1. Critical analysis of children literature 2011
Have we ever pondered as to why we need picture books? Why are they so
important? I believe that picture book is regarded pivotal in engaging readers to
make meaning of their reading through the text and the illustration in the book.
According to Winch, G & et.al (2006), picture book acts as a rich medium which
generates imaginative engagement of the readers through the ways the words and
pictures are presented, perceived, organized, and assimilated. The book that I have
read entitled “Is it time to get up yet?” capitulates the above features. This book is
written and illustrated by Bob Darroch who started writing books for children in 1999.
The story revolved around a young boy, probably the age of four, who woke up at
five in the afternoon and was unsure whether he should wake up or not. The book
allows the reader to follow the activities the boy did and immerse themselves in his
interesting and intriguing imagination. Therefore, in this literature analysis, I will
touch on the writer and illustrator‟s craft focusing on the style of writing and the
illustration, the underlying assumptions of equity aspect and finally, my personal
thoughts and feelings about this picture book.
Firstly, I will begin by analyzing the writer and illustrator‟s craft by focusing on
the style of writing. Glazer and Giorgis (2005) believe that the style of writing helps
to create mood in the story based on the selection of words and how they are
arranged. In the front cover of the book, Darroch chose to use big bold blue letters
for the title of the book. However, in the first page of the book, he chose a bright bold
yellow colour for his title. In my opinion, the he does so to communicate to his
readers through colours. Hewlett- Packard advocated that blue colour gives a
calming effect whereas yellow denotes playfulness and action ( as cited in Gangwer,
2009). Therefore, based on the different colour denotation of the text, the readers‟
were given a clue that the story is not as it seems. True enough, the story is told in
the boy‟s point of view where the readers know what the boy does in his room and at
the same time know what he thinks. In addition, in the story, Darroch uses two
different font sizes. He uses a slightly smaller font on the upper left side of the page
to narrate the boy‟s imagination and right under it, the text is written in bigger font
which gives a picture to the readers that it is in reality. This is definitely a different
style of writing which can grab the readers‟ attention. Besides that, he also used a
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2. Critical analysis of children literature 2011
number of exclamation marks in the story. For example; Mum! There’s a blowfly in
my room! Here, Darroch wanted the readers to connect to the emotion of the
character. The exclamation mark in the above sentence shows us that the character
was shouting for his mum as he was afraid of the blowfly. This view is supported by
Trask (1997) in an article “The Exclamation Mark” where he explains that
exclamation marks are used to show very strong feelings as well as to show that a
statement is surprising. With this, I can say that Darroch had successfully captured
the character‟s emotion through his writing style. The writer also used a variety of
syntax throughout the book. The usage of simple and compound sentences are
evident in the text. Booth and Barton (2000) advocated that new and varied syntactic
patterns allow the children to be engaged in experiencing language which are more
complex than their own. For example the usage of a more complex version of simple
sentence such as „ Teddy and Lulubelle and I can live in here away from the rain and
the snow‟ allows young readers to know the different ways of how language is used.
The Ministry of Education of New Zealand (2003) also supports that rich text should
have a varied sentence structure that motivate and challenge the readers. From my
analysis on Darroch‟s picture book, I realized that humor is evident in the text as well
as in the illustration. Below is an example taken from the picture book;
“ This is my farm. With sheep and cows and pigs and elephants.”
From the text we could immediately see the humor the writer had portrayed. Surely,
we do not rear elephants in a farm. I have the opinion that Darroch tried to engage
the readers in such that the readers could relate to the character‟s wild imagination
and take part in it. This would indirectly make the readers enjoy reading this story.
My view is supported by Zbaracki (2003) where in his research he found that humor
in text highly engaged the children as it appealed to them in term of suspense and
the use of language for humorous effect.
The second point that I would like to discuss is the illustration of this picture
book. In this book, the illustration plays a vital role in emphasizing the meaning of the
text or the story. Booth and Barton (2000) believe that words and picture work
together where pictures draw the eye and the text catches the imagination of readers.
In this book, Darroch had illustrated based on the written text. When the text is
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3. Critical analysis of children literature 2011
referring to a farm, „This is my farm. With sheep and cows and pigs and elephants‟,
the visual which is spread to two pages, showed exactly what the text said as we
could see drawings of sheep, cows, pigs and even elephants in a farm. This ensures
that the readers would be able to make meaning from the text although they are not
familiar with some of the vocabularies. Thus, allowing them to enjoy the story.
