Postmodern Picture Books #doctoralpursuit

I have been exploring the genre of postmodern picture books for one of my courses(Learning to Read RDG 692). It's interesting because the genre is fairly new to me even though I am familiar with some of the stories  and authors in the genre. What is most interesting to me about the genre is its nontraditional way of bringing the story to the audience. In fact, these stories encourages the reader to co-create the plot with the author.
The characteristics of a postmodern picture book include:

1. Non-linear (meaning readers can participate with the text)
2. Self-referential (meaning readers are set up and are asked to participate in the story)
3. Set against authority (the reader may have to make decisions for a character not in the story)

Because of the way these stories are structured the teacher will have to pause and talk with the students about what they are experiencing and keep in mind that students will have a variety of different interpretations of the stories they are exposed to. A plus side to these stories is that they are engaging and students can actively participate in sophisticated conversations about the text.
Teachers may have more of a difficult time with this stories simply because they don't follow tradition and completing a simple "picture walk" through the postmodern picture book will certainly prove to be different indeed. Students, though will have no problem at all responding to these books and will enjoy how the characters speak directly to them.
Here is a link to some of the more popular postmodern picture book authors and their stories:

• https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/top-ten-list-favorite-postmodern-picture-books-by-frank-serafini/
  
• https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/postmodern-picturebooks
  

Explore these links. I would not be surprised if you already have some of these books; but if not I recommend that you explore the complexity of these books with your students, Your students will truly enjoy them because the multiple interpretations will keep them engaged with the text.

Barone, D. & Mallette, M. Best practices in early literacy instruction.

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