Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 33, No. I, August 2005 (© 2005) DOI: 10.1007/s 10643-005-0020-8

Piaget, Meet Lilly: Understanding Child Development through Picture Book Characters Cory Cooper Hansen^'^ and Debby Zambo^

Picture books appeal to readers of all ages for many different reasons. As instructors of child development, we use them as one strategy to help students conceptualize the physical, cognitive, and socioemotional growth of children. We use picture books to introduce principles, explain vocabulary, and encourage students to make connections between theory and practice in early childhood education, tn this article, we provide examples of picture books that can be used to understand children from infancy (birth-2 years) to early childhood (26 years). Twenty-four suggested titles accurately narrate and illustrate early development. KEY WORDS: Picture books; child development; physical development; cognitive development; socioemotional development; early childhood education; preservice teachers; early development; teaching strategies.

early childhood educators. Our discussion begins with one of the most noted theorists: Jean Piaget. Piaget studied his own children to discover the origins of knowledge, how children acquire knowledge, and the forms that knowledge takes at different ages. He used careful observation, interviews, and hands-on tasks to examine the reasoning abilities of children. Through his ingenuity and effort, Piaget remains influential in child psychology today (Dixon, 2003). Now, imagine what it would have been like if Piaget met and studied the lovable, independent character Lilly, from the picture book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse (Henkes, 1996). At their meeting, Piaget might have asked Lilly to perform some of the tasks he had developed and would have talked to her about the strategies she used as she solved them. One task Piaget might have asked Lilly to perform was a conservation of number task. He would have laid out Lilly's shiny quarters in one row and placed an equal number of quarters right below in a parallel row. Piaget would then ask Lilly which row contained more, or if they were the same. Next, he would have spread out the bottom row of quarters so that it looked longer and once again ask Lilly which row contained more, or if they were the same. From Lilly's answers, Piaget would determine if her logical

Every time we discover a new picture book, we eagerly explore it, lookitig for links between what happens in the story and the theories and principles we present in our child development courses. We scrutinize the story for characters who behave in ageappropriate ways. We examine each illustration for accuracy in representing physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development. As early childhood instructors in a teacher preparation program, we are always looking for stories that can promote lively discussion and critical thinking about child development theory. Our goal is to identify books that can help our students make connections between picture book characters, the children that they know, and the theories we want them to learn. In this article, we present a rationale for including children's literature in child development and education courses and share titles and practical recommendations for other

'Department of Elementary Education, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA. ^Correspondence should be directed to Cory Cooper Hansen, Department of Elementary Education, Arizona State University, 4701 W Thunderbird Road, Glendale, Arizona 85069-7100, USA; e-mail: [email protected]

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40 reasoning abilities included conservation of number. Let's assume that Lilly was distracted by physical appearance and thought there were more quarters in the bottom row. From her answer, Piaget would have evidence that Lilly's level of cognitive development was at the preoperational stage. Piaget might want to support his assessment with more data and so he would take time to observe Lilly at school. If he went on the day Lilly brought in her shiny quarters and glittery movie star sunglasses in her purple plastic purse, Piaget would have had more data to confirm his conclusion because he would have noticed that Lilly had difficulty being considerate and waiting until recess to share the contents of her wonderful purse. From his observation, Piaget would confirm that Lilly was a preoperational thinker because she was egocentric: reasoning that everyone's feelings about her newfound treasures would be the same as hers. Piaget would also have noted Lilly's angry response and inability to understand why her teacher, Mr. Slinger, would take her treasures away. From Lilly's egocentric perspective, she could not see Mr. Slinger's point of view nor understand why she should have to wait until sharing time. If Piaget were then hired to teach a child development course, he could talk about Lilly to conceptualize his theory and make it come alive in his lectures because placing theory in context of a story helps students relate it to the children in their lives. Stories are a natural and easy way to learn because as humans, we enjoy listening to narrative tales. Good teachers intuitively utilize and create stories to convey and pass on what they know (McCauley, 2000). As an instructor, Piaget could use examples about Lilly to help his students understand and remember his theory. Without stories to illustrate theory, it often becomes lifeless and abstract (Gillespie, 1992). Pictures of Lilly would further enhance Piaget's theories of child development. The adage that a picture is worth a thousand words would apply because pictures would help his students visualize and understand points in his theories. For example, the engaging illustrations of Lilly pretending to be a teacher or a diva emphasize the importance of sociodramatic play within cognitive development. According to Sadoski and Paivio's (2001) concept of dual coding, providing both a story and a visual cue provides a cognitive boost and leads to deeper understanding of content. Dual coding is inherent in the reading, listening, looking and talk about picture books. Used well, picture books generally heighten interest and

