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