This study explores the educational value of children's picture books as a multimodal narrative form, points out their long-standing neglect in academic circles, and uses *The Barnabus Project* as a case study to analyze how this biopunk science fiction picture book guides children to contemplate the ethical issues of genetic engineering technology through the integration of text, image, and sound, revealing the unique role of picture books in science and technology ethics education.

The Multimodality and Educational Function of Picture Books

This section discusses the unique attributes of picture books as multimodal texts and their educational functions. First, it defines the basic characteristics of picture books: image-dominated with text as supplementary, requiring adult accompaniment for reading, children acquiring information through vision while accompanying readers supplement visual information with language, forming multidimensional knowledge construction. Second, it reviews the theoretical trajectory of multimodal research, from Kripke's "modal structure" to contemporary scholars' diverse definitions, emphasizing the interactive integration rather than simple superposition among modalities. On this basis, three generic characteristics of picture books are extracted: first, the interactive narrative of text and image, where the two complement each other to achieve "meaning accumulation," and present primary-secondary narrative transformation due to readers' varying abilities; second, multisensory coordination, where the integration of vision and hearing enhances neural responses, forming a "polyphonic" dialogic whole in the Bakhtinian sense; third, unique narrative rhythm control, breaking linear structure through spatial layout of text and image to create novelty and defamiliarization. Finally, it points out that these multimodal characteristics endow picture books with the educational function of "edutainment": the high verisimilitude of the text-image world brings strong immersion, multisensory stimulation inspires observation and imagination, and effective conveyance of emotional and moral information promotes the formation of children's empathy and value judgment.

The Techno-Ethical Critique of Biopunk Science Fiction

This section discusses the unique role of science fiction in techno-ethical critique, particularly the developmental trajectory and core issues of biopunk science fiction as a contemporary continuation of "biological science fiction." Biopunk fiction originated in the 1990s, taking works such as *Frankenstein* and *The Island of Doctor Moreau* as tonal foundations, focusing on the impact of genetic engineering and other biotechnologies on society, often employing noir fiction elements, with amateur DNA experimenters, techno-radicals, and dangerous figures as protagonists. Entering the 21st century, this genre has undergone new changes in theme and form, concentrating on three major issues: the relationship between humans and the biotechnologically altered real world, in-depth exploration of microscopic worlds to understand human life characteristics, and biopolitical and bioethical issues arising from biotechnology. Biopunk fiction pays particular attention to the science fiction motif of human/animal cloning, while the 2020 picture book *The Barnabus Project* innovatively uses genetically modified animals as protagonists to explore new ethical issues raised by biotechnology, conducting techno-ethical education for children.

Biotechnology Ethics Education in the Biopunk Science Fiction Picture Book *The Barnabus Project*

This section explores how the biopunk science fiction picture book *The Barnabus Project* conducts biotechnology ethics education for children. Although techno-ethics can be traced back to ancient Greece, systematic reflection emerged in the second half of the 19th century, and since the 20th century, with the rapid development of atomic technology, information technology, and biotechnology, it has become a research hotspot. However, traditional techno-ethical discussions mostly focus on the impact of technology on humans, rarely attending to non-human species, with related ethical explorations often appearing in science fiction, especially the relatively common "cloning narrative," but mostly with negative depictions. In contrast, *The Barnabus Project* offers a unique educational perspective.

This picture book, created by the Fan Brothers, won multiple awards after its publication in 2020. The protagonist Barnabus is a genetically modified failed pet, half-mouse and half-elephant, imprisoned in an underground laboratory as a defective product of "companion animal" experiments. He later successfully escapes with similarly rejected defective friends including the cockroach Pip, ultimately choosing to coexist with humans as "city animals." This narrative is interpreted as a genetically modified animal version of the "Exodus," with Barnabus as a "cyborg apostle" embodying a modern variant of the "in-between" figure in children's literature.

This picture book conducts three aspects of biotechnology ethics education for children: first, ethics education on the "human-animal" relationship. Traditional humanism regards humans as the only beings with intrinsic value, while this picture book deconstructs anthropocentrism through the marginal figure of Barnabus, allowing laboratory animals to regain agency beyond their "pet identity," prompting readers to reconsider the essential boundaries of "nature," "pure animal," and "human," and recognizing that humans are not the only agents in rights relationships. Second, education on the ethical identity of monsters, deformities, and mutated creatures resulting from failed biological experiments. Monsters, as representations of epochal anxiety and embodiments of cultural meaning, bring classification difficulties through their hybridity, forcing humans to reflect on the effects of control systems and dehumanizing systems; mutation narratives challenge the dichotomy of nature and culture, biology and technology through the dynamic oscillation between defamiliarization and familiarization. Third, discussion of the ethical identity of artificial life and ethical choices in biotechnology. Latour points out that modernism attempted to "purify" nature and culture into different domains, while artificial life forms break this division, triggering deep ethical reflections on creator responsibility, the desire and taboo of life transgression, continuing the techno-ethical writing tradition that began with *Frankenstein*.