Study Task 06: CoP3 Proposal

Study Task 07: CoP2 Project Statement

To what extent do picture and storybooks have an effect on children's visual development? The title of my essay was to explore the effects picture and story books have when it comes to the visual development of children. This essay question allowed me to research into factors for both positive and negative effects on picture books to encourage children to read and to also learn.

The texts and articles that I have read to help inform this essay have been helpful as it allowed me to gather arguments and quotes for both for and against the question and give an informative and knowledgeable answer based on what I gathered. The two articles that I found whilst carrying out my research were really helpful when it came to writing the essay, one article was in response to another therefore they both had good solid arguments for and against and the articles were incredibly informative and backed up with solid points. It was difficult to find more literature books to help with quotes and reasons to back up the essay as not many books I found talked about the use of picture books so it did become confusing at times.

Moreover, this research and essay was helpful to establish a brief for the practical project as I had all of the information there, it was just a case of deciding how to put it all together and produce a design piece relating to the written aspect of the module. It references my written piece of work as I have used direct quotes from my essay and referenced the texts I have used. 

Overall, I think the cross referencing and the links between both the written and the practical of this module both work alongside each other as the practical is a direct response to the essay and works for the positive side of the argument.

Practical: Poster Proposal For Schools

What to include:

- Why they should put these up in school
- Why they should hand the posters out as leaflets to parents so they read them
- A bit more information to why its beneficial
- Why having a poster up will encourage children to read

To whom it may concern,

This poster has been created to encourage parents to let their children read and interact with picture and story books as it will help them with their visual development. There are many benefits to picture books and it should be known to parents that children do not need to be giving them chapter books at such a young age. This poster is purposely colourful and informative for parents therefore appropriate for a school environment.

Practical: Final Poster

This is the final poster design for studio brief 2. I have decided with this design as I feel like it works best and like how the final design looks.

The poster works well for the target audience of children and parents as firstly, it is bright and colourful which will engage children and encourage them to read the poster but secondly its informative for parents as they have some quick points as to why picture books are important for their children and should hopefully encourage the use of them.

The practical outcome element for this part of the module is also a good link and response to the written aspect as it is encouraging the use of picture books which was concluded within my essay.

Practical: Looking At Colour For Poster

For the colours used on the poster, I wanted them to be made up of block solid colours and primary colours.

Practical: Poster Development

These images show further development of the poster design, I have played around with the colour and layout of the posters to see which works best. It was important to keep in mind how these posters would look as they will be placed around schools therefore need to be child friendly and exciting so children will be encouraged to look and read them. It also needed to be well informed for the parents.

Practical: Poster Initial Design

-Simple
-Include points from 'How picture books play a role in a child's development'
-Quote from 'Way's Of Seeing'
-Few illustrations
-Bold colours
-Bold typography

Initial small illustrations that could be used on the poster.

Practical: Video Research

Infant sensory video's

Video description:

"These videos are a great way to encourage eye co-ordination and focus in babies in the formative months of their lives. It is a well known fact that that while babies are very young, and their sight is developing, their vision is much more attuned to black and white, and high contrast images. Babies love bright and sharp images. You can see their eyes light up and their interest is visibly raised when presented with these strong images. Add to that the extra dimensions of movement and sound, and your baby will be suitably impressed!"

I thought it would be a good idea to watch small bits of a video like this because it can give me an idea of the colours used among these kind of videos so that they could possibly be used within the poster designs.

Study Task 06- Write A Brief (practical)

BA (hons) Graphic Design

Context of practice 2: Practical brief template

Name

Ciara O’Callaghan

Brief title

Picture books with Parents

Brief (outline the general aims of the project)

Produce a poster/series of posters to encourage/educate parents on the importance of picture books in order to progress their child’s visual development. It should have a positive focus on encouraging the use of picture books and the reasons and benefits to why they have a helpful impact on children’s visual development.

