The Grammar of Picture Books
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Transcript The Grammar 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
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 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
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