About Me
Laughter lifts the spirit; intelligence stretches the mind.
Debbie Nurse
Children’s literature is not just a passion, it’s my calling. I love the outdoors and nature, remain curious about life and the world, and write picturebooks when I am not working. I am a current member of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, Primary English Teacher Association Australia, and the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Key Literacy Tool
A picturebook is more than text with colourful pictures. It requires both the text and the visuals to be read together resulting in a marriage between the two components. Pair a simple sentence with a complex illustration and a richer more meaningful story unfolds. High quality picturebooks are important literacy tools for teaching reading and fostering a love of reading. How wonderful!
Visual Literacy
Teaching visual literacy skills is equally important as teaching reading. Not only are children navigating the sophisticated images in high quality picturebooks, they are also navigating a highly visual world. Visual literacy is a necessary 21st century skill.
Accessibility
Wordless picturebooks are even more accessible as early learners can read and interpret the visual images. The stress or pressure to read words is eliminated and opportunity for dialogue happens more organically. Children increase language skills and vocabulary in a more meaningful way.
International teaching provided a culturally enriching experience and increased my awareness of diversity in learning. Over the years, I developed a passion for teaching reading to non native English speakers and one literacy tool I cannot live without is the picturebook.
Libraries are Accessible
Picturebooks: I love looking at them, reading them, and more importantly, sharing them with children. Anyone can visit a library and read a book, hold a book, or just look at a book. Newcomers are welcome and the librarians are most helpful. Visit the children’s section the next time you are in a library I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Background
I have a Master’s degree in Education, Children’s Literature and Literacies, from the University of Glasgow. Alongside regular studies, I joined the Graduate Skills Programme (GSP), which is the College of Social Sciences employability award. Prior to the MEd, I was an early year’s educator in the United Arab Emirates for eleven years. Vernon, British Columbia, Canada is now home and I am currently the Executive Director for the Literacy Society of the North Okanagan.