Developing Children’s Critical Thinking through

Picturebooks: A Guide for Primary and Early Years Students

and Teachers by Mary Roche (review)

Rachel Skrlac Lo

Children's Literature, Volume 44, 2016, pp. 256-261 (Review)

Published by Johns Hopkins University Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/chl.2016.0015

For additional information about this article

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/619587

No institutional affiliation (10 Sep 2018 05:51 GMT)

256 Children’s Literature

tude, for her ambitious study offers us a roadmap for future scholarship
on representations of enslavement. Given the important current-day
advocacy for attention to race in children’s literature, Connolly’s study
also offers a roadmap for understanding the past as well, especially in
terms of reflection on the aesthetic and political uses of the historical
atrocity of enslavement. Scholars, students, writers, book reviewers,
and librarians all will benefit from the theoretical framework Connolly
offers and from her sophisticated close reading of signal texts.

Works Cited

Donnella, Leah. “The Kids’ Book ‘A Fine Dessert’ Has Award Buzz — And Charges of
Whitewashing Slavery.” Code Switch: Frontiers of Race, Culture and Ethnicity. npr.org.
National Public Radio. 30 Oct. 2015. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/sections/
codeswitch/2015/10/30/452037088/the-kids-book-a-fine-dessert-has-award-buzz-and-charges-
of-whitewashing-slavery>.
Lithgow, John. “‘A Fine Dessert’ and More.” New York Times Sunday Book Review 11 March
2015: BR16. Web. 2 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/books/review/
emily-jenkinss-a-fine-dessert-and-more.html?_r=0>.

Developing Children’s Critical Thinking through Picturebooks: A Guide for

Primary and Early Years Students and Teachers, by Mary Roche. London:
Routledge, 2015.
Reviewed by Rachel Skrlac Lo

Designed for university-level children’s literature and literacy courses,

Mary Roche has written an accessible text on using literature to engage
in critical thinking practices with readers from the very young to grown
adults. In the introduction, she notes the book is a guide to “introduce
children to good literature, big ideas, critical engagement, and the
notion of making meaning together through thinking and discussion”
(3). Roche emphasizes the value she places on books and nurturing a
love of reading in young children. She adopts an active reading stance,
encouraging a form of pedagogy that situates readers—both students
and educators—as reflective and agentive. Her goals parallel others’
contributions to the field, especially those of Lawrence R. Sipe, who
encouraged a wider exploration of the connection between literary
understanding and literacy learning. Sipe envisioned picturebooks as
a means to “imagine a different society” offering readers an “ability to
Reviews 257

impose a new narrative construction on the social facts at our disposal”

(246). Like Sipe’s scholarship, Roche draws on literary and critical
literacy theories and then grounds her work in children’s responses to
literature. She gives equal weight to the literature and these responses;
the children’s voices provide rich insight into the value of literary
engagement in the classroom. She also reminds us of the pleasures
of reading “good” books and the benefit of this positive engagement.
This book should appeal to those fortunate enough to teach children’s
literature and literacy classes as well as those who are curious about ways
children navigate their encounters with children’s literature.
Roche believes the path to developing language and critical think-
ing skills is through literature, preferably high quality literature. The
purpose of her text is to deconstruct the idea of reading books and to
reveal subjective positioning of readers and books in classrooms and
children’s lives more generally. Roche’s big idea is “critical thinking
and book talks” (CT&BT), a form of engagement with picturebooks
that addresses literacy practices that Roche claims are shunted in favor
of measurable skills like decoding and encoding. She defines literacy
widely. It is more than discrete skill building; she emphasizes “oral lan-
guage, critical thinking, love of reading, and . . . the ability to respond
to literature in an authentic fashion through dialogue and discussion”
(3). Roche promotes critical thinking and reflective practice in order
to raise awareness of picturebooks’ potential to engage students as
cocreators of meaning both in texts and in daily experiences: “critical
thinking is necessary for making sense and meaning of our lives and
our world” (11). Drawing from Paulo Freire, she critiques a banking
or transmission model of education, which perceives learners as empty
vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge given by teachers. For her,
picturebooks are a medium to resist this model and engage in critical
thinking, or “thinking for oneself rather than passively receiving the
ideas and thoughts of others” (25). For Roche, picturebook read-alouds
are an ideal starting point for dialogical and critical thinking.
The book is divided into two sections: the first section (chapters
1–5) maps out the theoretical and conceptual frameworks; the second
section (chapters 6 and 7) provides guidelines for enacting CT&BT in
the classroom. The chapters in this conceptually sound book are easy
to follow and navigate as the concise writing carries readers along like
a canoe floating down a calm stream on a warm summer’s day. Pep-
pered throughout each chapter are children’s voices and numerous
examples from picturebooks. In addition to a thoughtful bibliography
258 Children’s Literature

