Reading Response: Picture Books
Wolf in the Snow
This is a wordless picture book that clearly reflects the mood of the story. A little girl, on her way home from school, finds a wolf pup in the snow and works to find the pup’s pack. Then, because she traveled so far from her original path, she gets lost. The wolves, after knowing the girl reunited them with the pup, protects her until her family comes and finds her. The pictures show the caring moments between the girl and the wolf pup, and also the uplifting mood when the girl is finally rescued in the snowy forest by her family. Since this is a wordless book, the illustrations clearly help to move the plot along. The illustrations are reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood in that the girl is often alone on a page with a bright red coat with a hood walking through the snow. The girl’s coat is contrasting with the white snow that shows how far she is walking to find the wolf pup’s home.
The illustrations have very little form to them. While the main character and the wolves are noticeable as their respective characters, the setting, specifically the trees in the forest, are very curved and convey a more natural essence. The colors, save the color of the girls’ coat, are very muted since the conflict of the character is at the forefront. The images seem to be more outlined in pencil sketches instead of having pronounced lines that show a distortion in illustrations. The color hue moves from light to dark depicting the amount of time the girl has been outside–first leaving from school and happening upon the wolf pup then getting lost in the woods at night.
Cordell, M. (2017). Wolf in the Snow. Feiwel and Friends.
Double Bass Blues
While this book has good intentions, it stereotypes a group of minorities with cultural markers such as skin tones, hairstyles, and homes. The illustrations show a young boy living in the city. He takes public transportation to and from school, is almost attacked by a large, aggressive dog, and once home, climbs multiple flights of stairs to get into his apartment. Black culture, reminiscent of the Harlem Renaissance, seems to be depicted in this picture book. It seems very stereotypical, and some may be offended. The idea that this boy gets picked on because he plays a large string instrument may also be offensive to some. While he has a group of musical students at school and eventually finds a group of adults who support his musical talent, the idea of bullying throughout may seem off-putting. The pictures absolutely reflect the conflict in the story and the small amount of words–some musical onomatopoeia and some dialogue–help the reader to understand what is taking place.
The lines in the illustrations are very curved with no straight lines; while some of the curved lines show movement, there is no distinct separation between the characters or background within each picture. The colors are vibrant and seem to portray a strength within the characters and setting, a very exciting and enlightened sense that helps to project to the reader the liveliness of music. All illustrations on each page are layered, with some outlined, others colored in, and others with a geometric shape to show contrast between characters. It seems as though the illustrator is trying to show unity within each illustrative frame in a more abstract way. The illustrations look to be done in an oil-based paint that merges some of the images together. Since there are very minimal words within the pages, the illustrations do help the reader to understand and follow the plot of the main character.
Loney, A. (2019). The Double Bass Blues. Alfred A. Knopf.
Keep Your Head Up
This is a book for all children dealing with big emotions and themes of school, friends, and everyday life experiences for young children. The words, which are many, are more important in this book than the illustrations and at times follow a rhyme scheme. The entire book includes illustrations that show negative emotions in the young boy, who is the main character, but the words near the end are more positive, yet the images don’t change. By simply looking at the pictures, the reader will not be able to interpret the plot or message of the text. Further, the character's emotions and conflict, so clearly understood by the words, are not easily understood by the illustrations.
The illustrations are in very abstract form with distorted lines and very curved structure. It is clear that the images are created with paint that is dabbed instead of neatly contoured to a character or part of the setting. Interestingly enough, though, the texture seems to be three dimensional which makes the reader want to touch the dabs/drips of paint on each page. Because of the context of the story, the hue of color is a little darker, and there is a random cloud in the picture to show the sadness of what the main character is trying to overcome, his feelings of being left out, frustrated, and completely lacking support for people in his life. While the illustrations are easily understood, there is a blend of colors and items within each picture that makes each illustration undefined yet understood.
Well written with valuable connections between summary, opinions/evaluations and the evidence to support them. When dealing with a story I think might be stereotypical, I tend to do a bit of background research if it's not about characters from my culture. If the author is writing about their own culture/race/homeland, it's less likely to be a stereotype than a story about a specific time or place (that may be the origin of today's stereotype). Don't be afraid to dig into the authors website for more info.
ReplyDelete