A semiotic perspective on reading picture books: The case of Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse

• Reading is a meaning-making process supported by semiotic transactions.
• Accurate word recognition does not indicate how readers understand themes and critical concepts of the story.
• Readers engage in and integrate semiotic signs that are available to them.
• The use of multiple theoretical frameworks leads to new ways to talk about reading in diverse ways.

This article integrates semiotic and socio-psycholinguistic theories to problematize the definition of reading as the conscious or unconscious recall of words as a prerequisite for comprehension. Through an examination of the repeated miscue of the verb wind and the adjective wind-up in Lionni's picture book Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse, this article will address (1) how some readers, although they may read with accuracy, can lack a satisfactory understanding of what they have read, and (2) how some readers who do not read accurately are nevertheless able to demonstrate story comprehension. The article next compares two readers to contend that reading involves semiotic work as readers select from the semiotic resources available to them in the process of constructing meaning. In addition, this article will explore the implications of this study for educators.