Chapter 3: Making Meaning with Text and Illustrations

There is no substitute for real books. They are rarely boring or sanitized or squeezed into a reading system that children can smell a mile off. So logic says if we want real readers we must give them real books; give our young people good literature, good art, and surprisingly, these young people may do the rest.

Tomie DePaola, Children's Literature in the Reading Program

Picture books are a unique format, primarily associated with the world of children's and young adult's literature. As any quick trip to the nearest bookstore or public library will attest, there are multitudes of new picture books available in a wide variety of genres, topics and styles. Approximately three thousand new picture books were published last year alone. That means that nearly thirty-five thousand new picture books have been published since 1990! This number is overwhelming to say the least.

Picture books are not a genre, rather they are a format that contains many genres. There are mysteries, fantasies, traditional stories, poetry anthologies and biographies that have been published in the picture book format. The format of the picture book, as does the format of the novel or chapter book, cuts across most genres and content topics.

As the opening quote refers, when we are discussing picture books in this text, we are referring to those books considered examples of authentic literature, literature that has been written for the trade market, not those books written to teach reading skills or contained in a reading instructional series that children can "smell a mile off". Issues of authenticity and relevance to the lives of our students are important considerations as we choose books for our classroom libraries and for our students to read. We choose books that tell wondrous stories, take readers on great adventures, present readers with unique perspectives on the world and help them vicariously experience places and events they could not go in reality. We do not choose books because they contain numerous examples of short a vowels or because they teach children sequencing skills.

Picture books are generally a child's first encounter with literature. For many of us, picture books provided the entrance through which we began reading and our lives as readers. We want to be sure children's experiences with literature are powerful ones, experiences that invite them to explore new texts, new authors and new worlds.

Readers read to enjoy stories, to learn about the world, to inform themselves, to escape and for numerous other reasons, they don't choose to read literature to get better at reading literature. It is the story, the beautiful language and the unique characters that bring us back to favorite titles and entice us to explore new ones. We keep referring back to Tomie DePaola's opening quote. If we give readers good literature, there comes a time when we, as teachers, step out of the way and let the story and illustrations speak for themselves.

Throughout the book, we will use the word "text" to describe the written words, the language of the story, and the word "illustrations" to refer to the artwork contained in the picture book. At times, we will also refer to other design elements such as the fonts, layout and graphic design elements contained therein. All of these elements are carefully selected by the author, publisher and illustrator to narrate the story, provide the reader with cues to make sense of the story and develop a more sophisticated understanding of the characters, settings, plots and themes presented during the actual story.

Picture books, as we refer to them here, are different from illustrated story books, where the illustrations are simply an "add-on" to the story, sometimes created years after the story was written. The picture books we are referring to in this book are those that utilize both illustrations and text in concert to narrate the story. Take away the illustrations or the text and there will be a loss of meaning.

In picture books, readers are presented with two different systems of meaning, namely; text and illustrations. Although these appear as separate entities, they work in concert to narrate the story. Meaning is represented in language and images, inviting the reader to attend to both in order to make sense of the story. Readers are required to "navigate" through the text, illustrations and design elements in order to construct their understandings. Before discussing the relationship between illustrations and text, and how these two systems of meaning narrate the story, we will briefly discuss our theoretical framework concerning the reading process and the construction of meaning in transaction with texts and illustrations. We hope this brief discussion will provide the reader with a theoretical basis for the examples and discussions to follow.

<A> Reader Response Theories: A Brief Discussion

In our book, we are operating from a reader response perspective. In other words, we believe that both reader, text and context are equally important elements in the construction of meaning that occurs during the reading event. Our ideas were greatly influenced by literary theorists and literacy educators that align with a reader response perspective. Some of the prominent educators that influenced our work are; Louise Rosenblatt, Stanley Fish, Wolfgang Iser, Patrick Dias, Judith Langer, Kathleen McKormick, Perry Nodelman, and Richard Beach. Although these theorists take different slants and perspectives on reader response theory, there are some central assumptions to which they would align. These central assumptions form the foundation for our theoretical framework.

First, reading is the active process of constructing meaning in transaction with the text and illustrations contained in a picture book. Readers bring their knowledge of the world and their knowledge of language, in particular written language, to the reading event in order to make sense of a piece of literature. Like Rosenblatt, we believe that meaning is constructed in the transaction between a particular reader and a particular text in a unique time, place and socio-cultural context.

Second, readers do not exist, nor read, in a vacuum. The meanings readers construct are always supported and limited by the context in which they are reading. The immediate and primary context under consideration in this book is the upper elementary and middle school classroom. This is an important consideration. Reading in school is different from reading every place else. The environment of the classroom and the community of readers created therein have a tremendous impact on how readers construct their roles as reader and the interpretations they construct during the read aloud experience. The community of readers that develops in a classroom also has a powerful affect on the meanings shared and negotiated by individual readers. The act of reading is a social event, one that always takes place in a social context even if one is reading alone. Meaning, language and understandings are created in a social milieu and are constantly being revised due to new experiences.

