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Picture book selectionbehaviors of emergentreaders: Influence
ofgenre, familiarity, and bookattributesClyde C. Robinson a , Jean
M. Larsen a , Julia H.Haupt a & Jeannette Mohlman ba Brigham
Young Universityb Salt Lake Community CollegePublished online: 28
Jan 2010.
To cite this article: Clyde C. Robinson , Jean M. Larsen , Julia
H. Haupt &Jeannette Mohlman (1997) Picture book selection
behaviors of emergent readers:Influence of genre, familiarity, and
book attributes, Reading Research andInstruction, 36:4, 287-304,
DOI: 10.1080/19388079709558245
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Reading Research and InstructionSummer 1997, 36 (4) 287-304
Picture book selection behaviors ofemergent readers: Influence
of genre,
familiarity, and book attributes
Clyde C. Robinson, Jean M. Larsen, Julia H. HauptBrigham Young
University
Jeannette MohlmanSalt Lake Community College
ABSTRACT
Empirical studies with school-aged children have led to
assumptions thatemergent readers do not have specific reading
preferences or demonstratepatterns in their book selections. This
study was designed to determinewhether emergent readers demonstrate
reading preferences based upongenre, familiarity and four other
book attributes. Over a seven-week period,53 preschoolers and 49
kindergartners from two socioeconomic levelswere given the
opportunity each school day to select a picture book totake home
from a set of 40 books with equal representation in five
genres.Children's familiarity with the 40 picture books was
assessed through aparent survey at the beginning of the study and
teachers recorded thetitles that were chosen by each child each day
during the study. Children'sbook choices were analyzed by genre,
familiarity and four book attributes.Findings demonstrated that
emergent readers appear to demonstrate genrepreferences (both ages
preferred modern and traditional fantasy over real-istic fiction,
informational and alphabet-number books). Additionally, thestudy
found that children select familiar books more often and that
espe-cially in the case of kindergartners, familiarity influences
reselection.Finally, emergent readers most frequently selected
books with a simple text(one to five lines of text per page). The
findings of this study counter pre-viously-held assumptions that
emergent readers select books randomly orchoose them based on
convenience of their display. Implications for therole of genre
preferences, familiarity and book attributes are discussed.
Being literate is considered basic to a child's educational
progress andachievement in school (Krashen, 1985). Reading success
is also considered fun-damental to an individual's ability to
function successfully in society (Dorotik &Betzold, 1992).
Since literacy plays such a vital role, much research has focusedon
how children become literate. A number of factors have been
identified. Forexample, specific behaviors exhibited by early
readers which are thought to beassociated with the acquisition of
reading and writing skills include: reading
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288 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol.36 No.
4
familiar words (Reutzel, Oda, & Moore, 1989), copying words
(Morrow, 1988),looking at picture books (Morrow, 1983), owning or
borrowing books from thelibrary (Teale, 1978), asking for
"favorite" picture books to be read to them byfamily members
(Morrow, 1985; Sulzby, 1985) and reading interest (Guthrie,1981).
Additionally, studies of early readers reveal that though they have
a widerange of IQ's (Briggs & Elkind, 1978), they frequently
come from educationally-advantaged homes (Teale, 1981). These early
readers are reared in environmentswhere they are exposed early and
frequently to reading materials (Morrow,1983), a variety of reading
materials are readily available (Dickenson & Tabors,1991;
Smith, 1991), reading experiences are interactive (Morrow, 1985;
Teale &Sulzby, 1987), and parents routinely help their children
with reading and writingactivities when they show interest (Roskos,
1988).
A central element in this array of emergent reading
characteristics is thedevelopment of reading interest. Many of the
provisions made by adults for earlyreaders (i.e., exposure to
reading materials, interactive reading experiences
andresponsiveness to children's interest in reading and writing
tasks) stimulate andnurture this interest and assist emergent
readers to make sense of the world of print.Indeed, many early
childhood experts encourage parents and practitioners aliketo
encourage the development of the disposition to read along with
encouragingthe acquisition of the knowledge and skills necessary
for reading (Bredekamp,1987; Katz & Chard, 1989). A favorable
disposition towards literacy can be builtas adults allow children
to self select picture booksyet another behavior relatedto literacy
development (Morrow, 1983; Reutzel & Cooter, 1996).
