Reading Picture Books with Children by Megan Dowd Lambert

Reading Picture Books with Children by Megan Dowd Lambert

A new, interactive approach to storytime, The Whole Book Approach was developed in conjunction with the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and expert author Megan Dowd Lambert's graduate work in children's literature at Simmons College, offering a practical guide for reshaping storytime and getting kids to think with their eyes.
 
Traditional storytime often offers a passive experience for kids, but the Whole Book approach asks the youngest of readers to ponder all aspects of a picture book and to use their critical thinking skills. Using classic examples, Megan asks kids to think about why the trim size of Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline is so generous, or why the typeset in David Wiesner's Caldecott winner,The Three Pigs, appears to twist around the page, or why books like Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express and Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar are printed landscape instead of portrait. The dynamic discussions that result from this shared reading style range from the profound to the hilarious and will inspire adults to make children's responses to text, art, and design an essential part of storytime.

Megan Dowd Lambert teaches in Simmons College's Children's Literature degree programs. She created two novel storytime models, the Whole Book Approach and A Book in Hand, at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, aimed at engaging readers with the picture book as a visual art form. She evaluates children's books for Kirkus Reviews and the Horn Book and writes to Horn Book Magazine's Books in the Home column. She speaks frequently at professional conferences, schools, libraries, and museums. Megan, a mother of six children ranging in age from infancy to college, resides in Massachusetts with her family. Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Mix Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking About What They See are two of her publications.