LL ED 462: The Art of the Picturebook
LL ED 462: The Art of the Picturebook
Sample Syllabus
Sample Lesson
Course Syllabus
Course Syllabus

LL ED 462 (01WC) The Art of the Picturebook (3)

Overview | Objectives | Materials | Technical Requirements | Assignments | Course Grading Scheme | Course Schedule | Grading | Academic Integrity | Policies

Overview

The Art of the Picturebook explores a wide range of picturebooks with the idea that illustrations are visual art evoking thoughts and feelings. Because picturebooks provide aesthetic experiences and contribute to aesthetic development, they are rich and important sources for literacy education. This course provides opportunities to extend your repertoire of strategies for making sense of picturebooks, to deepen knowledge about picturebooks and the artists who create them, and to consider ways to help children become more sophisticated readers of picturebooks.

While picturebooks are often emphasized as integral to the literacy development of young children, they can be engaging and desirable for older children as well. Course topics include picturebooks for the very young, as well as picturebooks (including graphic novels) that could appeal to elementary and middle school children. Whether picturebooks appear relatively simple and straightforward or contain innovatively complex or metafictive design elements, close readings of them with an understanding of terminology offer opportunities to express and discuss reactions and interpretations. The Art of the Picturebook provides a forum for you to explore preferences, ideas, insights, and questions about selected picturebooks, along with curricular and pedagogical considerations. Course readings include interviews with illustrators, selections about creating picture compositions, and scholarly essays presenting theoretical perspectives and ideas about picturebooks as literature and art for children’s literacy development.

This course emphasizes that reading and interpreting picturebooks is an active, creative process that is socially, culturally, and historically situated.  Authors and illustrators are influenced by culture, so their art reflects values of that culture, consciously or unconsciously. A reader’s experience with a picturebook is also influenced by cultural and social contexts in a given moment. Because engaging in aesthetic experiences is an active, creative process, reading picturebooks is, as Jane Doonan (1993), author of Looking at Pictures in Picture Books, asserts, a form of play. The Art of the Picturebook approaches picturebooks as sources of deep play.

The course also provides opportunities to research selected illustrators, both for class discussions and an illustrator study project (e.g., a Wiki page). The culminating illustrator study project involves an in-depth investigation of a key children’s book illustrator and a process of sharing works-in-progress with classmates for collaborative editing.  

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Course Objectives

Throughout this course you will:

  • Increase your repertoire of strategies for making sense of picturebooks.
  • Deepen your knowledge of picturebooks and the people who create them.
  • Consider how you can enable children to become more sophisticated readers of picturebooks.
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Required Course Materials

Theory Books:

  • Bang, M. Picture This: How Pictures Work. San Francisco, CA: SeaStar Books, 2000.
  • Doonan, J. Looking at Pictures in Picture Books. Gloucestershire, UK: Thimble Press, 1993.
  • Carle, Eric. Artist to Artist. Philomel. 2007
  • Lewis, D. Reading Contemporary Picture Books: Picturing Text. New York, NY: Routledge, 2001.

Children's Books:

  • Burningham, J. Come Away from the Water, Shirley. New York, NY: Red Fox, 1992. (Please note, you are responsible for purchasing this book through an online source like amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com or acquiring it through your library.)
  • Carle, E. 1,2,3 to the Zoo. New York, NY: Puffin, 1998.
  • Collier, B. Uptown. New York, NY: Henry Holt, 2000.
  • French, F. Snow White in New York. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
  • Heins, P. Snow White. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. Boston: Little Brown, 1974.(This book is out of print. The publisher has given us the permission so that you can access this book electronically under our Lessons tab).
  • Hutchins, P. Rosie's Walk. New York, NY: Scott Foresman, 1968.
  • Jarrell, R. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Illustrated by Nancy Eckholm Burkert. New York, NY: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1987.
  • Kalman, M. What Pete Ate from A-Z: Where We Explore the English Alphabet (In Its Entirety) in Which a Certain Dog Devours a Myriad of Items Which He Should Not. New York, NY: Puffin, 2001.
  • Kitamura, S. When Sheep Cannot Sleep: The Counting Book. New York, NY: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1986.
  • Sendak, M. Where the Wild Things Are. New York, NY: HarperTrophy, 1988.
  • Scieszka, J. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Viking Juvenile, 2007.
  • Scieszka, J. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf, New York, NY: Penguin Putnam Books, 1989.
  • Siegel, S. To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel. New York: Aladdin, 2006.
  • Soto, G. Chato and the Party Animals. Illustrated by Susan Guevarra. New York, NY: Penguin, 2004.
  • Yang, G. L. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second Press, 2006 (optional reading).

