Sensory literacies, the body, and digital media

This chapter suggests that what is needed in current understandings of literacy practices is systematic attention to the role of the full sensorium evoked in the process of meaning making. Of particular interest is the hitherto neglected realm of the nonvisual senses and their role in children's literacy learning. The chapter demonstrates how the sensorial engagement of the body is intertwined in meaning making with different material presentations of digital and print copies of a picture book and in handwriting and process drama lessons. The e-book version of the Heart and the Bottle and process drama activities that draw on Beware of the Bears invite the reader to participate with the body in sense-making through haptic affordances that open up a rich set of possibilities for vicarious sensory engagement with the feelings and perspectives of the characters