Hansen and Zambo response for learners of all ages. However, there have been few articles written specifically about using picture books with adults to understand the development and education of young children. The purpose of this article is to bridge this gap by providing connections between theories and the picture books we use to enrich our teaching. USING PICTURE BOOKS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM Picture books provide a cognitive boost and have intrinsic appeal for all learners including those at the college level (Routman, 1994; Wilhelm, 1997). For example, Smallwood (1992) uses children's literature with adult English learners in her courses because the text is contextually whole and provides concrete illustrations of the vocabulary she wishes to teach. When faced with the challenge of engaging remedial-reading college students in complex literature, Juchartz (2004) uses the work of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein to scaffold learning and help students bridge the gap between their levels of literacy proficiency, the meanings found in complex texts, and their lives. Forging this connection helps students become active meaning makers and engaged with text. Once students are involved, Juchartz leads them to more complicated texts with similar issues and themes. Juchartz gets no objections from his students when he uses picture books in his college classroom noting that his students are "consistently delighted to engage in such nontraditional material" (p. 337). College textbook writers have used children's literature to illustrate the concepts and ideas they present. For example, Charlesworth (2000) uses the beloved character Ramona (Cleary, 1968) in her child development text to illustrate changes in thinking as children move from preoperational to the concrete operational stage. The teacher's edition of Child Development (Santroek, 2004) suggests using Miss Rumphius (Cooney, 1982) to spark discussion about adolescent thinking and idealistic views. Fish is Fish (Lionni, 1970) is recommended in a book called How People Learn (National Research Council, 2000) to help readers understand Piaget's concept of assimilation. These examples show that using children's literature with readers of all ages is informative, motivating, and appealing. Picture books contextualize concepts, illustrate vocabulary and ideas, and help students make connections, scaffold their learning, and develop reasoning skills.

Understanding Child Development through Picture Book Characters Choosing and Using Books A key point to using picture books with adult learners is a thorough knowledge of theory, access to children's literature, and an ability to make connections between theory and appropriate books. Stories and illustrations should match the theory presented in a clear and well-defined way and be of high enough quality and interest to promote lively discussion and critical thinking. We like stories with human characters, or animal characters with decidedly human characteristics, that display a wide range of physical, cognitive, and socioemotional features. We use carefully selected picture books that meet the above criteria as one strategy to supplement the course text. They are used to introduce theories, help students understand vocabulary and concepts, and to encourage students to make connections between everyday experiences with children and concepts. Our students are open and enthusiastic to our use of picture books. One student wrote that she looked forward to coming to class because she would hear a story that she could connect to the children in her life. Stories were important to her because she was able to shut out everything else and prepare herself for the learning to follow. To introduce theories and concepts, we read books aloud to our students, and encourage them to discover connections between theory and a character's behaviors and ideas. For example, we read Munsch's (1996) Stephanie's Ponytail to help students discover the importance of modeling in social learning theory (Bandura, 1977). Bandura's theory reveals that children learn from models and imitation and our students are quick to discover how Munsch's characters imitate Stephanie's hair no matter how ridiculous they look. As the semester progresses, we encourage students to create their own connections, make analogies, and develop meaning within the comforting confines of picture book discussions. Besides using picture books to help students relate to theory, we also use them to help our students understand specific terms and vocabulary within a theory. For example, to help our students understand the meaning of Piaget's term assimilation, we use an idea provided by the National Research Council (2000). We read Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni and discuss how the fish assimilates new information into his existing schema. In the story, frog returns to the pond where he grew up to tell his friend, the fish, all about his land adventures. When frog tells fish about cows, he sees them as large fish with horns and udders.