Background / considerations

Deliverables

-Poster design -Proposal/letter to schools to distribute to parents and to put up around schools -x6 design boards

Mandatory requirements (essential requirements that must be followed)

-Key focus on the target audience- Parents -Ensure the poster is also child friendly -Bright and bold colours -Ensure the poster(s) are informative -Link back to essay

Research: references to reading (essay)

Bosman, J. (2010). Picture Books No Longer A Staple For Children.Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html?src=tptw. Last accessed 8th August 2018. Calabrese, L. (2010). How Picture Books Play A Role In A Child’s Development. Available: https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2010/11/how-picture-books-play-a-role-in-a-child’s-development.html. Last accessed 8th August 2018.

Practical: Refined Ideas

Practical: Image Research

Practical: Initial Ideas

-Poster
-Book
-Magazine
-Website
-Leaflet
-Campaign
-Adverts

As I do have a limited time to complete this brief, I will need to think practically and sensibly about what will be realistic to complete in this time without it becoming too much or something rushed.

As this practical brief should basically answer the question of the critical writing piece, my initial thought is to create something which encourages parents to encourage the use of picture books.

To what extent do picture and storybooks have an effect on children's visual development?

Question I need to answer above.

Design piece needs to be:

-Immediate theme of picture books

-Discuss visual development

-Child friendly 

-Educate parents

-Explain efficiently 

Practical Brief

PART 2 (visual investigation):

In part 2 of this studio brief you will develop a graphic design response to your chosen question. Your practical work will build on your knowledge established through your critical writing and explore through practice the creative, practical and pragmatic issues and circumstances surrounding your chosen topic and question. In this way, your practical work should endeavour to "answer" your chosen question through practical means. Since you will be producing a graphic design response, your work must show that you have an increasingly advanced understanding of the purposes and processes of graphic design practice. That is, it must have a clear brief and a thoroughly documented and assessable design process.

Your practical outcome will be documented through design boards in the same way as is required from other studio modules. Be sure to cross reference information learned and established through your critical writing in the development and documentation of your practical response.

Practical Research: Lane Smith

It's A Book, Lane Smith

Playful and lighthearted with a subversive twist that is signature Lane Smith, It’s a Book is a delightful manifesto on behalf of print in the digital age. This satisfying, perfectly executed picture book has something to say to readers of all stripes and all ages.

 Reading Level: Age 6 and Up

This book was recommended by the previous article and is for a different age range, its recommended at ages 6 and above, again it is quite like 'Dogs' in the fact that its heavily illustrated and only uses a small vocabulary range. This book is more on the jokey side as it mocks modern society for using things like kindles and iPads for children to read rather than the physical book itself. This could be an interesting point to consider as this will draw away from a child's full development and reading skills.

Practical Research: Article

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/picture-books-all

These are their ideas for using The red tree:

Before reading 

• Complete a word search activity with emotion words. 
• Elicit further emotion words.
• Show and discuss the cover and opening picture entitled ‘Dawn’, which is part of the peritext.
• Ask the students questions, help them think about how the girl feels and predict what happens in the picturebook. “How do you think she feels?”; “What do you think the story is about?” etc

Reading the picturebook

• Read and show the picturebook, ensure you leave plenty of time for the students to look at the illustrations. 
• Read the book again, and if you have a class set, let students look at their copies.
• Talk about the illustrations, but don’t forget there is no right answer to anything. 
• In groups, ask them to make a list of the images that represent positive and negative feelings. (There is a supportive handout for this.)
• Follow up with students sharing their ideas with the rest of the class, give plenty of time for further discussion.
• Read the picturebook as many times as you feel necessary.

After reading 

• Create a red tree of hope: Give students red leaf shapes. Ask them to write positive emotion words on the leaves, place the leaves around a brown trunk.
• Make a class poem book: Ask students to complete a poem, using feeling words. (There is a supportive handout for this.) Students can also illustrate their poem. Put the poem sheets together into a class book.
• Self-evaluation sheet.

It's clear that the teachers are focusing on the visual and encouraging their students to talk about the impact this has on their understanding of the picturebook's message. They help the students focus on the puzzles they find within, and also reinforce the fact that there is no right answer. They provide opportunities for discussion, which later lead into structured supported writing activities. I would say this collection of activities is very appropriate for older students, wouldn't you? It's real communication in English for real reasons.

