Having Their Say: Engaging with Contemporary Picture Books at Work and at Play

Abstract

Can picture books offer something of value to readers who might otherwise encounter difficulties with texts not published in their home language? It is sug­gested in this article that picture books, particularly those which engage readers with different kinds of metafictive devices, can encourage them to respond in their addit­ional language, where more conventional texts in the additional language might be less effective. Critical attention has fallen increasingly on works containing "post­modern" or "metafictive" characteristics, as authors and illustrators appear to extend traditional boundaries of both content and format. Readers are frequently drawn into "games" by texts that abound in verbal and pictorial wit. Examples of such texts are discussed in the first section.
It is proposed that student teachers can benefit from exposure to high-quality pic­ture books. both through expanding their own language horizons and through discovering a rich learning resource for the classroom. Novel and unusual features appearing in some of the texts should have the potential to elicit responses from readers who might normally feel diffident about expressing their opinions on what they are reading. This is borne out to some extent by the responses of EFAL first­year BEd students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). South Africa. to selections of picture books, including some with metafictive features. There is also evidence that some of the above respondents perceived a link between their own responses and how they might use such resources in their own classrooms.

Opsomming
Het prenteboeke, selfs die wat in die leser se addisionele taal gepubliseer word, die potensiaal om lesers uit te lok en aan te moedig om hulle reaksies op die inhoud en formaat van die boeke in hul addisionele taal uit te spreek? In hierdie artikel word die moontlikheid ondersoek dat prenteboeke, veral die wat verskeie "postmoderne" eienskappe openbaar, sodanige potensiaal wel kan ontlok. Prenteboeke, veral die wat as "postmodern" beskryf kan word, word al hoe meer 'n fokuspunt vir kritiese aandag. Hierdie soort prenteboek, wat tipies die tradisionele grense van prente­boeke oorskry, loon die kapasiteil om die leser op 'n besondere wyse le belrek. Enkele voorbeelde daarvan word in die eerste deel van hierdie artikel bespreek.
Bo en behalwe die potensiaal van prenteboeke as leermiddel in die klaskamer, kan hierdie tipe boeke ook opvoedkundestudente se eie taalhorisonne verbreed. Die buitengewone inhoud en formaat van "metafiksionele" werke kan lesers wel aanspoor om hulle menings te lug oor wat hulle lees, waar hulle normaalweg effens huiwerig sou gewees het. Hierdie aanname is in 'n sekere mate bevestig deur die reaksie van groepe eerstejaarstudente aan die Nelson Mandela Metropolitaanse Universiteit (NMMU), Suid-Afrika, op 'n keur van prenteboeke - insluitend sommiges met metafiktiewe kenmerke. Sommige van die studente het ook aangedui dat hulle wel 'n verband raakgesien het tussen hul eie response en moontlike strategiee om prenteboeke as leerbronne in die klaskamer te gebruik.