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   Neither element can “stand alone”   Together, they complete the story— create a “third story” between them

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

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

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

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)

Victorian Illustrated Texts   Genre really takes off late 19 th 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 Image: Illustration by Kate Greenaway

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.

Format and First Impressions

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)

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

Color...

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

Elements in the Book—Shape and Line

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

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

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).

Cultural Codes

Other elements—light and shadow

Other elements—size of figures   Figures in relation to each other   Size of characters in relation to background

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

Other elements—way movement is suggested

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?

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?

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

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?

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