Picture Books Develop Social & Emotional Literacies

Picture books evoke thoughts, feelings, wonder and ideas.  Whether we are learning more deeply about ourselves, exploring the worlds of others or traveling through space and time on a journey of imagination, picture books are portals.  In 1991, Dr. Rudine Sims-Bishop discussed the importance of picture books as mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors - particularly highlighting the critical need for children from currently and  historically marginalized communities to experience affirmation in the stories they explore.  Uma Krishnaswami (2019) explores the idea of picture books as prisms, shifting the understandings of others, ourselves and our world.  I add to these metaphors the concept of picture books as shelters, places to rest & restore.  Each of these concepts furthers our our social and emotional literacies.  We need a wide diversity of culturally sustaining picture books to complement our wide diversity of humanity.  The diversity of media connected to picture books offers us unique ways to broaden our understandings of our universe and our places within it.