The Reading Chair: Winter 2024
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Educators think about many things when selecting children’s books, including what they know about child development. Similarly, effective children’s book authors and illustrators consider how their work and the techniques they use connect to and support children’s growth and learning. Take, for example, the use of negative space, which is the blank space around objects in an illustration. Illustrators use clear, bold images with negative space to elicit attention, interest, and emotional responses. This technique helps draw the eye directly to the subject and heightens the impact and emotion conveyed by an illustration. This can be a helpful feature in children’s book illustrations since too much visual information may overwhelm children’s attention and cause them to lose interest.
Educators can look for books with illustrations that use negative space effectively. For example, in I Am Wriggly, Michael Rosen uses negative space to make the energetic rabbit really bounce off the page. In A House, Kevin Henkes leaves blank space around the house and then creates a story by varying the details in that space. Of course, there’s no one way to illustrate a picture book. Don’t miss Dim Sum Palace, by X. Feng. It’s full of detailed illustrations, and the eye nonetheless knows exactly where to look.
As you think about these and other books, consider how the illustrations will draw attention, interest, and emotional responses from the children in your setting.
—Isabel Baker and Miriam Baker Schiffer
A House
By Kevin Henkes. 2023 (board book).
New York: HarperCollins. 36 pp. Ages birth to 4.
In his unique way, Henkes turns a simple house into a brilliant concept book. A House touches on shapes, time of day, math, directionality, color, nature, and family, all in a way that is engaging for very young readers. Each spread pairs an illustration of a house with questions about it, such as “Where is the door?” and “What color is it?” Later spreads introduce new elements (a sun and birds in the morning, stars at night) and questions. The format encourages interaction—younger readers can point to the elements, while older readers may enjoy answering the questions. In the final pages, the book incorporates social and emotional themes as Henkes introduces the family and pets who live in the house and declares it “a home.”
Originally published in hardcover, the title is now available as a board book. We are partial to the board book format: the pages are generously sized and offer plenty of room for the bold, clear illustrations to shine. Teachers can include this book in an inquiry about houses and different types of homes. Toddlers and preschoolers can use paint, markers, crayons, clay, or other materials to represent aspects of their own homes and family members.
I Am Wriggly
By Michael Rosen. Illus. by Robert Starling. 2023.
New York: Walker Books. 32 pp. Ages 2 to 5.
Michael Rosen, of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt fame, is a master of interactive rhyme. In this recently published book, he uses delightful vocabulary choices (jiggle, wriggle, joggling, bobbling, wobbling, higgledy, piggledy, and much more) to describe a rabbit that cannot stop bouncing around. The rabbit’s energy is joyful and infectious, and many young children will identify with the feeling that they just have to move, a feeling that they are often asked to tamp down. Starling’s colorful illustrations are full of action and expression so that it feels almost as if the rabbit is in the room with the reader. Effective use of negative space makes the rabbit pop.
Educators can use this book to encourage children to move in different ways, practicing the vocabulary as they go. They may find it especially helpful when children need to get their wriggles out.
Pepper and Me
By Beatrice Alemagna. 2024.
New York: Astra Publishing. 48 pp. Ages 4 to 7.
Quirky books are often the most memorable, and this one fits the bill. In this imaginative story, a girl falls on the cobblestones and ends up with a big scab on her knee. She doesn’t like falling, she doesn’t like the blood, and she doesn’t like being stuck with the scab. But what can she do? She works through it, naming the scab Pepper and having conversations with her. The story covers self-care, healing, resilience, and the impermanence of so much of the human experience. All of it is told authentically from a child’s perspective, with plenty of humor to engage children and adults alike. Emotional learning isn’t the only thing the story offers. There’s also, subtly, the science of how wounds heal. The illustrations are delightful. Mostly muted colors, what stands out are the bright orange shocks of hair, the poppies, and the scab itself. Children are fascinated by their own cuts and scabs and will love telling the stories behind their own falls and scrapes.
Dim Sum Palace
By X. Fang. 2023.
New York: Tundra. 48 pp. Ages 4 to 8.
In the early days of the pandemic, writer and illustrator X. Fang found herself dreaming of dim sum, an experience full of bustle and sensory delights. Drawing inspiration from In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak, she created a story in which a little girl, Liddy, dreams up a magnificent dim sum feast and narrowly avoids being eaten after she is made into a dumpling. Fang’s artwork stands out: the wafting aromas, the bustling kitchen, and the expressions of the hungry empress and the girl she almost eats are all alluring. After she wakes up, Liddy takes a real-life trip to the Dim Sum Palace to eat with her family. Fang’s illustrations capture the huge dining room full of families; food is a family affair. Every inch of this book has something to delight in. The book jacket draws the reader in. Beneath it, the front and back covers are designed to look like a dim sum menu. The endpapers feature endless types of dim sum, all labeled, both informative and mouthwatering.
The story lends itself well to being extended in the classroom. Children can learn more about different ingredients and recipes, share their family’s food traditions, make menus of restaurants they’d like to visit, and imagine food-related adventures in dramatic play.
Words Between Us
By Angela Pham Krans. Illus. by Dung Ho. 2023.
New York: HarperCollins. 40 pp. Ages 4 to 8.
Felix’s grandma arrives from Vietnam for their first meeting ever. They are eager to share their knowledge and interests with each other. Felix shows Grandma around the city and teaches her how to play the drums. Grandma shows Felix pictures of her village and teaches him songs from her childhood. When they get separated at a city festival and Grandma doesn’t know how to ask for help in English, Felix realizes that welcoming Grandma also means teaching her English. Many children are cared for by their grandparents; this story shows the ways that grandchildren care for their elders too. And the separation at the festival adds emotional complexity. The writing is tight and concise, and the story offers children a glimpse of Vietnamese culture and language.
Children are fascinated by languages as well as families, and many have grandparents or relatives who don’t speak English. Educators can use this book to start conversations about multilingualism, learning words in other languages, ways we communicate and connect with loved ones, and immigration experiences.
Copyright © 2024 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.
