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guest post by sophy henn! elements of an A+ picture book: Henri’s Walk to Paris
Remember when I did a post on Where Bear? and dissected how it made such a perfect picture book? Well now, its creator (and all around lovely, talented, generous person), Sophy Henn, is back to look at a classic picture book and tell us what makes it A+ from an illustrator’s perspective. I’m so delighted to have her take!
Over to Sophy!
I have bounced around from book to book trying to settle on one to talk about for this, my very first guest blog post ever! I truly love picture books, and still can’t believe I am lucky enough to work in the industry. I have to confess to avoiding current picture books as much as possible. There are so many utterly beautiful books out there, it can be a bit intimidating!
So when choosing a book to talk about, I looked to the classics, then to my book shelf, then wildly around various book shops and then back to my book shelf. I narrowed it down to two, then changed that two a few times, and after a quick round of eeny meeny miney mo, here we have my choice for discussion…
Henri’s Walk to Paris. Illustrated by Saul Bass, Story by Leonore Klein (first published 1962; republished 2012).
SETTING THE MOOD / OPENING CREDITS
A bold and sparse cover can be such a delight when seeking out a book amidst the jam packed jostle of the picture book shelves. Henri‘s Walk to Paris certainly has that clean graphic quality of many of Bass’s film posters, but gives us enough information to draw us in.
(click image(s) to enlarge)
The cover, endpapers and title page work together to create the opening credits of the story, like one of Bass’ film title sequences, with the same simple shapes, heavy text and strong sense of movement.
MINIMAL USE OF IMAGERY / GIVING US SPACE FOR IMAGINING!
The opening spread warms us up to Henri’s interest in things outside his immediate existence.. Henri is an inquisitive and curious child, gobbling up all this praise of Paris, so of course…who wouldn’t want to live there?
But his pink feet poking out at the bottom of the huge book he’s reading give us a visual clue as to where all this information will lead!
It is the second spread that really lays the foundations of Henri, our main character, and of the book’s visual language. He has big ideas but also strong roots and through the simplest of shapes and the clearest of copy, we understand this immediately.
It is already apparent that this book has a clear narrative and strong, direct imagery, but there is much left to our imagination, lots of space to fill in the gaps. What does Henri look like? What do Henri’s friends look like? What does anyone look like? (Marvelously we tend to only see people’s feet through the book – another nod to walking.)
I really enjoy picture books that leave room for the reader to invent and explore, and this is a wonderful and quite extreme example of that. Though the images in Henri’s Walk to Paris reflect the text, it’s the boldness of the layouts that give the images their punch. Which brings me to…
CONTRASTING LAYOUTS TO EMPHASISE DIFFERENCE
Henri is from the small town of Reboul and is rather excited by Paris with its hustle and bustle. When telling his friends of their differences, the simple but utterly effective layouts convey this completely, in a visual language a child would clearly understand, well traveled or not!
ONWARDS
So, back to The Walk. Henri decides he really must visit this Paris, so, as any practical child would, he packs a lunch and leaves.
Klein acknowledges a child’s solution to a problem in often the most direct way with this part of the story line. Something I am in complete agreement with.
THE READER KNOWS MORE THAN THE PROTAGONIST
Through a wonderful striped spread (again very reminiscent of Bass’s animated film credits), we see how Henri is unwittingly about-turned, and starts walking back the way he came, none the wiser.
How deliciously empowering for a child to now watch the rest of the story unfold in on the secret that our lead character is blissfully unaware of.
So now Henri, who has been moving consistently from left to right in our story is now moving from right to left. Sometimes the simplest visual clues are the most effective.
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
And as Henri passes through familiar and sometimes identical spreads from the beginning of the book we know we are coming ‘home,’ though through a clever and literal twist Henri does not. Even when he sees familiar feet! How satisfying to come full circle, even if our protagonist doesn’t realise!
Bass’s use of type in his final spread leaves us in no doubt as to the theme of this book: Home! What does home really mean? Family, friends, a sense of familiarity and good soup on the stove mean home to Henri, and who wouldn’t be happy with that?
There is a directness to Klein’s writing that I really love; her clarity matches Bass’s . They both seem to distil what they want to convey down to the minimum and as someone who also likes to do that (advertising background again!) there is always the risk the book will appear too sparse, cold even. But by putting home, with the love and comfort that represents, at the heart of this book we have a wonderfully warm story with a gentle humour that bounces between the words and the text, succinctly reminding us (like another foot-focused story), there’s no place like home!
Thank you Sophy, for your willingness to guest blog and to offer so many wonderful insights into what makes this picture book tick! What an honor to have you here.
