If you’ve been paying attention to the education world, you’ve heard of America’s literacy crisis. This often refers to the staggering number of children who can’t read. This leads to today’s youth not being able to comprehend grade level texts or write proficiently, which then leads to concerning educational outcomes. According to the National Literacy Institute, “54% of U.S. adults read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level, and 64% of our country’s fourth graders do not read proficiently” 2024-2025 Literacy Statistics | National Literacy Institute. The consequences and discissions of this statistic bleed into several different conversations however, in this article I plan to shed light onto something that could possibly help curve that statistic and remind people of something they forgot about: a good picture book!
When people think picture books they think children. We’ve been taught we read picture books to children, to help them learn and while that’s a wonderful thing to do; we don’t need to forget about picture books once we hit age seven. While most picture books might be made with children in mind, picture books are for everyone to enjoy. Picture books have so much more to offer than just a read aloud for babies. Picture books can inform. They can help people improve their own literacy abilities, show them how to teach their children, and in my opinion, most importantly, gain empathy.
Picture books cover a vast number of topics. These diverse topics provide a wide range of vocabulary exposure or words we’re unfamiliar with. You can read a picture book on space or dinosaurs and learn new information without having to read a scholarly journal or a 500 page book. For example, to expand your understanding on space you can check out, Mysteries of the Universe by Will Gater. Picture books can reinforce information you already knew or they can highlight topics you never knew. Picture books cover math topics and they highlight the lives of astronauts and doctors. Whenever you need a little more fun information, a picture book is a great place to learn it.
Picture books are also great ways to teach children sometimes hard topics in easy and careful ways. For example the book The History of We by Nikkolas Smith teaches children about evolution and the way we’re all connected to the Earth. The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander discusses the history of African Americans in America in the form of poetry. Topics like these can be hard to explain, in general, let alone to a child. Picture book authors have had months to perfect the correct thing to say. They’ll help you say it. For children that are struggling with things like poverty or grief a picture book is a perfect way to help a child see that their feelings are valid, that their stories are represented. And that brings me to my next point.
Picture books can also expose us to different perspective in a manner we’re not used to, one that pulls directly on our empathetic strings. One of my favorite books does this. In A Place For Us by James E. Ransome, a little boy and his mothers’ day seems like nothing out of the ordinary, until the author reveals that they are homeless and every night they sleep on a park bench. Books like these help put things into perspective. It helps us understand that we don’t know other peoples stories. We don’t know what other people go through on a day to day basis. Books like these remind us of other peoples shoes and show us what it’s like to walk in them. Books like these help us be more empathetic people. And that’s why it’s so so important that we never stop reading them.
One final important thing about picture books is they are representations of windows and mirrors and sliding glass doors. This idea relates to the empathy aspect of picture books and the part of seeing your story represented. The framework of “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors” comes from professor Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop who uses this framework to advocate for diversity in books. You should be able to see yourself in the books you read, like a mirror. This helps people of all ages feel understood. A picture book will give you a full, easy to read story about someone like you. It’s also important to see windows in the books you read. You should see the stories of other people so clear you can understand it and imagine yourself in that position. And you should read books where you can slide through a door and be completely immersed in that world. These are all found in good picture books. You can see a version of yourself. You can see the story of your neighbor. And you can forget about your troubles and get lost between the pages of a book. Picture books give us access to all of this.
Picture books really are special. They educate us, help us, show us stories, and fill us with possibilities. Hopefully once we see the vast benefits of picture books, we can start to read them. And hopefully, one book at a time, we’ll curve the literacy crisis.