There are a number of picturebook titles that can be used in a similar way with older students in an ELT context and at the end of the month I hope to publish a list, made up of some of my suggestions and yours too. For the time being here are four possibilities and if you want to know why I think they are appropriate for older learners, ask me!

Browne, A. (1986) Piggybook, Julia London: MacRae/Walker Books
Erlbruch, W. (2007) Duck, death and the tulip Wellington: Gecko Press
McKee, D. (2006) Tusk, Tusk London: Andersen Press
Smith, L. (2010) It's a book New York: Roaring Book Press

Practical Research: Emily Gravett

Emily Gravett is a children's book illustrator and author. Her work was suggested to me from the previous article about being informative picture books for children.

Her website is incredibly interactive and child-friendly as the home page allows you to take a tour, showing you how to navigate around the website.

This is the bookshelf of all of Emily Gravett's books, you can arrange them by title but also by age, they rang from 0-8.

Dogs

Dog's is the first book that comes up recommended for ages 0-2, I don't own this book but I have done some research online about the pages that are included to get an idea of what they are like. As shown in the images above, there is very minimal text on the page and they are mostly filled with illustrations of dogs. I am assuming this kind of book would be read out to a child rather than them reading themselves at the ages of 0-2. I also wouldn't class this as the most informative kind of picture book that could be used to be teaching a child, it is more for their enjoyment.

Practical Initial Research: Article

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/helping-your-child/learning-english-through-picture-books

Picture books

Every year thousands of children’s picture books are published in the UK. Children’s corners in bookshops offer a bewildering choice of new and old favourites, illustrated by some of the best artists working in Britain today. Native-speaker children have many opportunities to enjoy these picture books; there is no reason why young children learning English as an additional language should not enjoy them, too.

The advantages of beginning early

From the very first introduction to listening to English, children can enjoy carefully selected picture books. Young learners soon pick up the short text of a picture book, if initially it is shared with an adult who brings the pages alive.

Children are already familiar with stories. From a very young age they talk in narrative style. It is through their stories of everyday experiences that they define themselves: expressing their ideas, hopes and emotions in language as well as in drawing and imaginative play.

Many children are already used to decoding stories and information from television or film in their home language, while others may have already enjoyed the interaction of sharing a picture book. Most children, if guided by a parent, soon work out how to transfer their individual decoding skills to get meaning from picture books in English.

Sharing picture books is not only about picking up another language, it is also about giving children a wider window on the world, guided by their parents. The one-to-one interaction of sharing picture books gives children added opportunities to develop holistically at their own speed and level, knowing that their parents are encouraging them. As children share more and more books their self-confidence develops. This can often be seen in the way they approach unfamiliar English and new experiences.

Picture books provide parents and children with an obvious reason for switching from their home language to speaking English. Parents who lack confidence in English find that the fixed text of a picture book is a useful prop. Apart from providing text to read and share, a picture book can be the basis for interaction, which parents can adjust to their child’s developing needs, interests and attainments.

Some parents may be concerned that introducing picture books will not fit in with their child’s school syllabus or text book. Sharing a picture book is an additional English learning experience that bonds families and helps children realise that speaking English at home is fun. Many families enjoy slipping English phrases picked up from picture books into everyday home language conversations. ‘Not now, Bernard’ is quite a favourite!

Learning from picture books

It takes time to build up a child’s readiness to talk about picture books in English. Children’s silence, however, does not mean that they are not listening and learning. Children usually understand more than they can say in words and, if the book experience is focused and fun, they usually want to pick up the new English at their own speed. Children are busy exploring their world and most are keen to find out something new, particularly if it is presented in an encouraging and attractive way.

Parents can underestimate their children’s ability to pick up more text each time a picture book is shared. Many are surprised to see how keen their children are to join in ‘reading’ if they are encouraged to finish off a sentence or say a stressed word like ‘No’ each time it occurs. Once children work out how to join in, they gradually extend their skills to pick up whole short sentences until, eventually, they can recite most of a text as they turn the pages to match it to the illustrations. Many a busy parent purposely skipping a little text has had their ‘mistake’ pointed out by their child!

