Notes for my reference

NOTES (for my own reference):

My essay will address the following main points:

·         Background:  (Concepts:  Social change, Audience, History).  Brief background and history of the picturebook and wordless picturebook.

·         Pictures / Purpose of Illustration:  (Concepts:  Theories and Ideas, The Mind).  How do they work? (line, colour, symbolism, tone, facial expressions, body language)  How do they aid emotional understanding and responses of empathy to develop emotional literacy?  (Theories:  Redundancy and Entropy, Semiotics, Stereotypes, Binary Opposites, Denotation and Connotation)

·         Picturebooks, Early Years and Learning to Read: (Concepts: Education, The Mind) How do children learn to read images? Why are they so important in developing visual literacy and emergent reading strategies?  Do they form a foundation for educational and emotional learning that continues throughout life?  Do they aid development of social imagination and creativity by encouraging sequential thinking, keen observation, discussion and decoding?  (Theories:  Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’, Interpellation, Iconography and Iconology, Psychological / Psycho-Analytical)

·         Culture / Background:  (Concepts:  Language, Gender, Religion, Culture, Class, Generational)  How these concepts play a part in aiding understanding of pictures and how does this affect educational and emotional development?  (Theories:  Sociological, Multi-Cultural, Marxism)

·         Uses:  (Concepts: Cultural / Social Change, Family).  How do pictures in picturebooks (particularly wordless ones) successfully deal with emotional challenges?  (e.g. newly settling immigrants, family issues, and society issues).  (Theories: Psychological / Psycho-Analytical, Sociological)

·         Wordless picturebooks:  (Concepts:  Culture, Class, Language, Religion, Generational, and Politics).  Who benefits (adults, children, foreign language speakers, publishers: no need to translate into other languages).  Discuss the universality and how they cross linguistic, cultural, age and gender boundaries.  (Theories: Multicultural, Semiotics, Redundancy and Entropy, Stereotypes)

·         Challenging and controversial picturebooks:  (Concepts: Generational, Culture, Politics).  What makes them controversial or challenging? (Themes such as death, abuse, violence, war, mental health issues for example).  Do these books have a place in aiding emotional and educational development and who benefits from them? (Theories: Ideological Inference, Hegemony)