1.

Give an example of picture books such as alphabet, counting, concept and wordless

books. You need to submit illustrative picture books and discuss the presentation on its

literature genres and forms.

WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS

The title of the book is “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. This book was published by

STRAIGHT LINES INTERNATIONAL, INC. Makati City 1231, Philippines. As I scan the

book, it only has little words. Basically, it is more on illustrations. The book has bright and bold

illustrations that set against a contrasting background. I tried presenting it on my 2 year-old

niece like I let her see the content of it and her attention suddenly shifted on the book. She kept

on turning the pages and said “WOW!” The design and color is pretty cool and catchy.

Regarding on the physical features of the book, it has soft edges and soft paper that will suit

young children’s developmental age.

Wordless picture books push the reader to summarize, make inferences, interpret and evaluate

visual information, ask questions, and make connections without any support from the written

word. In my opinion, wordless picture books are even more difficult to “read” than other picture

books. In order to comprehend a book in this genre, children must be thorough observers and

read with a very careful and thoughtful eye. This book also includes plot elements, the

interaction among characters, cause and effect, the tone of the story, and the intended theme.

Parents or educators need to encourage and motivate the child to learn how to think more deeply

and critically to understand the content of picture books. So clearly, they have a responsibility to

set the record straight and show to the child the beauty and power, of wordless picture books.
Young readers can use wordless picture books to learn how the illustrations support and often

drive a story. They can learn how to retell a story in their own words, which encourages

creativity, imagination, language play, and vocabulary development. Wordless books also

provide an easy entry for young readers to be the authors and illustrators of their very own

stories. So many times we, as adults, forget just how vital pictures are to a story. Wordless books

become a perfect model for explaining the significance of creating high quality illustrations and

for inspiring young artists.

Older readers (fluent and transitional readers) learn how to think more deeply and critically about

plot elements, the interaction among characters, cause and effect, the tone of the story, and the

intended theme. These readers can add words to support the illustrations and author their own

version of the story. The illustrations can become engaging writing prompts or a vehicle for

making precise observations and perceptive inferences. Again, all of this learning happens

without any textual support from the book.

Hence, wordless picture books help children develop vocabulary and oral language development,

foster observation and critical thinking skills, improve writing skills, build reading

comprehension skills, enhance understanding of story elements (character, setting, plot, theme),

promote creativity and imagination, model the importance of high quality, detailed, and

meaningful illustrations and serve as an inspiration for a child’s own art work.

COUNTING BOOKS

The counting book that I have is entitled, “LEARNING TO COUNT”. This book was prepared

by Ofelia E. Concepcion and the publishing company is Juneecon Enterprises (Manila

Philippines). The contents of the book are about numerals, number words and counting of objects
that was being illustrated. The font style and font size is developmentally appropriate for kids. It

has bold text and they used both medium and large sizes. The objects are also colorful and

catchy that would drive the kids to count it. . Worksheets are also included in the book. The

activities are tracing the numerals and number words and counting the number of objects and

identifying its name. Soft edges and good quality of paper are present on the book.

Counting books can help your child learn and count numbers that will boost their numeracy and

literacy skills. The different learnings on the book will serve as their foundation to perform more

complex mathematical problems or operation in the later years of schooling. Like this could

possibly help them to construct variety of knowledge and skills to link new information and can

be generative of future learning; however, a good counting book isn't just a combination of

illustrations and numbers. Good ones have stories, draw readers in, and make them want to read

the book over and over again.

ALPHABET BOOKS

The counting book that I have is entitled, “PRIMARY STEPS IN READING ALPHABET

(VOWELS AND CONSONANTS)”. This book was prepared by Ofelia E. Concepcion and the

publishing company is Juneecon Enterprises (Manila Philippines). The content presents letters of

the alphabet with corresponding words and/or images and its sound. It features capital and lower

case letter forms, keywords beginning with specific letters, or illustrations of keywords. The

entire pages highlight the letters, the sound and corresponding keywords in a variety of creative

and imaginative formats. The font style is bold and appropriate to young children. The font size

is medium and large. The illustrations are simple but colorful and awesome. Regarding its
physical feature, it has soft edges and it has also a good quality of paper. It is made out of thick

paper so that it would be durable and it is easier to flip every page.

The book also encourages the kids to say the name of each picture and the beginning sound.

There are three pictures of each letter where this helps them to further develop their skills in

pronouncing letters and be familiar with the sound. The publisher of the book commits itself in

publishing ‘especially designed’ and ‘well-crafted’ books that perfectly suits a child’s reading

pleasure and understanding.

Alphabet books provide opportunities for developing conversations and proficiency in oral

language, increasing phonemic awareness, teaching phonics, making text connections

(Activating prior knowledge), predicting (Text talk), building vocabulary, inferencing / drawing

conclusions, sequencing, identifying elements of story structure, recognizing point of view,

visualizing setting (Time, place and atmosphere), performing Dialogue (Plays and Readers’

Theater), rereading for fluency, retelling for comprehension checks and engaging Multiple

Intelligences through writing, music, art as well as dancing.