Young children’s boredom threshold differs from adults’. Many may ask for the same book to be read and re-read. Parents need to respond positively to these requests as re-readings provide the natural repetition children may need for making meaning or picking up new language as well as confirming and refining language they have already acquired.

Picture books, sometimes referred to as ‘real books’, to distinguish them from graded text books, expose children to a range of language structures and vocabulary familiar to native-speaker children.

Illustrations in real picture books are not merely supporting understanding of language, as might be the case in many text books. The different styles of artwork naturally broaden children’s visual experiences. One of the delights of sharing picture books with children is that, on first viewing, children tend to look at an illustration as a whole but with repeated reading of the book, details and subtleties usually emerge.

The illustrations may be by well-known artists, pictures may be photographs or the books may contain 3D novelty paper sculptures. How exciting it is for children to hold art in their hands. There is no doubt that exposure to picture books increases visual decoding skills and over time influences creativity and the ability to appreciate design and illustration.

Picture books also help children find meaning within their own life. Children can pore over emotional situations contained within picture books that may help to relieve personal frustrations, or they can encounter exciting and imaginative experiences way beyond their own environment or even their dreams. Imagine the power a child feels as he or she firmly shuts a book and says, ‘GOODBYE Giant!’

Selecting picture books

Picture books may be:

• story books – short simple story text including conversation and rhyme
• information books, with short explanatory text
• rhyme books, which might introduce one story rhyme or an anthology of poems
• novelty books, with short text and 3D paper sculpture
• character series books, with an accompanying character doll or puppet.

Practical Initial Research: Article

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/learning-toolkit-blog/visual-literacy-through-childrens-picture-books.html

VISUAL LITERACY

Visual literacy means being able to read, understand, and create visual texts. Children's picture books give parents and teachers wonderful opportunities to help elementary school kids become visually literate.

Before children start school, they often want to talk about picture book illustrations. Sometimes this might be pointing and naming, perhaps followed by a little anecdote about what that picture reminds them of. Some children will ask questions about the picture, wanting perhaps to be sure they understand what we understand about that page. Parents naturally contribute to these discussions, and we love seeing our little ones involved with the story.

But we can also ask questions of our own that contribute to older children's understanding of the visual aspect of a picture book. Here are some questions I might use with elementary school kids, especially with those who assure me they're too old for picture books:

•    What do you notice in the picture?
•    Do the words exactly match what's happening in the illustration?
•    How does that picture/color make you feel?
•    What does that image remind you of?
•    How has the illustration changed/progressed from this page to the next?
•    Do the animals look real?
•    Why does the cat look sad?
•    Whose perspective is this illustration from?
•    How do you think the artist made these illustrations?
•    Why did the artist choose those colors, and why do they change here?

Pointing out special fonts and why they may have been chosen, the end papers (the images just inside the cover, often with a special illustration or a repeated pattern), the cover art, even the title, and pondering why they've been portrayed in such a way can lead to fascinating discussions with our elementary-aged kids.

Graphic novels, like those by Jeff Smith, and comics offer even more opportunities for discussions that will help children make sense of what they see. Simply examining panels to determine what characters' facial expressions and body language contribute to the dialogue helps children understand that there is more than one layer of meaning in a visual text. Older children can use highly visual texts to delve into symbolism, metaphor, onomatopoeia, and other literary devices.

Non-fiction picture books may have special visuals that children also need to understand. Look out for diagrams, graphs, pie-charts, and cross-sections in not only picture books but magazines and encyclopedias. Explain to kids that such visuals present information at-a-glance that would otherwise take a long time to get across in words.

Sharing a picture book with kids should, above all, be fun. I find that often older kids will on the one hand assure me they're too old for picture books, and next minute be diving into picture books and recalling old favorites! By using picture books to help our children really think about what they see, we are contributing to their visual literacy, and helping them become more media-savvy in real life. Best of all, we're reminding our children of the joy reading can bring -- and that's priceless!