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When he hears about birds, he imagines them to be like fiying fish with wings. When he hears about people, they are fish-like creatures dressed in clothing. Fach of his mental representations is a fish-like form that is slightly altered to fit the frog's description. We tell our students that this illustrates how children construct new knowledge based on what they already know. Using Fish is Fish (Lionni, 1970) helps us provide a visual of Piaget's notion of assimilation. Our students go to field placements several days a week. One way to encourage connections between the theories they learn in class and the children in their lives is to read humorous portrayals of life in the classroom like David Goes to School (Shannon, 1999). After listening to and examining the pictures in this short story, students get into small groups to discuss the theories or principles displayed by the main character, David. David's plea to go the bathroom, again, always starts discussion about the physical development of young children. Students relate their ideas about the children they personally know and these lively case study discussions help students see the practical use of theories to understand children, plan developmentally appropriate instruction, and address everyday classroom events. Virtually every theory or principle, with a little creativity and a good selection of stories, can come alive in the pages of a book. We have found the following six titles especially effective to illustrate and narrate physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development during infancy, toddlerhood (birth2 years), and early childhood (ages 2-6 years). INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD Physical Development The first years of life are a time of growth and refinement as both nature and nurture work to unfold an infant's body and mind. Basic reflexes develop into motor skills and children learn how to roll over, crawl, and eventually walk. Improving fine-motor skills and eye-hand coordination allow babies to explore everything in their world. Recent research has shed new light into the rapid brain development of infants and toddlers. Their brains consume much energy as dendrites expand their reach to inner areas and synapses grow in density in areas devoted to vision and hearing (Diamond & Hopson, 1998). Interaction with all the sounds, sights, tastes, smells, and touch in the environment provide the stimulation for growth.

42 Waddell (1989) presents many aspects of physical development through narrative and pictures in Once There Were Giants. On the first page, an older sister carefully holds a swaddled infant, which can remind students of the importance of physical contact on the neural development of the infant brain. The next page features the growing infant dropping everything from her highchair as she practices her motor skills and gains an understanding of her power to get others to react to her needs. A tangle of baby toys on the next page indicates objects that help develop sensory and perceptual skills. An illustration of her crawling celebrates advancing loeomotor skills and the telltale, flat-footed waddle of toddler, reaching out to one of the consistent and important people in her life, is accurately portrayed as she continues to grow. The illustrator. Penny Dale, carefully presents advances in physical development and stimulation needed during the early years. Cognitive Development Piaget proposed that children proceed through four stages of cognitive development with different reasoning skills at each stage (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). According to Piagetian theory, infants in the sensorimotor stage (birth-2 years) actively construct knowledge about the world using all their senses. As cognitive abilities expand, language skills advance from gurgling and cooing to a vocabulary explosion around two years of age (McDevitt & Ford, 1987). Children learn to speak through interactions with caregivers, who intuitively respond to their cues (Gopnik, Meltzoff & Kuhl, 1999). Rylant (1987) highlights cognitive development during the sensorimotor stage in Birthday Presents. The story begins with a mother and father holding, kissing, and talking to their infant daughter as they celebrate her birth. The infant's face turns towards her mother's big smile and her father is nearby gently touching her bald, little head. The words and pictures emphasize the importance of touch and language to stimulate an infant's cognitive growth. Each birthday celebration, over the next pages, illustrates general trends in development. At one year, she is sitting in the grass and reaching out to touch her star-shaped birthday cake. The pages that follow continue to focus upon the rich kind of sensory experiences babies need to provide stimulation for cognitive development; being tossed on her mother's knee, smelling flowers, eating birthday cake.

