This article was downloaded by: [The University of British Columbia]

On: 26 March 2015, At: 20:17

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number:
1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street,
London W1T 3JH, UK

Reading Research and

Instruction
Publication details, including instructions for
authors and subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ulri19

Picture book selection

behaviors of emergent
readers: Influence of
genre, familiarity, and book
attributes
a

Clyde C. Robinson , Jean M. Larsen , Julia H.

a

Haupt & Jeannette Mohlman

a

Brigham Young University

Salt Lake Community College

Published 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 and
Instruction, 36:4, 287-304, DOI: 10.1080/19388079709558245
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19388079709558245

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all
the information (the Content) contained in the publications on our
platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors
make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy,
completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions
and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of
the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis.
The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be
independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and

Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings,
demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever
or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in
relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study
purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution,
reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form
to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use
can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Reading Research and Instruction

Summer 1997, 36 (4) 287-304

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Picture book selection behaviors of

emergent readers: Influence of genre,
familiarity, and book attributes
Clyde C. Robinson, Jean M. Larsen, Julia H. Haupt
Brigham Young University
Jeannette Mohlman
Salt Lake Community College

ABSTRACT
Empirical studies with school-aged children have led to assumptions that
emergent readers do not have specific reading preferences or demonstrate
patterns in their book selections. This study was designed to determine
whether emergent readers demonstrate reading preferences based upon
genre, familiarity and four other book attributes. Over a seven-week period,
53 preschoolers and 49 kindergartners from two socioeconomic levels
were given the opportunity each school day to select a picture book to
take home from a set of 40 books with equal representation in five genres.
Children's familiarity with the 40 picture books was assessed through a
parent survey at the beginning of the study and teachers recorded the
titles that were chosen by each child each day during the study. Children's
book choices were analyzed by genre, familiarity and four book attributes.
Findings demonstrated that emergent readers appear to demonstrate genre
preferences (both ages preferred modern and traditional fantasy over realistic fiction, informational and alphabet-number books). Additionally, the
study found that children select familiar books more often and that especially 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 previously-held assumptions that emergent readers select books randomly or
choose them based on convenience of their display. Implications for the
role of genre preferences, familiarity and book attributes are discussed.
Being literate is considered basic to a child's educational progress and
achievement in school (Krashen, 1985). Reading success is also considered fundamental to an individual's ability to function successfully in society (Dorotik &
Betzold, 1992). Since literacy plays such a vital role, much research has focused
on how children become literate. A number of factors have been identified. For
example, specific behaviors exhibited by early readers which are thought to be
associated with the acquisition of reading and writing skills include: reading

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

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 the
library (Teale, 1978), asking for "favorite" picture books to be read to them by
family members (Morrow, 1985; Sulzby, 1985) and reading interest (Guthrie,
1981). Additionally, studies of early readers reveal that though they have a wide
range of IQ's (Briggs & Elkind, 1978), they frequently come from educationallyadvantaged homes (Teale, 1981). These early readers are reared in environments
where 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 writing
activities when they show interest (Roskos, 1988).
A central element in this array of emergent reading characteristics is the
development of reading interest. Many of the provisions made by adults for early
readers (i.e., exposure to reading materials, interactive reading experiences and
responsiveness to children's interest in reading and writing tasks) stimulate and
nurture this interest and assist emergent readers to make sense of the world of print.
Indeed, many early childhood experts encourage parents and practitioners alike
to encourage the development of the disposition to read along with encouraging
the acquisition of the knowledge and skills necessary for reading (Bredekamp,
1987; Katz & Chard, 1989). A favorable disposition towards literacy can be built
as adults allow children to self select picture booksyet another behavior related
to literacy development (Morrow, 1983; Reutzel & Cooter, 1996).
The majority of studies examining the development of reading interest and
reading preferences have focused on school-age children, rather than emergent
readers. Researchers attempting to uncover the determinants of reading interest
among school-age children have identified three salient factors: (a) interest in content (Hiebert, Mervar, & Person, 1990), (b) difficulty of text (Anderson, Higgins,
& Wurster, 1985), and (c) self-selection of reading materials (Strickland & Morrow, 1989). The lack of empirical studies on the determinants of reading interest
and reading preferences for emergent readers may be partially due to the findings
of studies conducted in the early 1970's (Chiu, 1973; Beta Upsilon Chapter of Pi
Lambda Theta, 1974). These researchers implied that children younger than age
eight show little consistency in reading preferences or discrimination in content.
However, if this assumption proves ill-founded and investigative efforts reveal reading preferences and book selection strategies among emergent readers, this information could ultimately assist parents and practitioners as they foster reading
interest in the children entrusted to their care.
The present study is concerned with the development of reading interest in
young children, particularly with regard to the presence or absence of book selection strategies. The study also questions the assumptions of previous researchers
by investigating whether genre, familiarity and other book attributes will predict a
pattern of book selection and reselection for preschool and kindergarten children.