Part 2: Visual Investigation Brief

PART 2 (visual investigation):

In part 2 of this studio brief you will develop a graphic design response to your chosen question. Your practical work will build on your knowledge established through your critical writing and explore through practice the creative, practical and pragmatic issues and circumstances surrounding your chosen topic and question. In this way, your practical work should endeavour to "answer" your chosen question through practical means. Since you will be producing a graphic design response, your work must show that you have an increasingly advanced understanding of the purposes and processes of graphic design practice. That is, it must have a clear brief and a thoroughly documented and assessable design process.

Your practical outcome will be documented through design boards in the same way as is required from other studio modules. Be sure to cross reference information learned and established through your critical writing in the development and documentation of your practical response.

Deliverables:

 6 design boards documenting your graphic design response

Bibliography

Kolb, A (2015). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development . 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. p20.

Kolb, A (2015). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development . 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. p22.

Kolb, A (2015). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development . 2nd ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. p14.

Bosman, J. (2010). Picture Books No Longer A Staple For Children.Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html?src=tptw. Last accessed 8th August 2018.

Calabrese, L. (2010). How Picture Books Play A Role In A Child’s Development. Available: https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2010/11/how-picture-books-play-a-role-in-a-child’s-development.html. Last accessed 8th August 2018.

Berger, J (1972). Ways Of Seeing . London: Penguin Group. p7.

Berger, J (1972). Ways Of Seeing . London: Penguin Group. p10.

Berger, J (1972). Ways Of Seeing . London: Penguin Group. p11.


A Child’s World, Life and Times, 20:30 10/09/2001, Channel 4, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00142BC9 (Accessed 30 Jul 2018)

Second Essay Draft

To what extent do picture and storybooks have an effect on children's visual development?

This essay is going to discuss and explore the extent in which picture and storybooks have an effect on a child’s visual development. The first books children are usually exposed to have little or no words in them and rely solely on imagery, many are filled with elaborative illustrations, pop ups or touch and feel aspects to allow the child to heavily interact with the book in front of them. Exposing children to stories at a young age, even if they are not yet at a reading stage, allows their visual development to expand through creative and imaginative ways. However, can parents and teachers rely just on these alone in order for children to develop a visual understanding of the world around them and interact with others and their surroundings?

David Kolb published something which changed the way people looked at the way we learnt, in 1984 Kolb published his learning style model, he wanted to learn more and ‘began a lifetime of inquiry into experimental learning’ (Kolb, D, 2015). The learning theory works on two levels, a four-stage cycle of learning and four separate learning styles. Much of his theory is concerned with the learner’s internal cognitive processes. The learning styles are: concrete experience; reflective observations; abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation. In terms of which learning style may apply best to children reading picture and story books, it would be active experimentation as it is when the learner applies themselves to the world around them to see what results they get. These learning theories have been a heavy influence on research and ‘since 2002 experiential learning theory research has more than quadrupled’ (Kolb, D, 2015), it is clear that you can apply these theories on to children’s visual development. Kolb says that you cannot perform both variables on a single axis at the same time, therefore cannot both think and feel at the same time, this is reflective of a child’s visual development as at a young age they will naturally find it difficult to balance more than one emotion as they don’t fully understand how they are feeling. This means it could be argued that picture and storybooks are, in effect, useless as children are essentially looking at a collection of images, maybe a few words and not fully understanding why there are images in front of them and they cannot put together a story from it.  Kolb’s ‘intention in using the term ‘experiential’ was to describe a theoretical perspective on the individual leaning process that applied in all situations and arenas of life’ (Kolb, D, 2015), it can ‘aid in overcoming the difficulties of learning from experience.’ (Kolb, D, 2015) 

In response to Kolb’s findings, Peter Honey and Alan Mumford developed new branches of learning styles, activist, theorist, pragmatist and reflector. These learning approaches are in a much simpler form therefore the preferred way to teach and understand how children learn. These are recommended so that individuals can understand their own learning style and to seek out opportunities to learn using their style, Honey and Mumford put together a questionnaire that can be completed by any individual in order for them to work out their best-suited learning style. These learning styles seem to be preferred as they can be adaptable when circumstances change, rather than just being fixed personality characteristics. Their Learning Styles Questionnaire is something self-developed and is definitely different to Klob’s Learning Style Inventory as it allows an individual to seek out their learning independently rather than a direct question being asked. 