The majority of studies examining the development of reading
interest andreading preferences have focused on school-age
children, rather than emergentreaders. Researchers attempting to
uncover the determinants of reading interestamong school-age
children have identified three salient factors: (a) interest in
con-tent (Hiebert, Mervar, & Person, 1990), (b) difficulty of
text (Anderson, Higgins,& Wurster, 1985), and (c)
self-selection of reading materials (Strickland & Mor-row,
1989). The lack of empirical studies on the determinants of reading
interestand reading preferences for emergent readers may be
partially due to the findingsof studies conducted in the early
1970's (Chiu, 1973; Beta Upsilon Chapter of PiLambda Theta, 1974).
These researchers implied that children younger than ageeight show
little consistency in reading preferences or discrimination in
content.However, if this assumption proves ill-founded and
investigative efforts reveal read-ing preferences and book
selection strategies among emergent readers, this infor-mation
could ultimately assist parents and practitioners as they foster
readinginterest in the children entrusted to their care.
The present study is concerned with the development of reading
interest inyoung children, particularly with regard to the presence
or absence of book selec-tion strategies. The study also questions
the assumptions of previous researchersby investigating whether
genre, familiarity and other book attributes will predict apattern
of book selection and reselection for preschool and kindergarten
children.
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Picture book selection 289
Extensive experience with emergent readers and anecdotal
observation of selectionbehaviors on the part of the authors
suggests that preschool- and kindergarten-aged children do
demonstrate specific picture book preferences and use bookselection
strategies. In order to test the hypothesis that emergent readers
will usebook selection strategies, this study was designed to
address three questions aboutbasic elements of selection criteria:
First, does the genre of a picture book influ-ence emergent
readers' picture book selection and reselection behavior?
Second,does book familiarity make it more likely for a picture book
to be chosen andreselected? Finally, do certain book attributes,
such as the location of the book inthe display, the difficulty of
the text or the quality of the literature affect picturebook
selection and reselection?
METHOD
SubjectsThe subjects of this study consisted of 102 children
from low- and middle-
class family backgrounds residing in a moderately-sized
community in the Inter-mountain West. Fifty-three subjects (26
males and 27 females) were preschool-aged (4-5 years old) and 49
subjects (23 males and 26 females) were kinder-garten-aged (5-6
years old). Preschool subjects represented children enrolled intwo
educational settings: a university laboratory preschool serving
mostly middle-class families (24 children) and a Head Start program
serving low-income chil-dren (29 children). Kindergarten subjects
were likewise drawn from two con-trasting elementary schools: 30
from a low-income/Chapter I school and 19 froma middle-class
neighborhood school. The majority of the children were Caucasianand
came from two-parent families.
Picture Book SelectionThe picture books used in the study were
selected based on a three-phase
procedure. First, a preliminary list of high quality picture
books was assembledwhich included some Caldecott nominees, some
titles recommended by children'sliterature experts and some books
common to major vendors' lists of picturebooks that are most
frequently purchased by early childhood educators. Afterdetermining
the availability of multiple copies of these titles in local
libraries,booklists were finalized and reduced to sets of 40 titles
for each classroom. Sinceobtaining enough multiple copies of each
title was difficult, books assembled forthe preschool classrooms
were not identical to those for the kindergarten class-rooms.
Next, these books were placed into categories using criteria
developed froma descriptive genre classification guide for
children's literature at the Universityof Chicago (Sutherland,
Hearne, & Sutton, 1991) and a literature index (Peter-son &
Solt, 1982) which classifies books into genre. The five genres
included inthe study were:
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290 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No.
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Alphabet-number books Informational books Realistic fiction
Traditional fantasy (folklore) Modern fantasy
Preliminary classification of books into the five genres was
conducted by a panelof four early childhood educators and final
placement of each picture book into agenre category was
accomplished in collaboration with a second team of
children'sliterature experts. Tables 1 and 2 list the picture books
used in the study and thegenre classification of the titles for the
preschool and kindergarten classrooms.
