From: Pat Austin <paustin>
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 21:26:26 -0500

I tend to just enjoy reading the conversations rather than joining in. I'm perhaps as guilty as my students in the Children's Lit classes, not furthering the dialogue here. I just wanted to share that one of the very first books I read in my college classes is Anthony Browne's Piggy Book. It resonates with so many of the students with its feminist message, and invariably the students are surprised to think that it was written by a man. They always want to know the date of publication. A few comment that, "These views aren't true today." And they're resoundingly reproached by many many females who are living the woman's role in The Piggy Book. The more we talk about the book, the more students become aware of the kinds of decisions an illustrator makes to convey his point. They note the drab coloring and small framed pictures that show the featureless woman in contrast to the vibrantly colorful, larger and often unbordered pictures of the males of the family. They conjecture on the symbolism of the elements of the pictures that are outside the frame or border of the illustration -- and on the symbolism of the wolf's shadow outside the window after the mother has left. It often takes a while to note subtler illustrator's techniques. When they see the conversion of every thing to pigs heads and pigs snouts and wonder exactly when that transformation started, they note the pig's shadow as one of the first. Whether for 2nd or 3rd graders on up through grad school The Piggy Book is a thought-provoking book that elicits much talk.

Pat Austin

Ginny Moore Kruse wrote:
Received on Thu 22 Jun 2000 09:26:26 PM CDT