I feel like picture books get a bad rap sometimes. You grab them all the time when your kids are little. Then once they’re in preschool or kindergarten, you see lots of easy reader books or have the idea that your kids need to “move on.”
My 6-year-old twins are fully capable of reading longer chapter books to themselves now. They’ve each read The Boxcar Children at least three times this summer. Yet, I continue to get picture books from the library each week and occasionally buy new favorites for their shelves. I have no intention of weaning my kids off picture books, and you shouldn’t feel the need, either! Here are a few reasons I love picture books:
They’re an easy way to introduce diversity. I have been immersing myself in books about racism and racial equality over the past few weeks to better understand our country’s history and become better myself. I’ve also been getting picture books for my kids with characters of color. Representation matters. When my kids read books with characters of all different races, skin tones, and abilities, they see that these characters have a lot in common with them.
They are short enough to get a reluctant reader to read. Your child may be voraciously ripping through all the books in your house, and that’s great. More likely, though, your child is not as excited about reading when there’s a favorite toy around or a TV show to watch. My son gets especially grumpy when I enforce the 20-minute daily reading rule while school is out. It’s much easier to get him to read several picture books than to pick up a chapter book he thinks is “too long.”
They are often written at a higher reading level than many chapter books. You may not realize this, but your child is actually learning difficult words when they pick up an average picture book. The Berenstain Bears series, which my kids adore, uses words with multiple syllables. A quick search also revealed that the books average a fourth-grade reading level. Even Mo Willems’ book Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs (also a favorite) uses the words exhausted and gigantically, which my kids didn’t know at first. Pick up many picture books and you’ll be surprised by the word complexity.
They help your child appreciate art. One of the biggest reasons I love picture books is the range of illustrations that accompany the stories. Some feature simple geometric patterns (like Jon Klassen’s illustrations in Triangle). Others are detailed and multilayered (see Ocean Meets Sky by The Fan Brothers). I don’t have a lot of art hanging in my home, but I consider many of our picture books works of art. Marla Frazee, Jarvis, Genevieve Godbout, Sophie Blackall, and Oge Mora are just a few favorite illustrators.
They make a difficult concept or history easier to digest. I love history. Yet I would almost always pick a picture book about a historical figure before checking out a dry (and often picture-free) tome. A beautifully illustrated picture book can not only make history easier to understand but pique your child’s interest (or yours) in a person or event. For example, we recently read A Scarf for Keiko together, and my kids asked questions about Japanese internment camps. Then I became even more interested and learned that there were internment camps in both Idaho and Utah (where I live). I had no idea. If you want to explain something difficult, a picture book is a great place to start.
They often rhyme or employ great rhythm. Can you imagine reading an entire chapter book in rhyme? I cringe even thinking about it. On the other hand, a picture book with rhyme, like No Sleep for the Sheep, is fun and fresh every time you read it. Rhyme is a great way to teach kids to read, because they can anticipate which word is coming next. It also makes something memorable. I still recite “30 days hath September” in my head when I can’t remember how many days are in a certain month. The books your kids turn to over and over again will probably rhyme or have a comforting rhythm because they remember them.
They’re short enough to convey a strong message. We recently read the book It Could Always be Worse. I remembered again how much I love fables and fairytales. They exist today because they’re short stories with a memorable message, and families liked them so much that they told them to their own children. You don’t have to stick to fables, though. Think about your favorite picture books. Would they work as well as chapter books? I love that picture book length enables writers to tell compelling stories.
They can become timeless favorites. Both my kids have shelves in their rooms full of picture books, but I rarely buy books for myself. Why? Because my kids will remember the books they read as kids fondly. They may even want to read them to their own kids. I love seeing my kids pull books they’ve read over and over off the shelves or hear them relate to something in real life that happened in one of their favorite books. I enjoy tradition and nostalgia, and I think it’s inevitable with a beautifully written and illustrated children’s book.
Have I convinced you that picture books are appropriate for all ages? I don’t think my kids will be devouring a stack of picture books at 12. However, I think they’ll still occasionally look at them if I check them out from the library. There are too many benefits to reading picture books to let them go so early.
