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Inferring Characters Feelings Using Illustrative and Text Evidence: How Picture Books Support Comprehension

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Title: Inferring Characters Feelings Using Illustrative and Text Evidence: How Picture Books Support Comprehension
Language: English
Authors: Robin Griffith (ORCID 0000-0001-8910-978X)
Source: Literacy. 2026 60(1).
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2026
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Picture Books, Reading Comprehension, Childrens Literature, Social Emotional Learning, Reading Aloud to Others, Inferences, Vocabulary Development
DOI: 10.1111/lit.70012
ISSN: 1741-4350
1741-4369
Abstract: Children's literature plays a vital role in fostering young children's social and emotional learning, particularly in enhancing their emotional intelligence. This qualitative study explores how teachers reading aloud from carefully selected picture books can help young children identify, name and recognise emotions displayed by characters, thereby boosting their inferential comprehension. The findings underscore the significance of teaching children to draw evidence from both illustrations and text to support their inferences. With intentional guidance, young children can develop a strong vocabulary to aid in meaningful and intentional discussions about emotions beyond using surface level vocabulary.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1495938
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0191209843;0lo01jan.26;2026Feb02.06:05;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0191209843-1">Inferring characters feelings using illustrative and text evidence: How picture books support comprehension </title> <p>Children's literature plays a vital role in fostering young children's social and emotional learning, particularly in enhancing their emotional intelligence. This qualitative study explores how teachers reading aloud from carefully selected picture books can help young children identify, name and recognise emotions displayed by characters, thereby boosting their inferential comprehension. The findings underscore the significance of teaching children to draw evidence from both illustrations and text to support their inferences. With intentional guidance, young children can develop a strong vocabulary to aid in meaningful and intentional discussions about emotions beyond using surface level vocabulary.</p> <p>Keywords: character's feelings; children's literature; comprehension; inferences; inferential comprehension; read alouds; picture books; social emotional learning</p> <p>Second grader, Kiaya*(pseudonyms used throughout) sits with the researcher, Rene as she reads aloud <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> (Cornwall, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref1">13</reflink>]) a picture book in which young Jabari decides he's ready to jump off the very high diving board for the first time. Rene invites Kiaya to comment on the characters' feelings. The following exchange happens in the middle of the book as Jabari's confidence is waning.</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Rene: So how is Jabari feeling on this page?</item> <p></p> <item> Kiaya: He's feeling relieved that sometimes his dad, a grown man, even feels scared sometimes too. And that he's not the only one who feels scared sometimes.</item> <p></p> <item> Rene: And what is your evidence that he's feeling a bit relieved?</item> <p></p> <item> Kiaya: You could tell that he's smiling, and he looks okay. He's just looking at his dad and paying attention to his words.</item> </ulist> <p>In this exchange, Kiaya demonstrates how children's literature influences emotional intelligence and inferential comprehension, specifically through the young readers' ability to use text and illustration evidence to infer characters' emotions.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Understanding characters' emotions and motivations builds both empathy and inferential skills. Promoting social and emotional learning (SEL) and inferential comprehension together nurtures not only strong, thoughtful readers but also compassionate, reflective individuals. Both are essential for success in school—and in life. This study aimed to promote inferential comprehension by helping young children recognise and name characters' emotions using either text evidence or evidence in the illustrations. The ability to do so can have two positive results: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref2">1</reflink>) increased comprehension and (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref3">2</reflink>) development of SEL competencies.</p> <p>A critical skill for comprehension is the ability to infer meaning not explicitly stated in the text (Cartwright and Duke, [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref4">11</reflink>]; Duke and Pearson, [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref5">14</reflink>]). Young children gather meaning from the illustrations, often noticing details adults miss. Through conversations with adults and peers, young children can learn to interpret the use of colour, perspective, line and visual point of view as a way to make meaning (Pantaleo, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref6">30</reflink>]).</p> <p>Along with illustration evidence, students can learn to infer by noticing what characters do, say, think or feel (Serravallo, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref7">37</reflink>]), though young children often lack the language to talk about the wide range of emotions humans experience, often defaulting to simplified responses like <emph>happy</emph> and <emph>sad</emph>. Gallingane and Han ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref8">18</reflink>]) recommend teaching young children the nuanced differences between similar emotions like nervous and worried and thrilled and pleased. Educating children about emotional intelligence through children's literature enables them to identify and interpret the emotions shown in stories, enhancing their capacity to comprehend, recognise and articulate feelings, a crucial facet of SEL.</p> <p>Children's literature offers rich opportunities for young readers to explore and deepen their emotional intelligence in a way that ignites their awareness and understanding of SEL topics. Children's literature can offer comfort to readers who see characters dealing with trials (Sullivan and Strang, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref9">40</reflink>]) and offer a dress rehearsal for understanding challenging circumstances (Pulimeno et al., [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref10">33</reflink>]). Children's literature also offers young children a space to notice, consider, discuss and evaluate how characters behave. Bluestein ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref11">8</reflink>]) recommends posing questions to the readers about the problems characters face and how they solve (or do not solve) them. Making space for readers evaluate character actions provides a potential blueprint for how they might choose to react in similar situations.