Children from four to eight are book-launched! They can understand books that have more complicated language, longer lengths, and more sophisticated and sensitive subjects. When children reach these ages, reading levels vary greatly depending on life and listening experiences and attention spans. It is important therefore, for parents to use their intuitions about childrens' sensibilities. Many parents stop reading picture books when a child turns five or older. Though this is a very appropriate age for children to begin hearing novels, there are many wonderful picture books that are written specifically for the interest of an older listener.
There are characters in older picture books that four to eight year olds are very fond of. Many of these are faced with issues children can relate to and become either role models or at least comforting book friends. Others are characters they would like to be or become or be befriended by. Children this age are series-lovers. Children fall in love with a character and if the author/illustrator has written other books about this character, kids will gobble them up. An older child adores humor and because of this, James Marshall is a much-loved series writer. With Harry Allard, he has created The Stupids Step Out (Houghton Mifflin, 1974) and Miss Nelson is Missing (Houghton Mifflin, 1977) and on his own James Marshall has written and illustrated Space Case,(Houghton Mifflin, 1973) Yummers, George and Martha (Houghton Mifflin, 1972) and The Cut Ups Cut Loose (Penguin, 1984). All of these books have sequels. Marc Brown's Arthur books (Little Brown, 1980) , Graham Oakley's The Church Mice books (Atheneum, 1974), James Stevenson's books about Emma, the kind witch, (Greenwillow, 1985) and Grandpa stories (Greenwillow, 1985 ).
From four to eight a child moves is willing to move far away from what he knows and experience the world at large. Many children are captured by a sense of mystery. Writer Jane Yolen and illustrator Jane Dyer have brought mystery to a picture book format with their books about Piggins, (HBJ, 1987). Piggins, a butler pig, is an expert mystery solver. There are now two Piggins sequels.
Four to eight year olds are brave. Many times suspenseful stories that would have frightened them earlier, thrill them now. Do Not Open by Briton Turkle is the story of a woman who opens a bottle and uncorks an evil genii who becomes more horrific in every illustration. The evil is defeated through the woman's courage and wisdom. This is probably the most frightening monster book that exists and contains an implicit message that sometimes even the most horrible "monsters" can be defeated. (Dutton, 1981)
An older child likes adventures. They have reached an age where they are ready to leave familiar settings in their books and find out about the world around them. A seven or eight year old will enjoy Vera B. Williams' story of Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea. Through a series of detailed postcards illustrated by Jennifer Williams, Vera's daughter, plot characterizations and adventures evolve as we follow Stringbean on a trip from Kansas to California with his older brother, Fred and dog, Potato. (Greenwillow, 1988)
An older child will either be given to emotional books or will begin to close off to these kinds of stories. For both reasons, I think it crucial to share books with strong emotional tones. Ms. Bunting is the author of many emotionally sensitive books that are written in a way that makes difficult subjects approachable for children. In The Wall (Clarion, 1990) a small boy seeks to find his grandfather's name on Vietnam memorial. In Fly Away Home (Clarion, 1991) Ms. Bunting of a homeless boy and his father who live in an airport. Ms. Bunting faces these issues for children with lyricism and gentleness to soften the depth of the emotion that run throughout.
Picture books many times create an opportunity to open up discussion about issues of concern to children. Let the Celebrations Begin! by Margaret Wild & Julie Vivas is set in a concentration camp and tells the story of a small girl who orchestrates effforts to bring small stuffed toys to children who've never had one. (Orchard, 1991)
Somewhere from five to eight a child is ready to experience older fairy tales. These are those tales with complex emotions that I suggest you avoid at a younger age. Younger child will be overwhelmed by complicated emotions such as greed and jealousy; but an older reader has had some life experience to understand. Many of the top illustrators have put their favorite tales to picture. Your fairy tale choice may be based on finding a volume illustrated by a favorite artist as well as tales included. The following is a sampling of some of the tales and illustrators who are working in this genre: Michael Hague's Favorite Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales (Holt, 1981); The Beauty and the Beast (illus. Michael Hague) (Holt, 1983), Cinderella (illus. Susan Jeffers) (Dial, 1985) East of the Sun and West of the Moon (illus Mayer) (Scholastic, 1980); Hansel and Gretel (illus Lisbeth Zwerger) (Picture Book Studio, 1983); Rumpelstiltskin (illus. Paul O. Zelinsky) (Dutton, 1986); Sleeping Beauty (illus Trina S. Hyman) (Little Brown and Co, 1977); and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (illus. Nancy E. Burkert) (Farrar, 1972).