Third, the text, design elements and illustrations provided in the picture book being read both limit and support the possible meanings being constructed by the reader. Not only does the reader's background, social experiences and culture play a role in the meanings constructed, so does the story being read. Many reader response theorists neglect or down play the role of the text and illustrations in the reading event. Like Rosenblatt, we see this as a mistake. We don't want the books we read aloud to "leave the building" during our discussions. Meanings are constructed in transaction with a text. When the readers' comments no longer have any relation to the text shared, the text serves as a "Rorschach Inkblot" used for a reader's free associations. The transaction depends upon the reader, however, it does not ignore the role of the text and illustrations.

Fourth, a text by itself carries no meaning. On the pages of a picture book are simply ink marks and colors. Meaning is created through the interaction of the various symbols contained in the book as the reader begins reading. The text and the illustrations only have meaning during their transaction with a reader, as the reader brings the story to life during the reading event. In this way, readers must be active participants in the reading process, constructing meaning, thinking about the references made in the text and the world they live in. Rosenblatt suggests that texts are sources of intellectual and emotional experience. In order for these experiences to be realized or evoked, a reader must be present. However, we cannot forget that readers are always reading in a socio-cultural, historical and political context.

Fifth, because readers don't live in a vacuum, Stanley Fish's conception of an interpretive community is an important consideration in our thinking about reading and readers. Although we are reluctant to take the meanings constructed completely out of the readers' head, we recognize the tremendous impact the context and the community of readers plays on individual's interpretations of illustrations and texts. Because we believe context plays such an important role, we will address the development of communities of readers in a later chapter. For now, let's say that the context of the reading event is as important as what the reader and the text bring to the reading transaction. The following graphic represents our understandings of the reading event (see Figure 3.1). All three indices of this triangle are important aspects of the reading event. Readers, texts and illustrations, and the context of the reading event all play a key role in the meanings constructed, shared and negotiated during the read aloud experience. Each element is a part of the reading event, they cannot be separated.

Sixth, readers respond to texts and illustrations for a range of purposes, and these reasons determine how we will read a piece of literature and what we take away from the event. Readers respond differently to different types of texts. For our purposes here, we will focus on readers' transactions with picture books, but we will also address chapter books, poetry and informational texts, as well. Why we read a book is as important a consideration as the book being read and the background knowledge the reader brings to the reading event. We read the morning newspaper different from the way we read an Astrophysics textbook. Different purposes, different readings.

Finally, reader response theory calls into question the assumption of a single, correct or main idea that resides in a text. From a reader response perspective, multiple interpretations can be constructed from a single text, and it is in the negotiation of meaning in the social context of the classroom that possible interpretations are sanctioned or rejected. This assumption questions the need for a literary canon and the use of Cliff Notes for students to learn the "true" meaning of a piece of literature. Meanings are negotiated in the community of readers. Viable interpretations are warranted or rejected depending upon the interactions of the community members. There is no single truth waiting out there to be discovered. We create our own understandings as we interact with other readers.

In summary, reader response theories place the reader in a prominent position during the reading event, without negating the role of the text and the context of the reading. Multiple interpretations of texts are supported through classroom discussions and readers actively create, share and negotiate meaning in transaction with a particular text and series of illustrations.

<A> Text, Illustrations and Something In-Between

Now, let's focus on what happens when readers transact with picture books. It's important to mention that unless the author and illustrator are one and the same person, the illustrator and author often do not collaborate during the creation of the book. Generally speaking, the author submits a written manuscript to a publishing house, which is then assigned by an editor to a particular illustrator. The illustrator conducts extensive research on the setting of the story and the characters described in the manuscript. The illustrator interprets the author's text and creates illustrations to accompany it. Possibly, the first time the author sees the illustrations is when the gallies have been completed. Although this may sound unusual, most authors we know and have talked to are quite pleased with the work of the illustrator.

For the illustrator, as well as the reader, the construction of the illustrations and the meanings associated with the written text is an interpretive process. The illustrator adds images to the written text created by the author. This is important to understand. Just as the reader brings their understandings of the world and written language to bear on the text, so does the illustrator. Choosing a particular media and illustration technique, the illustrator represents their interpretations of the written text. The images created are then included, along with the text and the graphic elements (fonts, titles, borders, layout) for the reader to interpret during their reading of the picture book.

As we consider the relationship between the text, the illustrations and the design elements, readers of picture books transact with both the illustrations and the written text, and the relationship between the two in order to make meaning when they read. It is important to understand the contributions made by both illustrations and text, but it is even more important, we believe, to understand how they interact with each other to construct a coherent whole.

To begin with, text and illustrations are different, obviously. They present ideas and information in different ways. For instance, text is linear. You follow the progression of words in the English language from left to right and down the page. Readers generally begin reading literature on the first page and proceed through the text to the end of the story. Non-fiction and informational texts may be read differently, of course.