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-3">Literature review</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191209843-4">Importance of inferring in reading comprehension</hd> <p>Reading is a cognitive process that requires both literal and inferential comprehension (Cain and Oakhill, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref12">10</reflink>]; Elleman, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref13">16</reflink>]) even for young readers (Gregory and Cahill, [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref14">19</reflink>]). Venneker et al. ([<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref15">42</reflink>]) refer to literal comprehension as the surface structure and inferential comprehension as the situation model. Unlike surface structure, which involves understanding information directly stated in the text, the situation model relies on readers to use their background knowledge to infer events, situations and scenarios that are not overtly mentioned. Reading comprehension, therefore, involves both extracting and constructing meaning through inferential processes supported by background knowledge (Kendeou et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref16">23</reflink>]). Literal comprehension answers questions that are 'right there' in the text (Raphael and Au, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref17">34</reflink>]). Inferential comprehension, on the other hand, requires the reader to read between the lines, to answer questions that are not directly stated but must be implied. Simply defined, 'inferences are informed guesses based on supporting evidence' (Bintz et al., [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref18">6</reflink>], p. 17). Authors cannot (and should not) reveal every detail of a story in explicit ways. Instead, authors require readers to make inferences about characters, their motives and about the problem(s) revealed and sometimes resolved across the span of the plot development (Lepola et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref19">27</reflink>]). When making an inference, readers draw upon their background knowledge but also notice subtle hints in the text that can be pieced together (Marzano, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref20">28</reflink>]). As students progress through school, reading proficiency increasingly requires more complex inference‐making and evaluation of text meaning.</p> <p>In the meta‐analysis of 25 inference studies in Grades K–1, Elleman ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref21">16</reflink>]) found that inference generation requires the reader to coordinate several cognitive processes, including the activation of background knowledge, ignoring irrelevant information, holding events and characters in working memory and integrating new knowledge with existing information. In a study of kindergarten students' reading of wordless or almost wordless picture books, Pantaleo ([<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref22">31</reflink>]) identified the types of inferences young children made while engaging with the books. These inferences were central to their meaning‐making of the books.</p> <p>Some children develop inferential comprehension naturally with exposure to rich texts, but for most children, the teacher plays an important role in developing inferential comprehension through intentional text selection, questioning and discussion (Kelly and Moses, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref23">22</reflink>]). Primary grade teachers often read aloud to children as part of the literacy block, engaging the class in an interactive exchange of ideas about the books being read (Barrentine, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref24">3</reflink>]; McGee and Schickedanz, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref25">29</reflink>]). The benefits of reading aloud are well documented, including promoting reading enjoyment, building classroom community, expanding vocabulary and oral language development, extending schema by building background knowledge and noticing how writers craft their message (Beck and McKeown, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref26">4</reflink>]; Layne, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref27">25</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref28">24</reflink>]; Lennox, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref29">26</reflink>]; Schickedanz, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref30">35</reflink>]; Sipe, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref31">38</reflink>]; Trelease, [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref32">41</reflink>]; Wan [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref33">44</reflink>]).</p> <p>Interactive read alouds 'describe the context in which a teacher genuinely shares, not abandons, authority with the children' (Smolkin and Donovan, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref34">39</reflink>], p. 28). It is not a simple matter of a teacher reading the book to the children, rather an instructional context in which the teacher plays a critical role in guiding the readers to make connections, share ideas, notice and report and expand thinking (Braid and Finch, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref35">9</reflink>]).</p> <p>These kinds of guided interaction are supported by Vygotsky's ([<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref36">43</reflink>]) sociocultural theory, which emphasises that learning occurs through social interaction and is mediated by language. During interactive read alouds, the teacher serves as a more knowledgeable other, helping children navigate and interpret complex emotional and textual information that they might not grasp on their own. This scaffolding allows children to draw inferences, use academic and emotional vocabulary and build comprehension in a socially meaningful way.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-5">Building vocabulary to describe characters' emotions</hd> <p>SEL skills can be taught. Studies reveal SEL programs have a positive effect on students' social behaviours and attitudes (Ashdown and Bernard, [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref37">1</reflink>]; Durlak et al., [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref38">15</reflink>]). A key skill set of emotional intelligence is the understanding of the wide array of emotions and how what those look like and feel like in real life (CASEL, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref39">12</reflink>]). People act differently when they are facing a challenge. Some might feel anxious while others look to the new challenge with anticipation. Children experience a wide range of emotions each day but may not possess the vocabulary to adequately identify how they are feeling. They may default to describing their feelings with the most basic descriptions of <emph>happy</emph> and <emph>sad</emph>. When children possess the vocabulary to identify emotions, they begin to understand what motivates individuals and how their actions, facial expressions and language provide clues about their emotional state. Awareness of the range of emotions is a vital SEL skill for human interactions, but it is also helpful in reading comprehension.