Finally, each book was classified on four attributes: (1) the
location of the bookin the display, (2) whether or not the book was
a Caldecott nominee, (3) whetherthe picture book was on a major
vendor's list of books most often purchased byearly childhood
educators, and (4) the level of difficulty. This fourth
attributeincluded four categorizations:
no words one line or less per page/3-5 word sentences/low
difficulty vocabulary five lines or less per page/5-9 word
sentences/low difficulty vocabulary five lines or more per
page/medium difficulty vocabulary
Treatment and Data CollectionEach of the two preschool and two
kindergarten classrooms were provided
with a set of take-home picture books comprised of eight titles
from each of thefive genre. Providing this quantitywhich was nearly
double the number oftitles that could be selected in any one
dayensured a high probability that pic-ture books would be
available from each genre regardless of whether a givenchild was
first or last to make a selection that day. In each classroom, the
40take-home picture books were displayed in custom-made book
holders withclear plastic pockets. Each book holder was two-sided
with 20 pockets on eachside (four rows by five columns). Each
pocket and book was labeled with a cor-responding number. These
identification numbers allowed teachers to quicklyrecord the title
each child selected each day and assisted teachers and children
toreturn books to the specified pocket. The designation of book
position in the dis-play was randomized for each classroom, with
the five genre being equally dis-tributed among the rows and
columns to control for position effects. The booksremained in the
same position for the duration of the study. This precaution
wastaken since some investigators have speculated that emergent
readers maymerely select books based upon the book's position in
the display (i.e., eye level,front versus back of the display,
etc.).
Data were collected over seven consecutive weeks, commencing the
secondweek of October and concluding prior to the Christmas
vacation. Each school dayduring the study period, each child was
given approximately 10-15 minutes to
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Picture book selection 291
Table 1
Classification of Titles of Picture Booksin Preschool Classrooms
by Genre
ALPHABET-NUMBEREating the alphabet (1989) by L. EhlertAnno's
alphabet (1974) by M. AnnoOn market street (1981) by A. LobelChicka
chicka boom boom (1989) by B. Martin & J. ArchambaultTen, nine,
eight (1983) by M. BangRooster's off to see the world (1972) by E.
CarleCount and see (1972) by T. HobanHave you seen my duckling?
(1984) by N. Tafuri
TRADITIONAL FANTASY (FOLKLORE)The mitten (1989) by J.
BrettUmbrella (1958) by T. YashimaThe Little Red Hen (1985) by L.
McQueenThe Ugly Duckling (1986) by H. C. AndersonDrummer Hoff
'(1967) by B. EmberleyThe Three Billy Goats Gruff (1984) by E.
ApplebyNibble nibble Mousekin (1962) by J. W. Angland
INFORMATIONALA tree is nice (1956) by J. M. UdryPlanting a
rainbow (1988) by L. EhlertBrown bear, brown bear (1983) by B.
MartinKeep looking (1989) by M. E. SelsamPatrick's dinosaurs (1983)
by C. CarrickMouse paint (1989) by E. S. WalshIs it red? Is it
yellow? Is it blue? (1978) by T. HobanThe truck book (1978) by H.
McNaughtAnimals in summer (1988) by M. Mayer
REALISTIC FICTIONMadeline (1967) by L. BemelmansOwl moon (1987)
by J. YolenThe snowy day (1962) by E. J. KeatsHappy birthday, Sam
(1978) by P. HutchinsWill I have a friend? (1967) by M.
CohenPeter's chair (1967) by E. J. KeatsIs anyone home? (1985) by
R. MarisMop top (1955) by D. Freeman
MODERN FANTASYA pocket for Corduroy (1978) by D. FreemanThe
runaway bunny (1972) by M. W. BrownGoodnight moon (1947) by M. W.
BrownThe little engine that could (1976) by W. PiperCaps for sale
(1968) by E. SlobodkinaHarry the dirty dog (1956) by G. ZionThere's
a nightmare in my closet (1968) by M. MayerJamberry (1983) by B.
Degen
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292 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No.
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Table 2
Classification of Titles of Picture Booksin Kindergarten
Classrooms by Genre
ALPHABET-NUMBEREating the alphabet (1989) by L. EhlertAnna's
alphabet (1974) by M. AnnoOn market street (1981) by A. LobelChicka
chicka boom boom (1989) by B. Martin & J. ArchambaultTen, nine,
eight (1983) by M. BangRooster's off to see the world (1972) by E.
CarleCount and see (1972) by T. HobanOne little elephant (1987) by
C. West
TRADITIONAL FANTASY (FOLKLORE)Tiki Tiki Tembo (1968) by A.
MoselThe story of Ping (1961) by M. Flack & K. WieseStone soup
(1968) by A. McGovemGoldilocks and the Three Bears (1987) by J.
BrettLittle Red Riding Hood (1982) by M. HMertRumpelstiltskin
(1990) by A. SageRapunzel (1982) by B. RoganskyThe snow child
(1978) by F. Littledale
INFORMATIONALBugs (1987) by N. W. Parker & J. R. WrightBrown
bear, brown bear (1983) by B. MartinChickens aren 't the only ones
(1981) by R. HellerBaby animals (1989) by M. W. BrownListen to the
rain (1988) by B. Martin & J. ArchambaultThe little lamb (1977)
by J. DunnKeep looking (1989) by M. E. SelsamDinosaurs (1981) by M.
