Looking Closely at a Science Trade Book: Gail Gibbons and Multimodal Literacy

National Council of Teachers of English. 1111 West Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Tel: 877-369-6283; Tel: 217-328-3870; Web site: http://www.ncte.org/journals

Y

11

Teachers; Astronomy; Nonfiction; Illustrations; Authors; Books; Children; Childrens Literature

0360-9170

Gail Gibbons is an author/illustrator of children's informational texts. This article provides in-depth information about one particular science trade book, how it was created, and how it works, so teachers can share these ideas with their own students and so they can make use of this knowledge in their own teaching with informational texts. The teachers' selection of "Planet Earth Inside/Out" led them to look more intensively at Gibbons's text and pictures. The authors believe that the information they gained from that deeper look will help teachers intensify their students' connections with her books, and their connections with nonfiction books over all. The authors start with a bit of background information on Gail Gibbons and present some findings from the study that first focused their attention on her science trade book, "Planet Earth". Next, they share their interview with Gibbons about her work, and take the reader inside "Planet Earth", presenting their understanding of how the book works as a multimodal text. The authors conclude with some thoughts on supporting children's work with the visual aspects of nonfiction texts, science trade books in particular. Furthermore, the authors mentioned a number of paths by which teachers can strengthen their students' connections with informational texts. (Contains 3 figures.)

ERIC

33

2007

EJ751801