For pricing and ordering information, please see the MBS Direct Web site, located at http://bookstore.mbsdirect.net/psude.htm. MBS Direct can also be contacted at 1-800-325-3252.

Materials will be available at MBS Direct approximately three weeks before the course begins. When ordering your course materials, please pay close attention to the version number. It is very important that you purchase the correct materials. If your course requires one or more textbooks, you must have exactly the correct text required (edition and year).

This course also requires that you access Penn State library materials specifically reserved for this course. To access these materials, click on the Library Reserves link under the Resources tab.


Required
  • Arizpe, E. & Styles, M. 'Letting the story out': Visual encounters with Anthony Browne's The Tunnel" In Children Reading Pictures: Interpreting visual texts New York: RoutledgeFalmer. 2003. pp.97-116.
  • Gravett, P. Graphic Novels: Everything you need to know. New York: Harper, 2005.
    • Ch. 1. Things to hate about comics. pp. 6-11
    • Ch. 5. The long shadow. pp.56-71
  • Hall, S. ed. "The Work of Representation" (Chapter 1) in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Ed. S. Hall. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage, 1997. pp 15-64.
  • Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. Routledge, NY: Routledge Press, 1996.
    • "Introduction," pp-1-14
    • "The Semiotic Landscape," 15-42
  • Kress, G. "Reading Images: Multimodality, Representation and New Media. Information Design Journal. 12:2, 110-119, 2004.
  • Marcus, L. S. Ways of Telling: Conversations on the Art of the Picture Book. New York, Dutton: 2002.
    • Interview with Eric Carle, pp 32-57.
    • Interview with Helen Oxenbury, pp 141-149.
  • McCloud, S. Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. New York: Harper, 2006
    • Chapter 1: Writing with pictures. pp.8-57
  • Moebius, W. Introduction to Picturebook Codes, Word & Image 2:2 141-158
  • Schwarcz, J.H. & C. Schwarcz. "Visual Communication in Picture Books" in The Picture Book Comes of Age. Chicago: American Library Association, 1991. pp 1-13.
  • Nodelman, P. "Decoding the Images: Illustration and Picture Books" in P. Hunt (ed, ) Understanding Children?s Literature. New York, NY: Routledge, 1999. pp 69-80.
  • Schwarcz, J. H. "Relationships between Text and Illustration" in Ways of the Illustrator: Visual Communication in Children's Literature. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982. pp 9-22.
  • Sychterz, T. Rethinking Childhood Innocence, The New Advocate 15: 183-196, 2002.