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Picture book selection 289

Extensive experience with emergent readers and anecdotal observation of selection

behaviors on the part of the authors suggests that preschool- and kindergartenaged children do demonstrate specific picture book preferences and use book
selection strategies. In order to test the hypothesis that emergent readers will use
book selection strategies, this study was designed to address three questions about
basic elements of selection criteria: First, does the genre of a picture book influence emergent readers' picture book selection and reselection behavior? Second,
does book familiarity make it more likely for a picture book to be chosen and
reselected? Finally, do certain book attributes, such as the location of the book in
the display, the difficulty of the text or the quality of the literature affect picture
book selection and reselection?
METHOD
Subjects

The subjects of this study consisted of 102 children from low- and middleclass family backgrounds residing in a moderately-sized community in the Intermountain West. Fifty-three subjects (26 males and 27 females) were preschoolaged (4-5 years old) and 49 subjects (23 males and 26 females) were kindergarten-aged (5-6 years old). Preschool subjects represented children enrolled in
two educational settings: a university laboratory preschool serving mostly middleclass families (24 children) and a Head Start program serving low-income children (29 children). Kindergarten subjects were likewise drawn from two contrasting elementary schools: 30 from a low-income/Chapter I school and 19 from
a middle-class neighborhood school. The majority of the children were Caucasian
and came from two-parent families.
Picture Book Selection

The picture books used in the study were selected based on a three-phase
procedure. First, a preliminary list of high quality picture books was assembled
which included some Caldecott nominees, some titles recommended by children's
literature experts and some books common to major vendors' lists of picture
books that are most frequently purchased by early childhood educators. After
determining the availability of multiple copies of these titles in local libraries,
booklists were finalized and reduced to sets of 40 titles for each classroom. Since
obtaining enough multiple copies of each title was difficult, books assembled for
the preschool classrooms were not identical to those for the kindergarten classrooms.
Next, these books were placed into categories using criteria developed from
a descriptive genre classification guide for children's literature at the University
of Chicago (Sutherland, Hearne, & Sutton, 1991) and a literature index (Peterson & Solt, 1982) which classifies books into genre. The five genres included in
the study were:

290 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No. 4

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Alphabet-number books
Informational books
Realistic fiction
Traditional fantasy (folklore)
Modern fantasy

Preliminary classification of books into the five genres was conducted by a panel
of four early childhood educators and final placement of each picture book into a
genre category was accomplished in collaboration with a second team of children's
literature experts. Tables 1 and 2 list the picture books used in the study and the
genre classification of the titles for the preschool and kindergarten classrooms.
Finally, each book was classified on four attributes: (1) the location of the book
in the display, (2) whether or not the book was a Caldecott nominee, (3) whether
the picture book was on a major vendor's list of books most often purchased by
early childhood educators, and (4) the level of difficulty. This fourth attribute
included 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 Collection

Each 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 the
five genre. Providing this quantitywhich was nearly double the number of
titles that could be selected in any one dayensured a high probability that picture books would be available from each genre regardless of whether a given
child was first or last to make a selection that day. In each classroom, the 40
take-home picture books were displayed in custom-made book holders with
clear plastic pockets. Each book holder was two-sided with 20 pockets on each
side (four rows by five columns). Each pocket and book was labeled with a corresponding number. These identification numbers allowed teachers to quickly
record the title each child selected each day and assisted teachers and children to
return books to the specified pocket. The designation of book position in the display was randomized for each classroom, with the five genre being equally distributed among the rows and columns to control for position effects. The books
remained in the same position for the duration of the study. This precaution was
taken since some investigators have speculated that emergent readers may
merely 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 second
week of October and concluding prior to the Christmas vacation. Each school day
during the study period, each child was given approximately 10-15 minutes to

Picture book selection 291

Table 1

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Classification of Titles of Picture Books