</p> <p>A logical place to support SEL, specifically emotional intelligence, is during classroom read alouds of picture books. Bennett et al. ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref40">5</reflink>]) studied the impact of SEL‐focused read alouds in a community‐based after‐school program. Though no statistical differences were noted in the children's SEL scores on a web‐based measure, the researchers discovered growth in the children's SEL vocabulary. Phillippe ([<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref41">32</reflink>]) described the use of read alouds to promote SEL in a fifth‐grade classroom with special attention given to developing 'emotion vocabulary' while Schultz and Baczek's study (Schultz and Baczek, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref42">36</reflink>]) of fourth graders promoted self‐awareness by discussing the feelings and perspectives of others. Much of reading comprehension relies on successful inferences; therefore, being able to notice characters' actions, facial expressions, body language and conversations is an important skill for readers. Without the vocabulary to describe characters' emotions, they may miss vital clues in the plot and changes in characters across the story. Few studies specifically address how picture books and interactive read alouds can promote children's inferential comprehension by specifically focusing on the illustrative and text evidence used to identify characters' emotions. This study aimed to fill that gap in the literature.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-6">The study</hd> <p>This qualitative case study of two primary grade classrooms addressed the how and why questions related to inferential comprehension development through the triangulation of multiple sources of information (Yin, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref43">45</reflink>]). Utilising Yin's six step process of plan, design, prepare, collect, analyse and share, this study sheds light on the viability of using picture books to support inferential comprehension while promoting emotional intelligence in primary grade classrooms.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-7">Participants and study site</hd> <p>The study took place in the spring semester of 2024 at Lakeview Independent School District, a suburban school district in the southwestern United States. The district served over 23,000 students in 18 elementary schools, 6 middle schools and 4 high schools. Forty‐four percent of the student population were classified as economically disadvantaged with the racial demographics profile of 31% White, 40% Hispanic, 18% Black, 5% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander and 6% two or more races. Data were collected in a first‐grade classroom and a second‐grade classroom in a Title I school. Addy, a first‐grade teacher held a master's degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in language/literacy and had 6 years of teaching experience. Liz, a second‐grade teacher in the same school had 15+ years of teaching experience. Parental consent was secured for 12 of the 19 children in Addy's classroom and 15 of the 22 students in Liz's classroom. The students represented a range of cultural, linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds.</p> <p>Liz and Addy agreed to continue their normal literacy practices, which included daily read alouds to the class but with the incorporation of the 12 SEL‐focused picture books supplied by the researcher. The teachers understood the goal of the study was to promote children's inferential comprehension skills by focusing on characters' emotions. The researcher utilised a pre/post interview using the picture book <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> (Cornwall, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref44">13</reflink>]) to capture the students' use of vocabulary to talk about emotions as well as the types of inferences they made at the beginning and end of the study.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-8">Data analysis and findings</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191209843-9">Analysis of Jabari jumps (Cornwall, 2017) responses</hd> <p>It was important to gather data on individual children's abilities to infer the feelings of characters and to capture the language they used to describe those emotions and to determine if their emotional vocabulary changed over time, therefore, a pre/post interview was utilised. To collect this data, the researchers read aloud the same picture book to each child, stopping at predetermined pages to ask, 'How is the character feeling on this page? How do you know?' <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> (Cornwall, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref45">13</reflink>]) is a short picture book featuring a young boy who has just finished his swim lessons. Jabari is preparing to jump off the high diving board. This text was selected for the interview protocol for several reasons. First, it was a relatively short text, which made the one‐on‐one interviews with children more efficient. Second, the main character, Jabari, expressed a range of emotions throughout the book, from excitement and confidence at the beginning to uncertainty and hesitation in the middle to confidence and triumph at the end. Finally, the text allowed for inferential comprehension of Jabari's emotions through illustration evidence (the facial expressions, body language, use of colour, etc.) as well as text evidence (dialogue, character actions, etc.).</p> <p>The research team, comprised of the author and her two graduate students, used an interview protocol to gather data on students' inferences using the picture book <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> (Cornwall, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref46">13</reflink>]). Following the same interview protocol, each researcher read the book aloud, stopping at predetermined pages to ask the same two questions, 'How is Jabari feeling now? How do you know?' At the end of the interview, the children were asked 'What problem did Jabari face and how did he solve it?' and 'What can we learn from Jabari?' Video recordings captured the pages the student was referencing when they commented on the characters' emotions and often provided some nonverbal cues that were used in analysis. For example, when a student mimicked the body language or facial expression of the character when describing the evidence, they might say 'It looks like he's a little unsure or nervous because it looks like his mouth is kind of like... (student made facial expression with his mouth turned down on one side).' The recordings also captured the students' precise language when conversing about the characters' emotions and the evidence they used.