L. Clark
REALISTIC FICTIONWhistle for Willie (1964) by E. J. KeatsBest
friends (1971) by M. CohenWild wild sunflower child Anna (1987) by
N. W. CarlstromBlueberries for Sal (1976) by R. McCloskeyIra sleeps
over (1972) by B. WaberI dance in my red pajamas (1982) by E. T.
HurdThe doorbell rang (1986) by P. Hutchins/ was so mad (1974) by
N. Simon
MODERN FANTASYBedtime for Francis (1960) by R. HobanAre you my
mother? (1960) by P. D. EastmanCurious George (1941) by H. A.
ReyNoisy Nora (1973) by R. WellsRosie's walk (1968) by P.
HutchinsIf you give a mouse a cookie (1985) by L. J.
NumeroffClifford's family (1985) by N. BridwellJust go to bed
(1983) by M. Mayer
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Picture book selection 293
select a single picture book from the set of 40 to take home in
a personalizedcanvas bag. Teachers were instructed to allow
children to make their own selec-tions and to respect their choice
if they did not want to take a book home. Thechildren returned
their books the next school day. After the selection
opportunityeach day, the display containing the remaining
unselected books was removedfrom the classroom, so that additional
browsing of these titles did not occur.Also, teachers were asked
not to read any of the 40 titles to the children duringthe study
period since it would confound the familiarity variable of the
study.
AssessmentTo assess the impact of picture book familiarity,
genre and book attributes on
emergent readers' book selection behaviors, three measures were
used: parent sur-veys, teacher recordings and classroom
observations. At the outset of the study, asurvey listing the 40
take-home books in the classroom collection was distributedto
parents of the subjects to determine the familiarity of each child
with the studytitles. Parents were asked to indicate if their
child: (1) owned the picture book,(2) had previously read the
picture book, or (3) was not familiar with the picturebook. In
order to determine whether selection preferences were influenced by
genreand/or book attributes, teachers were given a recording chart
which included thelist of children in their class and provided
space to write the number of the bookchosen by each child for each
day of the study period. In addition, observationswere made of
selection procedures by one of the investigators during the
second,fourth and sixth weeks of the study to insure that processes
were uniform acrossclassrooms and to note anecdotal subjective
reflections about the subjects' be-haviors while participating in
the book selection process.
RESULTS
As discussed previously, few empirical studies have addressed
emergentreaders' preferences for books and strategies they may use
in selecting books.Therefore, it was deemed important to conduct
several preliminary analyses ofvariance regarding differences based
on gender and socioeconomic status. Thus,several 2 (males, females)
x 2 (low-income, middle-class) analyses of variance(ANOVAs) were
calculated, revealing no significant main effects nor interac-tions
for either gender or socioeconomic background on the book
selectionstrategies of the subjects. Therefore, these factors were
not included in subse-quent analyses.
Frequency of Title Selection/ReselectionPreliminary analyses
revealed that over the seven-week period, an average
of 88% of the subjects selected a picture book each day to take
home, a mean of23.7 total titles per subject. Of those, a mean of
4.45 titles per subject were rese-lected at least once. A
significant difference in the frequency of reselection
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294 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No.
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[((100) = 2.31, p
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Picture book selection 295
Table 3
Mean Proportions of Total Titles Selected and Times
Reselectedfor Preschool and Kindergarten Subjects by Genrea
DependentVariables
Total Titles SelectedX
SD .28
Times ReselectedX
SD .61
Alphabet-Number
16.4%.32
(A A A)
16.1%.77
(A A A)
Information
18.3%.28
(BB)
18.9%.61
(AB)
Genre
RealisticFiction
17.8%.32
15.8%.78(B)
TraditionalFantasy
21.9%.33
21.7%.83
ModernFantasy
24.8%
26.5%
"Means not sharing a letter are significantly different (p <
.05), Duncan's Test.
the total selection/reselection pattern for preschool-aged
children, Table 5 showsthat 10 individual titles were significantly
more popular with kindergarten girls thanboys while no individual
titles were significantly more popular with boys thanwith girls.
Unlike an even distribution of title preferences for preschool
children,kindergarten girls expressed a definite liking and/or boys
a definite disliking for25% of the titles available.