in Preschool Classrooms by Genre
ALPHABET-NUMBER
Eating the alphabet (1989) by L. Ehlert
Anno's alphabet (1974) by M. Anno
On market street (1981) by A. Lobel
Chicka chicka boom boom (1989) by B. Martin & J. Archambault
Ten, nine, eight (1983) by M. Bang
Rooster's off to see the world (1972) by E. Carle
Count and see (1972) by T. Hoban
Have you seen my duckling? (1984) by N. Tafuri
TRADITIONAL FANTASY (FOLKLORE)
The mitten (1989) by J. Brett
Umbrella (1958) by T. Yashima
The Little Red Hen (1985) by L. McQueen
The Ugly Duckling (1986) by H. C. Anderson
Drummer Hoff '(1967) by B. Emberley
The Three Billy Goats Gruff (1984) by E. Appleby
Nibble nibble Mousekin (1962) by J. W. Angland
INFORMATIONAL
A tree is nice (1956) by J. M. Udry
Planting a rainbow (1988) by L. Ehlert
Brown bear, brown bear (1983) by B. Martin
Keep looking (1989) by M. E. Selsam
Patrick's dinosaurs (1983) by C. Carrick
Mouse paint (1989) by E. S. Walsh
Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? (1978) by T. Hoban
The truck book (1978) by H. McNaught
Animals in summer (1988) by M. Mayer
REALISTIC FICTION
Madeline (1967) by L. Bemelmans
Owl moon (1987) by J. Yolen
The snowy day (1962) by E. J. Keats
Happy birthday, Sam (1978) by P. Hutchins
Will I have a friend? (1967) by M. Cohen
Peter's chair (1967) by E. J. Keats
Is anyone home? (1985) by R. Maris
Mop top (1955) by D. Freeman
MODERN FANTASY
A pocket for Corduroy (1978) by D. Freeman
The runaway bunny (1972) by M. W. Brown
Goodnight moon (1947) by M. W. Brown
The little engine that could (1976) by W. Piper
Caps for sale (1968) by E. Slobodkina
Harry the dirty dog (1956) by G. Zion
There's a nightmare in my closet (1968) by M. Mayer
Jamberry (1983) by B. Degen

292 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No. 4

Table 2

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Classification of Titles of Picture Books

in Kindergarten Classrooms by Genre
ALPHABET-NUMBER
Eating the alphabet (1989) by L. Ehlert
Anna's alphabet (1974) by M. Anno
On market street (1981) by A. Lobel
Chicka chicka boom boom (1989) by B. Martin & J. Archambault
Ten, nine, eight (1983) by M. Bang
Rooster's off to see the world (1972) by E. Carle
Count and see (1972) by T. Hoban
One little elephant (1987) by C. West
TRADITIONAL FANTASY (FOLKLORE)
Tiki Tiki Tembo (1968) by A. Mosel
The story of Ping (1961) by M. Flack & K. Wiese
Stone soup (1968) by A. McGovem
Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1987) by J. Brett
Little Red Riding Hood (1982) by M. HMert
Rumpelstiltskin (1990) by A. Sage
Rapunzel (1982) by B. Rogansky
The snow child (1978) by F. Littledale
INFORMATIONAL
Bugs (1987) by N. W. Parker & J. R. Wright
Brown bear, brown bear (1983) by B. Martin
Chickens aren 't the only ones (1981) by R. Heller
Baby animals (1989) by M. W. Brown
Listen to the rain (1988) by B. Martin & J. Archambault
The little lamb (1977) by J. Dunn
Keep looking (1989) by M. E. Selsam
Dinosaurs (1981) by M. L. Clark
REALISTIC FICTION
Whistle for Willie (1964) by E. J. Keats
Best friends (1971) by M. Cohen
Wild wild sunflower child Anna (1987) by N. W. Carlstrom
Blueberries for Sal (1976) by R. McCloskey
Ira sleeps over (1972) by B. Waber
I dance in my red pajamas (1982) by E. T. Hurd
The doorbell rang (1986) by P. Hutchins
/ was so mad (1974) by N. Simon
MODERN FANTASY
Bedtime for Francis (1960) by R. Hoban
Are you my mother? (1960) by P. D. Eastman
Curious George (1941) by H. A. Rey
Noisy Nora (1973) by R. Wells
Rosie's walk (1968) by P. Hutchins
If you give a mouse a cookie (1985) by L. J. Numeroff
Clifford's family (1985) by N. Bridwell
Just go to bed (1983) by M. Mayer

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Picture book selection 293

select a single picture book from the set of 40 to take home in a personalized
canvas bag. Teachers were instructed to allow children to make their own selections and to respect their choice if they did not want to take a book home. The
children returned their books the next school day. After the selection opportunity
each day, the display containing the remaining unselected books was removed
from 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 during
the study period since it would confound the familiarity variable of the study.
Assessment

To assess the impact of picture book familiarity, genre and book attributes on
emergent readers' book selection behaviors, three measures were used: parent surveys, teacher recordings and classroom observations. At the outset of the study, a
survey listing the 40 take-home books in the classroom collection was distributed
to parents of the subjects to determine the familiarity of each child with the study
titles. 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 picture
book. In order to determine whether selection preferences were influenced by genre
and/or book attributes, teachers were given a recording chart which included the
list of children in their class and provided space to write the number of the book
chosen by each child for each day of the study period. In addition, observations
were 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 across
classrooms and to note anecdotal subjective reflections about the subjects' behaviors while participating in the book selection process.
RESULTS

As discussed previously, few empirical studies have addressed emergent

readers' preferences for books and strategies they may use in selecting books.
Therefore, it was deemed important to conduct several preliminary analyses of
variance 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 interactions for either gender or socioeconomic background on the book selection
strategies of the subjects. Therefore, these factors were not included in subsequent analyses.
Frequency of Title Selection/Reselection