</p> <p>Each transcript of the one‐on‐one interviews of <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> was coded by at least two team members using two levels of coding. First, each emotion the student identified was entered into a spreadsheet and coded as positive, negative or neutral. The emotions were compared across students, by page number, and in comparison, to our own analysis of the book. We counted how many times an emotion was identified and noted the range of vocabulary to talk about emotions. Determining if an emotion was positive, negative or neutral was less relevant to the study than initially expected. Given that the books selected for this study were fiction with the main character facing a problem which led to the expression of generally negative emotions at the beginning of the story and then to a resolution of that problem lead to more positive character emotions at the end of the story.</p> <p>Second, each response to the 'how did you know' prompt was recorded and analysed for the type of evidence used. Usually, the student did not specify if they were using text or illustration evidence, rather they described what they noticed. For instance, a child who used text evidence might say 'Because he said, 'I'm a great jumper. I'm not scared at all.' This instance was coded at text evidence: dialogue. The codes applied to this stage of analysis are noted in Table 1. The use of evidence was then analysed by student, by page and across instances.</p> <p>1 Table Codes for analysis of student responses to Jabari jumps (Cornwall, 2017).</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Emotion identification</th><th>Text evidence</th><th>Illustration evidence</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>+ = positive− = negativeN = neutral</td><td>D = dialogueA = actionT = thoughtNT = narrator thought</td><td>CA = character action perspectiveFE = facial expressionBL = body languageIE = illustration emphasis</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0191209843-10">Description of teaching moves</hd> <p>Both teachers received 12 picture books to read aloud in their classrooms. (For a list of books, see the Children's Literature cited in the reference list.) Addy and Liz already read aloud to their classes every day. During this study, they were encouraged to read aloud the selected books throughout a 3‐week period. Utilising the interactive read‐aloud approach (Barrentine, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref47">3</reflink>]; McGee and Schickedanz, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref48">29</reflink>]), they made space for students to infer character emotions and to discuss the evidence students used to make those inferences. Field notes of teachers' interactions with students during reading conferences and nine read alouds were video recorded and later transcribed for analysis. Classroom photographs, including some class‐generated anchor charts rounded out the data collection. Recordings of read alouds were transcribed and notes about the teaching moves were noted. For instance, both Addy and Liz used sticky notes to mark pre‐planned stopping points during the read aloud. Both used a series of planned questions (e.g., How is the character feeling? How do you know?) and iterative, probing questions as needed (e.g., You said he's feeling happy. Is there another word you can use? And What are you noticing about the characters' actions?). The researcher often debriefed with the teacher following the lessons and sometimes offered suggestions for future lessons. For instance, one suggestion was to not stop as often to analyse the character emotions for fear of losing the momentum of the story. Another debriefing session resulted in the suggestion to create an anchor chart of emotions in order to give students more language to talk about nuanced emotions (see Figure 1).</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/0LO/01jan26/lit70012-fig-0001.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNLr40Sepq840dvuOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="lit70012-fig-0001.jpg" title="1 Emotions chart from Addy's classroom." /> </p> <p></p> <p>To promote the transfer in inference skills from listening comprehension to reading comprehension, the teachers used individual reading conferences during independent reading. The teachers provided sticky notes for students to mark pages where they could infer character feelings. They then moved about the room talking with students about the emotions they inferred and the evidence they used. These conferences were observed primarily from the back of the classroom but those that occurred near the researcher were captured either on video or in the researcher's notes.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-12">Findings</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191209843-13">Naming emotions: Developing vocabulary beyond happy and sad</hd> <p>An important SEL competency is students' abilities to identify and name emotions beyond <emph>happy</emph> and <emph>sad</emph> (CASEL, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref49">12</reflink>]). Initially, students identified the characters' emotions in generic ways using words like <emph>scared</emph>, <emph>happy</emph>, <emph>nervous</emph> and <emph>excited</emph>. In Addy's pre/post data of the <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> interviews, the number of unique emotions identified by the students rose from 15 to 28, with fewer instances of students naming no emotion at all. In Liz's pre/post data, the number of emotions did not change much (24 to 27), though the vocabulary used to describe the emotions differed somewhat pre to post. See Tables 2 and 3.</p> <p>2 Table Addy's pre/post data: emotions identified by frequency.