Hansen and Zambo and exploring nature with her father during a trip to the park. A clown cake hallmarks her next birthday and wrapping paper, toys, and a book surround the twoyear-old. These age-appropriate presents are further examples of the types of stimulation growing toddlers need. Amid the excitement, the girl is crying and her parents tend to her needs by settling her down on a colorful quilt. Birthday Presents can promote discussion on newborn reflexes, stimulation and the brain, and sleep and rest habits as babies develop cognitively. Socioemotional Development Attachment—the strong emotional bond between babies and their caregivers—and development of a sense of self are key concepts in understanding the socioemotional development of infants and toddlers. When children attach to others, a secure base forms from which to explore the world (Siegel, 1999). However, children must sometimes be away from their caregivers and find ways to calm themselves. Self-soothing can be done by stroking a security blanket, rocking oneself to sleep, or thumb sucking. Frikson's theory of psychosocial development (1980) espouses these ideas. Frikson suggests that children pass through eight stages, each with particular goals, accomplishments, and concerns. At each stage, a child must resolve a developmental crisis to develop a positive self-image and social view. For example during trust versus mistrust, an infant (birth to 18 months) will develop a sense of trust if caregivers are responsive and meet needs regularly. In Owen, (Henkes, 1993) attachment and positive socioemotional development clearly influence the life of a toddler and his family. Owen finds comfort when playing by himself because Fuzzy, the yellow blanket he has had and loved since he was a baby, is always nearby. Owen uses the blanket to help selfregulate and manage stress as he begins to discover his sense of self and growing independence. Owen's parents, although wishing to wean him from the beloved blanket, continue to be sensitive and responsive to his needs—characteristics of parenting that contribute to secure attachment. Cutting the blanket into smaller, less obtrusive pieces is a mutually satisfactory compromise when continuing to carry a security blanket becomes a social issue. Owen has become instrumental in promoting discussions among our students that include the child's perspective, understanding why children attach to blankets or teddy

Understanding Child Development through Picture Book Characters bears, and the role of parenting in fostering strong bonds that lead to a child's growing independence and strong sense of self. EARLY CHILDHOOD Physical Development Farly childhood (ages 2-6) continues to be a time of rapid physical growth with many changes in body proportion and advancing fine and gross motor skills (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2004). Children begin to run, jump, and hop during this time and, in doing so, become increasingly aware of their bodies and the space surrounding them. These growing abilities cause them to lose their rounded, babyish appearance. Fine motor skills are tuned and children are able to hold and use pencils, cut with scissors, and dress themselves. Pretend roles are often infused into physical play that includes chasing, throwing, climbing and swinging. Balance develops to the point that young children begin such culturally specific activities as riding a bicycle and using playground equipment. Parts (Arnold, 1997) is told from the point of view of a five-year-old boy who does not understand all the changes happening to his body and reasons their occurrence with a young child's logic. When he discovers his first loose tooth, he thinks all his teeth will fall out forever and when some hair falls out in his comb, he thinks he is going bald. Although the illustrator uses a somewhat cartoonish manner, the boy's body reflects physical development toward a more adult-like appearance. His head is still proportionately large, but his stomach has grown flat and he has a leaner look than a toddler. The illustrations depict typical early childhood indicators of advancing fine and gross motor skills such as playing with toys in a sandbox, throwing a baseball, and drawing pictures. Cognitive Development Thinking in early childhood evolves from sensory exploration to representing the world mentally in schemes, imagery, language, and symbols. Piaget (1969) called this second stage preoperational because even with these advances, children still lack logical reasoning, and are perception bound. They tend to be egocentric and self-centered cognitively, failing to realize that there are perspectives other than their own.