Preliminary 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 of
23.7 total titles per subject. Of those, a mean of 4.45 titles per subject were reselected at least once. A significant difference in the frequency of reselection

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

294 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No. 4

[((100) = 2.31, p <.05] revealed that kindergartners (x = 5.1) reselected titles

more often than preschoolers (x = 3.8).
Findings of the subjective qualitative data obtained through classroom observations of book selection/reselection behaviors indicated that emergent readers
involved in the study appeared to be enthusiastic throughout the study period
about choosing and taking books home on a daily basis. In addition, teachers
reported that having a collection of high quality picture books from which children could select and take home books on a regular basis was beneficial for the
children. Also, many parents commented to teachers and to the investigators that
their children enjoyed having quality picture books to bring home and that it
stimulated increased book sharing experiences. This enthusiasm may be responsible for the care taken of the take-home books by children as reflected in the
statistic that only six books (out of the 160 circulated) were lost or damaged in
any way.
Impact of Genre on Book Selection/Reselection

To determine whether genre had an impact on emergent reader's book selection/reselection behaviors, two 2 (age of subjects) x 5 (genre of title) ANOVAs
were computed on both the mean proportion of the total times each title was
selected by study subjects and the mean proportion of times that each title was
reselected at least once by the same subject. Table 3 presents mean proportions,
standard deviations and the results of post-hoc comparisons for the five genres.
For the two dependent variables (total selected, total reseleted at least once), the
ANOVAs yielded no significant main effects for age of subjects (preschool,
kindergarten), nor were significant Age x Genre interactions found. ANOVAs
did reveal, however, a main genre effect for the total times that titles were
selected, F(4, 4022) = 9.58, p < .000, and for the times titles were reselected at
least once, F(4,4022) = 3.75, p = .005. As depicted in Table 3, post-hoc comparisons of the total times titles were selected indicated that emergent readers
selected titles in the two fantasy genresmodern fantasy and traditional fantasya significant greater proportion of the time than titles in the other three
genres (i.e., realistic fiction, informational and alphabet-number). As also shown
in Table 3, post-hoc comparisons regarding the reselection of books indicate the
same pattern. Modern fantasy and traditional fantasy titles were reselected more
often than the other three genres. These findings imply that emergent readers do
demonstrate apparent genre preferences favoring fantasy genres.
Although preliminary data analysis revealed no significant gender differences
for factors influencing picture book selection/reselection between genre, rankings
of individual titles by the total number of times the book was selected did result in
several significant gender differences. For example, as shown in Table 4, preschool
girls only selected/reselected three titles (A pocket for Corduroy, Chicka chicka
boom boom, and Will I have a friend?) more frequently than boys. Preschool boys
likewise only selected/reselected three titles {Nibble, nibble mousekin, Patrick's
dinosaurs, and The truck book) significantly more often than girls. In contrast to

Picture book selection 295

Table 3
Mean Proportions of Total Titles Selected and Times Reselected
for Preschool and Kindergarten Subjects by Genrea

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Genre
Dependent
Variables

AlphabetNumber

Information

Realistic
Fiction

Traditional
Fantasy

Modern
Fantasy

16.4%

18.3%

17.8%

21.9%

24.8%

.32

.28

.32

.33

(A A A)

(BB)

16.1%

18.9%

15.8%

21.7%

.77

.61

.83

(A A A)

(AB)

.78
(B)

Total Titles Selected

X
SD

.28

Times Reselected

X
SD

.61

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 shows

that 10 individual titles were significantly more popular with kindergarten girls than
boys while no individual titles were significantly more popular with boys than
with girls. Unlike an even distribution of title preferences for preschool children,
kindergarten girls expressed a definite liking and/or boys a definite disliking for
25% of the titles available.
Subjective classroom observations also informally confirmed the hypothesis
that emergent readers demonstrate book preferences and selection strategies
and that these abilities improve with experience and over time. At first, it was
common to see many children make their selection immediately, while others
walked around the book display looking at the picture books while making little
physical contact with the books. As the study progressed, a considerable number
of subjects were observed to take more care in the selection process (e.g., children were observed looking at the front and back of books, perusing the illustrations and examining several books before making a final selection).
Influence of Familiarity on Book Selection/Reselection

To investigate the impact of familiarity on emergent readers' book selection/

reselection behaviors, a series of t tests were conducted using the mean proportion
of titles selected at least once and the mean proportion of titles reselected at least
once for preschoolers and kindergartners separately (since the booklists varied
between these two groups). Two of the familiarity categories on the parent survey