CONCEPT BOOKS

The concept book that I have is entitled, “SHAPES AND SIZES’. It was prepared by Ofelia E.

Concepcion and illustrated by Marvin Romero. It was published by Juneecon Enterprises Sta.

Cruz Manila. The content is all about how each shape looks like. There are objects that were

illustrated to help children familiarize the different shapes. The illustration is perfectly fine

because it has bright colors and catchy. The font style is bold and appropriate to young children.

The font size is medium and large. The illustrations are simple but colorful and awesome.

Regarding its physical feature, it has soft edges and it has also a good quality of paper. It is made
out of thick paper so that it would be durable and it is easier to flip every page. Another, there are

also worksheets provided such as tracing the dotted lines to form the shape, coloring the objects

and encircling objects corresponding to its shape.

Hence, we need to expose them to this type of book so that children can expand their

understanding of an idea, relationship or theme.

2. Present picture books and evaluate its appropriateness by giving examples of selection
criteria for picture books.

To evaluate the appropriateness of the picture book specifically the wordless picture book

that I have which is entitled “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I am going to rate it using 5

criteria. These are the following:

a.) Upholds & cultivates your values & morals (20%)

b.) Appeals to the child’s age, maturity &/or intellectual levels (20%)
c.) Stimulates the mind & imagination and provides useful information (20%)
d.) Can be read over & over, a classic (10%)
e.) Good physical features (10%)

The total percent % of the criteria equates to 100%.

The type of the book is fictional; however, there is a moral lesson that a child could value and

apply in real life. That’s why; I’ll give 20% on the first criterion.

On the second criterion, the book really appeals to the child’s age, maturity and intellectual

levels. The illustrations are quite good and cool. It has good design which involves bright and

attractive colors. Vivid pictures are also present in the book. The length or pages and number

of illustrations are developmentally appropriate to the child . For that, I’ll give 20%.
On the third criterion, the book promotes stimulation of mind and imagination. It also

provides useful information. Because of the perfect design or illustration, it drives young

children to think deeply and critically like they are trying their best to observe the big picture

or understand its message. As they perceive the picture, it will broaden their imagination too

like they can imagine the different events or things in the story. Hence, I’ll give 20% for this.

I will also give 20% to the fourth criterion because the book Snow White and the Seven

Dwarfs can be read over and over again due to the design and content especially the

characters which can attract or capture children’s attention.

Regarding the physical feature of the book, I think it is more perfect if the book is made

out of thick cover so that it would be more durable. But anyway, I will give 5% to this.

Overall, the total percentage of the book’s appropriateness based on my own judgment is

95%. Hence, the book is highly recommended for children.

 3. Give and explain the examples of common themes, character and situations of picture
book. How would you create an environment for positive disposition and enjoyment of
picture books related to the use with young children?

COMMON THEMES, CHARACTER AND SITUATIONS OF PICTURE BOOKS

Stories have many themes that can be supported by character’s thoughts, words, actions,

feelings, struggles and motivations. There are many themes found in a story, however there are

usually only one or two dominant ones focused on by the writer. First is STRUGGLES

AGAINST NATURE where characters are dealing with survival. Second is STRUGGLES

AGAINST PRESSURES OF SOCIETY, it means that characters dealing with fitting in, being

themselves or being accepted. Third is FAMILY, in here, characters are dealing with family

problems or being brought together by family. Fourth is OVERCOMING

ADVERSITY/SACRIFICES BRING REWARDS/DETERMINATION, it means that the

characters are overcoming struggles and obstacles or hard work paying off despite difficult

challenges. Fifth is FRIENDSHIP/LOVE/CARING/LOYALTY where characters are showing

care and love. Sixth is CHARACTER CHANGE, this happens when events in a story lead to a

major change in a character. Seventh is LOSS/LONELINESS, this means that characters are

dealing with loss, death or the fear of losing a loved one. Eighth is

COOPERATION/TEAMWORK/WORKING TOGETHER where characters are working

together to achieve a goal. Ninth is FAIRNESS/UNFAIRNESS, this means that characters are

overcoming unfair situations. Tenth is COURAGE/BRAVERY, in here, characters are showing

extreme bravery in difficult situations. Eleventh is RACISM/PREJUDICE and this happens

when characters are judged by the color of their skin, religion, race or their appearance rather

than their actions. Twelfth is TRADITIONS where characters are keeping traditions or culture
alive. Thirteenth is IMAGINATION, this signifies that characters are using their imagination to

solve problems then the last one is TAKING A STAND where characters are standing up for

what they believe.

I would create an environment for positive disposition and enjoyment of picture books related to
the use with young children by giving or exposing them the appropriate picture books that will
greatly contribute for their own development. I would be wise in selecting excellent picture
books that has good structure, illustrations, story and language, themes and other factors that will
drive their mind to think deeply and critically or to learn something valuable in the book.
Selection criteria are crucial to assure that we could able to provide developmentally appropriate
picture books to young children for an effective learning and improvement. Hence, choosing the
right picture books brings positive changes to every child’s life.