The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

TL11.4FALL2004_singles The Teaching Librarian volume 12, no. 1 15 cinating discussion in the senior Canadian Literature course. The Museum ABC showcases works from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and would be an interesting introduction to an art history unit on painting. Because the books in question are short, they can be incorporated into a variety of lessons with- out taking an impractical amount of time, which is an important consideration when the time con- straints of the semester system and the amount of material to be covered are considered. A third interesting way to use children's books in the secondary school classroom is as a model for the students' own work. Students can use pic- ture books as models for a variety of writing styles and literary forms and techniques. Illustrations can provide models for visual arts students. As with the use of these books as sparks, the fact that these books are usually short is an advantage. Good writing and wonderful art can definitely be found in picture books. And, of course, good writ- ing and wonderful art are what we want our stu- dents to produce. We know students need mod- els and exemplars, and that's where picture books can be a wonderful addition to the high school teacher's usual tool kit. Finally, picture books can be used as the prod- uct of an assignment. Although essays and reports are both very important, students need not be restricted to traditional academic writing. For example, a senior English student might be asked to produce a children's adaptation of a clas- sic novel. An art history assignment might involve creating an alphabet book of artists. The illustrations themselves might be an assignment for an art or photography class. Instead of pro- ducing yet another Bristol board poster for the grade 10 Canadian history "decades" assignment, how about using Janet Wilson's Imagine That! as the model for a picture book assignment? Creating a children's book modeled on G is for Googol or The Math Curse could be a really neat way to explore vocabulary and concepts in math and science. Creating a picture book or an alpha- bet book makes a great assignment because it can be used for almost any topic. Such assignments are deceptively simple. It actually requires thor- ough knowledge of the subject and well-devel- oped communication skills to create a good pic- ture book. In addition to the use of picture books in high school classrooms, the inclusion of these books in high school library collections makes them easily available to teachers who have young children. In a high school, there will be some students who are also parents - and who likely can't afford to buy many books for their children. Like many schools, my high school has an attached day care and the daycare staff members also appreciate having easy access to children's books. During those grade 9 orientation sessions, I greet the quizzical looks with encouragement to sign out picture books to read to younger siblings or bring along on babysitting jobs. Children's picture books are readily available, easily incorporated, quite non-threatening, and fun to use. The possibilities are limited only by the imaginations of teachers and students and the availability of suitable picture books. Not too sur- prisingly, I'm suggesting that adding them to the school library collection is the best way to make picture books available to high school students and teachers. I've begun creating lists of the picture books I've found that I've recommended for various courses and units and am adding those lists to my TeacherWeb site - check it out at teacherweb.com/ON/PhilipPocock/MsBDillon, in the Reading Lists section. ❚ Picture Books Go to High School ALSO CONSIDER Super Conference SAT05 Session 1024 Everybody Loves a Story! Picture Books for the Intermediate Student Peggy Thomas and Lisa Teodosio Education Institute May 17&19 The Beauty of Picture Books Sya Van Geest