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Pre</th><th>Post</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Scared—30</td><td>Excited—27</td></tr><tr><td>Happy—27</td><td>Nervous—23</td></tr><tr><td>Nervous—15</td><td>Scared—12</td></tr><tr><td>Excited—11</td><td>Happy—9</td></tr><tr><td>Brave—7</td><td>Glad—4</td></tr><tr><td>Frightened—2</td><td>Merry—3</td></tr><tr><td>Confident—2</td><td>Proud—3</td></tr><tr><td>Mad—1</td><td>More confident—2</td></tr><tr><td>Doubting—1</td><td>Afraid—2</td></tr><tr><td>Tired—1</td><td>Brave—1</td></tr><tr><td>Surprised—1</td><td>Impressed—1</td></tr><tr><td>Not nervous −1</td><td>Proud—1</td></tr><tr><td>Soothing—1</td><td>Terrified—1</td></tr><tr><td>Good—1</td><td>Anxious—1</td></tr><tr><td>Impressed—1</td><td>Calm—1</td></tr><tr><td>No emotion identified—15</td><td>Joyful—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Thrilled—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Delighted—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Safe—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Strong—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Thoughtful—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Feeling better—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Ready—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Frustrated—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Accomplished—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Not scared—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Fearless—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Loved—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>No emotion identified—3</td></tr><tr><td>15 unique emotions identified</td><td>28 unique emotions identified</td></tr><tr><td>15 no responses</td><td>3 no responses</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>3 Table Liz's pre/post data: emotions identified by frequency.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Pre</th><th>Post</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Happy—29</td><td>Excited—26</td></tr><tr><td>Scared—19</td><td>Happy—26</td></tr><tr><td>Excited—15</td><td>Scared—24</td></tr><tr><td>Brave—10</td><td>Nervous—21</td></tr><tr><td>Tired—3</td><td>Proud—5</td></tr><tr><td>Confident—3</td><td>Ready—5</td></tr><tr><td>Thinking—2</td><td>Confident—4</td></tr><tr><td>Comforted—2</td><td>Surprised—4</td></tr><tr><td>Free—2</td><td>Brave—3</td></tr><tr><td>Not scared—2</td><td>Relieved—2</td></tr><tr><td>Terrified—2</td><td>Not scared—2</td></tr><tr><td>Proud—2</td><td>Joyful—2</td></tr><tr><td>Afraid—1</td><td>Calm—2</td></tr><tr><td>Feeling Great—1</td><td>Terrified—2</td></tr><tr><td>Calm—1</td><td>Afraid—2</td></tr><tr><td>Wonderful—1</td><td>Great—1</td></tr><tr><td>Surprised—1</td><td>Really good—1</td></tr><tr><td>Encouraged—1</td><td>Alive −2</td></tr><tr><td>Dizzy—1</td><td>Determined—1</td></tr><tr><td>Positive—1</td><td>Comfortable—1</td></tr><tr><td>Does not want to go anymore—1</td><td>Free—1</td></tr><tr><td>Ready—1</td><td>Tired—1</td></tr><tr><td>Not ready—1</td><td>Embarrassed—1</td></tr><tr><td>Good—1</td><td>Furious—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Concerned—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Hopeful—1</td></tr><tr><td /><td>Unhappy—1</td></tr><tr><td>24 unique emotions identified</td><td>27 unique emotions identified</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>Throughout the study, Addy and Liz consistently probed for more complex emotion words and supported the acquisition of vocabulary to name more nuanced emotions. Over time, students began to use richer words to describe emotions. They noticed the changes in Jabari's emotions from <emph>scared</emph>, <emph>afraid</emph> and <emph>nervous</emph> to feeling <emph>thrilled</emph>, <emph>strong</emph> and <emph>fearless</emph> when he conquered his fear of jumping off the high diving board. Samira noted Jabari felt 'glad' his dad suggested he wait until tomorrow to jump. Josiah explained that Jabari felt <emph>safe</emph> when Dad knelt down beside him and Kristen thought Jabari felt <emph>loved</emph> when his dad and sister were cheering for him and Dad said 'Jabari, you did it!'</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-14">Identifying evidence used to infer</hd> <p>Students primarily used two types of evidence to support their inferences—text and illustration. In the pre/post data from the <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> interviews, the first graders relied on illustration evidence to make inferences but shifts in their abilities to also use text evidence were noted in the post data. In Addy's pre data, students relied primarily on illustration evidence to make inferences, especially facial expressions. There was a marked increase in students' use of text evidence as compared with illustration evidence in Addy's post data. (Table 4). In Liz's second‐grade classroom, the balance between illustration and text evidence did not change much in the pre/post data. Most notable was an increase in noticing character actions and body language in the illustrations in the post data and a decrease in students' reliance on facial expressions to make inferences. The instances of text evidence remained much the same, with the main difference being an increase in the use of dialogue and narrator thought to infer. See Tables 4 and 5.</p> <p>4 Table Addy's pre/post data: types of evidence used to infer.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Illustration</th><th>Pre</th><th>Post</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Facial expression</td><td align="center">42</td><td align="center">31</td></tr><tr><td>Character action</td><td align="center">27</td><td align="center">27</td></tr><tr><td>Body language</td><td align="center">19</td><td align="center">12</td></tr><tr><td>Perspective</td><td align="center">13</td><td align="center">3</td></tr><tr><td>Illustration emphasis</td><td align="center">7</td><td align="center">4</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td align="center">108</td><td align="center">77</td></tr><tr><td>Text</td><td align="center">Pre</td><td align="center">Post</td></tr><tr><td>Dialogue</td><td align="center">13</td><td align="center">32</td></tr><tr><td>Action</td><td align="center">15</td><td align="center">18</td></tr><tr><td>Thought</td><td align="center">1</td><td align="center">1</td></tr><tr><td>Narrator thought</td><td align="center">8</td><td align="center">6</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td align="center">37</td><td align="center">57</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>5 Table Liz's pre/post data: types of evidence used to infer.