In picture books, illustrations often play a critical role in helping authors tell stories. Instruction in the elements of composition including visual, textual, and peritextual features enhances meaning for children when they are given the opportunity to become authors of their own picturebooks. This study was conducted in a fourth grade…

Picturebooks tell stories in both words and pictures. Interacting with the printed word, the technical elements of illustration--color, line, shape and composition--work to establish and enhance the story. Sometimes simply by adding description of characters and setting, and, at times, by challenging the veracity of the text with ironic or…

This article examines assessment of students' visual literacy. In the context of current theory of multimodal texts, the author presents key features for visual literacy assessment and how this assessment might be undertaken. The article then proposes a set of principles and a framework for developing assessment tasks in authentic classroom…

Defines visual literacy and considers a number of elements of wordless picture books that contribute to the development of visual literacy in students. (FL)

Asserts that picture books offer a unique opportunity for children to develop visual literacy because they are able to return to the visual images in books to explore, reflect, and critique those images. Reviews 71 works of children's fiction in which the main characters engage in meaning making through art. (PRA)

Offers brief descriptions of 36 illustrated children's books that provide excellent examples of illustration and design. Groups them according to use of line, color, perspective, technique, texture, and composition and design. (SR)