Subjective classroom observations also informally confirmed the
hypothesisthat emergent readers demonstrate book preferences and
selection strategiesand that these abilities improve with
experience and over time. At first, it wascommon to see many
children make their selection immediately, while otherswalked
around the book display looking at the picture books while making
littlephysical contact with the books. As the study progressed, a
considerable numberof subjects were observed to take more care in
the selection process (e.g., chil-dren were observed looking at the
front and back of books, perusing the illustra-tions and examining
several books before making a final selection).
Influence of Familiarity on Book Selection/ReselectionTo
investigate the impact of familiarity on emergent readers' book
selection/
reselection behaviors, a series of t tests were conducted using
the mean proportionof titles selected at least once and the mean
proportion of titles reselected at least
once for preschoolers and kindergartners separately (since the
booklists variedbetween these two groups). Two of the familiarity
categories on the parent survey
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296 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No.
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Table 4
Ranking of Picture Books Selected inPreschool Classrooms by
Gender^
Rank Title
123456789
10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940
Caps for SaleHarry the Dirty DogThere's a Nightmare in My
ClosetA Pocket for CorduroyNibble Nibble MousekinThe Little Red
HenAnimals in SummerKeep LookingJamberryEating the AlphabetThe
MittenThe Little Engine That CouldChicka Chicka Boom BoomUgly
DucklingPlanting a RainbowBrown Bear Brown BearRooster's Off to See
the WorldPatrick's DinosaursMadelineThe Snowy DayThree Billy Goats
GruffWill I Have a Friend?Mouse PaintUmbrellaA Tree is NiceHave You
Seen My Duckling?Is Anyone Home?Owl MoonGoodnight MoonThe Truck
BookDrummer HoffMop TopThe Runaway BunnyIs it Red? Is it Yellow? Is
it Blue?Anno's AlphabetTen Nine EightPeter's ChairOn Market
StreetHappy Birthday SamCount and See
Genre
Mod. FantasyMod. FantasyMod. FantasyMod. FantasyTrad.
FantasyTrad. FantasyInformationalInformationalMod.
FantasyAlphabet-No.Trad. FantasyMod. FantasyAlphabet-No.Trad.
FantasyInformationalInformationalAlphabet-No.InformationalRealistic
Fie.Realistic Fie.Trad. FantasyRealistic Fie.InformationalTrad.
FantasyInformationalAlphabet-No.Realistic Fie.Realistic Fie.Mod.
FantasyInformationalTrad. FantasyRealistic Fie.Mod.
FantasyInformationalAlphabet-No.Alphabet-No.Realistic
Fie.Alphabet-No.Realistic Fie.Alphabet-No.
Boys
19192413*30*1621221619211810*1318171724*1214167*
1413161510141020*1211139
129
11693
Girls
28221727*10*2317152116131624*201515146*
18161321*131411111611153*
10118
129
118
1050
Total
4741414040393837373534343433333231303030292827272726262525232222212121201916143
P
-
Picture book selection 297
Table 5
Ranking of Picture Books Selected inKindergarten Classrooms by
Gender^
Rank Title
123456789
10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940
Goldilocks and the Three BearsAre You My Mother?Eating the
AlphabetChickens Aren't the Only OnesIf You Give a Mouse a
CookieCurious GeorgeIra Sleeps OverBest FriendsI Dance in My Red
PajamasWhistle for WillieRosie's WalkDinosaursChicka Chicka Boom
BoomRooster's Off to See the WorldSnow ChildRumpelstiltskinI Was So
MadThe LambLittle Red Riding HoodListen to the RainNoisy NoraBrown
Bear Brown BearOn Market StreetStone SoupThe Story of PingSnowy
DayRapunzelTen, Nine, EightTiki Tiki TemboAnno's AlphabetKeep
LookingOne Little ElephantBedtime for FrancisClifford's FamilyWild
Wild Sunflower Child AnnaBlueberries for SalBugsCount and SeeBaby
AnimalsJust Go to Bed
Genre
Trad. FantasyMod. FantasyAlphabet-No.InformationalMod.
FantasyMod.FantasyRealistic Fie.Realistic Fie.Realistic
Fie.Realistic Fie.Realistic
Fie.InformationalAlphabet-No.Alphabet-No.Trad. FantasyTrad.
FantasyRealistic Fie.InformationalTrad. FantasyAlphabet-No.Mod.