296 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No. 4

Table 4
Ranking of Picture Books Selected in
Preschool Classrooms by Gender^

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

Title

Caps for Sale

Harry the Dirty Dog
There's a Nightmare in My Closet
A Pocket for Corduroy
Nibble Nibble Mousekin
The Little Red Hen
Animals in Summer
Keep Looking
Jamberry
Eating the Alphabet
The Mitten
The Little Engine That Could
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Ugly Duckling
Planting a Rainbow
Brown Bear Brown Bear
Rooster's Off to See the World
Patrick's Dinosaurs
Madeline
The Snowy Day
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Will I Have a Friend?
Mouse Paint
Umbrella
A Tree is Nice
Have You Seen My Duckling?
Is Anyone Home?
Owl Moon
Goodnight Moon
The Truck Book
Drummer Hoff
Mop Top
The Runaway Bunny
Is it Red? Is it Yellow? Is it Blue?
Anno's Alphabet
Ten Nine Eight
Peter's Chair
On Market Street
Happy Birthday Sam
Count and See

Genre

Boys

Girls

Total

Mod. Fantasy
Mod. Fantasy
Mod. Fantasy
Mod. Fantasy
Trad. Fantasy
Trad. Fantasy
Informational
Informational
Mod. Fantasy
Alphabet-No.
Trad. Fantasy
Mod. Fantasy
Alphabet-No.
Trad. Fantasy
Informational
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Informational
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Trad. Fantasy
Realistic Fie.
Informational
Trad. Fantasy
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Mod. Fantasy
Informational
Trad. Fantasy
Realistic Fie.
Mod. Fantasy
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Alphabet-No.
Realistic Fie.
Alphabet-No.
Realistic Fie.
Alphabet-No.

19
19
24
13*
30*
16
21
22
16
19
21
18
10*
13
18
17
17
24*
12
14
16
7*
14
13
16
15
10
14
10
20*
12
11
13
9
12
9
11
6
9
3

28
22
17
27*
10*
23
17
15
21
16
13
16
24*
20
15
15
14

47
41
41
40
40
39
38
37
37
35
34
34
34
33
33
32
31
30
30
30
29
28
27
27
27
26
26
25
25
23
22
22
21
21
21
20
19
16
14
3

6*
18
16
13
21*
13
14
11
11
16
11
15
3*
10
11
8
12
9
11
8
10
5
0

"Significant differences between genders were determined by z score tests between proportions.

<.05
<.001

<.01

<.001

<.01

<.001

Picture book selection 297

Table 5
Ranking of Picture Books Selected in
Kindergarten Classrooms by Gender^

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40

Title

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Are You My Mother?
Eating the Alphabet
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Curious George
Ira Sleeps Over
Best Friends
I Dance in My Red Pajamas
Whistle for Willie
Rosie's Walk
Dinosaurs
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Rooster's Off to See the World
Snow Child
Rumpelstiltskin
I Was So Mad
The Lamb
Little Red Riding Hood
Listen to the Rain
Noisy Nora
Brown Bear Brown Bear
On Market Street
Stone Soup
The Story of Ping
Snowy Day
Rapunzel
Ten, Nine, Eight
Tiki Tiki Tembo
Anno's Alphabet
Keep Looking
One Little Elephant
Bedtime for Francis
Clifford's Family
Wild Wild Sunflower Child Anna
Blueberries for Sal
Bugs
Count and See
Baby Animals
Just Go to Bed

Genre

Boys

Girls

Total

Trad. Fantasy
Mod. Fantasy
Alphabet-No.
Informational
Mod. Fantasy
Mod.Fantasy
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Alphabet-No.
Trad. Fantasy
Trad. Fantasy
Realistic Fie.
Informational
Trad. Fantasy
Alphabet-No.
Mod. Fantasy
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Trad. Fantasy
Trad. Fantasy
Realistic Fie.
Trad. Fantasy
Alphabet-No.
Trad. Fantasy
Alphabet-No.
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Mod. Fantasy
Mod. Fantasy
Realistic Fie.
Realistic Fie.
Informational
Alphabet-No.
Informational
Mod. Fantasy

21
24
19
19
19
24
22
17
13
15
22
20
15
14
6*
15
14
10*
8*
7*
10
14
15
9*
11
19
4*
11
17
15
12
9
6*
9
5*
11
6
8
4
4

25
19
23
22
22
17
14
19
22
20
12
13
18
19
26*
17
18
21*
22*
23*
20
16
15
20*
18
10
23*
15
9
10
13
15
18*
13
15*
4
7
4
7
5

46
43
42
41
41
41
36
36
35
35
34
33
33
33
32
32
32
31
30
30
30
30
30
29
29
29
27
26
26
25
24
24
24
22
20
15
13
12
11
9

Significant differences between genders were determined by z score tests between proportions.