and an extensive list of children’s literature, Roche provides suggested

reading at the end of each chapter. These suggestions are diverse and
complement each chapter; they should be a welcome resource for
those interested in picturebooks as well as university students seeking
additional sources for term papers.
The first chapters offer a critique of predominating trends in literacy
education and establish the theoretical framework for adopting CT&BT.
In chapter 1, Roche argues that literacy education has been winnowed
down to discrete skills at the expense of dialogic pedagogies, which
she feels can engage readers to see how “texts work to position their
readers” (6). Roche uses critical literacy theory to frame her argument,
drawing on Hilary Jank’s definitions of ideal and resistant readers who
respectively read with and against the text. Roche encourages readers
to be resistant, to read against texts, in order to become active read-
ers—readers who are able to think about how texts underpin values
and assumptions. In chapter 2, the focus shifts to comprehension and
meaning making; Roche outlines how picturebooks offer opportunities
to expand reading to include visual and critical literacies. By focusing
on paratext and design elements of picturebooks, readers come to see
the book as cultural product. In doing so, the process of deconstruct-
ing texts begins and ideological implications of books (and books as
cultural products) become translucent. Roche’s students, whose voices
echo throughout the book, also reveal assumptions readers bring to
readings. Roche adeptly narrates these exchanges to demonstrate
comprehension and its evolution through discussions and dialogue,
the focus of chapter 3. Authentic language and dialogue, according
to Roche, exist when we are engaged in exchanges that are not bound
by definitive skills or outcomes. CT&BT require participants to enact
different roles—as reader, listener, questioner, author, etc.—to be
“literate enquirers” (49). Interactive, or dialogic, reading aloud shifts
the focus from the explicit or didactic goals of a teacher toward an en-
gagement among readers. This allows participants to bring their own
collective resources to the literary experience. According to Roche,
this experience can be enhanced further by the quality of literature,
which models idealized talk, maximizes pleasure of reading, and offers
rich material for discussion.
Chapter 4 focuses on oral language development. Roche emphasizes
dialogic inquiry as a critical step to individual oral language develop-
ment, a skill she decries as passively taught in contemporary classrooms.
Speaking opportunities, particularly in dialogical interactions that re-
Reviews 259

quire both talk and listening, are essential to “know how to use language
appropriately” (67). In order to benefit from these rich engagements
with literature, Roche proposes that the quality of the book matters.
In the last chapter of the first section (chapter 5), we are introduced
to picturebook theory. She notes that this chapter “may help us choose
picturebooks for discussion and interpretation with children” (99) but
adds that knowing picturebook theory is not a requirement “to have
wonderful discussions with children about picturebooks” (99).
The second section of the book shifts from theory to an application
of enacting CT&BT in the classroom. In chapter 6, Roche establishes
the value of making room for children’s voices and thinking, citing
Jerome Bruner: “obeying uncritically denies children the opportunity
to voice their uniqueness as thinkers” (111). The importance of book
quality is reinforced in this chapter and Roche stresses the importance
of scaffolding literary events for children. She models CT&BT, provid-
ing ample examples with a wide range of students, from preschoolers
to in-service teachers. As Roche demonstrates, successful CT&BT do
not rely on formulaic lesson plans but on a pedagogical approach
founded on “reciprocity, care and respect and a generous selection of
picturebooks” (126). Chapter 7 builds on that and includes steps for
selecting books for different groups as well as setting up discussions
and activities to teach students to participate in different ways that will
extend and expand conversations. Roche stresses the value of post
assessment and self-evaluation to ensure that power asymmetries are
not occurring in the classroom. Reflection and open-mindedness are
essential for teachers, librarians, and other adults who wish to shift
read-alouds from unidirectional events toward conversational ones. In
the conclusion, Roche reiterates the value of this approach, particularly
the importance of narratives found in picturebooks. We use narra-
tives to “make sense of the books for ourselves” and “to explain our
understanding to others” (147). The dialectical relationship between
literature and experience informs our understanding of the worlds in
which we live. Roche closes the book with a cautionary note about the
teaching side-effects of adopting CT&BT: disequilibrium. She encour-
ages us to embrace this discomfort if we are to come to see the story
and ourselves differently.
Overall, Roche delivers on her promise that “this book is not for
people who want templates and reproducibles and ‘truths’ about how
to teach” (3). The book’s strengths, and there are many, include her
theoretical framing and integration of student and teacher voices
260 Children’s Literature

