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Meal One by Cutler and Oxenbury Analysis
Meal One is a picture book written by Ivor Cutler, Illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, first published 1971.
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Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney Analysis
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney (1982) is a beautiful picture book with a gentle message encouraging children to create beauty in the world. Cooney’s art is a mixture of full-bleed landscapes and spot illustration.
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Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore (1993) Analysis
Six Dinner Sid is a 1993 picture book written and illustrated by Inga Moore.
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The Cat In The Hat by Dr Seuss: Archetypal Carnivalesque
The Cat in the Hat is a 1957 children’s book written and illustrated by the American author Theodor Geisel, using the pen name Dr. Seuss. I keep mentioning this book as an archetypal example of the carnivalesque story subgenre in children’s literature but I’ve never actually broken that down, until now! THE REVOLUTIONARY POWER OF […]
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Chinoiseries and Picture Books Analysis
Illustrators of fairy tales frequently choose styles that evoke the periods of history not particularly related to the tales but that they perceive to share the values they find in the tales. Perry Nodelman, Words About Pictures Children’s picture books draw from a great number of traditions. One of those is ‘chinoiseries’, a European mimicry […]
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Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban Analysis
Bread and Jam for Frances is a picture book written by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban, first published in 1964 as a part of a series about a girl in the body of a badger, who lives in a middle class house and has access to all the spoils you’d expect of 1960s middle […]
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Zoo by Anthony Browne (1992) Analysis
Zoo is a postmodern picture book written and illustrated by Anthony Browne, first published in 1992.
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Rufus and the Blackberry Monster by Lisa Stubbs Analysis
1999 in picture books was the year of monsters in the forest. Jez Alborough was finishing up his bear series about a massive toy bear, actually harmless. Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler released their phenomenal hit The Gruffalo. Rufus and the Blackberry Monster by Lisa Stubbs is part of the same family. Comparisons between this […]
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There’s A Crocodile Under My Bed! by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert Analysis
There’s A Crocodile Under My Bed! is a picture book written and illustrated by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert. First published in 1980, that makes this classic forty years old. There are a large number of picture books about creatures lurking under beds, and many similar titles out there. The most widely known is Mercer Meyer’s […]
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Monster Pet! by McAllister and Middleton Analysis
Monster Pet! is a 2005 picture book written by Angela McAllister and illustrated by Charlotte Middleton. The story is designed to get young readers thinking about the responsibility of caring for a sentient creature. A body swap plot is used to that end, though I suspect more empathy derives from the facial expressions on the poor little locked up mouse…
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Impressionism In Picture Books Analysis
Impressionism is an aesthetic movement. Art preceding this movement tended to religious and historical in nature and realistic. The golden age of Impressionism in art lasted 1876-1886. WHAT DEFINES AN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING? Unlike the realist art which came before, an Impressionist painting seems as if the viewer only caught the scene with a glance. Vibrancy […]
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The Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter Analysis
The Tale of Tom Kitten was created soon after Beatrix Potter had moved into her farm in the Lake District, which she’d bought with the proceeds earned from The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The illustrations are recognisably of Hill Top and of the farmstead’s surrounding village. The cats of the illustrations were real cats who […]
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The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse by Beatrix Potter Analysis
Which mouse are you? Fight, flight, freeze or appease? Beatrix Potter’s Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910) is inclined to appease, as perhaps you must, if you are small and vulnerable. Except every mouse I have ever met is a bolshy, ‘sit on this and swivel’ type. In winter they hang out behind the dishwasher and will hurtle […]
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The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter Analysis
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers by Beatrix Potter was originally called The Roly-Poly Pudding and written as a Christmas present to a child. Potter’s image of the cat rolled up in dough is one of those resonant illustrations which, once seen, can never be unseen. Perhaps this image scarred you, too, as a child.
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The Tale of Johnny Town-mouse by Beatrix Potter Analysis
Leading up to 1918, Beatrix Potter’s publishers were asking her for a new story. This was wartime. Austerity all around. Frederick Warne and Co. were affected alongside everyone else and required something new from their bestselling children’s author. But Beatrix had moved to the country and the country was keeping her very busy. Rather than […]