Picture book

Picture Books

Student’s Name

Institution’s Name

Date

Selected topic: Education for all Handicapped Children Act

Picture books are very efficient in learning as children are able to connect the pictures to the words and to the world around them. For this paper, I selected two picture books that I found to be beneficial to the learning of students as in awakens in them the need for inquiry to be able to understand more. The first book is a fictional book titled: There’s Nothing to Do on Mars. The second book on the other hand is non-fictional, titled: Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life. The first, fictional book has a lot of illustrations in pictures depicting mostly the images of the planet mars together with the fictional characters on it. There is text in the book but not a lot compared to the pictures. The book as well has the table of content and a lot of diagrams. The features that attracted me to this book is that it completely illustrates how life on mars is impossible therefore making children understand what it takes for a planet to become habitable. Three criteria that I used in the selection of this book is that first, it did not have any gender, ethnic and socioeconomic bias. Secondly, the information is clear, accurate and up-to date. This because the book clearly states why mars is not habitable and that there is totally nothing to do there. It tells the readers why this is so. Finally, the facts are not oversimplified in a way that makes this information misleading to the readers. It states each piece of information in a way that requires the reader to think more about it and therefore is not simplified a lot to feed the reader with a lot of confusing information. I selected this book in relation to my topic since it comes in handy with an audio book. In this case, the students who are not able to see will not be left behind. This, I felt was a good consideration especially for the blind students.

The second book, Living Sunlight, how plants bring the earth to life, is a non fictional book. The book has a table of content and an index, it has a lot of text explaining the importance of presence of plants on the earth’s surface. The main factor that made me have more interest in the book is that it is informative and it is as well dramatic to keep the readers glued to it. the three criteria that I used in the selection of the book is, first, the book has not been over simplified so that the information. The information is not so complex and not over simplified therefore creating a challenge for the children to sharpen their minds. Secondly, the book has substantial scientific content. This is seen when the process of photosynthesis is well explained. Finally, the book does not show any gender, ethnic and socio economic bias. I selected this book in relation to my topic because of the presence of so many diagrams. These diagrams can be relatable to children who cannot be able to talk or even those that take a lot more time to learn. The images are efficient for them as they are able to learn a lot more since they are consistent and in order of events. For example, it shows how photosynthesis occurs, and the processes of photosynthesis that are beneficial for human existence are shown as well.

References

Bush, E. (2009). Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life. Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 62(8), 312-313.

Murray, B. C. (1972). Mars: Science Fiction to Science. Engineering and Science, 35(4), 10-15.

Royce, C. A., Ansberry, K. R., & Morgan, E. R. (2012). Teaching science through trade books. NSTA Press.