Making the Connection: Transmediation and Children's Literature in Library Settings

Abstract

Librarians in school and academic libraries provide students of all ages with opportunities to engage in meaningful learning in response to children's literature. This article advocates for librarians to have an understanding of semiotics, multiple sign systems and their relationship to intertextuality and meaning making through transmediation, and to use that knowledge in planning learning activities in library settings. Library learning activities with children's literature are often narrowly focused on just one sign system—language. Many times sign systems other than language are used only for presentations at the end of discussions about stories. Librarians can capitalize on the many ways of knowing and reach more than just a fraction of a learner's capacity by allowing them to flexibly use more than one sign system when responding to children's literature. A number of researchers have suggested ways that other sign systems (e.g. art, music, dance, technology, etc.) through transmediation can provide deeper understanding during a literary experience. Strategies for incorporating transmediation in children's literature learning are explored and encouraged for use in library settings. When learners are engaged in transmediation activities involving multiple texts, they are empowered to think critically and negotiate meanings about the world in which they live. They achieve the ability to be reflective and creative in their experience of literature and life.