FantasyInformationalAlphabet-No.Trad. FantasyTrad. FantasyRealistic
Fie.Trad. FantasyAlphabet-No.Trad.
FantasyAlphabet-No.InformationalAlphabet-No.Mod. FantasyMod.
FantasyRealistic Fie.Realistic
Fie.InformationalAlphabet-No.InformationalMod. Fantasy
Boys
21241919192422171315222015146*
151410*8*7*
1014159*
1119
4*
1117151296*95*
116844
Girls
251923222217141922201213181926*171821*22*23*20161520*181023*159
10131518*1315*47475
Total
4643424141413636353534333333323232313030303030292929272626252424242220151312119
P
-
298 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No.
4
were collapsed and compared to the third category, resulting in
two categories:(1) exposed to/owned title previous to the study and
(2) unfamiliar with the titleprevious to the study. Overall, parent
questionnaires indicated that preschoolerswere familiar with 31%
and kindergartners were familiar with 43% of the titlesplaced in
their classrooms prior to the commencement of the study. For
titleselection, preschoolers chose 62% of the familiar titles and
34% of the unfamil-iar titles [f(1324) = 9.96, p < .000] and
kindergartners chose 57% of the familiartitles and 36% of the
unfamiliar titles, also resulting in a significant
difference0(1246) = 7.12, p < .000]. For title reselection,
preschoolers selected 13% of thefamiliar titles at least once and
only 4% of the unfamiliar titles [/(1324) = 6.06,p < .000],
while kindergartners selected 19% of the familiar titles at least
onceand only 7% of the unfamiliar titles 0(1246) = 6.18, p <
.000].
Since both genre and familiarity had a significant impact upon
emergentreaders' picture book selection behaviors, the relationship
between familiarity andgenre was examined in a 2 (familiarity) x 5
(genre) ANOVA. Results using titlesselected as the dependent
measure reveal that for preschoolers, there is a maineffect for
familiarity, a main effect for genre and a significant interaction,
F(4,1316) = 2.55, p = .038. Means of the proportion of titles
selected by familiarityand genre for preschoolers are plotted in
Figure 1. Post-hoc comparisons revealthat the mean proportions
accounting for the significant interaction are mainlydue to
alphabet-number and informational genre (which are lesser
preferredgenre) being selected more when preschoolers are familiar
with them. A 2(familiarity) x 5 (genre) ANOVA on titles selected
for kindergartners did notresult in an interaction between
familiarity and genre.
Subjective anecdotal observations confirmed the influence of
familiarity onbook selection behaviors of the children. For
example, a number of children wereobserved to be familiar with the
location of specific books and were able to returnfrequently
selected picture books to their correct pockets unassisted by
teachers,while they were unable to return less frequently selected
books. Also, children whowanted to check out specific titles were
able to go directly to those pockets andget the books without
searching. In one classroom, a book considered popular by amajor
vendor had been rebound in a plain library cover due to heavy use.
The firstfew times that the children made picture book selections,
they were apparentlynot aware of the content of this
"plain-covered" book. However, when one childdiscovered it to be a
familiar and favorite story, it was frequently selected
there-afterproviding evidence that content and familiarity were
important factors forthese children in making choices.
Other anecdotal observations included a Head Start child who was
observedto go directly to a specific location when it was his turn
to select a book. He re-selected the same book nine consecutive
days and fifteen total times during thecourse of the study, taking
home other books only when classmates had selected hisfavorite book
before it was his turn. Finally, it was reported in another
instancethat a child who had received one of the titles in the
classroom collection for a
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.95-
.90-
.85-
.80-
.75-
.70-
.65-
.60-
.50-
.45-
.40-
.35-
.30-
.25-
.20-
.15-
.10-
.05-
Picture book selection 299
FAMILIAR (x= .62) UNFAMILIAR (x= .34)
D Total Genrea
Alphabet- Informational Realistic Modern TraditionalNumber
Fiction Fantasy Fantasy
Picture Book GenreaMeans not sharing a letter are significantly
different (p < .05), Duncan's Test.
Figure 1. Preschool-age children's mean percentages ofpicture
book genre selected by book familiarity.
birthday gift examined the book display until he found the title
he had receivedas a gift the day before and eagerly selected it to
take home.
Influence of Book Attributes on Selection/ReselectionTo
determine whether or not four book attributes (i.e., location in
the dis-
play, presence on vendors' lists of titles most purchased by
teachers, Caldecottnominee and text difficulty) had an impact on
emergent readers' book selectionbehaviors, a series of chi-square
tests were computed using frequencies of totaltimes titles were
selected. As shown in Table 6, the book's physical location
(i.e.,
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300 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No.