Older children willalso appreciate the twist of re-written familiar fairy tales. Jon Scieszka has cleverly re-written The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking, 1989) and more recently, The Forg Prince Continued (Viking,1991)
One way the world becomes smaller for an older child is by the accessibility of folk tales of cultures that have found their way into older picture books. Native American tales like de Paola's Legend of Indian Paintbrush (Putnam, 1988) and Legend of the Bluebonnet (Putnam, 1983), Barbara Esbensen's The Star Maiden (Little Brown, 1988) or Paul Gobel's The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses (Bradbury, 1978) incorporate wisdom handed down by American Indian tribes for generations. William Hooks' Moss Gown weaves together elements of Cinderella and King Lear in a traditional Southern tale. (Clarion, 1987)
Many books make the world known to older listeners through tales from around the world. Sergei Aksakov's The Scarlet Flower is a Russian variation of Beauty and the Beast. (HBJ, 1989). Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (Lothrop,1987 ) by John Steptoe is an African Cinderella story and Nancy Van Laan brings history and tale together in her adaptation of The Legend of El Dorado. (Knopf, 1991)
Picture books make wonderful translations from and translations to other mediums. Of late Leontyne Price and illustrators Leo and Dinae Dillon bring to life Aida (HBJ, 1991) and Margot Fontayne does the same for Swan Lake (HBJ, 1989).
Many children's books bring history alive. Deborah Norse Lattimore has written or illustrated tales about ancient cultures from Egypt ( The Winged Cat ,due out from HarperCollins, in May, 1992) to Minoa (The Prince and the Golden Ax, Harper and Row, 1988). Ann Turner brings history alive with emotional tone whether she writes about slavery (Nettie's Trip South, Macmillan, 1987) or the prairie (Dakota Dugout, Macmillan, 1985). Jeanette Winter dramatically represents the Underground Railroad in her Follow the Drinking Gourd. (Knopf, 1988) Jean Fritz has done a wonderful job of making historical figures come alive with fascinating information and interesting facts as in her book George Washington's Breakfast (Coward McCann, 1969)
Between the ages of four and eight many children show a strong bent for non-fiction books. Some of this may be evoked by curiosity about themselves and their world. Simple explanations parents give may no longer be enough to satisfy. Thank goodness there are appropriate books to extend parent's knowledge.
Many issues are raised by growing itself. A child who wonders about growing up can look to Outside-In by Clare Smallman (Barron's, 1986) for information about their bodies. Being Born by Sheila Kitzinger (Grosset, 1986) will answer questions about where they came from.
Where would young non-fiction lovers be without the Magic Schoolbus? In this series, non-fiction pro Joanna Cole creates Ms. Frizzle a wild and wooly teacher who takes her class underground, to the waterworks, space, and even into the human body. Humor abounds in Cole's writing and also in illustrations by Bruce Degens. The books are written with a fairly straight forward text and smaller detailing which give a wider amount of information. This creates a book that can be read at two different levels and the kids love them all! (Scholastic)
Perhaps one of the most popular non-fiction series is the Knopf EyeWitness books. Spectacular photography, compelling design and clearly written texts cover subjects from sports to rocks and minerals to skeletons. Directed for children ten and up, these books have been used as pictorial resources for children much younger.
Dorling Kindersley, the company which photographed for the Knopf books, is now launching expressive pictoral reference books for all ages. Their Visual Dictionaries series will grow this summer, but already has made an important non-fiction contribution with subjects as diverse as Human Body and Ships and Sailing(1991).
There are several non-fiction authors that kids won't want to miss. Seymour Simon, Patricia Lauber, and Russell Freedman are among the non-fiction writers kids like reading.
The ages of four to eight are crucial to the future reading success of children. Studies have proven that most kids stop reading at age 12. I see this period of time as coming into the "home stretch" of reading success. Parents can facilitate their children's success by paying attention to their children's reading interest and providing books that will stimulate them. Parents can take their children to the library and allow them to make their own book choices. One easy way to stimulate reading is to allow children to stay up an extra period of time if they are reading to themselves. Parents can make books come to life by discussing what their children read. When they do this they also increase their children's expressive skills, creative and logical thinking, awareness of the world and others and perhaps most important family communication.