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Illustration</th><th>Pre</th><th>Post</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Character action</td><td>36</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Perspective</td><td>5</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>Facial expression</td><td>35</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>Body language</td><td>2</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Illustration emphasis</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>80</td><td>77</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p></p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th>Text</th><th>Pre</th><th>Post</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td>Dialogue</td><td>35</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>Action</td><td>17</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>Thought</td><td>0</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Narrator thought</td><td>2</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>54</td><td>55</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0191209843-15">Illustration evidence</hd> <p>Illustration evidence consisted of the use of facial expression, body language, character action, perspective and illustration emphasis. Illustration evidence was most common in the first‐grade classroom, especially facial expressions. Students noticed Jabari's blushing cheeks. They noted he was smiling and 'even his teeth were showing.' Jasmine noted that Jabari was feeling unsure because 'It looks like his mouth is kind of like ...' [fixed her own mouth turned down on one side as an imitation of what she noticed in the illustration]. Students also recognised the eyes as an expressive part of the face. They noticed the size of eyes, where the eyes were looking and the ways in which eyebrows communicated feelings. Some students combined multiple facial features together to form an inference. For instance, Cade paid attention to Jabari's eyebrows. On one page he noted that Jabari was 'nervous. He looks like he's closing his eyes. It looks like he's meditating but he's not. He's taking a deep breath. His lips are tight, and his eyebrows are up.' A few pages later, Cade again used illustration evidence to infer Jabari was feeling 'merry and excited. I used the illustration. His eyebrows are up, and his mouth is open and smiling.' In both instances, the character's eyebrows were raised but Cade gathered multiple sources of information (e.g., mouth placement and body language) to infer different emotions.</p> <p>Body language was also a common form of illustration evidence for students' inferences. They noted how characters were standing (e.g., 'with his feet a little apart'), where they placed their hands and arms (e.g., 'his arms are next to him') and how their heads were positioned (e.g., 'his head is leaning back, like he's looking up'). On the page where Jabari took a deep breath and sprang off the board, Julia inferred that Jabari was now 'fearless.' She noticed that 'he spread his arms really big' as if he no longer had any fears.</p> <p>Occasionally, students noted shifts in emotions from one moment to the next. Jess stated that Jabari was 'excited but then he got a little nervous.' She noted, 'When he [Jabari] squeezed his [dad's] hand, sometimes some people go like that, like their head is a little tilted and their shoulders are a little up when they are nervous.'</p> <p>Characters' actions also informed students' inferences. In some cases, the actions were illustrated in the picture. Sometimes the author explained the character action in the words; other times, the illustrations depicted the characters' actions. Several students noticed Jabari's attempts to stall. They identified his emotion on this page as 'worried, nervous, and scared.' Jackson commented on the illustration evidence he used to make this inference, 'He's trying to make other people go ahead of him so he doesn't have to jump, but then he just stands there thinking if he should jump or if he shouldn't.'</p> <p>The illustrator's use of perspective also served as a form of illustration evidence for students. Some students were intrigued with perspective. One of the pages featured an extra wide view of the diving board ladder. Jabari looked quite small as he climbed the rungs. Kate inferred that Jabari is 'maybe kind of scared because it's high. It looks like more than 10 steps. Because that's [the picture] only like six and it looks like there is more [extending beyond the page's edge]. He's kind of like ... he shouldn't do this because there are six plus nine steps equals a lot! So, he might be scared.' Kate's comments were filled with emotions. It's almost as if she was experiencing sympathetic nerves for Jabari. Students were also intrigued by the image of Jabari's toes curled over the edge of the diving board with the water far below. They often noted the curled toes as illustration evidence that Jabari was frightened by the height. Leighla described Jabari as 'gripping the board with his toes.' Kaiya also commented on perspective, 'You see it from a hawk view. And for him, it probably looks too high because he's young and he's small.'</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-16">Text evidence</hd> <p>Text evidence consisted of dialogue, action, character thoughts and narrator thoughts. The most common form of text evidence used by students was dialogue, followed by character action. Initially, the second graders were better at noticing and using dialogue to infer but over the course of the study, the first graders began to utilise it more to infer character feelings. At the beginning of the book, Brady inferred that Jabari was feeling 'brave, because he said "I am a great jumper. I am not scared at all."' Later in the story, children notice a change in Jabari's feelings. His bravery quickly turned into 'fear, nervousness and fright' when he noticed the height of the diving board. Sarah commented, 'he's noticing that [the diving board] is tall and he's just saying he's tired, but he's actually nervous.' James made a similar inference, 'He doesn't want his dad to know that he's scared. So, he's saying he's a little bit tired. [I know that] because he said it in the book.' Sarah identified another shift in emotions when Jabari's dad knelt down next to him and offered words of advice, 'He feels good now because his dad told him it's okay to feel scared sometimes.' Tyler even commented on the type of punctuation mark the author used on the final page of the story, 'He said that with an exclamation point.'</p> <p>Students also used character actions to infer. In this case, the text described some of the characters' actions—they smiled, they took a deep breath, they leapt into the air. Many children used the text 'he squeezed dad's hand back' as evidence that Jabari was not as confident as he first appeared on the first pages of the book. Students identified the emotions on this page as 'nervous, afraid, embarrassed and scared.'</p> <p>Occasionally, students used a character's thoughts as text evidence. Though not many opportunities presented themselves in <emph>Jabari jumps</emph>, Mikey inferred that Jabari was 'excited' when the text said, 'That feels a little bit more like a surprise and Jabari loves surprises.'</p> <p>Narrator thoughts were sometimes used as text evidence. Though not as common in the <emph>Jabari jumps</emph> example, Kaiya believed Jabari was 'feeling free and ready' when the author wrote the words 'Jabari took a deep breath and felt it through his body from the ends of his ears right down to the tips of his toes.'</p> <p>Findings from this study indicate students readily utilised illustration evidence to infer characters' feelings. The most common form of illustration evidence used by students was facial expression. This finding was important because interpreting facial expressions is how most people infer the feelings of others in real life. Additionally, students used evidence from the text to infer characters' emotions. Dialogue was the most common form of text evidence, though characters' actions were frequently noticed as well.