children contained other
important visual information that the
children either missed or did not talk
about.
For instance, in one of the
illustrations from Leonardo the Terrible
Monster, a dejected Leonardo is
positioned in the bottom corner of
the page. None of the children talked
about this use of positionality to convey
character information. Also, most of
the children did not make mention of
the symbols illustrators embedded in
illustrations or the use of the artistic
devices of changing the size of a
character and showing a character

Interviewer (Lori): Anything else you

want to tell me?
Vickie:

That shes hopping

out of the picture.

Interviewer (Lori): And what does that

tell you?
Vickie:

That shes really

happy.

Teachers have
important work to do
in fostering childrens
visual literacy.

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2008b, p. 213). In fact, Sipe (2008a)

described teachers as the enablers of
childrens meaning making from picture
books (p. 386). Stepping into this
supportive role, with the aim of helping
children learn to use illustration clues
(as well as text clues) to understand
characters, requires that teachers
prepare for and carefully orchestrate
read-alouds.

Preparing for Read-Alouds

breaking the frame surrounding an

illustration.
We believe that our findings dovetail
with the work of others who have
explored childrens responses to picture
books and suggest that young children
are capable of using visual information
to understand characters (Sipe, 2008b;
Sipe & Brightman, 2005; Sipe & Ghiso,
2005). Children also appear to be aware
of the importance of visual information
in picture books. At the conclusion of
each interview, we asked each child
how the illustrations in picture books
helped them. Their responses showed
they valued images for the information
they provided about characters.
For example, Vera responded by
saying, They help me think whats
happening in the story because
the motions that theyre doing.
Mike answered, Cause they show
expression. Aaron said, It [pictures]
shows what hes doing and his action,
how hes feeling. They show his mouth
and sometimes they put tears by eyes
that show that hes sad. JoAnn said

that pictures show if something is big

or little or the colors tell you something
too. She went on to say, When Sophie
got really really angry, it showed on the
body with colors.

What Teachers Can Do

Teachers have an important role in
enriching their students aesthetic
appreciation and understanding of the
visual features of picture books (Sipe,

Some teachers come to the read-aloud

with a background in art, but many
do not. For those with less knowledge
about art, a good first step is building
ones own understanding of how
illustrators convey meaning about
characters. In Table 3, we list some
resources teachers can use in learning
more about the illustrators craft.
To explore visual characterization
with children also requires the careful
selection of picture books for the read
aloud. In Table 4, we include a listing
of character-rich picture books and
identify visual devices of note that
the illustrators of these books use in
developing character.
Once a book is selected, we
recommend that teachers carefully
prepare for the read-aloud. Eeds and
Peterson (1991) envisioned teachers

Table 3 Professional Resources Containing Information About Illustrator Craft Books

Books
Bang, M. (2000). Picture this: How picture books work. New York: Chronicle.
Frohardt, D.C. (1999). Teaching art with books kids love. Golden, CO: Fulcrum.
Galda, L., Cullinan, B.E., & Sipe, L. (2009). Literature and the child (7th ed.). Independence, KY:
Wadsworth.
Kiefer, B.Z., & Tyson, C.A. (2010). Charlotte Hucks childrens literature: A brief guide. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Temple, C.A., Martinez, M., & Yokota, J. (2010). Childrens books in childrens hands.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Website
Mazza Museum: International Art from Picture Books: www.findlay.edu/offices/resources/mazza/
studenteducation/aboutschooltours/vocabulary.htm

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stepping into the role of curator

(p. 119), or one who helps students
develop literary insights. Preparation
is the key to becoming a curator, and
perhaps the best preparation is simply
lingering over and reflecting on ways in
which both the visual and verbal texts
work to convey important information
about characters. Also, in viewing
the illustrations, teachers can ask
themselves questions about characters:

What colors are used? What

do they seem to say about the
characters?

Do the lines communicate meaning

about character emotions? How?

Where is the character placed on

the page? What might this say
about the character?

What is of note about the facial

expressions of the character?

What do the actions and body

posture of the character tell us?

These steps should help to ensure that

teachers will be prepared to guide
children in their explorations of the
images in picture books.

Orchestrating Read-Alouds
Preparation for a read-aloud is an
important first step, but what happens
in the read-aloud is of paramount
importance. First, teachers must
ensure that all the children can see the
illustrations and that they have time to
linger over them. Just as we extended
invitations in our interviews to look
closely at illustrations, teachers too can
pose such invitations by asking, What
do you see? and How do you know?
Teachers can also ensure that
children have opportunities to talk
together, a strategy that is particularly
helpful to use with more complex
picture books (Pantaleo, 2002, 2004). As
children explore illustrations together,

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The Reading Teacher

Vol. 66

Issue 3

Table 4 Picture Books With Strong Character Development Through Illustrations

Book title
Amazing Grace

Artistic devices of note

Position
Size
Color

Pictorial content of note

Actions
Facial expression
Character relationships
Body posture

Art and Max

Color
Line

Body posture
Facial expression
Character relationships

Chester

Line
Color
Position
Size
Breaking the frame

Actions
Facial expression
Character relationships

Dont Let the Pigeon

Drive the Bus!

