Voices in the Park

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Zarin's (Rose and Sebastian) convoluted tall tale of a small boy benefits from Matje's (A Straw for Two, reviewed below) ominous pen-and-ink illustrations, drawn in a threatening minor key. Continue reading »

Each character has their own battle: For Mrs Smythe, the battle is in getting her dog and son under control. The dog might as well be her son. “Sit”, she tells her son. After learning about the Moebius pictures codes in the session, I was able to look deeper into the picture to analyse further thoughts and feelings by looking at size, direction, proportion, colour, etc. By doing this, I was able to notice that each 'voice' viewed the park differently in terms of its environment, which would create discussion about the reasoning behind this. Look at the different trees shown in the pictures. How do they change in each part of the story? Can you research different types of trees and write a report to share what you find out about them?My Dad by Anthony Browne now appears in a paper-over-board miniature edition. Of the original, PW said, ""With well-measured doses of hyperbole, sentiment and humor, Browne delivers an endearing Continue reading » DK's My First Word Touch and Feel oversize board book links words to pictures and, in each full-color spread, two textures. A spread for ""Around the House,"" for instance, shows a ""blanket"" and Continue reading »

The exception to ‘all on one level’ is the see-saw scene, but the nature of a see-saw is that people take turns being up and down. Effectively, this is an egalitarian metaphor. In this image, the poor girl is higher than the rich boy. Life can thrust us out of riches (more frequently than it thrusts us into them.) Socioeconomic circumstance should be considered, like life, like health, a temporary state which can change suddenly at any time. As she did in The Hatmaker's Sign, Fleming once again parlays a little-known historical nugget into a diverting picture book. In the late 19th century, the folks of Cheshire, Mass., a locale known Continue reading » Sleepover party traditions have remained fairly static for decades, at least judging by the activities in this party-planning notebook aimed at school-age girls. Nail art, facials, hairstyling, Continue reading » participate in discussions about books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, building on their own and others’ ideas and challenging views courteously After briefly discussing Anthony Browne's style of writing, children will create their own final chapter for the book - either as a bystander in the park, commenting on the actions of the other characters, or in the alternative activity, imagining the characters returning to the park the following day, and this time, all interacting with each other.The text can be a very useful example for children to look at, as a model for writing in different perspectives and as a model for how to effectively create links between the text and illustrations. It’s unlikely these kids go to the same school because of the British public/comprehensive divide in education, but this appears to be a fantasy park. So I hope they do meet each other again. Whether they do or do not, Charles will meet another kid in a park sometime. We simply don’t know if he’ll be more inclined to play with them or more inclined to talk to them, since his mother curtailed their visit this time due to inappropriate fraternising. RESONANCE The mother wants to retain her position as a privileged white woman. (Yes, animals can still be white women.) Her son is going the same way, but for now he wants to enjoy the freedom of being a kid without the heavy weight of responsibility. He wants a playmate. Everyone in this story is each other’s opponent, except for the dogs, whose easy friendliness juxtaposes against the reserve of the human characters — each at a different point on the ‘reserved’ spectrum.

The friendship between the children is blooming, but Browne highlights the difference in class between the two families. There’s the very working class Mr Smith (indicated by clothing, speech, home), and the wealthy status of Mrs Smith. Metafictive Devices

Could you turn the story into a radio play with different children playing the role of each voice in the story? This deceptively simple book introduces an overalls-clad chimp who evokes a spectrum of emotions as he answers the titular question. Though the minimal text is forthright (“Sometimes I feel very Continue reading » Produced in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, this addition to the Super Encyclopedia series spotlights 100 insects, which appear in vibrant photographs, 3-D models, and detailed Continue reading »