Continuing Education: Reading Picture Books with Children, Megan Dowd Lambert

Reading Picture Books with Children
Megan Dowd Lambert
ISBN: 9781580896627
Nonfiction: a book explaining and extolling the "Whole Book Approach" to presenting picture books.

Lambert assumes the reader is already an experienced teacher, parent, or storytime-giver, and doesn't waste any time rehashing the traditional method of storytime: kids sit quietly, reader reads to emphasize story and narrative (and characters if they're talented/brave enough to do voices), pictures are shown around perfunctorily, the books are finished, the kids stay mostly quiet.

In the Whole Book Approach (a method Lambert developed while working with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art) the narrative is relegated to simply another facet of the whole picture book as a purposefully created entity using multiple disciplines and arts to present a concept and narrative.  Here, equal or more focus is given to describing and questioning the art, the book design decisions, and even to choices in typography and page borders.  Even more scandalous, this is a discussion-based approach, so not only are the kids supposed to talk, the "storyteller" is actually supposed to interrupt the story on each page and ASK them for their thoughts on what's going on with the art, design, typesetting, and whatever (directed questions, of course).  What heresy!

She's really gung-ho about it, and her enthusiasm is infectious, but I do have a few qualms.

Point one: I work with toddlers.  No amount of directed questions will forstall the flood of "I have a dog and a mommy and a bedroom and it was my birthday and my gramma is a princess..." stream of consciousness that 4 year olds do so well when presented with any sort of official adult attention.  So this is already limited to older kids who can actually process and respond to prompts, and to take at least a little bit of time thinking about what they're seeing before chattering away.  She talks about kindergarten groups, but even then I wonder if I could lead them well enough for the process to be coherent.

Point two: If you really dedicate to this, the narrative is going to get shafted, and I do not like that.  I LOVE that she wants to focus on the art and design, and to bring attention to what are very much informed and purposeful choices, and to bring kids consciously into an awareness of motifs and memes and conventions that we follow in our culture to signal specific ideas or concepts or moods.  All of that is really really great, and SHOULD be taught to kids - BUUUUT... it bothers me that the method to achieve this will totally wreck the flow of a good story.  Grrr.  I am coming at this from a performative and theatrical background, and really truly this bugs me quite a lot.  My personal opinion is that this sort of work should be done with books that the reader and audience already knows extremely well.  That way the first encounter with a story is always smooth and presents the story, and does justice to the narrative and pictures being a natural and cohesive unified experience (which is what I THINK most picture book authors and artists want anyway - for the work to just meld seamlessly into this delightful experience that kids love, even if they can't specify why they love it).  So, book first as narrative, THEN you go can back in with the post-season analysis and really dig into the why and how and wherefore, with as much discussion and digression and not-ever-finishing-the-actual-book as you like.

Point three: Some people like being all meta about their pleasure activities, and (here's the point where I think Lambert is being a bit more universal than she ought) some people really really don't.  And I think those preferences that we have as adults are present as kids.  Everyone knows the trope of the annoying TV-watching friend who constantly wants to talk talk talk and overanalyze and overthink every little part of Walking Dead or Game of Thrones - and it's not a positive representation.  I hate to think that an overenthusiastic Whole Book Approach during a storytime would turn a kid off of reading because they now associate pleasure reading with that piecemeal and reductive meta-critical approach, and it's not a requirement - simply another way to appreciate and enjoy this particular type of book.  And I say this as someone who actually already likes to analyze and critique books and artworks - I just realize that not everyone shares that particular impulse.  Not everyone is a book reviewer, and not everyone should be.  Not everyone wants to think about critical art theory while they relax, and they shouldn't feel like they have to.  And there is the other massive downside here - there's the presenter's opinions on this analytical approach to consider as well.  This book is likely to cause a small, quiet revolution in at least some places, and I really feel sorry for any librarians and educators who are forced into this method by decree rather than inclination, or any parents doing this out of a sense of obligation towards their child's development.  I feel even MORE sorry for the kids they're presenting to.  As much harm could come from an individual kid being not interested in the process, infinitely more harm can come to entire classrooms or groups from a slack or grudging approach by an adult forced into presenting this Approach by a boss or by guilt.  I strongly believe that you should only read books that you at least LIKE, because kids are perceptive, and for every book I personally don't like enough to tell (SkippyJon Jones, I'm looking at you) there's other people who LOVE it and can do it justice and be enthusiastic.  Please please don't make presenters use a storytime format that they don't intrinsically believe to be valuable or worthwhile - it's just going to backfire.

That was an awful lot of criticism, but those three basic points are really my main hesitations.  Lambert presents her points clearly and with beautifully-selected picture-book examples, and explains her reasoning and her methodology rationally.  I do support her goals, and I think that her method is fundamentally sound.  I don't have any desire to see this format replace or supersede "traditional" storytimes, and despite her enthusiastic proposal of this method, I don't think she really does either.  There's a time and a place for reading for uninhibited pleasure and for enjoyable critical analysis, and a perfect program would incorporate both, given by adults passionate about books and reading and children's developing minds.