Picturing a Story
By Nancy Scheinkman

"We can't read that book yet!" A first grader exclaimed. One of his classmates frowned at me and complained, "That book is too hard for me to read!"

These were just some of the reactions I got from my first graders when I showed them the book they would read to me. But I knew they'd be able to read it. "You'll be surprised to learn that you can read this book without reading the words," I explained. "There are other ways to read a picture book. I'm going to teach you how."

What do you see? I held up the book and asked, "What do illustrators do?" Usually, at least one child responds that illustrators draw the pictures in the book. I explained that illustrators have to draw what the words say but they may render the pictures in their own way. As an example, I held up a sentence strip: "The black cat sat in the flower garden," and I read it to the students. "If you were the illustrator, what would your picture look like?" I asked them. "What images do you see when you hear those words?"

One little girl told us about a cute black kitten sitting among giant orange and red flowers. A little boy saw a big black cat sitting on top of the flowers, crushing them with his weight. I pointed out that illustrators can interpret the words in many different ways as long as they depict the author's meaning. The children realized the cat can have any expression, be drawn from any angle and there can be any kind of flowers in the garden. If illustrators do their job correctly, a reader should be able to follow the story in a picture book without using the words. I assured the class that by reading the illustrations, they could indeed read the book.

How to read pictures. I find this lesson is particularly successful when presented early in the year, before students have identified the "non-readers" in the class. I approach the activity in a non-competitive manner – it should be fun and build the students' confidence.

One of my favorite books for this activity is Too Many Lollipops by Robert Quackenbush (Golden Books, 1987). The illustrations follow a logical sequence, building on the previous activity in the plot. The illustrations are descriptive, yet simple and the story itself is funny. Of course, you can use any book with this lesson as long as it has evocative illustrations and the story isn't too familiar to the students already.

I hold up the book as if I'm going to read the story, but I cover the words. I only tell the students the name of the main character, a duck named Henry. We look at the first page and I ask them what is happening in the illustration.

"Henry is on the phone!" one eager first grader volunteers.

"That's right," I respond. "To whom do you think he is talking? What do you think he's saying?"

That question is usually followed by silence because the students haven't yet learned how to "read" the illustrations and study them for all the clues that are given. I prod them with a few more hints. "What is Henry doing with his wing? What kind of expression does he have on his face?"

"He has his wing on his head!"

"He looks upset!"

"He looks mad!"

"Try putting your hand on your head and making the face Henry is making," I suggest. "What are you feeling?"

By that time, somebody figures out that Henry's head hurts. Then it's logical to assume that Henry is on the phone with a doctor. Once we interpret the first illustration, the rest of the "reading" follows along to the funny conclusion. By the time we reach the end of the book, the students are thrilled to realize that they can "read" even if they cannot decode all the words.

Words can evoke different images in the minds of different people, as is shown above by the three varied interpretations of the simple sentence, "The black cat sat in the flower garden."

Stories in pictures. The children then illustrate their own book. I give them a choice of subjects for their book, and I'm always open to their suggestions. Some past titles have been "Duck Olympics," "Hippopotamus Ballet" and "Alligator's Vacation."

Students fold a sheet of paper in half. The front of the paper is the cover, with the title of the book, the author/illustrator's name and a picture. Words appear only on the cover page. The inside of the front cover depicts the beginning of the story. The inside of the back cover is the middle of the story, and the back of the paper is the end of the story. The students draw their illustrations and color them with crayons, markers or colored pencils.

When the students have finished their books, we share them in a variety of ways. One way is to present the book in the same manner as I started the lesson, by having the student illustrator hold the book up as the rest of the class "reads" it to him or her. One drawback to this method is that some students' illustrations are difficult to interpret. I therefore prefer having students present their books by "reading" them to the class on a voluntary basis. It's rare for first graders not to want to show their stories. Another enjoyable way to share the books is to have round-robin groups so that students get to share their books with a small group.

After the completion of this activity, it's encouraging to see a new sense of accomplishment in children who have difficulty reading. In addition, students engage in positive, complimentary behavior. "I really liked your story about the alligator's trip to the beach," one little girl tells another. A boy enthusiastically comments, "Your hippo story was funny!" The students also learn how an illustrator helps to write a book. As they continue learning to read, they may find that studying the illustrations helps them figure out the text. They're finding out that a picture truly is worth a thousand words.

Nancy Scheinkman is a preK-6 art teacher in Orange, CT.