The New York Times reported last week that children’s picture books are becoming a thing of the past. They pointed to various reasons for this decline, including the lagging economy, schools’ focus on standardized testing, and increased pressure from parents. Booksellers are buying fewer titles, and the books that do make it to the shelf languish and collect dust due to lack of interest.

The Main Issue Regarding Children’s Book Sales

The issue, as I see it, is how picture books are sold, and consequently, how we as readers view them. In simple terms, we rarely do more than view them, with their pretty pictures and funny rhymes and sweet stories. It’s rare that we read them and use them.

We can learn and relearn from picture books, so long as we choose to look at these books from different angles. Case in point: the book The Skin You Live In by Michael Tyler and David Lee Csicsko. It’s the story of how we are all different, and yet the same, as illustrated by the skin we live in. It’s told in rhyming verses and helps to emphasize good self-esteem and our multicultural world.

It’s not tall skin

or short skin,

or best in the sport skin;

or fat skin or thin skin,

you lose and I win skin…

Nor sad skin

or mad skin,

you’re naturally

bad skin;

I’m rich and you’re poor

and you’ll never have more skin.

Reading a Book With Your Kids – Age Level Appropriateness

I can read this book with my daughter, who is 2 ½, and we can marvel at the pictures, and repeat funny rhymes. I can point out the different color skin on arms and legs, and she can tell me when she sees pictures of the sun and the stars and yummy ice cream cones.

When she’s four I can let her do a picture walk and she can tell me the story based on what she sees. She can tell me about the different colors on this boy and that girl, and we can talk about the different hairstyles on each character.  We can discuss the themes in the book and how they relate to her life.

At six, she can read me the story. We can focus on the rhymes and find additional words to add to the story. We can compare our skin and talk about how we each feel about it, in it, and what we would do if we could live outside of our skin.

At eight, we can read this book in a whole new way, learning from the rhymes, and creating our own poem. She can write me a story, a sequel of sorts. She can tell me how the stories are the same, and how they are different.

Parents Must Learn to Use Children’s Books

This is a book that keeps teaching, and we have to be ready and willing to keep listening. If the New York Times is right and picture books are not being sold like they have in years past, we as a community have to show them, show the publishers, show the writers, that we want to keep learning and reading. The books need our help, so that they can help our children.