Primary School Students Read Picture Book Response

Picturebooks are a genre suitable for children. It’s suitable not only forpre-schoolers, but also for primary students. However, we know little of how primarystudents react to picturebooks. It’s worthwhile to do such a special research. As such,I have done a qualitative research on this topic during a summer book club.According to the reader-response theory, readers should have two-wayexperience of self-experience to text and text to life. Aidan Chambers thoughtchildren are born literature reviewers, and what they need is just a free and openreading environment and an adult who is willing to be their listener. Book club is justsuch an environment. Before the field research, I have read lots of picturebooks anddecided on research questions. Then I chose picturebooks based on my researchquestions. The picturebooks used in my research are classified into three categories:1pictures are used as the major narrative factor, of which I used Anthony Browne’sZoo and Voices in the Park.2text as the major narrative factor, of which I used DavidShannon’s A Bad Case of Stripes and Eve Bunting’s A Day’s Work and Night Tree3both pictures and texts are used as narrative factors, of which I used Chris VanAllsburg’s Two Bad Ants. I set my research questions to be the following: How willprimary students react to picturebooks; Can they recognize the figure of speech usedin picturebooks; Can they recognize the visual language in picturebooks; How willthey review picturebooks.These are my findings: primary students will use both their life experience andprior reading experience to clarify the content of picturebooks. They will notice theclues in pictures and texts as well as intriguing details. Interactive betweenthemselves can also do them a favor. Some younger students tend to link their ownlife with the picturebooks they are reading. As for metaphor and symbols used inpicturebooks, older students can recognize effectively with adult’s help. Few youngerstudents can recognize metaphor with adult’s help. Both younger and older studentscan recognize different points of view used in picturebooks. They can recognize visual factor such as place、size、color and boundaries. Younger students like picturebookswith pictures as major narrative factor but this kind of book puzzle older students.Young students tend to review picturebooks morally.