What do you notice when you look at the front and back end papers?.What do you notice when you look at the title page?.What do you notice when you look at the cover?.Using directional words is an effective speaking tool that can be developed during primary source analysis and visual literacy experiences. Remind students to use directional words as they are pointing out details from a video call or from their socially-distanced desks. The fine detail and cinema-style scenes will be well-suited for a full screen view. If in a virtual or hybrid learning environment, use a document camera to project the illustrations of this book. All of these visual literacy experiences will enhance this text to create a full and complete reading experience for students. Make note of expressions on faces, use of color, and how the illustrations make the reader feel.

Through this visual literacy exploration using just these four parts of the book (cover, title page, and two sets of end papers), students can infer what the story may be about. Make connections to the cover, title page, and end papers. Next, study the endpapers and discuss the questions students have about the different styles of art. Compare the two and how they are similar and different. For this primary source pairing, invite students to study the cover, of the book first and then the title page. Minh Lê’s sparse text paired with Dan Santat’s dual-narrative illustrations create a visual experience that is meant to be savored slowly. From the cover, to the endpapers, and to each detail on each page, there is so much to see and experience through the illustrations. This book is a visual literacy wonderland. Written by Minh Lê, Illustrated by Dan SantatĪ boy and his grandfather cross a language and cultural barrier using their shared love of art, storytelling, and fantasy.

Drawn Together by Minh Lê