Moreover, the illustrations are elaborate and detailed. For example, to depict the
scenery of a farm, the illustrator drew a packed farm with animals such as cows,
chickens ducks, pigs, goat and horse. I think the illustrator drew an elaborate farm
with animals that are not mentioned in the text because he wanted the readers to
expand their knowledge and have a broader view about a farm. Indirectly, the
readers can increase their knowledge. However, I realized that the illustrator tend to
draw things that are not related in certain context. For example, he drew a pink
octopus in a farm which does not apply to real life. The only reason that I could come
up with is that the illustrator did so to prompt readers to think critically and actively
participate in reading by questioning the pictures. Saxby (1997) advocates that
picture books play an active role as readers are expected to participate in the life and
activity of the book. One aspect of the illustration that attracted me the most is the
way the illustrator merged the reality with imagination or fantasy. The boy‟s room,
which is the reality, is drawn at the bottom left of the page while his imagination is
drawn in a bigger scale, stretching across two pages. Glazer and Giorgis (2009)
argues that illustrations that combine realism with fantasy when the text does not
make comprehension of the story difficult. Fortunately, Darroch intelligently
combines the visual; realism and fantasy with the text. Therefore, readers would not
find it difficult to understand the story. Here, I personally believe that the illustrator
merged fantasy and reality in a page as he wanted the readers to see what the
character is doing in his room and also know what in running in his mind.
Now, we will look at the underlying assumption of equity issues that are
evident in this picture book. Equity issues in terms of gender and culture are not
directly discussed in this book but these issues are covertly expressed. Glazer and
Giorgis (2009) said that stereotyping indicates poor writing and are intellectually and
socially offensive. Based on my analysis on this picture book, I found that Darroch
did not stereotype gender. Although the story is written from a small boy‟s point of
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4. Critical analysis of children literature 2011
view, the text and illustrations are suitable for both genders. The boy‟s imaginative
farm and his made-up journey to visit his grandma cater to both genders as they are
able to relate to this situation because it depicts their real life. In addition, the
illustrator drew images of people; man, women, child which further strengthened my
perception that this writer practices an equal preference towards both gender.
Besides that, the writer also expressed his view on culture overtly through his text
and illustrations. The writer cleverly includes two different socio-economic
backgrounds which are the farm which portrays a rural setting and the town which
the character‟s grandma lives for an urban setting. This caters to readers that come
from different socio-economic background so as to allow the readers to connect
themselves to the story. In addition, visual imagery such as hills, sheep and a kiwi
bird gives the reader a context which they are familiar with. Therefore, readers from
New Zealand and those who are exposed to New Zealand culture would be able to
relate this story to their life. This view is supported by Lissa Paul who believes that in
order for successful reading to take place, readers must be able to focus on what
happens to them and to register the ideas, feelings and attitude that they experience
while reading. Therefore, it is undeniable that readers comprehend the story better if
they could relate to their daily life.
Finally, I will discuss on what my opinions are regarding this picture
book. First and foremost, I find this book interesting and captivating in terms of the
visuals which I think they are suitable for young readers. The vibrant colours used for
the visuals are appropriate with the text or storyline as it centers on imagination. The
colourful images will attract the reader‟s attention. Green (1984) found that
researchers believe colour visuals increase willingness to read, motivation and
participation by up to 80% ( as citied in Gangwer, 2009). Moreover, the peculiar
details added in the book enables the readers to generate questions, thus, engaging
them to read actively. Even as an adult reader, I find the visuals intriguing as I kept
on thinking the reason as to why the illustrator drew objects that does not fit to the
setting of the story. Nevertheless, I find this particular feature is useful because as
teachers, we can use this book to engage student in active reading. All in all, I
believe that young reader will find this book captivating as I do.
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5. Critical analysis of children literature 2011
Succinctly, based on my analysis, the combination of written text and visual
imagery in this book plays a pivotal role in helping the readers to make meaning out
of the text. Besides that, relating the context to the readers‟ life will further enhance
their understanding of the text, thus, enabling them to appreciate literature as a
whole.
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References.
Booth, D. & Barton, B. (2000). Story works: How teacher can use shared stories in
the new curriculum. Ontario, Canada: Pembroke Publishers
Darroch, B. (2000). Is it time to get up yet?. Birkenhead, Auckland: Reed Publishing
Gangwer, T. (2009). Visual impact, visual teaching: Using images to strengthen
learning. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press
Glazer, J. I. & Giorgis, C. (2009). Literature for young children: Supporting emergent
literacy, Ages 0-8. ( 6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
New Zealand Ministry of Education. (2003). Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1 to
4. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Saxby, M. (1997). Books in the life of a child. South Yarra, Australia: Macmillan
Publishers
Trask, L. (1997). The exclamation mark. Retrieved on April 12, 2011 from
http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node06.htm
l
Winch, G., Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L. & Holliday, M. (2006). Literacy
(3rd ed.). Melbourne. Oxford University Press
Zbaracki, M. D. (2003). Descriptive of how humor in literature serves to engage
children in their reading. Retrieved on April 12, 2011 from
http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Zbaracki%20Matthew.pdf?osu1049147319
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