In my master's thesis, I describe researching and producing an educational picturebook without text. Through an aesthetic educational narrative, I present the main features of the bat and its way of life. The picturebook aims to create a counterpoint to the erroneous negative myths about bats and to offer scientifically accurate and entertaining content for children aged five to nine years. The series of 13 full-page illustrations serves the dual purpose – informing and entertaining – and educates the general public, especially children, about bats. I argue for the inclusion of narrative and imaginative elements in order to achieve the entertainment aspect of the picturebook on the basis of expert analyses of contemporary educational literature for children. In doing so, I draw on the professional literature dealing with the contemporary trend of breaking down the boundaries between factual and imaginative literature for children for teaching purposes.
I am structuring the narrative of my picturebook around a text by Clare D. Pierson, The Little Bat Who Wouldn't Go to Bed. In the process of designing the visual narrative, I am shortening and reworking the story and giving it a different title: The Night has Ears, The Day has Eyes. The picturebook is designed without words and is based on the goal of strengthening children's visual literacy. For additional pedagogical work, I am also designing a one-page guide for adults to read along with the picturebook so that they can continue the conversation and learning with the child after the first independent reading of the picturebook.
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