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Vygotsky looked at child development from a different perspective. His Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes (1978) proposed a sociocultural theory of cognitive growth. To Vygotsky, both informal interactions and formal schooling convey the way in which a child's culture responds to and interprets the world. Informally, adults mediate experience and help children learn the tools and processes that their culture rewards. Formally, through education, teachers systematically impart ideas, concepts, and behaviors that children need to be successful in school. Kevin Henkes (1996) presents both perspectives in an entertaining and accurate view of the world through the eyes of a preoperational thinker in Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. The main character, Lilly, loves school and her teacher until she gets in trouble for not controlling the urge to share her purple plastic purse. Her teacher, Mr. Slinger, is trying to reinforce behaviors needed to be successful in school but Lilly is not quite ready to accept this cultural norm. In contrast, Lilly acts Hke a typical, egocentric preschooler, looking at the world from her own perspective and needs. Other examples of preoperational cognitive development include a penchant for imaginative play (she acts out what she will be when she grows up) and centration (believing three quarters are better than a dollar because they make noise). Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse sheds unique insight into the world of early childhood. Socioemotional Development Farly childhood, for most American children, includes starting school. Frikson (1980) looked at this stage as being a time when initiative challenges guilt because children, during early childhood, become more assertive and take initiative to say what they believe. The challenge of this developmental period is to maintain a zest for activity while learning to control impulse. Children begin to reason concretely and categorize themselves by the various traits they believe they possess. What is visible (such as physical features) strongly influences their self-worth. During this time, a child's level of social adjustment depends on caring adults who allow them to make choices and learn from their mistakes. Adults are important to children with their words of encouragement and support. Resiliency builds when children have a caring other who helps them progress through difliculties and bounce back to move on positively (Werner & Smith, 2003). Children who

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Hansen and Zambo Table I. Additional Picture Books by Developmental Stage

Infancy/Toddlerhood Physical development Curtis, J. L. (1996). Tell me again about the night I was born. New York: HarperCollins. Harris, R. H. (1996). Happy birth day. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. Marzollo, J. (1998). How kids grow. New York: Scholastic. Cognitive development Kraus, R. (1971). Leo the late bloomer. New York: Windmill. Lionni, L. (1970). Eish is fish. New York: Scholastic. Shannon, D. (1998). No, David! New York: Scholastic. Socioetnotional developtnent Bang, M. (1999). When Sophie gets angry—really, really, angry .. .New York: Blue Sky. Henkes, K. (1989). Jessica. New York: Greenwillow Books. Hughes, S. (1988). Dogger. New York: Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard. Early childhood Physical development Bate, L. (1975). Little rabbit's loose tooth. New York: Scholastic. Curtis, J. L. (1993). When I was little, a four year old's memoir of her youth. New York: HarperCollins. Wood, A. (1982). Quick as a cricket. New York: Scholastic. Cognitive development Fox, M. (1985). Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. Brooklyn: Kane/Miller. Gerstein, M. (1998). The wild boy. New York: Farrar. Lester, H. (1999). Hooway for Wodney Wat. New York: Scholastic. Socioemotional development Fox, M. (1988). Koala Lou. San Diego: Voyager Books. Henkes, K. (2000). Wemberly worried. New York: Greenwillow Books. Munsch, R. (1996). Stephanie's ponytail. New York: Annick.

