ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a form of 'multimodal' discourse analysis that can be used to examine how picturebooks make meaning in both visual and verbal modes. It considers the way visual and verbal meaning can be analyzed in comparable ways and then outlines a framework for considering the 'synergy' between the two. Printed picturebook stories have always been a significant resource both for the socialization of young children and for introducing them to the principles and pleasures of literacy and literature. Where the visual mode is concerned, a social semiotic approach differs from the application of fine arts theory, as has been done for Caldecott winners by Peggy Albers or for Anthony Browne's picturebooks by Jane Doonan. Picturebook narratives are bi-modal texts which ideally function to entertain their readers, inculcate in them social values, and introduce them to literary ways of taking meaning. Multimodal discourse analysis thus requires a careful consideration both of commitment and of coupling.
