Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Summer 2010 The Power of the Picturebook: Examining Aesthetics and Critical Literacy for Imagination Margaret Parker Helmly Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Helmly, Margaret Parker, "The Power of the Picturebook: Examining Aesthetics and Critical Literacy for Imagination" (2010). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 537. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/537 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE POWER OF THE PICTUREBOOK: EXAMINING AESTHETICS AND CRITICAL LITERACY FOR IMAGINATION by MARGARET PARKER HELMLY (Under the Direction of John A. Weaver) ABSTRACT This study was to explore the notion of the power of the picturebook. My intent was to read picturebooks aloud with my reading community not for information or to entertain but to connect the picturebook with the experiences of both the reader and the listener and then to come away from the reading someone new. Ten Gifted and Talented, (GT) fifth grade students, five girls and five boys, participated in the study. This group was predominantly white, middle class. After our read aloud session, the reading community then proceeded to examine both the text and the illustrations aesthetically and critically in order to understand the past, question the present, and imagine possibilities of the future.