From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 12:12:05 -0600

I so appreciate reading that young children enjoy the book My Friend Rabbit, and I value thoughtful reflections about the artwork.

Unless I missed a message, it seems that no one else has written yet about something puzzling to me, i.e., the right-to-left direction of two double page spreads. There's one with succession of images showing Rabbit carrying several creatures, and another for which readers/viewers must turn the book sideways. I don't have the book in front of me, so I can't quote the text on either spread.

I don't know how to teach anyone to read in English. As an outsider to that miracle so many of you know how to accomplish, somewhere along the way I picked up the notion that a person's experience with book pages flowing from left to right is significant for anyone becoming familiar with how the English language appears in print. These particular two spreads lead one's eyes the opposite way. Apparently that wasn't a problem for the Caldecott Committee, or for anyone who has written to the CCBC-Net community so far about My Friend Rabbit.

I typically affirm new uses of page space, etc., but even so I continue to feel puzzled about this aspect of My Friend Rabbit.

Peace, Ginny


Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 07 Feb 2003 12:12:05 PM CST