'NARRATIVES OF BELONGING': VISUAL LITERACY THROUGH THE WORDLESS PICTUREBOOK 'CLOWN'

Wordless picturebooks give an opportunity to the nonreader children to create the story on their own and bring in their own understanding of the world to the text.Preschoolers' visual literacy which can be defined as the abilities to understand (read) and use (write) images, as well as to think and learn in terms of images, can be influenced by their exposure to wordless picturebooks.A reading of Quentin Blake's 'Clown' that presents a clown toy searching for a place to fit in is ventured.Following the hero's quest issues of belonging are implied and the moral 'one person's trash is another person's treasure' is woven.Questions are raised referring to the conditions and terms of matching, adjustments and modifications to be included.The study explores preschool children's transaction with the visual codes of 'Clown', their making sense of the notion of belonging conveyed by this wordless picturebook, and their ability of storytelling by reproducing this wordless picturebook' s narrative structure.A sample of six children, each six years old, participate in this case study, where in their reading of the wordless picturebook they interpret the visual cues in terms of the message conveyed concerning the notion of belonging, and build their own wordless narratives by following the three-act structure technique.In the qualitative content analysis of children's produced narrative speech, data from their leporello wordless narratives are coded to interpret the speech patterns of the three-act structure of the character set up, the confrontation/twist, and the resolution.Results indicate the six year old children's ability to interpret the visual code in order to comprehend the message conveyed by a wordless picturebook, and to use the visual code in combination with a narrative strategy in order to produce their own wordless narratives conveying their own experiences.The study contributes to both the fields of literature and early childhood education since it promotes the discussion on the integration of the former to the latter while attempting to develop nonreaders' visual literacy and narrative skill by exploiting wordless picturebooks' possibilities.