<.001

<.05
<.O5
<.01

<.O5

<.001

<.05
<.05

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

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 title
previous to the study. Overall, parent questionnaires indicated that preschoolers
were familiar with 31% and kindergartners were familiar with 43% of the titles
placed in their classrooms prior to the commencement of the study. For title
selection, preschoolers chose 62% of the familiar titles and 34% of the unfamiliar titles [f(1324) = 9.96, p < .000] and kindergartners chose 57% of the familiar
titles and 36% of the unfamiliar titles, also resulting in a significant difference
0(1246) = 7.12, p < .000]. For title reselection, preschoolers selected 13% of the
familiar 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 once
and only 7% of the unfamiliar titles 0(1246) = 6.18, p < .000].
Since both genre and familiarity had a significant impact upon emergent
readers' picture book selection behaviors, the relationship between familiarity and
genre was examined in a 2 (familiarity) x 5 (genre) ANOVA. Results using titles
selected as the dependent measure reveal that for preschoolers, there is a main
effect 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 familiarity
and genre for preschoolers are plotted in Figure 1. Post-hoc comparisons reveal
that the mean proportions accounting for the significant interaction are mainly
due to alphabet-number and informational genre (which are lesser preferred
genre) being selected more when preschoolers are familiar with them. A 2
(familiarity) x 5 (genre) ANOVA on titles selected for kindergartners did not
result in an interaction between familiarity and genre.
Subjective anecdotal observations confirmed the influence of familiarity on
book selection behaviors of the children. For example, a number of children were
observed to be familiar with the location of specific books and were able to return
frequently selected picture books to their correct pockets unassisted by teachers,
while they were unable to return less frequently selected books. Also, children who
wanted to check out specific titles were able to go directly to those pockets and
get the books without searching. In one classroom, a book considered popular by a
major vendor had been rebound in a plain library cover due to heavy use. The first
few times that the children made picture book selections, they were apparently
not aware of the content of this "plain-covered" book. However, when one child
discovered it to be a familiar and favorite story, it was frequently selected thereafterproviding evidence that content and familiarity were important factors for
these children in making choices.
Other anecdotal observations included a Head Start child who was observed
to go directly to a specific location when it was his turn to select a book. He reselected the same book nine consecutive days and fifteen total times during the
course of the study, taking home other books only when classmates had selected his
favorite book before it was his turn. Finally, it was reported in another instance
that a child who had received one of the titles in the classroom collection for a

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Picture book selection 299

.95.90.85.80.75.70.65.60-

FAMILIAR (x= .62)

UNFAMILIAR (x= .34)

Total Genre a

.50.45.40.35.30.25.20.15.10.05-

AlphabetNumber

Informational

Realistic
Fiction

Modern
Fantasy

Traditional
Fantasy

Picture Book Genre

a

Means not sharing a letter are significantly different (p < .05), Duncan's Test.

Figure 1. Preschool-age children's mean percentages of

picture book genre selected by book familiarity.

birthday gift examined the book display until he found the title he had received
as a gift the day before and eagerly selected it to take home.
Influence of Book Attributes on Selection/Reselection
To determine whether or not four book attributes (i.e., location in the display, presence on vendors' lists of titles most purchased by teachers, Caldecott
nominee and text difficulty) had an impact on emergent readers' book selection
behaviors, a series of chi-square tests were computed using frequencies of total
times titles were selected. As shown in Table 6, the book's physical location (i.e.,

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

300 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol. 36 No. 4

front or back of the display, row location, column location) and whether or not
the books were on a major vendor's list of titles most often purchased by teachers) have no significant relationship to emergent readers' selection behaviors.
The chi-square analysis did reveal, however, that emergent readers selected
Caldecott nominees significantly more often than expected by chance. Also, chisquare analyses show that the words per page attribute only has an impact upon
selection behaviors for books in the alphabet number and informational genre.
For these two genres, results in Table 4 indicate that all children select books less
than expected by chance in the two outlying categorieswordless books and those
with the highest level of difficulty (five lines or more text per page/medium difficulty). Books in the other two categories (one line or less per page/3-5 word
sentences/low difficulty vocabulary and five lines or less per page/5-9 word sentences/low difficulty vocabulary) were selected more than expected by chance in
these two genres.
DISCUSSION

While most researchers suggest that literacy events in the home (i.e., parents
reading to their young children) directly affect emergent literacy in young children, a number of researchers assert that interest in reading is the most reliable
predictor of literacy development. Therefore, ascertaining what kinds of books
emergent readers are interested in and supplying titles that support their interests
should facilitate literacy development. For the most part, assumptions have been
made that emergent readers select picture books at random or choose the most
convenient booksusing few strategies, if anyand that they have negligible
stable reading interests. The present study which investigated book selection/reselection behaviors of emergent readers and the effects of genre, familiarity and
book attributes upon these interests counter these previously-held assumptions.
Genre played an important role in influencing book selection/reselection
behaviors of these preschool and kindergarten children as demonstrated by the significantly higher likelihood of these emergent readers to choose from the modern
and traditional fantasy genre (e.g., Caps for sale and Goldilocks and the Three
Bears). Overall, books from the alphabet-number and informational genres were
selected and reselected less frequently than the fantasy and fiction genres, although
books from these unpopular genres were chosen more often if the concepts were
imbedded into a story format. In fact, titles in these least popular genres which
were not story-imbedded were seldom selected and none were reselected. This
finding perhaps serves more to highlight the importance of a story line to young
children and less to recommending that teachers and parents avoid exposing
young children to alphabet-number books and/or informational books. Additionally, since the study found that text difficulty was a significant factor in only the
alphabet number and informational genres, this finding should serve as a guide to
adults when exposing children to these genres, since children seem more interested
if the text closely matches their developmental level.