4
front or back of the display, row location, column location) and
whether or notthe books were on a major vendor's list of titles
most often purchased by teach-ers) have no significant relationship
to emergent readers' selection behaviors.
The chi-square analysis did reveal, however, that emergent
readers selectedCaldecott nominees significantly more often than
expected by chance. Also, chi-square analyses show that the words
per page attribute only has an impact uponselection behaviors for
books in the alphabet number and informational genre.For these two
genres, results in Table 4 indicate that all children select books
lessthan expected by chance in the two outlying categorieswordless
books and thosewith the highest level of difficulty (five lines or
more text per page/medium diffi-culty). Books in the other two
categories (one line or less per page/3-5 wordsentences/low
difficulty vocabulary and five lines or less per page/5-9 word
sen-tences/low difficulty vocabulary) were selected more than
expected by chance inthese two genres.
DISCUSSION
While most researchers suggest that literacy events in the home
(i.e., parentsreading to their young children) directly affect
emergent literacy in young chil-dren, a number of researchers
assert that interest in reading is the most reliablepredictor of
literacy development. Therefore, ascertaining what kinds of
booksemergent readers are interested in and supplying titles that
support their interestsshould facilitate literacy development. For
the most part, assumptions have beenmade that emergent readers
select picture books at random or choose the mostconvenient
booksusing few strategies, if anyand that they have
negligiblestable reading interests. The present study which
investigated book selection/re-selection behaviors of emergent
readers and the effects of genre, familiarity andbook attributes
upon these interests counter these previously-held assumptions.
Genre played an important role in influencing book
selection/reselectionbehaviors of these preschool and kindergarten
children as demonstrated by the sig-nificantly higher likelihood of
these emergent readers to choose from the modernand traditional
fantasy genre (e.g., Caps for sale and Goldilocks and the
ThreeBears). Overall, books from the alphabet-number and
informational genres wereselected and reselected less frequently
than the fantasy and fiction genres, althoughbooks from these
unpopular genres were chosen more often if the concepts
wereimbedded into a story format. In fact, titles in these least
popular genres whichwere not story-imbedded were seldom selected
and none were reselected. Thisfinding perhaps serves more to
highlight the importance of a story line to youngchildren and less
to recommending that teachers and parents avoid exposingyoung
children to alphabet-number books and/or informational books.
Addition-ally, since the study found that text difficulty was a
significant factor in only thealphabet number and informational
genres, this finding should serve as a guide toadults when exposing
children to these genres, since children seem more interestedif the
text closely matches their developmental level.
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Picture book selection 301
Table 6
Results ofChi-square Tests on Picture Book Attributesfor Book
Selection Behaviors
Picture Book Attributes
Location on Book Display(Front, Back, Row or Column)
Words per PageAlphabet-Number GenreNo WordsOne Line3 to 5 Word
Sen.Vocab. Low5 Lines or LessVocabulary Low Difficulty5 Lines or
MoreVocab Medium Difficulty
Words per PageInformational GenreNo WordsOne Line3 to 5 Word
Sen.Vocab. Low5 Lines or LessVocabulary Low Difficulty5 Lines or
MoreVocab Medium Difficulty
Caldecott NomineeMost Purchased by Teachers
All Children
Selected
Chose LessChose MoreChose MoreChose Less
Chose LessChose MoreChose MoreChose LessChose More
chi sq
ns
67.6
24.3
11.9ns
df p
3 .000
3 .000
2 .005
The findings of this study also indicated that familiarity plays
a major rolein influencing the selection/reselection behaviors of
emergent readers. Sincefamiliarity played a role in both selection
and reselection and influenced childrenat both the preschool and
kindergarten levels, it is clear that interest in books canbe
nurtured by adults who spend time reading books with children and
familiar-izing them with a variety of titles. Also, the study
showed that kindergartners re-selected books more often than did
preschoolers, suggesting that the role offamiliarity becomes even
more important with age. These findings regarding theimportance of
familiarity to book preference are not surprising, since it is
well-understood by those who work with young children that
repetition is an impor-tant part of learning. Additionally, as
young children become older and developmore interest in the
mechanics of reading, a book whose text is known becomesa
significant avenue for the construction of letter/sound
relationships and otherconventions related to the written language.
