'What is the Use of a Book Without Pictures?' An Exploration of the Impact of Illustrations on Reading Experience in A Monster Calls.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	'What is the Use of a Book Without Pictures?' An Exploration of the Impact of Illustrations on Reading Experience in A Monster Calls.
Authors:	Aggleton, Jen¹ ja479@cam.ac.uk
Source:	Children's Literature in Education. Sep2017, Vol. 48 Issue 3, p230-244. 15p.
Subject Terms:	*Picture books for children, Illustrated children's books, Reading interests of children
Reviews & Products:	Monster Calls, A (Book)
People:	Ness, Patrick, 1971-, Kay, Jim
Abstract:	This article examines the effect of Jim Kay's illustrations on the experience of reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. The author compares the responses of six Key Stage Three children (11-14 years old), three of whom were given an illustrated version of the text, and three a non-illustrated version. The children with an illustrated copy engaged with the text more deeply and critically than the others. They were also more likely to relate the story to their own lives. The illustrations were found to work alongside the participants' own visualisations rather than replacing them, and opened up further possible interpretations rather than limiting them. The illustrations did not appear to have influenced the participants' overall enjoyment of the book, nor did they significantly alter the readers' views on key themes and ideas of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of Children's Literature in Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	This article examines the effect of Jim Kay's illustrations on the experience of reading A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. The author compares the responses of six Key Stage Three children (11-14 years old), three of whom were given an illustrated version of the text, and three a non-illustrated version. The children with an illustrated copy engaged with the text more deeply and critically than the others. They were also more likely to relate the story to their own lives. The illustrations were found to work alongside the participants' own visualisations rather than replacing them, and opened up further possible interpretations rather than limiting them. The illustrations did not appear to have influenced the participants' overall enjoyment of the book, nor did they significantly alter the readers' views on key themes and ideas of the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	00456713
DOI:	10.1007/s10583-016-9279-1