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dren’s attention to the written language in the peritext concerned their
exploration of the meaning of individual words. Children forwarded a number
of interpretations of the word «moss» in Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock:
«something that’s green», «it looks like grass», and «something that’s soft».
(6) Intratextual connections.
As the peritextual discussion proceeded, children related various parts of
the peritext to each other. This discussion of the interrelationships,
which we term «intratextual connections», is central to the project of
conceiving the book as an aesthetic whole. In order to forge these connections,
children navigated backward and forward through the peritext to
note these relationships. For example, one child amusingly noted the
Caldecott Medal on the front cover and the blind-stamped cow on the
board cover of David Macaualay’s Black and White, and made an amusing
pun: «Look, teacher, it got the Cow-decott Medal! Get it?»
(7) Intertextual connections.
In addition to making connections within the peritextual elements of
the book being read, children also made connections to other texts,
including storybooks, videos, movies, television shows, and songs. In discussing
David’s pointed teeth in No, David! (Shannon 1998), several children
connected his scary grin to Michael Jackson’s werewolf transformation
in the music video «Thriller». As well, children stitched two stories
together by peritextual elements. For example, when they saw the front
cover of the Richard Egielski version of The Gingerbread Boy, which takes
place in New York City (notice the Empire State Building in the background),
they automatically connected to a more traditional version by
Paul Galdone they already knew. One boy’s comment is that the two gingerbread
boys probably are brothers.
(8) Personal connections.
During the peritextual discussion, children were also able to draw the
story to themselves and their own lives in various ways. These personal
connections ranged from expressions of delight that a character resembled
a classmate to expressions of personal preference and appreciation.
The title or illustrations often prompted the children to tell personal stories
relating these elements to their lives. In the discussion of a book
called Uptown (Collier 2000), children excitedly shared their experiences
of going «uptown»: they went to «buy stuff» and saw «big buildings» on
these outings with their caregivers.
(9) «Performances.»
In other articles, Sipe (2000, 2002; Sipe & Daley 2005) has defined a type
of response in which children use the text as a playground or a stage for
their own flights of interpretive fancy. Rather than dismissing these
responses as off-task, Sipe theorizes that they represent children’s assertion
of a specific kind of interpretive authority as they «take over» the
text (Sipe 2002) to use it as a site for «carnivalesque» (Bakhtin 1984) subversion.
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (Scieszka 1992)
was a particularly rich source for children’s performative responses. The
front endflap contains the words, «Only $16.99! 56 action-packed pages.
75% more than those old 32-page “Brand-X” books. 10 complete stories! 25
lavish paintings! New! Improved! Funny! Good! Buy! Now!» Following the
teacher’s reading, the children reacted to this frenetic parody of marketing
hype with their own subversive responses:
Gordon: Why, just say «why», just say «why», just say it.
Teacher: What? Okay, why?
Gordon: How come? Because. Where? When? Who?
[dissolves into giggles]
Teacher: [Laughing and rereading] New! Improved! Funny! Good!
Buy! Now!
Terry: I don’t wanna go «bye» now! I don’t wanna go bye-bye now!
Gordon: Me neither.
Several children: Bye-bye! [waving]
This exchange exemplifies the children’s appropriation of the text for
their own playful purposes. Parody is parodied here: Gordon urges the
teacher to say the word «why», which Gordon then uses as an opening for
his own rapid-fire sequence of staccato words and phrases that parallel
and satirize the language of the text. Terry’s pun («bye» for «buy») evokes
more carnivalesque behavior on the part of the group.
SIGNIFICANCE
This study demonstrates the very rich interpretive potentials afforded by
picturebook peritexts. Giving children this interpretive space supports
their development of an appreciation of picturebooks as sophisticated
aesthetic objects in which every detail is the result of an intentional
design choice. Many teachers may talk with children about the significance
of the title and the front cover illustration; however, fewer teachers
may be inclined to explore the other elements of the peritext, such as the
endpapers, title and dedication pages, and the publishing information.
These elements are equally deserving of teachers’ and students’ close
attention.
In this study, the teachers chose to begin their storybook readalouds in
an uncommon way, by focusing on the peritextual affordances of the
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