While the two factors of story-imbeddedness and familiarity seemed
to override other attributes of the bookssuch as cover and text
illustrations, the findings regarding book attributes revealsome
interesting insights. First, the finding that the placement of the
book in thedisplay had no effect suggests that emergent readers do
not simply select books outof convenience as had been previously
thought. However, it is important to note
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302 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol.36 No.
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that while making book selections, the children were viewing the
covers throughthe plastic pockets rather than viewing books stacked
with only their spines show-ing. When children can see enough to
make a selection choice, it appears thatthey demonstrate patterns
of reading preference based on genre and familiarity.Also, with
regards to the books chosen by adults for children, i.e., whether
or notthe book was a Caldecott nominee and whether or not it was
frequently orderedby teachers patronizing major vendors, it appears
that Caldecott nominees moreclosely reflect children's actual
preferences at this age than do books frequentlyand traditionally
purchased by teachers.
The fourth book attribute addressed the impact of words per
page. As notedabove, when it did become a factor, children seemed
to prefer books with approx-imately five lines or less per page
(but not wordless) and low rather than mediumdifficulty. This
finding is consistent with what might be expected given the
atten-tion span and language skills common to children this age.
Interestingly, emer-gent readers' interest in books may not be as
keen if there are no words. A bookwhich has no words may be
enjoyable for a young child to peruse on his/her own,but may not
lend itself as well to positive adult-child reading times if the
adultlacks the interactive reading skills to help the child create
the story or talk aboutthe pictures. Also, given young children's
fascination for familiarity, a wordless pic-ture book's story can
vary considerably from telling to telling since the text
remainsundefined. Wordless picture books may be more useful to
children as discussionstarters or creative language experiences in
classrooms than as a catalyst forparent-child reading
experiences.
Finally, one of the most important findings of this study was
the enthusiasticresponse of emergent readers to the simple
procedure of selecting and takingbooks home each day. The books
were treated with respect (as noted by the statis-tic that so few
books were damaged or lost) and although the children were givena
choice, a high percentage of children chose to take a book home
each day. Thisprocedure for encouraging reading interest in
emergent readers is not only some-thing that could be fairly easily
adopted in any early childhood classroom, but italso has the
potential to increase reading events in the home for both
preschool-aged children (Robinson, Larsen & Haupt, 1995) and
kindergarten-aged children(Robinson, Larsen & Haupt, 1996).
Also, it appears that when emergent readersare given the
opportunity to browse and examine books in an unhurried
atmos-phere, more sophisticated book selection strategies emerge as
a result of having ex-perience with choosing picture books. Indeed,
designing classroom environmentsand daily schedules which provide
emergent readers an opportunity to make picturebook selections at
their own rate seems to increase the children's interest in
care-fully making a selection. As noted previously, there appeared
to be indications of adevelopmental pattern of selection behaviors,
such as looking for familiar books,using location to find preferred
titles, trying to maximize selection opportunitiesby being first,
and using a favorite genre, albeit unconsciously, to select
books.
Since this increasing sophistication in children's selection
strategies and inter-ests was observed rather than measured
empirically, further research and analysis
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Picture book selection 303
is needed to more precisely identify factors related to such
trends. Also, futureresearch might include home observations and
interviews with family members togain information concerning home
book sharing behaviors, parental impressions/perceptions of why
their child might select and/or reselect certain books over
othersand other influences in the natural environment that might
impact young chil-dren's preferences. Likewise, additional research
could focus upon issues relatedto apparent interest of children at
this age in the fantasy genre and the importanceof imbeddedness of
informational content in a story line. Also, research could
ex-amine the influence of the complexity of story plots and
aesthetic properties ofgood literature as these issues apply to
emergent readers.
CONCLUSION
In summary, the results of the study provide some evidence that
preschooland kindergarten children have and can develop more
sophisticated book selectionstrategies and that genre preferences
do appear to exist for young children. Thestudy also highlights the
practicality and effectiveness of a classroom procedurewhich
provides children with opportunities to self-select picture books
in anunhurried manner from a sufficiently large collection of high
quality books fromgenres they enjoy. Since children will seek out
familiar titles, parents and educa-tors can also facilitate young
children's picture book selections by displaying thebooks in such a
way that they are able to view the covers, not just the
spines.Ultimately, it is anticipated that self-selecting and taking
home daily quality pic-ture books can not only have a positive
impact upon parent/child home readingepisodes in the short term,
but also have longer term benefits upon the develop-ment of young
children's reading interest and future reading skills.
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