14. How responses to picturebooks reflect and support the emotional development of young bilingual children

This chapter is based on events recorded through the videos, audio-tapes and diary kept by Evelyn Arizpe to record her daughters’ bilingual language development and their relationship to books. While there have been case studies on the linguistic progress of young bilingual children and case studies of monolingual children’s developing literacy and relationship with literature through books, illustrations and stories, there have been no detailed observations of similar development in a bilingual household. The case study highlights how the children’s responses to the complex interweaving of two languages through a trail of books and stories within a highly literate household supported and reflected their emotional development in the first 3 years of life.