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Re: Almost Wordless
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From: Emily Townsend <etownsend_at_wisc.edu>
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 11:06:31 -0500
On 9/19/2014 9:37 AM, Megan Schliesman wrote:
I think that the illustrations in "The Lion and the Bird" create time as well as space "for thinking more deeply about what is happening". And, I think it's this sense of time and space in the book that makes the book filmic for me. For me, this was created by several two-page repeated but slightly altered illustrations -- almost like frames of a film -- throughout the book. These consecutive "frames" and the manipulation of time and space also seem to create movement. I find myself repeatedly referring to the scenes, another filmic word, when writing or talking about the book.
On my first reading, I was struck by the scenes where the bird leaves the lion to join his flock. In the first two-page illustration the lion is on the bottom of one page and the bird is on top of the opposite page. This is easily "read" as the lion at home watching the bird fly away to join her flock. On the next page, the bird is no longer visible and the lion is drawn in the same place but much smaller. For me, this gave not only the impression that the bird is now gone, but also the perspective of the bird looking back on the lion as she leaves. There's such a feeling of loss on the first set of pages as the lion watches the bird leave. The second scene shows the alone-ness of the lion, but it also seems to echo the loss from the bird's perspective. Also, the change in perspective and size gives a feeling of movement and time passing. The bird isn't just suddenly gone; (reading) time is spent on watching her leave and watching the lion be left alone.
In another scene, the illustrator seems to slow the pace of the book while illustrating the passage of time. In three consecutive almost similar, sparse, full two-page Illustrations, the Lion's house and it's surrounding landscape are shown in the snow. In the successive pages, the scene becomes more and more white until, on the last set of pages, the landscape is whited out and the house barely visible. It seems sort of a luxury to use six such similar pages to show the passing of winter, but the result is a slower, more reflective reading for me that mimics the soft, quiet feeling I get in the heart of winter.
Many of the scenes in "The Lion and the Bird" work to build that
"willing suspension of disbelief" for me like film and narrative. These scenes aren't flowing like you might see in Becker's "Journey" and
"Quset" or many David Weisner books. In "The Lion and the Bird", the images are discrete but consecutive, like the frames of a film that when played create scenes of a story. If we want to stretch this concept, then "The Lion and the Bird" can provide another aspect of "visual literacy" -- film making and the constructed nature of film.
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 11:06:31 -0500
On 9/19/2014 9:37 AM, Megan Schliesman wrote:
I think that the illustrations in "The Lion and the Bird" create time as well as space "for thinking more deeply about what is happening". And, I think it's this sense of time and space in the book that makes the book filmic for me. For me, this was created by several two-page repeated but slightly altered illustrations -- almost like frames of a film -- throughout the book. These consecutive "frames" and the manipulation of time and space also seem to create movement. I find myself repeatedly referring to the scenes, another filmic word, when writing or talking about the book.
On my first reading, I was struck by the scenes where the bird leaves the lion to join his flock. In the first two-page illustration the lion is on the bottom of one page and the bird is on top of the opposite page. This is easily "read" as the lion at home watching the bird fly away to join her flock. On the next page, the bird is no longer visible and the lion is drawn in the same place but much smaller. For me, this gave not only the impression that the bird is now gone, but also the perspective of the bird looking back on the lion as she leaves. There's such a feeling of loss on the first set of pages as the lion watches the bird leave. The second scene shows the alone-ness of the lion, but it also seems to echo the loss from the bird's perspective. Also, the change in perspective and size gives a feeling of movement and time passing. The bird isn't just suddenly gone; (reading) time is spent on watching her leave and watching the lion be left alone.
In another scene, the illustrator seems to slow the pace of the book while illustrating the passage of time. In three consecutive almost similar, sparse, full two-page Illustrations, the Lion's house and it's surrounding landscape are shown in the snow. In the successive pages, the scene becomes more and more white until, on the last set of pages, the landscape is whited out and the house barely visible. It seems sort of a luxury to use six such similar pages to show the passing of winter, but the result is a slower, more reflective reading for me that mimics the soft, quiet feeling I get in the heart of winter.
Many of the scenes in "The Lion and the Bird" work to build that
"willing suspension of disbelief" for me like film and narrative. These scenes aren't flowing like you might see in Becker's "Journey" and
"Quset" or many David Weisner books. In "The Lion and the Bird", the images are discrete but consecutive, like the frames of a film that when played create scenes of a story. If we want to stretch this concept, then "The Lion and the Bird" can provide another aspect of "visual literacy" -- film making and the constructed nature of film.
--
Emily Townsend, Librarian
Cooperative Children's Book Center
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Teacher Education Building
221 N. Mills Street
Madison, WI 53706
608-890-0258
etownsend_at_wisc.edu
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Received on Fri 19 Sep 2014 11:06:54 AM CDT
