The Value of Picture Books

If you've ever wondered what all the fuss is about in terms of the value of or need for picture books, you should read this article, The Value of a Picture Book: 5 Life-Lessons Your Child Gets From Stories. Pam Allyn, Executive Director and founder of LitWorld, "a global organization advocating for children's rights as readers, writers and learners," wrote an excellent article that was published in Psychology Today.

The article was posted on January 13, 2010, making the article dated in terms of today's fast-paced media offerings but the info in the story is timeless.

Here's another article on the same topic. This one is titled, How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child's Development. Lori Calabrese lists 10 ways picture books work in shaping a child's development. Two of them are: The repetition in a picture book "help children learn skill like phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension and fluency"; and the illustrations in the books "help children understand what they are reading and allow young readers to analyze the story." This article also dates back to 2010, but the information is still relevant in today's world.

If you're interested in the topic of children's picture books, both of these articles are well worth reading.