Before Words: Wordless Picture Books and the Development of Reading in Young Children

by Judith T. Lysaker

Overview

In this book, the author challenges reductive views of emergent literacy prevalent in many of today’s kindergarten and pre–K classrooms. As an alternative, Lysaker explains how reading wordless books with young children helps them to develop a range of comprehension abilities that are important for understanding narrative texts. Readers will find concrete methods to help them gauge, document, and respond to children as they make meaning of and respond to wordless books. Through description and analysis, the text reveals the undervalued richness of young children’s emergent comprehension and the intricate, purposeful nature of their specific early thinking activities. Before Words encourages readers to think about young children’s comprehension as complex meaning-making and suggests new ways of responding to the unique sense-making tools young children use during wordless book reading.

Book Features:

• Demonstrates how young children develop reading comprehension abilities even before learning to read print.
• Expands on reading as more than just a technical skill.
• Engages the whole child and scaffolds their formation of relationships with other people, including peers, teachers, families, and communities.
• Nurtures students’ creativity, positive relationships with storytelling, and social-emotional growth.
• Offers guidance for building a wordless book library, including a selected list of books.

“A breakthrough work. Prepare to have your mind opened to completely new terrain in children’s literate development.”
—From the Foreword by Peter Johnston, The University at Albany–SUNY

“Before Words is a kidwatcher’s delight! Her sensitive descriptions of reading conversations provide concrete strategies that will be welcome additions to both novice and experienced teachers’ toolkits!”
—Deborah Wells Rowe, Vanderbilt University

“Scholars of early childhood literacy development will find much of interest in this book.”
—Nell K. Duke, University of Michigan

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807777008
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	12/07/2018
Series:	Language and Literacy Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Judith T. Lysaker is an associate professor of literacy and language at Purdue University.

Table of Contents

Foreword Peter Johnston ix

Acknowledgments xi

1 Introduction 1

Why Wordless Book Reading? 4

Theoretical Considerations 7

Qualities of Wordless Books 9

The Children, Schools, and Classrooms 14

Wordless Books Read by Children in this Book 15

What to Expect in this Book 17

2 Comprehending as Orchestration Across Modes 19

Transmediation: Moving from Image to Oral Narration 19

Hallie, Chloe, and Maya 20

What Orchestration Contributes to Comprehending 32

3 Comprehending as Embodied 34

Sense-Making as Embodied 34

Body Reading: Modes of Enactment 35

Emma, Molina, and Trevor 38

What Body Reading Contributes to Comprehending 48

4 Comprehending as Imaginative Relationship with Text: Response, Recognition, and Recontextualization 51

Emotion and Imagination 51

Amber and Camella 55

What Response, Recognition, and Recontextualization Contribute to Comprehending 65

5 Comprehending as Relationship with Text: Social Imagination, Narrative Imagination, and Intersubjectivity 67

Social Imagination, Narrative Imagination, and Intersubjective Enactment 67

Lenya and James 68

What Social Imagination, Narrative Imagination, and Intersubjective Enactment Contribute to Comprehending 79

6 Comprehending as Fluency: Prosody and Dialogic Agility 81

Fluency as Prosody and Movement 81

Lenya and Hunter 82

What Fluency as Prosody and Dialogic Agility Contribute to Comprehending 89

7 Wordless Book Reading as Assessment 91

Why Assess Emergent Comprehending with Wordless Book Reading? 92

Using Wordless Book Reading as Assessment 93

Using First Glance and Digging Deeper Noticing Maps 97

Using Noticing Maps Across Time and Texts 103

Applications for Various Readers and Levels of Development 109

Managing Wordless Book Reading as Assessment 111

8 Conclusion: Wordless Book Reading in Classroom Life 114

Wordless Book Reading in Everyday Classroom Life 114

Extending Wordless Book Reading Through Other Literacy Practices 119

Revisiting the Value of Wordless Book Reading 125

Appendix: Wordless Books for Young Children 131

References 133

Index 139

About the Author 147

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This brilliant and well-researched book is a thoroughly engaging, provocative, and insightful analysis of the process and development of comprehension in young children…. Judy Lysaker has turned wordless books from a curiosity into a powerful learning tool for teachers and children alike…. This book is a breakthrough work. Prepare to have your mind opened to completely new terrain in children’s literate development.”
—From the Foreword by Peter Johnston, The University at Albany–SUNY

"In the midst of high-stakes testing and the increase in state and national identification of readers as being delayed as early as kindergarten, this is a welcome text. Lysaker reminds us all that above all else, reading is meant to be an intimate and enjoyable experience. She teaches us to view children’s’ literacy development from a strengths-based approach and encourages instruction to mimic the experience some young children have in the laps of their caregivers: an interactive, dialogic, and relationship-building experience."
—Teachers College Record

"Before Words is a kidwatcher’s delight! Judith Lysaker provides educators with new ways of noticing and talking about children’s entry into reading through wordless books. Best of all, she helps us imagine how we can take these insights into early childhood classrooms. Her sensitive descriptions of reading conversations provide concrete strategies that will be welcome additions to both novice and experienced teachers’ toolkits!"
— Deborah Wells Rowe, professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, Vanderbilt University

"Wordless picture books have long been recommended for use in early childhood classrooms, but our understanding of how these books both contribute to and reflect comprehension development has been limited—until now. Professor Lysaker takes us deep into young children's interactions with wordless books, meticulously analyzing ways in which children engage with these texts and what we as educators can learn from that engagement. Scholars of early childhood literacy development will find much of interest in this book."
— Nell K. Duke, Ed. D., University of Michigan

Editorial Reviews

"In the midst of high-stakes testing and the increase in state and national identification of readers as being delayed as early as kindergarten, this is a welcome text. Lysaker reminds us all that above all else, reading is meant to be an intimate and enjoyable experience. She teaches us to view children’s’ literacy development from a strengths-based approach and encourages instruction to mimic the experience some young children have in the laps of their caregivers: an interactive, dialogic, and relationship-building experience."

—Teachers College Record

From the Publisher