It happens in my reading training sessions all the time.  Someone asks if LitART’s picture books are used with the older kids.  The answer is, of course, yes.  There are many good reasons to use picture books with older students but the best reason may be that it can boost their reading skills.  

First, many picture books have surprisingly high reading levels. Take, for example, Chato's Kitchen.  It includes descriptive vocabulary, uses English and Spanish, and, to get the humor, the reader must infer quite a bit.   It is clever and sophisticated storytelling made accessible through rich illustrations.

Second, struggling readers turned off by big blocks of text in novels, may be more willing to explore a picture book.  In today's world of video games and graphics, a picture book can serve as a bridge between purely visual story telling and text-based story telling.  

Finally, picture books can usually be finished in one session- often in fewer than 10 minutes. This allows for an immediate analysis of text elements, themes, characters and vocabulary.   Also, after a few picture books, students can compare books, the styles of different authors or illustrators, and the structures of stories.   This is much harder to do with novels.  As a result, higher-level thinking skills do not need to be deferred for months until a few novels are finished.

 So go ahead, grab a few picture books and get started.