FOCUSING AND FOREGROUNDING IN PICTUREBOOKS: DIRECTING READERS’ ATTENTION AND FOSTERING VISUAL AND LITERARY COMPETENCE

<doi>10.24250/jpe/SI/2026/OS/</doi>

Abstract

Children can start engaging with picturebooks from a very
young age, and it is reasonable to assume that this early
reading practices influence their emergent visual, linguistic
and literary competences. This paper explores how this
occurs in relation to attention, a key cognitive ability that
plays a significant role in information processing and
aesthetic experience as well. The first part of the study
establishes a link between attentional development and
picturebook reception among the youngest. It argues that
the primary objective of the first picturebooks is to engage
readers’ attention skills and make them receptive for
culturally relevant information. My point is that the
creation of cognitive emphases in picturebooks is a
coordinated process emerging from the interplay between
discursive and narrative strategies, and the cognitive
abilities and preferences of the reader who is supported by
adults. Thus, shared reading must also be included in the
investigation. Building on these insights, I will then analyse
the specific procedures for directing attention in other
types of picturebooks in relation to their storytelling. As
children develop, their reading behaviours evolve and
picturebooks follow the changes – also in terms of attention
direction and foregrounding mechanism. Examples studied
here demonstrate that picturebooks for children generally
direct the attention quite explicitly. However, some books
attempt to challenge expectations and routines by using
more unconventional techniques and allowing more scope
for reader interaction. Therefore, these books can even
help young readers experience foregrounding, which
distinguishes literary or aesthetic reading/viewing from
non-literary meaning-making.