Picture book selection 301

Table 6
Results ofChi-square Tests on Picture Book Attributes
for Book Selection Behaviors
All Children

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Picture Book Attributes

Location on Book Display
(Front, Back, Row or Column)
Words per PageAlphabet-Number Genre
No Words
One Line3 to 5 Word Sen.Vocab. Low
5 Lines or LessVocabulary Low Difficulty
5 Lines or MoreVocab Medium Difficulty
Words per PageInformational Genre
No Words
One Line3 to 5 Word Sen.Vocab. Low
5 Lines or LessVocabulary Low Difficulty
5 Lines or MoreVocab Medium Difficulty
Caldecott Nominee
Most Purchased by Teachers

Selected

chi sq

df

67.6

.000

24.3

.000

11.9
ns

.005

ns

Chose Less
Chose More
Chose More
Chose Less
Chose Less
Chose More
Chose More
Chose Less
Chose More

The findings of this study also indicated that familiarity plays a major role
in influencing the selection/reselection behaviors of emergent readers. Since
familiarity played a role in both selection and reselection and influenced children
at both the preschool and kindergarten levels, it is clear that interest in books can
be nurtured by adults who spend time reading books with children and familiarizing them with a variety of titles. Also, the study showed that kindergartners reselected books more often than did preschoolers, suggesting that the role of
familiarity becomes even more important with age. These findings regarding the
importance of familiarity to book preference are not surprising, since it is wellunderstood by those who work with young children that repetition is an important part of learning. Additionally, as young children become older and develop
more interest in the mechanics of reading, a book whose text is known becomes
a significant avenue for the construction of letter/sound relationships and other
conventions related to the written language. While the two factors of storyimbeddedness and familiarity seemed to override other attributes of the books
such as cover and text illustrations, the findings regarding book attributes reveal
some interesting insights. First, the finding that the placement of the book in the
display had no effect suggests that emergent readers do not simply select books out
of convenience as had been previously thought. However, it is important to note

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

302 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol.36 No. 4

that while making book selections, the children were viewing the covers through
the plastic pockets rather than viewing books stacked with only their spines showing. When children can see enough to make a selection choice, it appears that
they 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 not
the book was a Caldecott nominee and whether or not it was frequently ordered
by teachers patronizing major vendors, it appears that Caldecott nominees more
closely reflect children's actual preferences at this age than do books frequently
and traditionally purchased by teachers.
The fourth book attribute addressed the impact of words per page. As noted
above, when it did become a factor, children seemed to prefer books with approximately five lines or less per page (but not wordless) and low rather than medium
difficulty. This finding is consistent with what might be expected given the attention span and language skills common to children this age. Interestingly, emergent readers' interest in books may not be as keen if there are no words. A book
which 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 adult
lacks the interactive reading skills to help the child create the story or talk about
the pictures. Also, given young children's fascination for familiarity, a wordless picture book's story can vary considerably from telling to telling since the text remains
undefined. Wordless picture books may be more useful to children as discussion
starters or creative language experiences in classrooms than as a catalyst for
parent-child reading experiences.
Finally, one of the most important findings of this study was the enthusiastic
response of emergent readers to the simple procedure of selecting and taking
books home each day. The books were treated with respect (as noted by the statistic that so few books were damaged or lost) and although the children were given
a choice, a high percentage of children chose to take a book home each day. This
procedure for encouraging reading interest in emergent readers is not only something that could be fairly easily adopted in any early childhood classroom, but it
also has the potential to increase reading events in the home for both preschoolaged children (Robinson, Larsen & Haupt, 1995) and kindergarten-aged children
(Robinson, Larsen & Haupt, 1996). Also, it appears that when emergent readers
are given the opportunity to browse and examine books in an unhurried atmosphere, more sophisticated book selection strategies emerge as a result of having experience with choosing picture books. Indeed, designing classroom environments
and daily schedules which provide emergent readers an opportunity to make picture
book selections at their own rate seems to increase the children's interest in carefully making a selection. As noted previously, there appeared to be indications of a
developmental pattern of selection behaviors, such as looking for familiar books,
using location to find preferred titles, trying to maximize selection opportunities
by being first, and using a favorite genre, albeit unconsciously, to select books.
Since this increasing sophistication in children's selection strategies and interests was observed rather than measured empirically, further research and analysis

