CCBC-Net Archives
Anthony Browne
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Judith O'Malley <jomalley>
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 11:11:52 -0500
That Anthony Browne received the Hans Christian Anderson Award this year seemed particularly appropriate after seeing the exhibit of his work at the Chicago Art Institute last fall, just before the IBBY Regional Meeting in Madison. The integration of text and image, so that every picture not only tells the story, but tells many stories that go even beyond the printed text, was emphasized by the fact that the actual pages of the book were shown with each image. Browne's art is story, not just pretty or interesting pictures, a fact that he refers to in the excellent interview on the site KT provided.
I also appreciate his risk-taking in embedding references to other artists' work in his illustrations without explanation, letting these images become part of children's visual context. There's never a sense of gratuitous cleverness in such allusions; it all works to spur readers' imaginations.
Judy O'Malley Book Links ALA
I was also thrilled to learn that Anthony Browne had won. For those of us who had been at IBBY Regional in Madison, it was even more sweet. He was so personable and generous with his time, and his slide presentation was fascinating.
Like KT, I'm a fan of Changes. This subject came up, and he mentioned that for the American edition, the editors added a line at the end. The British edition (and the Spanish translation from Mexico, which I have), ends with "This is your sister." The American editor added the lines "Joseph smiled. This is what his father had meant." I think this is a great example of how expectations of child readers differ from country to country. The British child is asked to make sense of the pieces of information by him/herself. The line of text that says "That morning, his father had gone to fetch Joseph's mother. Before leaving, he'd said that things were going to change" and Joseph's subsequent surrealistic imaginings all make sense when getting the third piece of info, that there's a new baby. The American child is told how they fit.
One other element of this book that I love are the visual allusions to Van Gogh. The bedroom is just like VG's painting "The Bedroom," and on the wall is a picture of VG's "Starry Night." I'm sure there's more I haven't yet noticed. I could go on and on but I won't! Susan Stan
Kathleen Horning wrote:
-Susan Stan Assistant Professor of English Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 susan.stan at cmich.edu http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Susan_Stan 517w4109; (h) 517w2?87
~~~~~~~~~~ To remove your address from the mailing list, send a message with the header...
To: listserv at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: signoff ccbc-net
Received on Fri 09 Jun 2000 11:11:52 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 11:11:52 -0500
That Anthony Browne received the Hans Christian Anderson Award this year seemed particularly appropriate after seeing the exhibit of his work at the Chicago Art Institute last fall, just before the IBBY Regional Meeting in Madison. The integration of text and image, so that every picture not only tells the story, but tells many stories that go even beyond the printed text, was emphasized by the fact that the actual pages of the book were shown with each image. Browne's art is story, not just pretty or interesting pictures, a fact that he refers to in the excellent interview on the site KT provided.
I also appreciate his risk-taking in embedding references to other artists' work in his illustrations without explanation, letting these images become part of children's visual context. There's never a sense of gratuitous cleverness in such allusions; it all works to spur readers' imaginations.
Judy O'Malley Book Links ALA
I was also thrilled to learn that Anthony Browne had won. For those of us who had been at IBBY Regional in Madison, it was even more sweet. He was so personable and generous with his time, and his slide presentation was fascinating.
Like KT, I'm a fan of Changes. This subject came up, and he mentioned that for the American edition, the editors added a line at the end. The British edition (and the Spanish translation from Mexico, which I have), ends with "This is your sister." The American editor added the lines "Joseph smiled. This is what his father had meant." I think this is a great example of how expectations of child readers differ from country to country. The British child is asked to make sense of the pieces of information by him/herself. The line of text that says "That morning, his father had gone to fetch Joseph's mother. Before leaving, he'd said that things were going to change" and Joseph's subsequent surrealistic imaginings all make sense when getting the third piece of info, that there's a new baby. The American child is told how they fit.
One other element of this book that I love are the visual allusions to Van Gogh. The bedroom is just like VG's painting "The Bedroom," and on the wall is a picture of VG's "Starry Night." I'm sure there's more I haven't yet noticed. I could go on and on but I won't! Susan Stan
Kathleen Horning wrote:
-Susan Stan Assistant Professor of English Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 susan.stan at cmich.edu http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Susan_Stan 517w4109; (h) 517w2?87
~~~~~~~~~~ To remove your address from the mailing list, send a message with the header...
To: listserv at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
Subject: signoff ccbc-net
Received on Fri 09 Jun 2000 11:11:52 AM CDT
