#PicturebookCodes

[clivey-cpb]

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[clivey-cpb]

On My Way to Buy Eggs by Zhiyuan Chen uses the picture book codes of size, position, and perspective to convey the children’s literature trope of child autonomy vs adult authority. In this illustration that spans pages 1-2, the book’s protagonist, Shau-yu, is visibly much smaller than her father not just because she is a child, but also due to the perspective placing her further back than her father.

The effect that this has is that it implies that at this point in the story, she has little autonomy compared to her father. She wants to go play, but to do so, she must first go to the store to buy eggs as instructed by her father. Additionally, the perspective of Shau-yu further displays the picture books use of the code of perspective to convey Shau-yu as a child with little autonomy compared to her adult father. Since she is placed facing towards her father, who is the one who is giving her the order to go buy eggs, she becomes the object in this image that is being acted on by the subject, which in this case is her father. By being portrayed as the object rather than the subject, the picture book establishes Shau-yu as a child. The theme of childhood autonomy vs adult authority in the picture book On My Way to Buy Eggs is clearly demonstrated through the use of the picture book codes of size, position, and perspective.

Chen, Zhiyuan. On My Way to Buy Eggs. 1st American pbk. ed., Kane/Miller Book Publishers, 2007.

Logged and written March 16, 2024.

Hey everypony! To celebrate me officially getting a job as a baker in a café, lets bake a cake! <3 Just click on which ingredient you wanna add

[clivey-cpb]

The illustration on page 12 of The Girl and the Wolf expertly conveys that the wolf character is helpful by utilizing the picture book codes, specifically the codes of position in this illustration. According to the codes of position, the left side of a page is associated with home and safety, and the right side of a page is associated with danger. This is significant because the wolf is positioned on the left alongside the girl, which suggests that this wolf does not have malicious intentions, and will instead, serve as a guide for the girl, and will help her navigate towards home. Even though the girl is looking off to the right, towards danger, the wolf is more grounded. It is harder to tell whether the wolf is truly looking in the same direction as the girl. It seems that the wolf is looking straightforward, up at the two birds moving together as one, rather than the solitary bird moving by itself. The detail behind the direction that the wolf is facing is also significant as the wolf is physically not focusing on the danger ahead, but rather on the two birds flying in unity. The visually implied focus on unity then becomes indicative of the role that he plays in this story as a figure that will eventually help the lost girl reunite with her mother. By utilizing the picturebook code of position, The Girl and the Wolf foreshadows the wolf’s role in this story as a friendly and helpful figure that aids in reuniting the girl with her parents.

Written February 24, 2024

Flett, Julie. The Girl and the Wolf. 2019. Amazon. https://www.amazon.ca/Girl-Wolf-Katherena-Vermette/dp/1926886542. Accessed February 24, 2024.

Look at these puppies 🥺 they’re such cuties

[clivey-cpb]

While Five Children and It does not fit what most people would think of as a children’s picturebook, it still makes great use of the picturebook codes in order to help indicate meaning. For example, this illustration on page 153 makes great use of the codes of line and position in order to indicate both the danger that he is in and also his feelings about the Psammead. According to the code of lines, diagonals communicate a sense of movement with whatever object they are associated with. In this particular case, the diagonal lines help to indicate both how Robert is anxious to get home, and that the soldiers are making their advance on the castle. This illustration also makes use of the picturebook code of position which states that the left side of the page represents home and safety, and the right side of the page represents danger. This is significant because the position of the Psammead hints at Robert’s feelings towards it. He is mature enough to know that while the Psammead is the one that physically cast the wish that caused him and his siblings to be under siege, he understands that the Psammead is not to blame for putting them in this situation. Instead, its placement on the left illustrates that he sees the Psammead as a friend rather than a foe like the soldier who is positioned on the side of danger. The use of picturebook codes in Five Children and It helps to supplement the meaning of the text as well as to indicate relationships between characters.

Nesbitt, Edith. Five Children and It. London, Harper Collins, 2021.

Logged and written February 23 2024

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my:

Blorbo (favourite character, character I think about the most),

Scrunkly (my “baby,” character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped™),

Scrimblo bimbo (underrated/underappreciated fave),

Glup shitto (obscure face, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week),

Poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave),

Horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason),

Or eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)