throughout the text. In a seminar on picturebooks and the practice

of literacy, my students, a collection of pre- and in-service teachers,
appreciated these voices, noting that they grounded the abundant
theory from which Roche draws. The extensive list of picturebooks
also is a valuable resource. Since many of these books are still in print,
it is possible to bring copies to class for discussions, thus allowing
deeper immersion in her ideas. Moreover, the framework that Roche
proposes using with picturebooks can also be transferred to academic
texts, including hers.
Reflecting her critical framework onto this text reveals one weak-
ness in Roche’s book: a lack of definitions for particular terms and
ideas. For example, Roche writes, “when we are using picturebooks to
stimulate dialogue and critical thinking we need to be aware, however,
that there are particular skills and dispositions we are seeking to develop
and nurture in children” (107). Roche does not expand or define
what “particular skills and dispositions we are seeking,” so this may
belie an assumption that we readers are bound in a unified vision of
teaching literacy with “high quality literature.” Unpacking these terms
and naming particularities would have been an interesting exercise in
Roche’s own self-reflection and may have revealed bias toward certain
types of literature, reading, and readers. Roche also privileges read-
ing books without questioning the social and cultural values that are
reinforced by adopting this probook stance. These generalizations
and assumptions overlook the complexity of identity and may limit
ways to consider how categories of difference, especially around race,
class, gender, religion, and sexuality are taken up and appropriated
in literature. The book teeters on the brink of white privilege includ-
ing the blonde-haired child on the front cover, but perhaps this final
critique is an example of situational and contextualized responses to
literature: Roche lives in Thurles, Ireland, a very different world from
my location in Philadelphia, PA.
On the whole, the book lives up to its promise to be an accessible
text to “show students and class teachers how they can enable their pu-
pils to become critical thinkers through the medium of picturebooks”
(backcover), and it is a potential catalyst for any classroom. Roche has
assembled an abounding collection of resources on critical theory,
literacy instruction, and picturebooks, and she provides children’s
literature and literacy educators at all levels with tools to integrate
critical literacy practices into their practice.
Reviews 261
Works Cited

Bruner, Jerome. The Culture of Education. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1996. Print.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972. Print.
Janks, Hilary. Literacy and Power. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print.
Sipe, Lawrence R. Storytime: Young Children’s Literary Understanding in the Classroom. New
York: Routledge, 2008. Print.

Politics and Ideology in Children’s Literature, edited by Marian Thérèse

Keyes and Áine McGillicuddy. Dublin: Four Courts, 2014.
Reviewed by Angela E. Hubler

Readers interested in politics and children’s literature should find

much of interest in this new collection of essays, published by the Irish
Society for the Study of Children’s Literature. The editors’ introduc-
tion begins with a useful and appropriately brief overview of analyses
of the ideological character of children’s literature (9). Appropriately
brief, because the essays don’t engage directly with theories of ideology
or any other particular focus. Rather, they are loosely related in that
each in some way focuses on “how children’s literature can advocate
or contest particular world views” (10). The lack of a narrow focus
might be considered a weakness of this collection, but I found much
in the individual essays that was thought provoking, even when I was
not familiar with the individual texts they focus upon.
The first essay in the collection, which also opens the section on
ideology and subversion—Clémentine Beauvais’s “Little Tweaks and
Fundamental Changes: Two Aspects of Sociopolitical Transformation in
Children’s Literature”—for example, provides a promising framework
within which to consider a wide range of radical literature, not only
for children but for a wider audience. Beauvais, rather than consider-
ing literature in terms of the particular political ideology advocated
(i.e. “‘Green’, ‘Marxist’, ‘anti-racist’, ‘queer’” [20]), considers books
in terms of “the scope of the . . . transformation encouraged”: “local,
gradual changes . . . and those that advocate complete restructuring of
whole ‘worlds’” (21). Beauvais analyzes a picturebook by Jesus Cisneros
and José Campanari, ¿Y Yo qué Puedo Hacer?, which exemplifies texts
informed by an existentialist perspective that envisions social change on
a “microcosmic, individual scale” (23). She contrasts this with another