On How to Read Picture Books

When I was an active teacher, I attended a training session on how to read picture books.

Separately, during new teacher training, new teachers from various regions gathered and took turns reading picture books to each other in groups,
and we shared our thoughts; looking back now, I think it was an interesting and valuable opportunity.

At the time, the secret to reading picture books that I mastered was for the reader not to use too much intonation.
The idea was that it is important to leave room for the children listening to imagine and enjoy the story in their own way.

However, if I read too flatly in the classroom, it felt a bit dull, or rather, it didn't go over well with the young children.

During the new teacher training, when I asked, 'Well, what should we do? Should we use intonation or not? Is reading flatly really for the children's benefit even if they don't enjoy it... what exactly is the right way?',

“Why don't you just choose the way you think is best?”

a new teacher from somewhere said to me.


That is a timeless piece of wisdom.

In a world overflowing with information from parenting books and the like, this is the secret to keeping parents (me) from running around in circles! (laughs)

After that, once I left the profession, I also learned how to read picture books through books on Steiner education.
The reader should put their heart into it, immerse themselves in the story and characters, and truly savor and feel the world of the picture book.
But it shouldn't be so over-the-top that it becomes chaotic,
and there is still that space that doesn't rob the listener of their imagination.

It's a relaxed, gentle way of speaking, or perhaps a tone that is neither too high nor too low.

I once visited a Steiner kindergarten.
The hand games, singing games, and what would be considered rhythm games in a regular kindergarten (moving the body to music) that I saw and heard there were mellow and very comfortable.

It made me feel calm.
The atmosphere is similar to Japanese nursery rhyme games.


Ah! Steiner education is wonderful! I want to raise my children in this mellow world! There was a time when I was obsessed with it, and I used to despise the bouncy, clattering sounds coming from the TV, including anime theme songs.
Super sentai shows were out of the question (laughs). And look at me now (laughs).

I was once invited to try being a Eurhythmics instructor, but in Steiner education, children aren't allowed to take lessons until they are seven, and I worried too much that playing hand games to mechanical sounds from a stereo, or being exposed to loud piano music and moving or stopping to the rhythm, might be robbing children of their freedom or be unnatural for them, so I hesitated.

Now my way of thinking has changed again, and when I see children's smiles, I think, as long as they're having fun, that's fine! This is because I feel their natural, individual selves in the way they express their liveliness.

I'm not confident in my piano skills enough to be a Eurhythmics instructor, but if I had the chance, I'd like to try being a nursery rhyme and parent-child activity instructor.

Once again, the standard for choice here isn't about what is 'correct'.
It's about incorporating the parts you like, rather than swallowing information whole.
I've realized over the last few years that this is what's important to me.


Returning to the topic of picture books, nowadays, when I read a picture book, I quickly look at the text to memorize it, and read while looking at the pictures as much as possible.

I look at the pictures and speak as if I were the little bear.
So that the child can see the pictures thoroughly, I don't rush through even if there is little text; I read while looking at the pictures myself, putting my feelings into the spaces between the lines, and feeling the atmosphere inside the picture book.

When I do that, the little bear in the book and I overlap, and I feel like 'energy' is being passed to the little bear.
When that happens, strangely enough, the child falls asleep smoothly.

Trying to read well, or using intonation, or not using it, are just superficial expressions.

By expressing myself as one with the world of the picture book, snuggling up to it, and overlapping with it, it seems that not only I but also my child is being healed.

Snuggling up to something creates healing.

However, in daily life, thoughts like (Oh, I wish they would just go to sleep already. My time...) or (Did they bring three books today? And they're all long ones, too) run through my head, but as I continue reading, my heart calms down and I become immersed in the world of the picture book.

Being able to return to a childlike state by snuggling up to a child's world is a joy given to those who raise children. I confirmed to myself that it's definitely not just a hassle.