From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 15:11:08 -0500

Thanks for such thoughtful contributions to this discussion: Dorian, Sue, Christine, Kathleen, Robin, Maia, Marian, Sonya, Susan and Linda!


Linda, you mentioned Lynn Reiser's book "Any Kind of Dog" and referred to 16 other books written and illustrated by Reiser. I agree that Reiser is so gifted, and yet she still seems to lack the high visibility her incredible books deserve. There is always something new to discover each time we reread one of Lynn Reiser's books. Take it from me as one who has read "Christmas Counting" more times than I can count annually to a child who began at age three to love it and continues to request it long after she has "outgrown" it. Reiser is one of the fortunate book creators who is both writer and artist. She can add words, rearrange them, or take them out as she goes. Writers who are not also artists can't have that flexibility and control.

Let's think of board books as books with durable pages. If we think that way, then we realize that some of the picture books shrunk into board book formats have been made more usable in environments such as day care, where many little hands will hold these books - and, hopefully, have them read aloud, not just have them set out with toys to "handle" and toss aside. However, when "shrunk" actually means
"condensed," with the result that only part of the original picture book has now been transformed into a board book, or when a picture book better suited beyond toddler years is put into board book format, that's a different matter. For more about board books, look in your public library for Kathleen Horning's article "Board Books Go Boom" in The Horn Book Magazine (March/April 1997: pages 1550).

While you're at it, ask your librarian for the special issue of The Horn Book Magazine on Picture Books (March/April, 1998). You'll find much to think about in it, including an article "Making Picture Books: The Words" by Charlotte Zolotow" on pages 1859.

Over the weekend I observed the parent of an active 16-month-old toddler "read" a favorite board book with very few words in it. The parent made up more "story" for each double page spread than the book contained. The book was read complete with sounds and noises invented by the parent. Each page was turned by the child whenever the child was ready. The parent was patient. The book was for the child's pleasure, not for the adult to finish in record time. What a delightful experience to witness! Certainly it's always fine for an adult reader of board books to rely on the exact words. One hopes for that in a book as carefully written as "You Are My Perfect Baby" by Joyce Carol Thomas, illus by Nneka Bennett (Harper Growing Tree, 1999). After reading each of Thomas's lines, an alert adult reader will to point to the toes or nose of the baby pictured in the book and then to those of the baby on her/his lap. Exactly how a board book or picture book for young children is shared still requires an adult or older child with the patience to respond to the interest and attentiveness of the child(ren) enjoying the book at that moment. - Ginny


Ginny Moore Kruse (gmkruse at ccbc.education.wisc.edu) Cooperative Children's Book Center (www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/) A Library of the School of Education, University of Wisconsin Madison
Received on Tue 30 May 2000 03:11:08 PM CDT