Visual Text Analysis - Children/Adolescent Literature. The visual texts I chose come from the children s books, The Velveteen Rabbit and Wherever

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1 Visual Text Analysis - Children/Adolescent Literature The visual texts I chose come from the children s books, The Velveteen Rabbit and Wherever You Are, my love will find you. I decided on these particular books, because the picture texts play an important role in adding to the overall feel of the story being told. In The Velveteen Rabbit ( which I grew up reading as a small child), the pictures are directly in line with the story being told. However, the style and detail in the pictures add a charming and endearing element to the book. Though described in the text, the rabbit s distinct brown spots come to life alongside the fuzzy glowing Christmas tree lights drawn in pastel colors, giving the story a warm and ole timey feel. Rereading this book gave me a sense of nostalgia that came about mainly because of the pictures. I am glad I found this book, because in my opinion the visual texts are just as crucial to the story as the words themselves. Likewise, in Wherever You Are, my love will find you, the pictures set the tone of the book, giving it an overall whimsical and fantastical feel to it. Unlike The velveteen Rabbit, I have never read Wherever You Are, my love will find you. I chose this book because the visual texts add to the story in a decidedly different way than the one mentioned above. In this book, the pictures are used to magically enhance an otherwise basic story line. The vibrant, colorful pictures include characters, settings, and scenes not mentioned in the text. I thought this was a great book to compare and contrast to the richer plot in The Velveteen Rabbit. Though both have beautiful drawings that enhance the overall feel of the book, the pictures in this second book tell a story that otherwise would not exist. Whereas the author of this book relates the message that his/her love will always be with the reader, the illustrator creates a magical journey involving a small child and animals including elephants, peacocks, and dolphins (none of which are mentioned in the text). Alongside each other, these picture books provide great contrast and comparison to discuss from a critical literacy standpoint.

2 The Velveteen Rabbit was originally published in Though the copy I have was published in the 90s, the first thing I noticed about the artwork is that it has a distinctly old fashioned feel to it. Like the words themselves, the style of the pictures was purposefully chosen to convey a message. This notion is expressed in our readings when Martens states, just as writers organize graphic and sound symbols (i.e. words) in grammatical structures to create meaning, artists organize the EA (elements of art) using the PD (principles of design) to create meaning. There are many noticeable principles of design in the picture I ve chosen. Though the text itself does not specify a period in time, the pictures help convey a more complete setting through the use of design. To me, the use of pastels creates a fuzzy landscape that almost feels like an old movie or a memory. In the particular picture I have selected, there are many design, literary, and artistic elements worth considering from a critical literacy standpoint. The picture I chose relates to the part of the story where the boy is sick in bed, he has family and doctors looking over him, and the little velveteen rabbit next to him hiding under the covers. The first element of the picture to discuss relates to the mood of the scene. In many of the other pictures in the book the use of bright colors are used to express the joy of Christmas, playing, and being outside. In this scene the colors are decidedly bland, and there is little to no light coming though the window. This enhances the overall emotion of the book, highlighting that this is a particularly gloomy part of the story. Furthermore, the character hovering over his bed (who we can assume are his mom, dad, sister and doctor) all wear looks of concern on their faces that help convey the seriousness of the situation. This is especially true of the sister in the background, whose one eyed glare from behind her parents conveys emotions of intrigue, fear, and heartache. The next element of design is the amount of detail in the picture that helps communicate the setting. The boy lays flat, covers up to his chin in bed, with the velveteen rabbit poking is head out from his hiding place. On the bedside there is a bottle of medicine with a used spoon lying beside it. Toys hang from his old fashioned brass frame bed

3 and litter the floor below it. The doctor s stethoscope hangs from his neck as he takes the boys hand, possibly checking his pulse? This picture reminds me of when families used to have doctors that regularly made house calls. And though the text does make mention of strange people coming in and out to check on the boy, the picture is unique in that it enhances the mood and creates interaction among these specific characters in a detailed setting. Perhaps the reader would have never known this particular part of the story without the visual text. This is most assuredly true of the pictures incorporated in my other book. The pictures in Wherever You Are, my love will find you tell an entirely different story. That is not to say that they are at odds with the text, merely that they convey a decidedly more adventurous and magical theme not wholly expressed in the words. The picture I chose depicts a young child soaring through the air out over a bright green field in a swing attached to a tree, gazing out onto a vast blue ocean where dolphins leap out of the water for his amusement. More simply, the actual texts states In the green of the grass in the smell of the sea in the clouds floating by at the top of a tree in the sound crickets make at the end of the day You are loved. You are loved. You are loved, they all say. Nearly every page in the book is similar to this one in that the adventurous young child is drawn in some beautifully fantastical setting interacting with animals as if they were friends. I think that this adds to the overall feel good nature of the book and the positive emotions associated with love. I think that the illustrations are used to spark the meaning, emotion, and imagination behind the words Wherever you are. The beauty of this book is that the texts and the pictures play off of each other to make for an entertaining and meaningful story. Furthermore the picture in question has many principles of design worth discussing. One of the biggest artistic elements in this book is involved in every picture and actually took me a while to recognize. The young child is always drawn looking away or across the page, never revealing to the reader his/her face. Also, the child wears a hat that covers his/her hair and clothes

4 that are in my opinion purposely drawn to be ambiguous in terms of gender. This is something I have been noticing more in pictures books as of lately. I think the purpose behind this is so that the books can appeal to a wider audience of reading who can imagine themselves in this role. It may be difficult for a young boy to relate to a story that clearly stars a girl as the main character. We have also seen picture books in class this semester with skin color and/or race ambiguities. I believe these tactics help to dissuade young readers from feeling isolated or left out of a story. Furthermore, from a critical literacy standpoint I think it deliberately sends a positive multicultural message of acceptance and inclusion. The picture I chose was the one that helped me notice this artistic choice, as the main character gazes out over the sea directly away from the reader. The other artistic element I wish to discuss was a little easier to pick up on, and is at the forefront of the picture in question. The illustrator gives the love that the author is talking about a physical nature in the form of bright little stars that float through the air. These can be seen hovering around the child in every scene, highlighting the presence of love. In the tree swing, love twinkles behind our hero, almost as if it was the energy propelling him/her into the air. This is interesting because love is not something you can really see, and is usually visually expressed as a heart. Through the use of these stars, the illustrator of this books gives love a distinctive and ethereal quality that the reader can see and feel. Like in the Velveteen Rabbit, the bright, shimmering stars and the general vibrant nature of the pictures in this book add to the feel of the story, creating a richer meaning. Both of these books I chose provide great examples of how pictures work with the text to enhance the story. The similarities lie in the ability of the pictures to spark the emotions and the relationship of the reader with the book. The plot of the Velveteen Rabbit is strengthened by the visual text that depicts settings, characters, and the general mood. In Wherever you are, my love will find you, the pictures create a story that is not specifically described in the poetic text. Though they are different, these books show how the principles of design and the artistic elements involved in

5 visual texts can be just as prevalent and important as those of the actual text. Now that I have read these books textually and visually, I believe that considerable meaning would have been lost had I experienced one without the other. Reference List Tillman, N. (2010). Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You (pp ). New York: Feiwel and Friends. Bianco, M. W. (1994). The Velveteen Rabbit (pp ). Mankato: Creative Editions.