Optional

  • Carter, J. B. Chapter one: Carving a Niche: Graphic Novels in the English Language Arts Classroom. In Carter , J. (ed). Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels. National Council of Teachers of English, 2007.
  • Gombrich, E. H. Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1960.
    • "Psychology and the Riddle of Style," pp 3-30
    • "From Light into Paint," pp 33-62
  • Langer, S. K. Feeling and Form. New York, NY: Scribners,1953.
    • "Expressiveness," pp 369-391
    • "The Work and Its Public," pp. 392-410
  • Mackey, M. & McClay, J. K. "Graphic Routes to Electronic Literacy: polysemy and picture books". Changing English 7(2), pp.191-201, 2000.
  • Mitchell, W. J. T. Picture Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
    • "The Pictorial Turn," pp. 11-34
    • "Metapictures," pp. 35-82
  • Mitchell, W.J.T. "What Is an Image?" in Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. pp 7-46.
  • Parsons, M.J. & Blocker, H.G. Aesthetics and Education, University of Illinois Press, 1993. Aesthetics, Art and the Aesthetic Object, pp 6-33.
  • Schwarcz, J.H. & C. Schwarcz. "A Close Look at a Picture Book" in The Picture Book Comes of Age. Chicago: American Library Association, 1991. pp 14-19.
Using the Library
Many of Penn State's library resources can be utilized from a distance. Through the Library Resources and Services for Off-Campus Users Web site, you can...

  • access magazine, journal, and newspaper articles online using library databases
  • borrow materials and have them delivered to your doorstep...or even your desktop
  • ask a librarian for research help via e-mail, chat, or phone using the ASK! service

...and much more!

NOTE: You must have an active Penn State Access Account and be registered with the University Libraries in order to take full advantage of the Libraries' resources and services. Registration and services are free!
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Technical Requirements

For this course we recommend the minimum World Campus technical requirements listed below:

World Campus Technical Requirements
Operating System Windows 2000/XP or Vista, Mac OS X 10.2 or higher (10.3 or higher recommended)
Processor 1 GHz or higher
Memory 256 MB of RAM
Hard Drive Space 500 MB free disk space
Browser Mac OS X: Firefox (current version)
Windows: Firefox (current version)
Note: Cookies, Java, and JavaScript must be enabled.
Pop-up blockers should be configured to permit new windows
from Penn State web sites.


Due to nonstandard handling of CSS, JavaScript and caching,
we do not recommend using Internet Explorer 6 as your browser.
Plug-ins Adobe Reader [Download from Adobe]
Flash Player [Download from Adobe]
Additional Software Microsoft Office (2007 or later version)
iTunes/Quicktime
Internet Connection Broadband (cable or DSL) connection required
Printer Access to graphics-capable printer
DVD-ROM Required
Sound Card, Microphone, and Speakers Required
Monitor Monitor (Capable of at least 1024 x 768 resolution)

HelpDesk

If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the Outreach Helpdesk.
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Assignments

  1. Readings: There is quite a bit of reading required for this course. It's vital that everyone does the readings. Our understandings of the readings will become the basis for the course.

  2. Post on the weekly threaded discussions: Because we meet only in cyberspace, it is vital to post regularly each week. This course can work only if we all regularly post our considered thoughts in the discussion threads. I expect you will post in a thoughtful and pertinent manner to each of the threaded discussions. Not only should you respond to your readings, but you should also respond to the ideas put forth by your fellow classmates.

  3. Reaction Papers: You will be asked to turn in responses to professional readings, children's books, and a scary picture activity. Good reaction papers are honest and thoughtful responses to course material, especially to ideas contained in the reading. Good reaction papers make connections among the professional readings and between the professional readings and picturebooks. Reaction papers should run from 500 to 700 words. They should include summaries and responses to readings. They will answer the questions: What ideas are you gleaning from the readings? How are these ideas shaping how you look at picturebooks? The reaction papers will be shared only with the instructors. We do encourage you to post excerpts from your reaction papers on the discussion board. One week the paper will include your reflection on making a picture of your own. They should be submitted by the last day of each lesson. [NOTE: the specific topic for the reaction papers will be on the Activities & Assignments page of the corresponding lesson.]

  4. Make a Picture: As part of the course, you will use the drawing utility in Microsoft Word, or use real construction paper and then scan or digital photo their works to make a scary picture utilizing the principles discussed in Molly Bang's Picture This. (Your grade for this assignment will be based on your reflection, not the quality of the picture itself.)

