Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children

[orleans]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html?_r=2&hp

"The economic downturn is certainly a major factor, but many in the industry see an additional reason for the slump. Parents have begun pressing their kindergartners and first graders to leave the picture book behind and move on to more text-heavy chapter books. Publishers cite pressures from parents who are mindful of increasingly rigorous standardized testing in schools.

“Parents are saying, ‘My kid doesn’t need books with pictures anymore,’ ” said Justin Chanda, the publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. “There’s a real push with parents and schools to have kids start reading big-kid books earlier. We’ve accelerated the graduation rate out of picture books.”

“They’re 4 years old, and their parents are getting them ‘Stuart Little,’ ” said Dara La Porte, the manager of the children’s department at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington. “I see children pick up picture books, and then the parents say, ‘You can do better than this, you can do more than this.’ It’s a terrible pressure parents are feeling — that somehow, I shouldn’t let my child have this picture book because she won’t get into Harvard.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html?_r=2&hp

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i adore picture books. i had plenty. so did my daughter.

[ejpoeta]

1. we have picture books. but my kindergartener is learning to read now

so i am wondering if that may be more a reason for less picture books.... the pressure to have your kid reading sooner. My oldest is an avid reader who was reading by kindergarten. but even she didn't have chapter books until 3rd grade. i think people are just in so much of a hurry to get their kids further along. but my 5 year old LOVES the one book.... wants that for her bedtime story all the time.... has lots of pictures of animals.

[ejpoeta]

2. we have one picture book with animals that has fur and such to feel it

and it has the picture and the words... my oldest loved that one for awhile. I guess it all depends. my middle one loved that one for awhile. we had a few picture books, but not a lot of them. I read to my kids a lot, and my oldest was reading early. and the chapter books by 3rd grade. I think you are right about the rush to get the kids reading. i mean, look at that stupid my baby can read thing on tv. what a load!

My oldest was reading at 4 but even she wasn't reading as a baby! If you want your kid to read, the best thing to do is read to your kid as far as I can see. That seems to have worked. They may not all be reading at 4.... my middle child is reading at 5. She likes to look at the pictures too. We'll read a page and she'll sit and look closely at the picture if it is detailed. But she always will stop for a map. She loves those maps.

I remember a picture book I had as a kid. I am not sure why but I remember it. It was a golden book. I can see the pictures in my head and everything. I loved books. Still do. And I share that with my kids. They are not just a tool to get your kids to read. They are something to enjoy with your kids. To look at the pictures. To read together. To relish when your kid gets that connection of the sounds and the letters.

[Odin2005]

3. I was a precocious reader and skipped the picture-book phase completely.

I thought they were boring, LOL.