This book shows how different kinds of picturebooks can be used with children of all ages and highlights what positive educational gains are to be made from reading, sharing, talking and writing about picturebooks.

Talking Beyond the Page shows how different kinds of picturebooks can be used with children of all ages and highlights the positive educational gains to be made from reading, sharing, talking and writing about picturebooks. With contributions from some of the world's leading experts, chapters in this book consider how: children think about and respond to visual images and other aspects of picturebooks children's responses can be qualitatively improved by encouraging them to think and talk about picturebooks before, during and after reading them the non-text features of picturebooks, when considered in their own right, can help readers to make more sense out of the book different kinds of picturebooks, such as wordless, postmodern, multimodal and graphic novels, are structured children can respond creatively to picturebooks as art forms picturebooks can help children deal with complex issues in their lives Talking beyond the Page also includes an exclusive interview with Anthony Browne who shares thoughts about his work as an author illustrator. This inspiring and thought provoking book is essential reading for teachers, student teachers, literacy consultants, academics interested in picturebook research and those organising and teaching on teacher education courses in children's literature and literacy.

"[T]he analysis of each book is sophisticated and insightful. Each chapter's bibliographies are extensive and helpful. The interview with author/illustrator Anthony Browne adds another useful dimension to an excellent study. Summing Up: Highly recommended." - CHOICE, February 2010