  5. Quiz Questions: As part of the course, you will submit a set of quiz questions and the answers based on the course content and reading that your instructor will develop into a quiz for all students to take. (Your grade for this will be a part of your participation.)

  6. Snow White Comparison Chart: When specified, you will need to create a chart that elaborates the similarities and differences between different versions of the classic Snow White. This assignment will count as 10% of the course grade (see Reaction Assignments in the course grading scheme below).

  7. Wiki project: For your final course project, you will do a study of a key children's book illustrator using the Penn State Wiki:

    How does he/she work? Does he/she have a discernable style? Does he/she have any themes consistent throughout his/her works? What books has he or she illustrated? How do the illustrated books portray and reflect his/her styles, themes, or any literary theories? How do the different styles of illustrating shape the meaning of the story? What stays constant? What seems to change? How does it change? Can you identify something about the way illustrators work that shapes the mood and the meaning? Does anything in his/her biography shed light on his/her work? Do you know any great web pages about the illustrator to share? Does he/she have any good publications to read? You can pick any illustrator who appears on the illustrator links page. If there's someone not on the list you'd like to study, please check with me before you start your research.

    Your Wiki project should be 2,000 words, about ten pages. Please make sure you have the five additional references, not counting children’s books. When I look at your pages, I will be considering sufficiency of information on your illustrator, coherence (how your Wiki page is structured), depth of information, and clarity of information (including your writing style). Revision is very important, and this is where feedback from other students is very helpful. Remember that you are expected to edit each other’s pages, and your contributions to the pages of others factor into your grade for this project—in other words, I will be considering if you helped to edit the pages of at least two other students’ Wiki pages, and will also consider how much time and effort you put into this editing. This doesn't have to take a long time, but it should go beyond a cursory “Your Wiki page is good!”  After you made changes to one another’s Wiki pages, you may continue to use the Wiki Project: Illustrator Sign up and Discussion discussion forum and point out what these changes were and why you made the changes.

Please take a look at Penn State policies and guidelines on copyright and plagiarism before you create your own Wiki.

http://its.psu.edu/policies/copyright.html

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/cyberplag/cyberplagstudent.html

In addition to the above, you will complete other activities as specified throughout the course. Specific details for each activity can be found on the Activities & Assignments page of each lesson. Be sure to regularly check the course announcements and emails from your instructors for additional specifics.

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Course Grading Scheme

Class Participation Discussion Forums 25%
Quiz Questions
Reaction Assignments Four Reaction Papers (4 @ 10%) 50%
Snow White Comparison Chart (1 @ 10%)
Wiki Project 25%
Semester Total 100%

Note: The course values risk taking. If you take a risk with an assignment and it doesn't quite turn out the way you hoped, you won't be penalized on your grade if you can show the logic of what you were trying to do and reflect on why it didn't turn out the way you had planned.

Late Policy

Work received after the deadline will be considered late, and one letter grade will be deducted unless you have contacted me beforehand. In the event of an emergency, contact me as soon as possible.

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Course Schedule

Lesson 1: Course Introduction
Readings:
  • None
Assignments:
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.
  • Create a student home page.
  • Practice using the Word Drawing program.
  • Practice using the drop box (optional).

Lesson 2: Picturebook Overview
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 3: Close Looking - Part I
Assignments:
  • Write a biweekly.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 4: Close Looking - Part II
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.
  • Drop questions for the "Children's Literature Quiz."

Lesson 5: Design
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Write a biweekly.
  • Make a Scary Picture.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.
  • Start to work on the Wiki project.

Lesson 6: Style
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Make a Snow White comparison chart.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.
  • Take the Children's Literature Quiz

Lesson 7: Word & Image
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 8: Picture Books for the Very Young
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Research an illustrator.
  • Write a biweekly.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 9: Culture - Different Ways of Seeing - Part I
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Write a biweekly.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 10: Culture - Different Ways of Seeing - Part II
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Research an illustrator.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 11: Unconventional Illustrators
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 12: Graphic Novels
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.