Sophy’s next book, POM POM GETS THE GRUMPS will be out in the U.S. in December and is out in the UK now!
elements of an A+ picture book: where bear?
Where Bear? by Sophy Henn (2015, just published here in the U.S. January 2nd.).
This picture book is delightful. So I thought I’d take a look at what makes it tick. Turns out, it’s like a lesson in picture book structure.
Every illustrated story has its own style and construction, of course, but I think this one has some really great elements of what can make a picture book truly A+!
Come see!
(click image(s) to enlarge)
AN UNREALISTIC THING INTRODUCED AS TOTALLY NORMAL
In Where Bear? the first spread tells us that a bear cub lives with a little boy. That’s weird, right? But we immediately believe it and we certainly don’t want an explanation. It just is.
This sets us up for any unrealistic stuff that follows (and it does follow).
That unrealistic stuff is sometimes where the magic is.
(One more thing: we then get to see both the bear and the boy grow, which is so clued into the life of a child, that stuff of growing and getting bigger and wearing birthday hats once a year. But that’s a slight digression.)
REPETITION WITH SLIGHT VARIATION FOR INTEREST
When the bear is too big and bearlike to live with the boy any longer, the boy wonders, “Where Bear?” As in, where shall you live that will be suitable?
With each place the boy suggests, we get a repetition of the same theme: that place is not suitable for Bear.
Bear says, “No.” Over and over. But he also says no in a slightly different way and for a slightly different reason. This is shown through the text (“NO”; “NO“; “NOOOOO”; etc.). It’s also shown through the illustrations that so beautifully bring to life how bear is feeling through facial expressions and what else is going on in the artwork. (e.g. Bear’s big eyes or a too-small shop window.)
The reader gets that wonderful satisfaction of repetition and kinda sorta knowing what’s coming next, but it’s a different scenario each time. Yup, satisfying without a trace of boredom.
ROOM IN THE TEXT FOR INVENTIVE, STORY-TELLING ILLUSTRATIONS
I’ve touched on this a bit, but let’s just look at that toy shop illustration again. It may take a while to locate the boy and bear. And then, so much to notice! That bear belongs in a store window as much as a crocodile does. And a boy doesn’t belong there either, even if he is wearing a marching band hat.
We get to see the town the boy lives in here, too, its shops and windows. It locates us, first, in the human world of the boy before we travel elsewhere.
And let’s look too at the woods spread. The Bears’ eyes tell us he’s scared. Wouldn’t you be, all alone in those dark, gray woods?
And if you’re really, really tricky, you may think to yourself that you’ve never seen a white bear in the woods before. (Foreshadowing!!)
SPREADS THAT LEAVE READERS GUESSING (AND TELLING THEIR OWN STORY)
The popsicle spread is my favorite. First, it has popsicles. Next, it has the boy scratching his head, just as we the readers are invited to do.
WHERE could bear go to live? How might a popsicle be a hint? What is the relationship between the bear and the refrigerator? They are the same color and about the same size after all. Hmmm.
This is the part when reading to kids that you ask, “What do you think might happen next?” “Where do YOU think the bear should live?” That kind of interaction is golden.
A SURPRISE!
We’ve heard the bear say, “NO” many times. (In fact, that’s all we’ve heard him say.) But now, we hear him say, “SNOW!” Why? Because he’s home. Where the snow is. And because snow rhymes with No!
Brilliant.
Here we have a pattern and sound we’re familiar with, but with a difference. No has turned to YES! But the bear’s own special kind of yes.
ENDING AS IT BEGINS, OR WITH THE TITLE
The last spread has the boy and the bear talking on the phone. (Good thing that we can totally roll with all that unrealistic stuff without skipping a beat by this point. But here’s one more!)
The boy and bear discuss going somewhere, like the old days. And the boy asks that familiar question, “But where, bear?”
We love that question. Especially when the answer doesn’t have so much riding on it anymore. Only friendship and taking a trip together.
AN ENDING THAT LEAVES THE FUTURE OPEN, WITH MORE PLACES FOR THE STORY TO GO
That last spread as well as a super fun little illustration on the last page keeps the story alive outside of the book. In our own imaginations we can wonder where the boy and the bear will go, what adventures they might have, and how their friendship will grow with new experiences. In that way, the story never ends.
We feel satisfied but we don’t really have to say goodbye. Because we don’t want to say goodbye to these two.
There you have it. My deconstruction of a fine picture book specimen. I hope this is of interest as you read them (or write them or illustrate them)!
Thanks to Sophy Henn for images!
I’m giving away a copy of Where Bear? Come find me on twitter to enter!
I received a review copy from Philomel of PenguinRandom House; opinions are my own.
