When Do Kids Grow Out of Picture Books?
Who would read a picture book to an 11-year-old? Shouldn’t they be on to reading chapter books and nonfiction by themselves? Aren’t picture books just for preschoolers? Why would we at Resilient Panda put together a guide to Chinese American history for kids in 4th-6th grades that uses picture books to do much of the heavy lifting to carry the story? Well, the short answer is because there are a growing number of extensively-researched, detailed, thoughtfully illustrated and well-written picture books about people and events in Chinese American history that just don’t show up in American history text books for kids. Wong Kim Ark, Tie Sing, Anna May Wong and Hazel Ying Lee were all Chinese Americans who did important things and now there are picture books telling us what they did. I am sorry to say I had never heard about these trailblazing Americans until I started reading picture books. And we have found picture books to be the perfect introduction to their lives. Today everyone is so busy and attention spans are shrinking faster than an ice cube in Arizona, so taking 10 minutes to read a picture book is a realistic way to broaden and diversity the history in our home. Most have an author’s note in the back that gives further details and interesting tidbits for older kids or adults who are interested.
We all know by now that some people learn best by seeing, some by hearing, and some learn best when they are moving. This doesn’t go away just because a child hits later elementary school. We find that the illustrations in picture books serve visual learners, hearing the story read to them helps auditory learns, and kinetic learners can turn pages, or fiddle with something or move around while being read to. Further, what person of any age wouldn’t rather learn history from an illustrated narrative book with a story that is alive than a textbook that summarizes and generalizes and is really a lifeless litany of abstracted facts. So we find that kids (and adults) actually retain more from picture books, and isn’t that really what we are after?
It would also be a mistake to underestimate the quality of writing and art in a good picture book. Many of them are poems and some picture books have won the Newbery Honor Medal for the runner-up to “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” And then there are the illustrations. They can be stunning, and often carry the story. There is even a picture book art museum, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Western Massachusetts.
Sometimes our kids do read picture book biographies and histories to themselves. However, sometimes history, even in picture books, involves “hard history”- things that are complicated, sad or even tragic. Encountering this with your children, as you read a book with them, allows discussion and is an opportunity to help them know how to process and cope with the hard history. If you would like to learn more about how to discuss hard history topics in an age-appropriate way, I would recommend Amber O’Neal Johnston’s book A Place to Belong.
So that is why we read picture books to our 11-year-old. Maybe someday he will grow out of them. But I think of picture books as C.S. Lewis thought of fairy tales. You grow out of them, but then you reach an age where you grow into them again. So sign up to be notified when Streams: Chinese American History for Kids is ready and give picture books a try. You might just be surprised at how it goes.