ABSTRACT
The term chapter book in the context of this text refers to books that rely primarily on the print to communicate their messages. The amount of print may be limited or extensive, but there are few, if any, illustrations, and whatever illustrations exist are more decorative than essential. Thus, chapter books are typically read aloud with no need to share the illustrations with the audience. These books are usually much smaller in format than the typical picture book and are frequently divided into sections or chaptersthus the name chapter book. The Midwife’s Apprentice (Cushman, 1995) is an example of a chapter book that has no illustration internal to the text, whereas Charlotte’s Web (White, 1952) is an example of one that does. These two examples are fictional in content, but chapter books can be nonfiction as well, as is the case with Hard Time: A Real Life Look at Juvenile Crime and Violence (Bode & Mack, 1996). There are a few books with limited text which is not divided into sections, yet where the print is the primary means by which the messages in the books are communicated (e.g., Coatsworth’s [1930] The Cat Who Went To Heaven, Mathis’ [1975] The Hundred Penny Box, or Kennedy’s [1979] Inside My Feet). I include these books and ones like them as chapter books as well.