The most common learning styles are taught to teachers; therefore it is familiar to many children and is based on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. They are made up of describing learners as Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic and they are decided to your learning style based on how you take in information. The use of picture books in a learning school environment will enhance a child’s visual learning, as children concentrate closely on the images attention to detail and will remain observant in order to enhance their development. Reading will also touch upon both auditory and kinaesthetic, as often a child is read to and they are expected to listen through verbal teaching and interact with the book if they can use their imagination to become collaborative and involved with its story.

Moreover, the New York Times in recent years published an article titled ‘Picture Books No Longer A Staple For Children’, arguing that children are too young for these kind of books and they don’t provide any means for visual learning or development. Bosman writes that ‘picture books are so unpopular these days’ (Bosman, J, 2010) and many employees of book stores ‘watch them languish and then returning them to the publisher.’ (Bosman, J, 2010) The article briefly seems to fawn over elaborate picture books but then goes on to say, ‘The picture book, a mainstay of children’s literature with its lavish illustrations, cheerful colours and large print wrapped in a glossy jacket, has been fading.’ (Bosman, J, 2010) Bosman argues that this is due to at the time of writing the article an economic downfall but also a point that still stands in 2018, that parents don’t see the attraction and appeal of purchasing isn’t there anymore as they want to push their children to begin reading and understanding at a much younger age, this is due to pressures of wanting the child to do well and become academic instantly. This is also reflected in the publishing of picture books, as publishers have noticed this decline and the production of these style books are a lot less popular and in demand. It is clear a lot of parents don’t see a benefit of picture and storybooks for their child’s development and are becoming more willing to place chapter books in front of them and the fact that Young Adult Fiction has been ‘the universally growing genre’ (Bosman, J, 2010), has had a huge influence as more time and production is being put into this genre rather than the early years. The article interviews a stay at home mother, Amanda Gignac encouraged her son to start reading chapter books at the age of 4. Two years later and she says he still regularly tries to pick up picture books and says, ‘He would still read picture books now if we let him, because he doesn’t want to work to read’ (Gignac, A, 2010).  The article does not seem to touch upon the benefits of picture books in terms of a child’s creative visual development and how it may have a positive impact on how they look at the world around them and relate images found in picture books to real life and begin to understand aspects like objects and nature. 

In addition to the publishing of the New York Times article, there was a quick response to argue the positive uses of picture and storybooks for the development of a child and why they are still so incredibly important to use for their learning. The article, ‘How Picture Books Play A Role In A Child’s Development’, written by Lori Calabrese an award winning children’s author. She instantly begins to disagree with the argument that picture books do not help with a child’s development. Calabrese straight away criticises pushy parents who wish for their child to instantly get into chapter books, saying ‘they don’t realise that the insensitive coaching can be counterproductive and they’re missing out on an important genre, critical in the role of a child’s development- picture books.’ (Calabrese, L, 2010) The article then goes onto explaining many reasons to why picture books are still so important for a child’s development and a lot of them do focus on the child’s creativity and imagination. One key point made relates to the illustrations found within picture books and how they allow the story to be analysed, the reason points out that ‘when children are having difficulty, the illustrations can help them figure out the meaning of what they are reading.’ (Calabrese, L, 2010) This argues against Kolb’s theory that you cannot perform more than one learning styles on the cycle so you cannot think and feel at the same time. Calabrese is arguing that picture books do help children perform two feelings at once and illustrations help them figure out what is going on. Another pointer is that ‘children love art’ (Calabrese, L, 2010) and no matter what it is on the cover that is drawing a child to a book, it should be encouraged, as they want to read and that should always be encouraged to further develop a child’s visual learning and understanding. The article touches upon children’s imagination, something which is key for their visual development as again it’s a means of interaction, the point of children’s books being multi-sensory is a positive as it ‘aids a child’s growing mind and stimulates their imagination’ the children interact with the story as ‘they see the illustrations and smell and touch the pages.’ (Calabrese, L, 2010) Accompanying this point, the final point to mention in this article and possibly the most important is that picture and storybooks are incredibly fun for a child and this is key to making a reading experience fun and enjoyable. Calabrese says ‘reading should never be a chore. If you make reading a chore early on in a child’s development, they might grow to resent reading’, (Calabrese, L, 2010) it has always been clear that reading is such a big factor to a child’s development in every aspect of their learning, whether that be creative or academic. Reading picture books exposes children to their surroundings and are often written realistically so they can take these stories and translate them to their everyday life, meaning their visual development can flourish through reading picture books. 