Illustrations, however, are not linear, rather we see them instantaneously. We may scan different parts of an illustration at different times, but the illustrations are presented all at once. Like a painting or a photograph, we see the complete image presented as a whole. In picture books, the fact that illustrations are presented in a series simply adds to the complexity of the picture book format. Each individual illustration comes before and after some other illustration, except the front and back covers, of course. The meanings of individual illustrations therefore, becomes dependent on its relationship to the other illustrations in the sequence of the story.

Picture book formats can range from illustrated story books, where the text is responsible for narrating the story and the illustrations merely serve as an add-on decoration, to wordless picture books, where the story is narrated completely through the illustrations. In between these two ends of the continuum are the types of picture books we are referring to here. These picture books, as mentioned previously, utilize both illustrations and text to narrate the story. However, the relationships within this category of picture books can vary as well. Text and illustrations can be related to each other in a variety of ways, and these relationships refer to that "in-between" mentioned in the title of this section.

Although, the terminology used to describe the relationships between text and illustrations varies from theorist to theorist, educator to educator, generally they refer to three types of relationships or interplay; symmetrical, complementary or contradictory. First, the text and the illustrations may "echo" each other, where the meanings represented are symmetrical in nature. In other words, practically the same information is offered in both texts and illustrations. Of course, it can never be exactly the same information but the text and illustrations closely parallel each other in a symmetrical relationship. For example, there is a picture of a ball in the grass and the text says, "The ball is in the grass." Young readers often use the illustrations in these types of picture books to decode the written text. It is a very basic relationship where little new information is offered in the interplay between text and illustrations.

In the second type of relationship, the text and illustrations complement each other, enhancing what is represented in each alone. Using our example from above, the ball may be sitting in the grass, but now we see a boy running towards the ball and a baseball game going on in the background of the illustrations. The ball that is sitting in the grass is no longer just sitting there. Because of the illustrations, there is more to the story than offered in the text itself. This relationship is considered complementary or enhancing. The text is enhanced by the illustrations. Most picture books we read aloud in our classrooms and will share with you throughout this book fall within this category.

The third type of relationship has been called contradictory or counterpoint. In this type of relationship, the story offered in the text somehow deviates from what is offered in the illustrations. The ball is no longer simply sitting in the grass, it has sprung legs and is sitting cross-legged in a park. Perry Nodelman describes the tension created between text and illustration as an "ironic" relationship where what is offered in the text is somehow contradicted by the illustrations. Many new picture books that draw upon post-modern techniques often use this relationship to challenge the reader, and to disrupt the linear qualities of the traditional picture book. What is important to remember about these three types of relationships is that we can no longer simply focus on the text and the illustrations separately. Discussing the artistic techniques and qualities of a picture book is important, but more importantly is how the use of particular media influence the book as a whole and interact with the written text. As teachers of literature, we need to help readers interrogate the relationship between the text and the illustrations to come to more sophisticated understandings of what is offered in the picture books we share.

<A> Why is this Important?

At this point, it may be important to ask why all of this discussion about the art in picture books and the relationship between illustrations and text is important? We believe there is so much more to the picture books being shared with students that goes unnoticed because teachers do not have the experience, nor the literary and artistic vocabulary, to help children investigate the various elements included in picture books. In order for teachers to support readers explorations of picture books, as teacher-docents, we need to know as much about the design elements, writing craft, illustration techniques and dynamics of the text-illustration relationship as possible.

As Lawrence Sipe has written, there is more to a picture book than the text plus the illustrations. He has called the interplay between text and illustrations a "synergistic" one suggesting that the whole is greater than the sum of its constituent parts. We agree. An important consideration when reading and interpreting picture books is the relationship between the written text and the illustrations. This just may be the component most overlooked by teachers when sharing picture books during the read aloud experience.

In a picture book there are two systems of meaning being used to narrate the story; the visual and the verbal. Like Rosenblatt's transactional theory of reading, we don't see these two elements as separate entities, rather as elements that make up the literary work as a whole. The text affects the illustrations and the illustrations affect the text.

Illustrations provide information instantaneously, while text is temporal, it shares its information over time. These two types of representations transact in this hybrid format of literature known as the picture book to create a unique and powerful literary experience. As readers go back and forth between illustrations and text, they are forced to "transmediate" or transfer understandings between the two systems of meaning presented. This forces readers to construct a deeper sense of the story than if only one system was used in telling the story.

In contemporary society, children are bombarded with visual imagery. As teachers, we need to help them make sense of these experiences. The picture book provides an excellent opportunity to do just that. As readers transact with picture books, the process is a recursive one, where readers go back and forth between illustrations and text, forwards and backwards throughout the book, revisiting illustrations to make sense of the story. The written text and the illustrations help readers to navigate through the complexities of the picture book. Each in its own way helps the reader to attend to important information to understand the story. Illustrations don"t just simply retell what is offered in the text. Rather, they enhance the text, contradict the text at times and bring unique perspectives to the story being told. It is through the dynamic interplay between text and illustration that the story emerges.

Figure 3.1 The Reading Process

Reader

Meaning

Context Text & Illustrations