Postmodern picture book

Postmodern picture books are a specific genre of picture books. Characteristics of this unique type of book include non-linear narrative forms in storybooks, books that are "aware" of themselves as books and include self-referential elements, and what is known as metafiction.

A classic example of this genre is David Macaulay's award winning "Black and White" (1991). This book consists of four "separate" sub-plots which are related, but the reader must decide in what way the story becomes meaningful. The inside front cover of this book, awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1990, states: "WARNING: This book appears to contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time. But it may contain only one story. Then again, there may be four stories. Or four parts of a story. Careful inspection of both words and pictures is recommended."

Examples of postmodern picture books include David Weisner's "The Three Pigs", Anthony Brown's "Voices in the Park", and Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's "The Stinky Cheese Man". Some books have unusual pictures that don't always mesh with the traditional, linear text (that often matches the pictures). An example would be "Bamboozled" by David Legge.

Frank Serafini (2004) has created lesson plans that lead students to discuss how text interacts with illustrations. Three sets of texts could be discussed: books that have corresponding text and pictures, books where the illustrations enhance the texts, and books where the illustrations contradict the text ("Bamboozled" is an example of contradictory text). Another lesson that Serafini describes that incorporates PM picture books could be having students read books that are ambiguous and allow for multiple interpretations. Student are encouraged to record their thinking in a journal called a "walking notebook". Books that are especially open to interpretation include: Browne's "Voices in the Park", Weisner's "The Three Pigs", and David Macauley's "Black and White".

These books could be thought of as multi-modal texts that defy the usual, linear organization of storybooks. In postmodern, meta-fictive books, the reader is intentionally made aware of the way that the book calls attention to itself. For example, in Weisner's "The Three Pigs", the main characters decide to climb outside the text; pictures depicting the pigs climbing outside the story are prominent. In "The Stinky Cheese Man", Scieszka and Lane purposely use intertextual references, or references to many other well-known fables, to create tongue-in-cheek, satirical stories and spin-offs of classic fairy tales. Widely varying size fonts and pictures combine to create a post-modern picture book.

According to Anstey (2002), characteristics of postmodern picture books include:

# Non-traditional plot structure
# Using the pictures or text to position the reader to read the text in a particular way, for example, through a character's eyes or point-of-view.
# The reader's involvement with constructing the meaning of the text.
# Intertextual references, which requires the reader to make connections to other books or knowledge, in order to better understand the text.
# Varied design layout and a variety of styles of illustration.

Ryan & Anstey (2003) suggest that post-modern picture books may allow students to increase their "self-knowledge about reading" and that students might be able to use this knowledge in strategic ways as they read. In their study, Ryan and Anstey looked at how sixth graders responded to a PM picture book, which was selected because it was open to many interpretations, titled "The Rabbits" by John Mardsen and Sean Tan. They discovered that the reading of such texts allow students to draw upon their resources as readers. The reading of such books supports a multiliteracies perspective. Accordingly, such books may be useful in allowing teachers to use texts that encourage students to draw upon their own identity and use this knowledge to read strategically.

References

*Anstey, M. (2002). “It’s not all black and white”: Postmodern picture books and new literacies. "Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy", 45(6), 444-458.
*Browne, A. (2001). Voices in the Park. New York: DK Publishing.
*Golstone, B.P. (2004). The postmodern picture book: A new subgenre. Language Arts, 81(3), 196-204.
*Legge, D. (1994). "Bamboozled". Scholastic: New York.
*Macauley, D. (199). "Black and White". New York: Houghton Mifflin.
*Serafini, F. "Voices in the Park, Voices in the Classroom: Readers Responding to Postmodern Picture Books." Retrieved online: [http://serafini.nevada.edu/WebArticles/VoicesArticle.htm. Voices article]
*Serafini, F. (2004). Lessons in comprehension: Explicit instruction in the reading workshop. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
*Weisner, D. (2001). The Three Pigs. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
*Ryan, M. & Anstey, M. (2003) Identity and Text: Developing Self-conscious Readers. "Australian Journal of Language and Literacy", 26(1), 9-22.

External links

* [http://www.rif.org/educators/articles/childrens_book_illustrations.mspx Reading is Fundamental article]
* [http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=66 Lesson plan from ReadWriteThink.org]
* [http://books.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00625/minilessons.pdf#search='postmodern%20picture%20books' Frank Serafini's Lessons in Comprehension chapter]
* [http://www.barfie.net/archiv/bratislava_02.pdf Dr. Penni Cotton: "Postmodernism within the visual narratives of the European Picture Book Collection"]

= Multiliteracies =

Introduction

Multiliteracies is a term that was coined by the New London Group. It describes new and different forms of literacy in this that are beginning to become necessary. Because the way people communicate is changing due to new technologies, and shifts in the usage of the English language within different cultures, a new "literacy" must also be used and developed.
There are two major topics that demonstrate the way multiliteracy can be used. The first is due to the world becoming smaller, communication between other cultures/languages is necessary to anyone. The usage of the English language is also being changed. While it seems that English is the common, global language, there are different dialects and subcultures that all speak different Englishes. The way English is spoken in France, or in South Africa or any other country is different from how it is spoken in the US.
The second way to incorporate the term multiliteracy is the way technology and multimedia is changing how we communicate. These days, text is not the only and main way to communicate. Text is being combined with sounds, and images and being incorporated into movies. Billboards, almost any site on the internet, and television. All these ways of communication require the ability to understand a multimedia world.

Application of Multiliteracy to the real world

Because of the changes in the world, the debate has arisen that the way English is taught in school should be changed to incorporate the new multimodal ways of communication. The New London Group (1996) proposes the teaching of all representations of meaning including, linguistic, visual, audio, spacial, gestural, and multimodal through a balanced classroom design of immersion and personalized explicit instruction. Many teachers try to look at real world careers, and experiences to see what really is important in preparing students for post-graduation life.

=References=
* The New London Group (1996) [http://wwwstatic.kern.org/filer/blogWrite44ManilaWebsite/paul/articles/A_Pedagogy_of_Multiliteracies_Designing_Social_Futures.htm "A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures"] Accessed 05/07
* Bill Cope & Mary Kalantzis
* [http://edoz.com.au/educationaustralia/archive/features/mult1.html"Putting Multiliteracy to the Test"] Accessed 4-23-07