Readers' responses to silent picture book

The master's thesis points out the important role of picture books and a positive attitude in the development of a child. At the same time it emphasises the key role of adults when children meet books for the first time and their significance in the development of the motivation for the young reader. The master's thesis presents picture books as a special form of literary work, which is not only a set of pictures and words, but in itself hides the interaction of both mentioned elements and forms a brand new entirety. At the beginning of the master's thesis are presented the reading periods and the perception development of the child. Thoroughly presented are also the degree levels of picture books that help in the selection of books for the young reader or indicate the individual's level of the child's development, which determine what picture books should be offered to the child. Then there are listed the types of picture books according to the creative processes and presented their advantages and disadvantages. In the composition of picture books are also important proportions between word and picture parts. They allow the formation of textless picture books, which require the active participation of the readers and allow them the role of the co-authors. Presented are the options of the interactions between words and pictures, which give rise to meaningful artistic whole for high quality picture books. The master's thesis also presents functional capabilities offered to readers by picture books. Important are different criteria, which divide picture books into those of a high-quality and those that are not. Related to them, visual elements of quality illustrations, which build high quality literary works, are presented, which enable the reader to understand the message in a multileveled way. Important literary prizes are presented, which are given to reward the best quality picture books that are published in the Slovene environment. The research part of the master's thesis includes an award-winning quality textless picture book Zgodba o sidru (The Story of the Anchor) by the illustrator Damijan Stepancic, together with the narrative responses of various old readers to it. It answers questions about how differently old »readers« respond to an illustrated story and what are the differences in narratives. At the forefront are the reflections, evaluations and perceptions of the readers, and they are also offered the possibilities of individual creativity. In this context, the importance of the individual and the possibilities of different interpretations are emphasized.