The Pleasures of Picture Books: "Voices in the Park" Review

I can't believe it's been a whole week since my last picture book review where we practice first seduction, then deconstruction to both enjoy and learn from fantastic children's picture books.

This week, we have one of my all time favorite picture books, which I think is quite brilliant because of the ways that the author/illustrator, Anthony Browne, is able to subtly weave meaty themes into a seemingly simple story with an unusual narrative structure. 

Anthony Browne has published over 40 books and much has been written about him, so I'll include some links here for those who are interested to follow up on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Browne_%28author%29
This one below is particularly useful for teachers and aspiring picture book writers - be sure to press the  more buttons.
http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/previous-laureates/anthony-browne/

Meanwhile, it's time to settle down, get comfy, grab a cuppa and engage with.... Mondays with Mira for First Seduction and then Deconstruction in the Pleasures of Picture Books or Pleasurable Picture Book Reviews (still not entirely sure what to call this section yet... Any suggestions?).




So my video is still getting cropped in weird ways, which I have to remember to try and allow for in future editing. If you'd like to see the YouTube version without the weird cropping click here http://youtu.be/8-Uzpz49u2o

Thank you for hanging in with me as I learn all this gnarly new tech. I hope you enjoyed this and found it super helpful. And do please share (and comment if you are up for it  : )

And the Winner is!!!!!

There were so many fantastic entries, it was really hard to choose!!! I often found myself laughing out loud - But choose I did. Thank you so much for participating. As a consolation prize for those who participated, please email me and I will send you a high resolution of the image without the text for you to print out and keep (it's quite lovely) AND a $20!!!! discount for the amazing Hero's Art Journey e-course starting March 5th (see button on left for more info), which is insanely helpful for both writers, and illustrators, artists and non-artists (and it's even got a 100% money-back guarantee)!  Email miraguyATgmail.com (and even if you didn't participate - feel free to email me).

So, here is the winning entry and the reasons why I chose it.

mouse stood on bird
who stood on elephant
who stood on alligator
who stood on turtle
who stood on snake
and still they
could not see...CATERPILLAR.

All they saw were beautifully-painted wings.
All they heard was a soft flutter.
All Mouse felt was joy.
"High enough!" Mouse called down. "The view...is amazing."
Butterfly winked. "It sure is."




Miranda Paul of Rate Your Story channeled me when she wrote this entry and sometimes it takes someone else to show you what you intuitively or unconsciously knew all along. See below for the original painting WITH a butterfly. The other things I like are how concrete the answer is (abstract ideas can be challenging for young children), and the many illustration opportunities it offers as the animals go in search of caterpillar. Most of you did both of these with beautiful language useage and if I hadn't originally painted this with the butterfly... .

Speaking of language, this entry also offers great language learning opportunities for children with imagistic language related to places e.g., under the flowers, around the bushes, above the rocks, and on top of lion's head as they keep searching, overcoming the "No, not there" obstacle, until they reach the climax of finding butterfly! Yay!!

Finally, if this manuscript and dummy when completed gets published, Miranda will receive a credit in the book and a free copy as well as her choice of a free 1hr picture book Skype consultation or free admission into the Hero's Art Journey course.

Here's the original painting before I reworked it and congratulations to everyone else who submitted. I'd love to see you in the Hero's Art Journey course or one of my upcoming children's book writing or illustrating courses coming later this year : )