In addition to this, another text that inexplicitly supports the use of picture books is John Berger, Ways Of Seeing. This book does not directly discuss picture and storybooks, but more upon relating to what we see to the world around us. Berger immediately says ‘seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak’ (Berger, J, 1972), words are used to try to explain the environment that surrounds and there is always going to be a continuous gap between the words used and the sights that are seen. This statement relates to Calabrese’s point that the illustrations and images found in a picture book this will help the child understand its meaning, as the child will always recognise what they see before what they can read. This is further reinforced through Berger explaining that ‘images were first made to configure up the appearance of something that was absent’ (Berger, J, 1972), seeing images first, allows a child to establish their place and the book explains that blending words and pictures, can illustrate a vibrant environment. This means children can take what they see in front of them and create something imaginative and exciting in order to piece together a story. Berger encourages this thinking as ‘the more imaginative the work, the more profoundly it allows us to share the artist's experience of the visible.’ (Berger, J, 1972) This statement goes against Bosman’s article that children are better being taught to read a chapter book much earlier on for learning benefits, but that the reading of a picture book first and foremost expands on their visual learning. Ultimately this will allow a child’s imagination to piece together their surroundings and form a better understanding of the world around them.

Whilst Berger insists that the child ‘recognises before it can speak’ (Berger, J, 1972), it can also be argued that the child is clueless to its surroundings until it understands the concepts of life and morality. In ‘A Child’s World’ a Chanel 4 documentary series, it ‘charts the key developments that mark they way on every human being’s incredible journey to becoming a fully-fledged independent person.’ (A Child’s World, Life and Times, 2001)The documentary has no clear mention of the use of picture books, but does touch upon a child’s visual development as it looks at their understanding of life itself. It can be argued this episode will not see picture and storybooks as something that can encourage key points in a child’s visual development as ‘at 18 months a child cannot separate what is living vs. what isn’t.’ (A Child’s World, Life and Times, 2001)Therefore, the theories that picture books enhance their imagination and allow them to understand a storyline may not be all that clear as they can become confused as to what is real and what isn’t. It is only at the age of 3 that ‘they begin to grasp an understanding between living and none living’, (A Child’s World, Life and Times, 2001)the programme shows a group of 3 year olds being shown a collection of 8 objects, they were asked to examine them and separate them into living and none living. Most of them failed and struggled to grasp the understanding especially of representation and the real thing, as most thought the toy doll was living. 

To conclude, there are arguments with both positive and negative aspects of the use of picture and storybooks to influence a child’s visual development, it can become incredibly complex however, I think the points made have all strong statements to back them up. Within the article written by Calabrese she strongly argues that picture and storybooks play an important role in a child’s development, with 10 strong pointers to back her argument. Her points are backed through Berger’s Way’s Of Seeing, and how pictures and illustrations allow a child to use their imagination in order to develop their visual understanding of the world around them. These points are disregarded through Bosman’s article as its argued that picture books just prolong a child’s development and they should be exposed to chapter books at a much younger age. This is further reinforced in A Child’s World, as children do not understand the difference between living and none living, therefore the use of picture books only blur the lines between their developing of what exists within a book and what exists in real life.