Start with the cover.

The cover is the first thing that attracts readers' attention, so the cover and layout of exquisite books are carefully designed. Generally speaking, the cover of a picture book is taken from a picture in the book, and this picture is often the essence of the book. There are also some picture books whose covers are made separately according to the contents of the picture books. In addition to painting, the cover should also pay attention to the title, author, translator, publishing house and other information. These are places that readers can't ignore.

When reading the cover, we can have at least two interesting reading activities.

First of all, guess the general idea and generate expectations. There is a term in reading psychology called "reading expectation". In the psychological state of reading expectation, readers will have a strong reading effect. For example, Keiko Kasza's Stop Laughing, Jo Jo! On the cover of the book, you can guess that Qiuqiu is laughing and Qiuqiu's mother is watching. Why is mom's expression a little worried? Why don't you laugh? What a lovely smile the ball has! Before reading the text again, with such reading expectation, it is easy to understand the main information of the book and get the main idea of the book right.

Second, stimulate interest and enjoy reading. For example, when reading the series "Going home for Christmas" by Toto and Padre, we can first think about what it is like for westerners to spend Christmas and what they will do. Which festivals are similar to those in China? Then look at the cover and think about what might happen if you rush home. Let readers can't wait to open the picture book to read.

There are also some picture books that need to be linked to the back cover.

Ring Lining-Butterfly Page

After opening the cover, we will see a piece of backing paper (not in the paperback) between the cover and the book block. This is the ring lining, also known as the butterfly page. This is the most easily missed page for adults. Most people turn over in a hurry, or simply turn over the title page together, often missing the ingenuity of the author and editor.

Children generally don't miss the ring lining, although they may not say anything, and there may be novel discoveries and novel associations. For example, the butterfly page in Grandpa must have a way is that magical blanket, which is covered with twinkling stars, giving people a magical and dreamy color.

There are also rings with the same pattern, but after reading the whole book, readers have different reading feelings.

Generally, the contents of the ring lining do not need to be explained, but only a little hint for the reader's attention. In this way, readers will have a deeper discovery.

title page

Turning over the butterfly page, we saw the title page. The title page generally contains the title, author and participants, as well as translators and publishers. There is also a brief introduction of the author and painter and the award-winning record of this book on the title page. When reading a picture book, you must read the title page carefully, because it contains rich information. It will tell you who the hero of this book is and what happened in general.

The title page of most picture books is always the starting point of reading. Because the text extends forward and backward, the story crosses the border and makes people read infinite meaning. The foreshadowing and suggestion in the title page, like the sound of gongs and drums before the start of the drama, paves the way for the text and creates the situation. The title page of some picture books is reading pictures, so you may find nothing when you start reading. After reading the whole book, we suddenly turned around and found that the key points in the story had been pointed out one by one on the title page, which made us want to read it again.

main body

Ok, turn over the title page and finally get to the text. Most people always think that words are the beginning of a book, which may be the case for books with pure words, but for picture books, it only represents the beginning of the theme of the book.

It should be mentioned here that picture books include at least the following three languages:

One is the picture language-expressed by pictures.

The second is written language-expressed in words.

The third is the new language produced by the combination, contrast and collision of pictures and texts.

Because picture books are suitable for such a language, many scholars always think that listening to and reading picture books are different from reading picture books by themselves. Mr. Matsujuzhi of Japan has always believed that picture books are not books read by children themselves, but books read by adults to children.

There is no skill in reading picture books to children. As long as there is love, there will be endless ways to produce unexpected results.

Every child is a genius at reading pictures. What a child sees is always more memorable than what he hears. This is why Mr. Mei Zihan, a famous children's literature writer, has repeatedly stressed that "don't tell him anything, let him see something". For example, the book Rainbow Flower tells a story of dedication, but children are unwilling to listen to those so-called noble truths. But they like to see these colorful rainbow flowers. I saw her hand the petals to the needy one by one. When she gave everything, the stem broke, but she still stood there happily. The child's heart was touched. She felt sorry for her and even shed tears for her. When there was a dazzling rainbow light in the sky, all the people who accepted the donation of rainbow flowers came from afar. Everyone's heart is getting warmer and warmer. Everyone remembers that the rainbow-colored flowers helped them. At this time, you will find that the children's faces are filled with warm smiles, and they have grasped what the picture book wants to express. It transcends language and writing, pointing to people's hearts and how happy they are.

The rhythm of language and the rhythm of the picture (color, composition, tone, etc. ) constitutes the rhythm of the story, which is particularly easy to understand and accept. Establish some connection between image and language, so that words, images and meanings can be organically integrated together, thus acquiring language, increasing knowledge and cultivating sentiment.

back cover

When we finish reading a book and close it, the back cover is not to be missed. The information on the back cover is sometimes very rich, which may be the introduction and reading guide of this book, or the recommendation and comment of this book. The back cover mostly echoes the cover, and some even need to be appreciated and discussed with the cover, while others are the end and continuation of the story. There are many ways to express it, such as drawing directly or hinting with a simple pen. In short, closing the book is not the end, but probably another beginning, the starting point of a new round of reading.