Position
Size
Colorbackground, font, and the
pigeons eye
Breaking the frame
Line

Facial expression
Body posture

Hooway for Wodney

Wat

Position in relation to other characters Facial expression

(different from position on page)
Body posture
Size of character clearly set apart
from other characters
Size

Knuffle Bunny Free

Size (zoom in and zoom out)

Facial expression
Body posture

Llama Llama Red

Pajama

Lines
Color (background color)
Size

Facial expression
Character relationships

Mitchells License

Position
Line
Color
Symbols

Actions
Character relationship
Facial expression

No, David!

Position

Facial expression
Body posture

Officer Buckle and

Gloria

Breaking the frame

Line

Facial expression
Character relationships
Body posture
Actions

Olivia

Position
Color

Body posture
Actions

Owen

Perspective(looking down on Owen) Facial expression

Body language
Behavior

Petunia

Size
Breaking the frame

Actions
Facial expression

Scaredy Squirrel

Size
Position

Actions
Facial expression
Body posture

The Boss Baby

Position
Lines

Facial expression
Actions
Symbols
Character relationships

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Table 4 Picture Books With Strong Character Development Through Illustrations (Continued)
Book title
The Odd Egg

Too Many Tamales

Artistic devices of note

Position
Size
Breaking the frame
Size (of the faces)
Position

Wemberly Worried

Lines
Position
Where the Wild Things Position
Are
Size
Color

they extend and refine one anothers

responses, which is just what happened
when Ms. McGlothlins students studied
the cover of A Beasty Story (Martin, 2002):
Jacob:

I think it is going to
be about the four
mice and the ghost
because they look
scared. They look
happy right here but
the ghosts scared
them too much.

Sara:

The mouse in the

middle is going
like this. [holding
her hands over her
mouth]

Ms. McGlothlin: Look at the mice real

close and see if they
are different.
Victor:

Sadie:

Because one is like

this and the next
one is like that and
the next one is like
this [mimicking
the motions/facial
expressions of the
mice on the cover].
And they have happy
faces.
But the last ones have
scared faces.

Pictorial content of note

Character relationships
Body posture
Actions
Actions
Facial expression
Character relationships
Body posture
Facial expression
Actions
Facial expressions
Character relationships

Not only do children benefit from

opportunities to explore illustrations
collaboratively, but also researchers have
found that when revisiting a familiar
picture book childrens insights into
illustrations (and the story) deepen even
further (Arizpe & Styles, 2003).
Finally, to help children learn more
about how illustrators communicate
character information, a teacher can
step into the role of curator during readaloud discussions and draw attention
to particular artistic devices illustrators
rely on to develop character (Maloch &
Duncan, 2006). For example, in sharing
Lillys Purple Plastic Purse, a teacher
might highlight the illustration of Lilly
breaking the frame by noting, This
picture tells me how happy Lilly is! She
is so happy that she is jumping right out
of the picture!
We began by talking about the
importance of character understanding
to literary meaning making. In picture
books, this means that readers must
be able to read both illustrations and
the text of stories. We believe that the
visual aspects of picture books have
never received the same attention as
written text. Therefore, it is only when
we take steps to ensure that children
understand the visual devices used
to convey character information that
children will be able to fully explore

the characters they meet in picture

books.
R E F E R E NC E S
Agosto, D.E. (1999). One and inseparable:
Interdependent storytelling in picture
storybooks. Childrens Literature in Education,
30(4), 267280. doi:10.1023/A:1022471922077
Arizpe, E., & Styles, M. (2003). Children reading
pictures: Interpreting visual texts. New York:
Routledge.
Cullinan, B.E., & Galda, L. (1998). Literature and
the child (4th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace
College Publishers.
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Emery, D.W. (1996). Helping readers
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Lehr, S.S. (1991). The childs developing sense
of theme: Responses to literature. New York:
Teachers College Press.
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handbook of literature for young adults. New
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Maloch, B., & Duncan, D. (2006, December).
Big loud voice: You have important thing
to say: The nature of students initiations

TA K E AC T I O N !
1. In preparing to read aloud a picture book,
think about the characterswhat are they
like, how do they feel, how do they change?
How do the illustrations help in conveying this
information? Be prepared to guide children in
recognizing these different facets of character.

2. When reading aloud, invite the children to

talk about what they learn about the characters
from the words and from the images.

3. During reading, encourage children

to talk about the characters.