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

Picture book selection 303

is needed to more precisely identify factors related to such trends. Also, future
research might include home observations and interviews with family members to
gain information concerning home book sharing behaviors, parental impressions/
perceptions of why their child might select and/or reselect certain books over others
and other influences in the natural environment that might impact young children's preferences. Likewise, additional research could focus upon issues related
to apparent interest of children at this age in the fantasy genre and the importance
of imbeddedness of informational content in a story line. Also, research could examine the influence of the complexity of story plots and aesthetic properties of
good literature as these issues apply to emergent readers.
CONCLUSION

In summary, the results of the study provide some evidence that preschool
and kindergarten children have and can develop more sophisticated book selection
strategies and that genre preferences do appear to exist for young children. The
study also highlights the practicality and effectiveness of a classroom procedure
which provides children with opportunities to self-select picture books in an
unhurried manner from a sufficiently large collection of high quality books from
genres they enjoy. Since children will seek out familiar titles, parents and educators can also facilitate young children's picture book selections by displaying the
books 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 picture books can not only have a positive impact upon parent/child home reading
episodes in the short term, but also have longer term benefits upon the development of young children's reading interest and future reading skills.

REFERENCES
Anderson, G., Higgins, D., & Wurster, S. R. (1985). Differences in free-reading books
selected by high, average, and low achievers. Reading Teacher, 39, 326-330.
Beta Upsilon Chapter of Pi Lambda Theta. (1974). Children's reading interest classified
by grade. Reading Teacher, 27, 694-700.
Bredekamp, S. (1987). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs
serving children from birth through age 8: Expanded edition.Washington, DC:
NAEYC.
Briggs, C , & Elkind, D. (1973). Cognitive development in early readers. Developmental
Psychology, 9, 279-280.
Chiu, L. H. (1973). Reading preferences of fourth grade children related to sex and reading ability. Journal of Educational Research, 66, 369-373.
Dickenson, D. K., & Tabors, P. O. (1991). Early literacy: Linkages between home, school,
and literacy achievement at age five. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 6,

30-46.

Downloaded by [The University of British Columbia] at 20:17 26 March 2015

304 Reading Research and Instruction Summer 1997 Vol.36 No. 4

Dorotik, M., & Betzold, M. R. (1992). Expanding literacy for all. Reading Teacher, 48,
574 578.
Guthrie, J. (1981). Reading interests. Reading Teacher, 34, 983-985.
Hieben, E. H., Mervar, K. B., & Person, D. (1990). Research directions: Children's selection
of trade books in libraries and classrooms. Language Arts, 67, 758-763.
Katz, L. G., & Chard, S. C. (1989). Engaging children's minds: The project approach.
Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Krashen, S. D. (1985) Inquiries and insights: Second language teaching, immersion and
bilingual education, literacy. Hayward, CA: Alemany Press.
Morrow, L. M. (1983). Home and school correlates of early interest in literature. Journal
of Educational Research, 76, 220-231.
Morrow, L. M. (1985). Promoting voluntary reading in school and home. Bloomington,
IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.
Morrow, L. M. (1988). Young children's response to one-to-one reading settings in
schools. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 89-107.
Peterson, L., & Solt, M. (1982). Newberry and Caldecott medal and honor books: An
annotated bibliography. Boston, MA: Harvard University.
Reutzel, D. R., Oda, L. K., & Moore, B.H. (1989). Developing print awareness: The
effect of three instructional approaches on kindergartners' print awareness, reading
readiness, and word reading. Journal of Reading Behavior, 21, 197-215.
Reutzel, D. R. & Cooter, R. B., Jr. (1996). Teaching children to read: From basais to books
(2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Roskos, K. (1988). Literacy at work in play. Reading Teacher, 41, 562-565.
Robinson, C. C., Larsen, J. M., & Haupt, J. H. (1995). Picture book reading at home: A comparison of Head Start and middle-class preschoolers. Early Education and Development, 6, 241-253.
Robinson, C. C., Larsen, J. M., & Haupt, J. H. (1996). The influences of selecting and taking picture books home on the at-home reading behaviors of kindergarten children.
Reading Research and Instruction, 35, 249-260.
Smith, C. (1991). The role of different literary genres. Reading Teacher, 44, 440.
Strickland, D., & Morrow, L. (1989). Developing skills: An emergent literacy perspective.
Reading Teacher, 43, 82-83.
Sulzby, E. (1985). Children's emergent reading of favorite story books. Reading Research
Quarterly, 20, 458-481.
Sutherland, Z., Heame, B., & Sutton, R. (1991). The best in children's books: The University
of Chicago guide to children's literature. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Teale, W. H. (1978). Positive environments for learning to read: What studies of early
readers tell us. Language Arts, 55, 922-932.
Teale, W. H. (1981). Parent's reading to young children: What we know and what we ought
to know. Language Arts, 58, 902-912.
Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. (1987). Literacy acquisition in early childhood: Reading and
writing in young children. Thirty-seventh year book of the National Reading Conference.