Lesson 13: Pedagogy
Readings:
  • Assigned chapter(s) in textbook
Assignments:
  • Write a biweekly.
  • Contribute to the threaded discussion.
  • Complete the Wiki Project.

Formal instruction will end on the last day of class. Provided that you have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password, you will continue to be able to access the course materials for one year, starting from the end date of the academic semester in which the course was offered (with the exception of library reserves and other external resources that may have a shorter archival period). After one year, you might be able to access the course based on the policies of the program or department offering the course material, up to a maximum of three years from the end date of the academic semester in which the course was offered. For more information, please review the University Course Archival Policy.

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Grading

Letter Grade Percentage
A 95-100
A- 90-95
B+ 85-90
B 80-85
B- 75-80
C+ 70-75
C 65-70
D 60-65
F below 60

Deferred Grades

If, for reasons beyond the student's control, a student is prevented from completing a course within the prescribed time, the grade in that course may be deferred with the concurrence of the instructor. The symbol DF appears on the student's transcript until the course has been completed. Non-emergency permission for filing a deferred grade must be requested by the student before the beginning of the final examination period. In an emergency situation, an instructor can approve a deferred grade after the final exam period has started. Under emergency conditions during which the instructor is unavailable, authorization is required from one of the following: the dean of the college in which the candidate is enrolled; the executive director of the Division of Undergraduate Studies if the student is enrolled in that division or is a provisional student; or the campus chancellor of the student's associated Penn State campus.

For additional information please refer to the Deferring a Grade page.

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Academic Integrity

According to Penn State policy G-9: Academic Integrity , an academic integrity violation is “an intentional, unintentional, or attempted violation of course or assessment policies to gain an academic advantage or to advantage or disadvantage another student academically.” Unless your instructor tells you otherwise, you must complete all course work entirely on your own, using only sources that have been permitted by your instructor, and you may not assist other students with papers, quizzes, exams, or other assessments. If your instructor allows you to use ideas, images, or word phrases created by another person (e.g., from Course Hero or Chegg) or by generative technology, such as ChatGPT, you must identify their source. You may not submit false or fabricated information, use the same academic work for credit in multiple courses, or share instructional content. Students with questions about academic integrity should ask their instructor before submitting work.

Students facing allegations of academic misconduct may not drop/withdraw from the affected course unless they are cleared of wrongdoing (see G-9: Academic Integrity ). Attempted drops will be prevented or reversed, and students will be expected to complete course work and meet course deadlines. Students who are found responsible for academic integrity violations face academic outcomes, which can be severe, and put themselves at jeopardy for other outcomes which may include ineligibility for Dean’s List, pass/fail elections, and grade forgiveness. Students may also face consequences from their home/major program and/or The Schreyer Honors College.

How Academic Integrity Violations Are Handled
World Campus students are expected to act with civility and personal integrity; respect other students' dignity, rights, and property; and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their own efforts. An environment of academic integrity is requisite to respect for oneself and others, as well as a civil community.

In cases where academic integrity is questioned, the Policy on Academic Integrity indicates that procedure requires an instructor to inform the student of the allegation. Procedures allow a student to accept or contest a charge. If a student chooses to contest a charge, the case will then be managed by the respective college or campus Academic Integrity Committee. If that committee recommends an administrative sanction (Formal Warning, Conduct Probation, Suspension, Expulsion), the claim will be referred to the Office of Student Accountability and Conflict Response.

All Penn State colleges abide by this Penn State policy, but review procedures may vary by college when academic dishonesty is suspected. Information about Penn State's academic integrity policy and college review procedures is included in the information that students receive upon enrolling in a course. To obtain that information in advance of enrolling in a course, please contact us by going to the Contacts & Help page .

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University Policies

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