Image via WikipediaI just read an article in the Seattle Times that made me desperately sad for the Picture Book. I love picture books. I have always loved picture books. I even collect some of the more beautiful ones. Among my favourites are The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast by William Plomer and Alan Aldridge (along with the subsequent books, The Peacock Party and The Lion's Cavalcade) and the most exquisitely illustrated copy of Cinderella. The illustrations in this last book, by Moira Kemp are wonderful, whimsical fancies of a stoic young woman who endures all kinds of adversity to finally reap her rich reward. Most of us know the story in one form or another, but this book doesn't pull any punches. Toes are chopped to fit into shoes, eyes are gouged by delicate turtle doves and Cinders gets her man. The story on its own is gruesome and true to the time of writing, but it's the illustrations that lift it to the realm of high art.
More recently, I've been following the extraordinary work of Shaun Tan who can certainly spin a tale with no words at all. This is a huge admission from someone who loves words. And I do love words. I love them so much that I have postgraduate qualifications in Linguistics. So, I think, that to admit that a book can hold its own, can be at least as valuable and wonderful with no words (!!) is truly meaningful and constitutes high praise from me.
I'm not sure why parents shy away from picture books for their children. Perhaps there's a notion that somehow picture books "dumb down" a child. I would beg to differ. In my mind, before words, there are pictures. Before we read and make sense of the world (and even after) we interact with our world through visual images. For those of us who are visual-spatial learners, this is even more the case.
Image via WikipediaSo, it seems to me that picture books are our first foray into using our imaginations and being creative. "But the illustrations are there for us!" I hear you cry. "How can we be creative and imaginative if the picturing is already done for us?". Oh that's easy. Just because we see a picture, doesn't mean that we accept what we see as the entirety of the story. If we did, how could we engage with art? How could we be inspired by La Gioconda or Klimt's The Kiss? Is it only me or do we all imagine what Leonardo da Vinci was saying to Lisa Gherardini to make her smile in such an enigmatic way? Am I the only one that wonders what led the two lovers to be sheathed in gold in Klimt's painting? And how is it that he is so clearly adoring of her and still only kissing her on the cheek, yet she looks so blissfully loved and content? Who are they? Are they lovers or have they come to some deep understanding of each other through years of marriage? What's their story? It's intriguing that nobody really knows, and at this point, I start inventing what I think should be their story.For me, it's the same for picture books. In the absence of words, I create my own; my own story to go with the pictures so artfully created by others.
...and for the latest update, one of my favourite bloggers on books is also lamenting the decline of the picture book. I'm with you, Book Chook!
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The Shaun Tan books are incredible. I'd never connected with a picture book before, but it was effortless with his works.
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Asha, thanks for linking, and thanks for this thoughtful post. I love words too, but I also love images and those two loves sit comfortably inside me. I think your point about artwork, even photography I guess, is so important. An artist makes us think, makes us feel something, react in some way. It may be an upwelling of emotion on an almost spiritual level. This starts for many of us with picture books. But the idea that it must stop when a child reaches a certain age is well, cruel and just plain wrong!
ReplyDeleteSusan, Thank you for your eloquence. I agree with you - why should we cease to engage visually with books at a given age? And who's to say that we're "too grown up" for picture books at any age? Which, I think, is why I find it all the more frustrating when I read of parents assuming that children engaging with the written word is somehow a measure of greater intelligence than engaging with an image.
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