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The Language of Picture Books

The Language of Picture Books. English 305 Dr. Roggenkamp. What is a picture book?. Different from an “illustrated text” or novel with pictures Book in which illustrations and text are equally balanced, equally important Words depend on the pictures to tell part of the story, and vice versa

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The Language of Picture Books

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  1. The Language of Picture Books English 305 Dr. Roggenkamp

  2. What is a picture book? • Different from an “illustrated text” or novel with pictures • Book in which illustrations and text are equally balanced, equally important • Words depend on the pictures to tell part of the story, and vice versa • Neither element can “stand alone” • Together, they complete the story—create a “third story” between them

  3. Pictures not a “universal language” • Different cultures “read” or interpret pictures differently • Children learn to “read” pictures based on the culture in which they live • Perry Nodelman, Words About Pictures • Maria Nikolajeva & Carole Scott, How Picturebooks Work

  4. Reading pictures a learned process • Pictures won’t mean anything to a child until child is old enough to develop an understanding of its own environment • Children seem to teach themselves picture reading skills at very early age • Contemporary culture FILLED with visual images—children learn visual literacy long before they learn verbal literacy

  5. Do adults “lose” ability to read pictures? • We tend to read just the words • Children (especially pre-literate children) both hear the words and “read” the illustrations at the same time—get a much fuller sense of the picture book

  6. Picture Book Milestones • 1658, Orbis Sensualium Pictus (Johannes Amos Comenius) argued by some to be first picture book • 1744, Little Pretty Pocket Book (John Newbery) • Other didactic books like Struwwelpeter (1845)

  7. Victorian Illustrated Texts • Genre really takes off late 19th century—publishing/printing changes make extensive illustration more feasible • Kate Greenaway, Randolph Caldecott, et al. • Illustration becomes associated with books for children • Childhood as joyous & pleasurable; illustrations as joyous & pleasurable Image: Illustration by Kate Greenaway

  8. Format and First Impressions • Book’s physical format directs our response to that book before we even open it • Cover, shape, size, “feel” in our hands, kind of paper used, etc.

  9. Format and First Impressions

  10. Elements in the Book—Space • Way type is laid out, spaced on page • Borders—white border or not, shifting borders (e.g. Where the Wild Things Are)

  11. Elements in the Book—Color • Different hues associated with different moods/feelings • Green=peacefulness, blue=serenity or sadness, red=anger, yellow=happiness, etc. • Shades—degrees of brightness or darkness. Light usually=happier mood; dark usually=more intense mood • Saturation—relative intensity of colors. More saturated colors seem more vibrant, less seem more gentle

  12. Color . . .

  13. Elements in the Book—Shape and Line • Rounded shapes associated with softness • Straight, angular lines associated with rigidity, tension, energy • Can strongly affect mood of story

  14. Elements in the Book—Shape and Line

  15. Elements in the Book—Artistic Medium and Style • Collage, oils, pastel watercolors, black and white line drawing, woodcuts, etc. • Realistic, abstract, surreal, impressionistic, etc. • Style=“the effect of all the aspects of a work considered together, the way an illustration or a text seems distinct or even unique” (Nodelman 283). • Example—style of Beatrix Potter: gentle, unsaturated watercolors, tiny size, small animals in human situations

  16. Style affects story—Hyman’s Red Riding Hood vs. Marshall’s Red Riding Hood

  17. Elements in the Book—Visual Objects • Symbols—use of cross, flag, tree, etc. • Cultural codes—e.g. dark=evil and light=good; slumped head=sadness and uplifted head=happiness; wolf=predator and bunny=gentle, happiness • “Picture books both depend on and teach such conventional assumptions” (Nodelman 288).

  18. Cultural Codes

  19. Other elements—light and shadow

  20. Other elements—size of figures • Figures in relation to each other • Size of characters in relation to background

  21. Other elements—focus (close up shot vs. long shot)

  22. Other elements—way movement is suggested

  23. Literary Elements of Picture Book • Plot—tension, action, conflict; closed ending vs. open • Characterization—full, round characters vs. flat characters; dynamic vs. static • Setting • Point of view—through whose eyes is story told? Is narrator a character, or outside the action?

  24. Literary Elements of Picture Book • Theme—even simplest picture book can offer more complex theme or significant meaning • Importance of friendship & family, role of imagination, life coming out of death, etc. • Tone—serious and somber, light and joyful, etc. • What mood provoked in reader?

  25. Text—Context—Subtext • Text • The words themselves • But also the conventions that readers observe—symbolism, characterizations, genre, narrative style, open vs. closed ending, etc.

  26. Text—Context—Subtext • Context • Historical context in which work was created • How is the text “in community” with the era in which it was written/illustrated?

  27. Text—Context—Subtext • Subtext • Ways textual elements and context work together to create meanings that are not always obvious • What is the book’s possible ideology? • Example: The Story of Babar

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