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-17">Teacher moves to support inferential comprehension</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191209843-18">Intentional read alouds</hd> <p>The teachers' instructional decisions played a significant role in students' abilities to identify, name and use textual and illustrative evidence to support inferences about characters' emotions. Daily read alouds with intentionally selected picture books were already part of Addy's and Liz's classroom literacy practices. They were adept at driving intentional conversations about the books by asking open‐ended questions throughout the book. For this study, they were even more deliberate about asking probing questions, 'How is the character feeling?' and 'How do you know? What's your evidence?'</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-19">Creating and reviewing anchor charts</hd> <p>Both teachers created anchor charts during some of the lessons. Addy was particularly interested in building the first‐graders' vocabulary to name emotions. Over several days, the class created the feelings chart (see Figure 1) that served as a class resource throughout the study. During 1 day of data collection, Addy reviewed the feeling chart stating, 'We have way more words that we can use instead of just happy and sad. Who can remind me of a different way to talk about happy?' The children named <emph>excited</emph>, <emph>joyful</emph>, <emph>merry</emph>, <emph>glad</emph>, <emph>proud</emph> and <emph>loved</emph> as different ways in which happiness might be expressed. They named <emph>dreadful</emph>, <emph>disappointed</emph>, <emph>down</emph>, <emph>hopeless</emph>, <emph>serious</emph>, <emph>angry</emph>, <emph>frustrated</emph>, <emph>grumpy</emph>, <emph>tired</emph>, <emph>mean</emph> and <emph>irritated</emph> as examples of negative emotions that went beyond mad/sad. Students also expressed other feelings like <emph>polite</emph>, <emph>respectful</emph>, <emph>ungrateful</emph>, <emph>sassy</emph>, <emph>lazy</emph>, <emph>bored</emph>, <emph>impatient</emph> and <emph>concerned</emph>. Many of these words were generated as a result of thinking about characters in the books shared during the read aloud.</p> <p>To teach students about the different types of evidence they may use to form inferences, the researcher co‐taught a lesson with Addy. Using the familiar book <emph>Chrysanthemum</emph> (Henkes, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref50">21</reflink>]), the teachers dipped into key pages in the book. Together, the class and two adults created the types of evidence anchor chart in Figure 2. This chart served as a resource for the class throughout the rest of the school year. Liz created similar anchor charts with her class throughout the course of the study.</p> <p> <img src="https://imageserver.ebscohost.com/img/embimages/rdk/0LO/01jan26/lit70012-fig-0002.jpg?ephost1=dGJyMNLr40Sepq840dvuOLCmsE6epq5Srqa4SK6WxWXS" alt="lit70012-fig-0002.jpg" title="2 Anchor chart of types of text evidence." /> </p> <p></p> <hd id="AN0191209843-21">Individual reading conferences</hd> <p>In both classrooms, the teachers were interested in taking these inferential skills beyond listening comprehension to reading comprehension, so they used the same probing questions during individual reading conferences during independent reading. Sometimes the teachers provided sticky notes for students to mark pages where they could infer character feelings. The teachers moved about the room talking with students about the emotions they inferred and the evidence they used. These conferences were observed primarily from the back of the classroom but those that occurred near the researcher were captured either on video or in the researcher's notes.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-22">Discussion</hd> <p>Inferential comprehension is a critical component of reading instruction and literacy development (Cain and Oakhill, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref51">10</reflink>]; Elleman, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref52">16</reflink>]; Kendeou et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref53">23</reflink>]). The findings from this study indicate that supporting inferential comprehension can occur naturally in interactive read alouds with intentional planning (Barrentine, [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref54">3</reflink>]; Kelly and Moses, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref55">22</reflink>]; McGee and Schickedanz, [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref56">29</reflink>]). Throughout the study, the teachers made several important teaching decisions that created a context for this development (Griffith, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref57">20</reflink>]). First, they intentionally read aloud books with strong character emotions—ones that could readily be inferred from the illustration or text. These books were relatable and often served as mirrors and windows for the children (Bishop, [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref58">7</reflink>]). Second, the teachers consistently drew students' attention to the characters' feelings by asking 'How is the character feeling on this page in the story?' and by probing for evidence, 'How do you know? What evidence are you using?' Finally, as more knowledgeable others, the teachers explicitly scaffolded students' inferential comprehension by creating classroom resources with the students (Vygotsky, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref59">43</reflink>]). They taught vocabulary for nuanced emotions by creating anchor charts the classes referenced throughout the study and beyond. They also taught the children the different types of evidence and how they can gather information from the illustration and the text to make inferences.