-
The Ratcatcher by Roald Dahl Short Story Analysis
Run with rats you become a rat.
-
The First King of England
Now we have a new King of England, I’m wondering, who was the first? The first King “of England” was Athelstan.
-
Autumn Harvest by Alvin Tresselt and Roger Duvoisin 1951
Autumn brings the first frost, migrating geese, burning leaves, and a fine harvest. marketing copy Roger Duvoisin’s palette is unique to him. So how does someone with an established, easily recognisable palette use colours to depict autumn for a picture book called Autumn Harvest, written by Alvin Tresselt in 1951? First of all, worth reminding […]
-
Vintage Cars In Story And Illustration
Illustrations of cars across the twentieth century, in advertising, posters and children’s books.
-
Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski Analysis
Meg and Mog is a super long-running series of picture books written by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski. As is often the case with popular picture book series, there is also a TV series. There’s a massive gap between the first book and the first TV show, which was broadcast in 2003, when the original […]
-
Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and Barbara Cooney (1979)
Ox-Cart Man is an American picture book written by Donald Hall and illustrated by Barbara Cooney in 1979. The following year, in 1980, it won the Caldecott medal.
-
Why write in present tense?
Present tense is hardly new: Virgil’s The Aeneid (29-19 BC) Édouard Dujardin in Les lauriers sont coupés (1887) The Bleak House by Charles Dickens (1852-3) Jane Eyre contains chunks of present tense Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) Nathalie Sarraute (A French practitioner of the nouveau roman, a type of French novel that appeared in the […]
-
The Wreck of the Zephyr by Chris Van Allsburg
The Wreck of the Zephyr is a postmodern, surreal 1983 picture book by American writer and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. You’ve probably heard of Jumanji and The Polar Express, which have been adapted for film. The Garden of Abdul Gasazi was his first. The Stranger features a season personified. The Widow’s Broom is a creepy-ass […]
-
Favourite Words of Moira Rose
Moira Rose is the dramatic matriarch of the Rose family and a soap opera star, who takes an interest in civics after moving to Schitt’s Creek.
-
We All Half-Know Things
If you’ve ever written something — especially fiction — then offered it up for critique, you’ll be familiar with this feeling: “Ah yes, I could see that problem for myself, deep down. But I didn’t really know it until you pointed it out.”
-
August: Osage County Film Study
August: Osage County is a tragicomic stage play written by Tracy Letts, who also wrote the screenplay. He won a Pulitzer for this one.
-
Colours Of The American West
The header illustration was created with Midjourney AI, using the prompt: /imagine [ENTER] colors of the american west, illustration, comic art, retro –ar 3:2 –q 2 This was another imagine, produced with the same prompt: What if I change the prompt to this: /imagine [ENTER] colors of the american west, classic painting Here are some […]
-
Doubt 2008 Film Study
One of my favourite films of all time. The perfect story. I look at how ‘symbolism’ and ‘foreshadowing’ exist on a continuum and sometimes overlap.
-
The Japanese Concept of Yugen
Yugen is a uniquely Japanese term. It defies easy translation into English but denotes something like ‘profound mystery and depth’. It is related to the Japanese love of Shadow, nuance, and empty space.
-
Low Horizons, Big Skies
I am the horizonyou ride towards, the thing you can never lasso Margaret Atwood I love it when the night sky makes me feel insignificant. Colleen Hoover | It Ends With Us Header illustration made with Midjourney using the prompt: alien arrival, big sky, low horizon, silhouette of city along skyline, interesting cloudscape