9 The Society of Children’ s Books & Illustration Lovers – Newsletter # 1 – August 2013
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I think the most important feature for very young children is familiarity with the subject matter. Newborn to three is generally before kids start widening their world to include anything outside family and home. Familiar objects, people, pets, behaviors. Basic fears: of being lost, of the dark, of loud noises like thunder...
� I believe there are issues that surface in childhood that continue throughout our lives, and that when we ' re eighty, we ' re still negotiating these basic issues:
� separation, loss, and reunion;
� dependence vs. independence;
� insecurity( which includes feelings of jealousy, envy, and rivalry) vs. security;
� delayed vs. instant gratification.
The stories that have the most powerful effects on both child and adult are ones that deal with at least one of these lifelong struggles. Though a child ' s experiences are different from a 20- year-old ' s, and a 30-year-old ' s are different from a 40-year-old ' s, the same feelings are at the core.
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A good picture book for the young usually is a book that a child doesn ' t tire of, that he / she can repeat favorite words or lines from after a reading or two, that uses repetition and chanting rhythmic lines, language play and silly or even more sophisticated and many-syllabled words. Children love to repeat words like " cobbled " or " crumbled," " trolley " or " bulldozer." A good picture book reminds children what they already know, making them feel clever; the cat sips milk, the cow sleeps in a barn, the giant stomps, the mice scurry, etc. A good book for the young allows a child to be brave, be smart, be comforted, be funny. If the bear is brave, he / she is. If the giant is smart, he / she is. More than anything, a good picture book brings them into the music or the magic of the moment.
A great picture book for young children is performance art between two covers. The text must be read aloud, and the words flow off your tongue smoothly and effortlessly, showing you how to say them. My favorite is So Much by Trish Cooke, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. It has plenty of great sounds that kids can anticipate, and by the third or fourth page they’ re chiming in with " DING DONG! " and " SO MUCH." Turning pages is an integral part of a picture book experience, and pacing is key. It can be jarring if one page has thirty words and the next, only three. And every word in a picture book has to count for something. There’ s that great Mark Twain quote about how the difference between a perfect word and a near-perfect word is the difference between
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