</p> <p>Findings from this study also highlighted that inferential comprehension instruction often begins with the reader using illustration evidence; therefore, teaching children to infer character feelings in picture books is a natural place to begin instruction around inferential comprehension. Picture books, as we define them for this study, intentionally pair pictures and words to create meaning beyond what one can do alone (Galda et al., [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref60">17</reflink>]). Readers of picture books are privileged to be able to tap into the meaning in the words but also the meaning supplemented by the illustrations (Braid and Finch, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref61">9</reflink>]). Children's book illustrators can play a significant role in the meaning‐making of the story. The illustrator may supply supplemental information about the interactions between characters, about the characters' facial expressions, their body language and even the mood of the event through the use of colour and perspective (Pantaleo, [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref62">30</reflink>]). Teachers can draw readers' attention to the nuances of the illustration as a source of information for inferential comprehension. Relatedly, teachers can help young readers pay attention to what the characters do, say, think and feel as a way to infer emotions (Serravallo, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref63">37</reflink>]). When a character shouts, whines, cries or whispers, the reader has additional information about how the character is feeling. Characters' actions also provide rich evidence for readers' inferential comprehension. The plot line develops, unfolds and often comes to a satisfying conclusion when the author includes characters' thoughts. Teaching young children to attend to these important pieces of information helps them develop inferential comprehension.</p> <p>Findings from this study also revealed that young children develop emotional intelligence as they build vocabulary to talk about a range of emotions. By building a bank of emotion words, they can better articulate their own feelings. Being able to say to another person, 'I feel unsure' or 'I'm being cautious in this situation' empowers them to walk their worlds confidently. Being able to accurately express emotions is an aspect of self‐awareness that leads to healthier relationship skills, all important aspects of SEL (CASEL, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref64">12</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-23">Conclusions</hd> <p>Findings from this study are significant because they demonstrate that inferential comprehension and emotional intelligence can be meaningfully developed in tandem through thoughtfully planned interactive read alouds. By intentionally selecting emotionally rich picture books and guiding students to use both textual and visual evidence, teachers can foster deeper comprehension skills while simultaneously supporting children's social and emotional growth—laying a strong foundation for lifelong literacy and interpersonal success.</p> <p>Additional research is needed to explore how these skills transfer from listening comprehension to reading comprehension. Finally, the transition from relying on illustration evidence to textual evidence is a critical skill for readers whose reading materials will not always have picture supports. Soon they will be reading chapter books that only provide evidence for inferences in the text. It is important for teachers to support this gradual release of responsibility to promote inferential comprehension during independent reading.</p> <hd id="AN0191209843-24">Conflict of interest statement</hd> <p>There is no conflict of interest.</p> <ref id="AN0191209843-25"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref2" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Funding information: This article was funded in part by Academic Excellence Fund, Texas Christian University, College of Education.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0191209843-26"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibtext> Ashdown, D. M. and Bernard, M. E. 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  Data: Inferring Characters Feelings Using Illustrative and Text Evidence: How Picture Books Support Comprehension
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Robin+Griffith%22">Robin Griffith</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8910-978X">0000-0001-8910-978X</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Literacy%22"><i>Literacy</i></searchLink>. 2026 60(1).
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  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
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– Name: Pages
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  Data: 12
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  Data: 2026
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Picture+Books%22">Picture Books</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reading+Comprehension%22">Reading Comprehension</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Childrens+Literature%22">Childrens Literature</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Emotional+Learning%22">Social Emotional Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reading+Aloud+to+Others%22">Reading Aloud to Others</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Inferences%22">Inferences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Vocabulary+Development%22">Vocabulary Development</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1111/lit.70012
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  Data: 1741-4350<br />1741-4369
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Children's literature plays a vital role in fostering young children's social and emotional learning, particularly in enhancing their emotional intelligence. This qualitative study explores how teachers reading aloud from carefully selected picture books can help young children identify, name and recognise emotions displayed by characters, thereby boosting their inferential comprehension. The findings underscore the significance of teaching children to draw evidence from both illustrations and text to support their inferences. With intentional guidance, young children can develop a strong vocabulary to aid in meaningful and intentional discussions about emotions beyond using surface level vocabulary.
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  Data: 2026
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  Data: EJ1495938
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        Value: 10.1111/lit.70012
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      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 12
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Picture Books
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reading Comprehension
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Childrens Literature
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social Emotional Learning
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reading Aloud to Others
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      – SubjectFull: Inferences
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      – SubjectFull: Vocabulary Development
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Inferring Characters Feelings Using Illustrative and Text Evidence: How Picture Books Support Comprehension
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            NameFull: Robin Griffith
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              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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