have this support thrive and can achieve despite adversity. Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon (Lovell, 2001) clearly tells how feeling loved impacts resiliency. Molly Lou draws from the positive advice her grandmother provides when she moves to a new school and others make fun of her because she is physically unattractive. She uses her seemingly negative attributes in every way possible to develop new friendships and overcome the taunts of the bullies. Molly Lou's resiliency to overcome negative experiences through belief in her grandmother's words and personal self worth shows how self-esteem can weather the trials of creating relationships outside the home. SUMMARY Pieture books are one strategy Piaget could have used to enrich his teaching and they are a strategy today's instructors can use to help students conceptualize important principles and theories for the education of young children. Table t contains additional titles that contribute to understanding in early childhood education and development. Picture books add appeal and interest to theories and provide a cognitive boost as students learn about child devel-

opment. The stories supply a natural context for theories and the illustrations visually depict developmental change and often make it memorable through lovable characters. This dual coding of information increases the possibility that theories will be more deeply processed and retained (Sadoski & Paivio, 2001). This article explains how we supplement our child development text with picture books to introduce theories, help students understand vocabulary, and encourage students' connections between principles and the children in their lives. Our experiences using picture books this way is rewarding and satisfying. One student told us that learning about theories this way gave her a new understanding and insight into characters in a story she already loved. When one begins to use picture books to remember theory and relate it to children's lives, their value increases and they are never read or remembered in quite the same way again.

REFERENCES Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Charlesworth, R. (2000). Understanding child development: Eor adults who work with children (5th ed.). New York: Delmar.

Understanding Child Development through Picture Book Characters Diamond, M., & Hopson, J. (1998). Magic trees of the mind. New York: Plume. Dixon, W. E. (2003). Twenty studies that revolutionized child psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Gillespie, T. (t992). Teacher, researcher, storyteller. In T. Newkirk (Ed.), Workshop: By and for teaehers (pp. 13-30). Portsmouth NH: Heinemann. Juchartz, L. R. (2004). Team teaching with Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein in the college basic reading classroom. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literaey, 47(4), 336-341. Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. N., & Kuhl, P. K. (1999). The .scientist in the erib: What early learnitig tells us about the mind. New York: Perennial. McCauley, R. N. (2000). The naturalness of religion and the unnaturalness of science, tn F. C. Keil & R. W. Wilson (Eds.) Explanation atid cognition (pp. 61-86). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. McDevitt, T., & Ormrod, J. R. (2004). Child devetoptnetU: Education and working with children and adoleseents (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. McDevitt, T. M., & Ford, M. E. (1987). Processes in young children's communicative functioning and development. In M. Ford & D. Ford (Eds.), Humans as .self-constructing systems: Putting the framework to work (pp. 145-175). Hillsdale, NJ: Eribaum. National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mitid, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academic Press. Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1969). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books. Routman, R. (1994). Invitations: Changing as teachers and learners K-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Sadoski, M., & Paivio, A. (2001). Imagery and text: A dual coding theory of reading and writing. Mahwah, NJ: Eribaum. Santroek, J. W. (2004). Child development teacher's edition (lOth ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.

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Siegel, D. J. (1999). The developing mind. New York: Guliford. Smallwood, B. A., (1992). Children's hterature for adult ESL literacy. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED353864). Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in soeiety: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (2003). Armadillos aren't the only mammals that grow armor. In E. Wallace & Dixon Jr. (Eds.), Twenty studies that revolutionized ehild psychology (pp. 20719). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Wilhelm, J. D. (1997). You gotta be the book. New York: Teachers College Press.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS CITED Arnold, T. (1997). Parts. New York: Scholastic. Cleary, B. (1968). Ramona the pest. New York: Yearling. Cooney, B. (1982). Miss Rumphius. New York: Viking. Henkes, K. (1993). Owen. New York: Greenwillow. Henkes, K. (1996). Lilly's purple plastic purse. New York: Greenwillow. Lionni, L. (1970). Eish isfsh. New York: Scholastic. Lovell, P. (2001). Stand tall, Molly Lou Melon. New York: Scholastic. Munsch, R. (1996.). Stephanie's ponytail. New York: Annick. Rylant, C. (1987). Birthday presettts. New York: Orchard. Seuss, Dr. (1961). The stteeches and other stories. New York: Random House. Shannon, D. (1999). David goes to sehool. New York: Blue Sky. Waddell, M. (1989). Ottce there were giants. New York: Delacorte.