4. Become a curator and talk with the

children about particular ways (the children
may not have noticed) that illustrators
help readers understand characters.

www.reading.org

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during one teachers interactive read-alouds.

Paper presented at the National Reading
Conference, Miami, FL.
Martinez, M. & Harmon, J. (in press). Picture/
text relationships: An investigation of literary
elements in picturebooks. Literacy Research
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Martinez, M., & Roser, N.L. (2005). Students
developing understanding of character. In
N.L. Roser, M. Martinez, J. Yokota, & S.F.
ONeal (Eds.), What a character! Character
study as a gateway to literary understanding

MORE TO EX PLORE
ReadWriteThink.org Lesson Plan
Using Picture Books to Teach Plot Development
and Conflict Resolution by Lisa Storm Fink

IRA Books
Childrens Literature in the Reading Program: An
Invitation to Read (3rd ed.) edited by Deborah A.
Wooten and Bernice E. Cullinan
What Should I Read Aloud? A Guide to 200
Best-Selling Picture Books by Nancy A. Anderson
IRA Journal Articles
Reading Pictures: Developing Visual Literacy
for Greater Comprehension by Kathleen
Ellen ONeil, The Reading Teacher, November
2011
Reading the Painting: Exploring Visual Literacy
in the Primary Grades by T. Lee Williams, The
Reading Teacher, April 2007
Young Children and Radical Change
Characteristics in Picture Books by
Sylvia Pantaleo, The Reading Teacher,
October 2004

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The Reading Teacher

Vol. 66

Issue 3

(pp. 613). Newark, DE: International

Reading Association.
Moebius, W. (1986). Introduction to picturebook
codes. Word and Image, 2(2), 141158.
Nikolajeva, M., & Scott, C. (2001). How
picturebooks work. New York: Garland.
Nodelman, P. (1988). Words about pictures: The
narrative art of childrens picture books. Athens:
University of Georgia Press.
Pantaleo, S. (2002). Grade one students meet
David Wiesners three pigs. Journal of
Childrens Literature, 28(2), 7284.
Pantaleo, S. (2004). Young children interpret the
metafictive in Anthony Brownes Voices in the
Park. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 4(2),
211233.
Schwarcz, J., & Schwarcz, C. (1991). The picture
book comes of age. Chicago: American Library
Association.
Sipe, L.R. (2008a). Storytime: Young childrens
literary understanding in the classroom. New
York: Teachers College Press.
Sipe, L.R. (2008b). Young childrens visual
meaning making in response to picturebooks.
In J. Flood, S.B. Heath, & D. Lapp (Eds.),
Handbook of research on teaching literacy through
the communicative and visual arts (Vol. 2, pp.
381391). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Sipe, L.R., & Brightman, A. (2005). Young
childrens visual meaning-making during
readalouds of picture storybooks. Fiftyfourth National Reading Conference yearbook
(pp. 349361). Chicago: National Reading
Conference.
Sipe, L.R., & Ghiso, M.P. (2005). Looking closely
at characters: How illustrations support
childrens understandings of character
through picturebook illustrations. In N. Roser
& M. Martinez (Eds.), What a characters!
Character study as a guide to literary meaning
making in grades K-8 (pp. 134153). Newark,
DE: International Reading Association.
L I T E R AT U R E C I T E D
Bang, M. (1999). When Sophie gets angryreally
really angry. New York: Blue Sky.

Carroll, L. (1865). Alices adventures in

wonderland. London, UK: Macmillan.
Dewdney, A. (2005). Llama llama red pajama.
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Durand, H. (2011). Mitchells license. Somerville,
MA: Candlewick.
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Gravett, E. (2009). The odd egg. New York: Simon
& Schuster.
Henkes, K. (1993). Owen. New York:
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Henkes, K. (2010). Wemberly worried. New York:
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Hoffman, M. (1991). Amazing Grace. New York:
Dial.
Lester, H. (2002). Hooray for Wodney Wat. New
York: Sandpiper.
Martin, B. (2002). A beasty story. New York:
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Rathman, P. (1995). Officer Buckle and Gloria.
New York: Putnam.
Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are.
New York: HarperCollins.
Shannon, D. (1998). No, David! New York: Blue
Sky.
Soto, G. (1996). Too many tamales. New York:
Puffin.
Watt, M. (2008). Scaredy squirrel. Toronto, ON,
Canada: Kids Can Press.
Watt, M. (2009). Chester. Toronto, ON, Canada:
Kids Can Press.
Wiesner, D. (2010). Art and Max. New York:
Clarion.
Willems, M. (2003). Dont let the pigeon drive the
bus. New York: Hyperion.
Willems, M. (2005). Leonardo the terrible monster.
New York: Hyperion.
Willems, M. (2010). Knuffle bunny free: An
unexpected diversion. New York: Balzer &
Bray.

November 2012

10/31/2012 3:46:03 PM

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