NCTE Presents: STORY & PICTURES BY
Film Access: Now streaming through September 30. Register with your MyNCTE account to watch the film.
Live Panel Discussion: September 24 at 7 p.m. ET via Zoom.
NCTE members are invited to a complimentary screening of Story & Pictures By, the first feature documentary to take audiences behind the scenes with the authors and artists who create children’s picture books.
Featuring acclaimed creators Christian Robinson, Yuyi Morales, and Mac Barnett, the film explores the artistry, imagination, and experiences behind today’s picture books and the power these stories have to provide young readers with both windows into others’ experiences and mirrors of their own.
Watch the film on your own schedule, then join NCTE for a special online conversation with director Joanna Rudnick and producer Korelan Matteson, moderated by Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, NCTE Elementary Section Chair.
Together, they’ll explore the film, the creative world of picturebooks, and their connections to literacy, learning, and the classroom.
WATCH THE TRAILER
THEN JOIN US FOR
MODERATOR
Laura Ascenzi-Moreno is a professor of bilingual education at Brooklyn College, CUNY. Her research focuses on emergent bilinguals’ literacy development, teacher knowledge, and equity. She has published in Literacy Research and Instruction, The Reading Teacher, Literacy Research Journal, Language Arts, and other journals. She is co-author with Cecilia Espinosa of Rooted in Strength: Using Translanguaging to Grow Multilingual Readers and Writers (2021). She possesses permanent New York State Certification for PreK, Kindergarten, and Grades 1-6. She is a Facilitating Mentoring trainer through CIMER. She was also a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship focused on literacy community-based, early childhood centers in Bogotá, Colombia.
DIRECTOR
Joanna Rudnick is an Emmy®-nominated director and producer whose work spans science, health, society, and the arts, exploring themes of family, identity, and resilience across major streamers and international festivals. Her debut feature, In the Family, became a widely used resource in medical and ethics education and was broadcast worldwide. Recent directing work includes The Opioid Trilogy, a Webby-nominated animated series on addiction and recovery, and Story & Pictures By, along with the short On Beauty. She produced The Coral Rescuers, now playing at major film festivals. Earlier credits include producing Robert Capa: In Love and War (Emmy® Award), Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, and Crossfire Hurricane.
PRODUCER
Korelan Matteson is a Los Angeles–based producer, writer, and development executive with over two decades of experience shaping documentary film and television series. Her feature work includes Story & Pictures By, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, and Nobody Speak. Her projects have been screened at Sundance, Telluride, SXSW, Tribeca, and Venice. On the series side, she has served as co-executive producer, showrunner, and writer for A&E, National Geographic, Discovery, Science Channel, Showtime, Bravo, and FX. She currently works as a creative consultant, producer, and development executive for Luminant Media. She holds a BA in international relations and French from California State University, Long Beach and Université Aix-Marseille III.
Learning Objectives
- Gain a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of picturebook authors and illustrators.
- Explore connections between picturebooks, literacy, and meaningful classroom engagement.
- Consider the role of picturebooks in young readers’ lives through conversation with the film’s director, producer, and NCTE leaders.
Enjoy the film. Join the conversation.
Registration closes 90 minutes before the panel begins.
Not a member? Join today!