Picturebook Page Poster Analysis (50 points)

Children’s Literature, Assignment, G. Alaric Williams

Due: __________________

Choose one of the picturebooks from the provided list of high-quality literary
picturebooks. Create a poster (or other large visual) that performs a detailed analysis of one page
from that picturebook.
Your poster should include a replica of the page from the picturebook, along with
numerous analyses of various specific techniques and details on that page. You should cover
components of the page such as color, size, position of images and text, shape, imagery, framing,
word choice, syntax, rhyming, the relation between the visuals and the words, and so on. Your
poster should analyze and interpret many of those components thoroughly and to a significant
depth of thinking, including uncovering ideologies and connotations contained on the page. Both
the verbal and visual components of the picturebook page should be discussed.
Space permitting, your posters will be displayed in the classroom, so it is important that it
be visually appealing and easy-to-read. Additionally, you must have a correct MLA citation of
the picturebook. Your grade on this assignment will be determined by the following criteria:
1. Depth (10 pts) – the analysis goes beyond surface-level meanings to explore deep
ideological and literary meanings, including the connotations and associations of how
identities and cultures are being represented.
2. Accuracy (8 pts) – the analysis is brilliant and clever, adeptly applying interpretative
practices to come to reasonable, believable, and useful interpretations about the
chosen page.
3. Originality (6 pts) – The analysis does not repeat or replicate any of the
interpretations that we have read or discussed in class, nor does it rely heavily on
published or readily available interpretations.
4. Thoroughness (10 pts) – The poster thoroughly covers multiple components of the
page, including some from both the verbal and visual tracks.
5. Critical Thinking (10 pts) – The poster represents significant critical thinking and
effective analysis. The argumentation is effective and accomplishes high-quality
intellectual work.
6. Poster Quality (6 pts) – The poster is easy to read and visually appealing. It is clear
throughout which details are being discussed. There is a correct MLA citation for the
picturebook.

See the attached samples for examples of previous student work. The poster sample is
stronger overall than the presentation example, but they both have strengths and weaknesses.
Both sample papers would be strengthened by addressing how their chosen pages are related to
ideologies of childhood or children as readers.
The poster example has good analysis of many of the visual details, but could be more
thorough by addressing the overall composition of the page and the text. A short paragraph (4
sentences or so) added to the left would be able to explain how the visual and verbal components
of the page relate to one another. This could deepen the analysis overall. Accuracy, originality,
and critical thinking are strengths in this poster. The poster quality is good, but lines pointing
from each blurb to the component discussed would make it better.
The other example is an alternative format – a presentation. The advantage to this format,
which this example shows, is that you can zoom in on various parts of the page to do your
analysis. Although this sample is mostly good, there are a few issues with it that you can learn
from. The presentation doesn’t provide a whole picture of the page as you would read it, so
commentary on spatial matters is less effective (the last slide has the whole page, but not the way
a reader would see it). The second slide of the presentation just summarizes the book rather than
analyzing. Since these posters will be displayed out of context, it makes sense to provide
summary and contextualize the page, but in this case the student doesn’t do enough analysis later
on and still sometimes describes what is happening without enough accompanying analysis. The
last issue has to do with how the analysis is being performed. Colors are a great thing to analyze,
but the student here appears to rely on a specific source to tell them what the colors mean.
Anytime you rely on a specific source for part of your ideas, you need to reference your source
material. There are strengths in this sample as well – the way it uses lines, underlining, and other
visual cues; the balance in addressing color, words, and space; the depth at which color is
addressed.