Tan, S. (2001). The Red Tree. Port Melbourne, Vic: Lothian Books.
[sophisticated picture book]

At 32 pages, this is the length of a standard picture book, however The Red Tree comes underneath the genre of “sophisticated picture book” a subset of picture books, appropriate for older readers.

The Red Tree has many characteristics of a sophisticated picture book such as, “layered and subtle meaning, mature themes, open-ended conclusions and visually complex illustrations” (The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, 2011, p. 25), that undeniably convey symbolism.  The subject (successfully) conveyed here is depression.  A worthy topic for an adolescent reader.

The Red Tree showcases Tan’s artistic talent with the paint brush, with each page a painting of the protaganist itself, but collectively and successfully illustrating a story of one girls’ experience of depression.

…then all your troubles come at once
- Tan, S. (2001). The Red Tree. Port Melbourne, Vic: Lothian Books.

This text appears on a page within a painted illustration of the red-headed protagonist in a tiny red boat with a feeble pink sail amongst a sea of large grey steel, metal and iron ships with violent waves swirling all around.
Hard to describe the effect of the combination of the images and text on your consciousness without providing the visual product, I would say that this book hits the mark with it’s emotive and illustrative description of depression on oneself.

Choosing the central character to have red hair to show vitality, spirit and also isolation in a colourless world, illustrates to the reader that the author clearly understands the subject of depression and how to convey it to a young adult audience.

Shaun Tan is an Australian illustrator and author who has recently won a prestigious award for children’s literature, “Sweden’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is named after the Swedish creator of Pippi Longstocking.  The prize amounts to 5 million kroner ($765,000), making it the world’s richest for the genre.” (ABC News, 2011 March 30.)

References:

ABC News. (2011, March 30). Australian illustrator wins children’s book award. Retrieved April 19, 2011, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/30/3177647.htm

The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, (2011). Children and young people – developmental stages, literacy and literature. In 72276 Literature and Information Resources for Children and Young People. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Author.

Tan, S. (2001). The Red Tree. Port Melbourne, Vic: Lothian Books.

Melling, D. (2010). Hugless Douglas. London, UK: Hodder Children’s.

[Picture storybook]

This is the cutest picture book and story to ever walk this earth!  Or be published…

Hugless Douglas is a 32 page picture storybook about a young wee Bear who wakes up one day and decides he needs a hug, and so ventures outside his cave to find one.  Beautifully crafted with text and illustrations complementing and playing nicely off each other, Hugless Douglas is about a young Bear’s search for the perfect hug, through trial and error and evaluation.

‘My best hugs are BIG.’ thought Douglas so he went up to the biggest thing he could find, wrapped ihs arms all the way around and gave it a squeeze.
-  Melling, D. (2010). Hugless Douglas. London, UK: Hodder Children’s.

The accompanying picture beneath this text on the first page of his search show Douglas hugging a large boulder with every part of his body wrapped around it.  On the opposite page, three illustrations show firstly Douglas lifting up the boulder, squinting his eyes in determination with holding it’s weight off the ground; secondly looking worryingly towards the ground behind him as he teeters on one foot; and thirdly lying on the ground with the boulder on top of him with a caption “OOF!”

The accompanying text for these three illustrations are,

firstly, “It didn’t feel quite right”,

secondly, ” ‘Oooh!’ grunted Douglas. ‘It’s a bit too…, ”

and last of all, “…heavy!’ ”

These two open pages exemplify one of the main characteristics of a picture storybook that, “Both text and illustrations are important and the combination forms a whole stronger than either would be alone.” (The Open Polytechnic, 2011, module. 1, p. 22).

This picture book is recommended for Preschool Storytime read-aloud sessions, and children who have recently learned to read on their own and are confident readers.  I actually recommend it for everyone as it is such a beautiful and heart-warming story, with cute illustrations and a lovable and endearing character sure to leave you with warm fuzzies!

References:

Melling, D. (2010). Hugless Douglas. London, UK: Hodder Children’s.

The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, (2011). Children and young people – developmental stages, literacy and literature. In 72276 Literature and Information Resources for Children and Young People. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Author.

Cleary, B. (1975). Ramona the brave. New York, NY: Morrow.

[Realistic fiction]

Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books are a personal favourite of mine.  Cleary successfully gets inside the head of a young child (in this book Ramona is 5) and writes exactly how you would expect a story to go from a five year old’s point of view.

In this story, Ramona has graduated from Kindergarten and wistfully watches the carefree preschoolers and the comfort of her kindergarten teacher on her way inside the building to her first day of school.  She encounters challenges and criticism but being Ramona, she endeavors to remain grownup about it all.  Cleary captures some beautiful moments in childhood, times when the role of a child’s self-esteem is particularly important.

For the first time Ramona looked into her very own mirror in her very own room… Ramona scowled, and the girl scowled back.  Ramona managed a small smile.  So did the girl.  Ramona felt better.  She wanted the girl in the mirror to like her.
- (Cleary, 1975, p. 64)

- “whether children see themselves in a positive, confident way or in a negative, unsure manner has a huge impact on their personality” (The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, 1994, p. 20).

Cleary’s Ramona books are part of a literary series, where the character “is a rounded, three-dimensional person who grows and develops in the story” (Van Orden et al, 2007). With Ramona the Brave being part of a literary series there is the advantage of being able to read books with this character in it if the reader enjoys this one.  I highly recommend this book for this reason, but mainly because I personally enjoy the feistiness and determination of Ramona’s character, somewhat seeing myself in her.

Ramona the brave, at 128 pages is a chapter book suitable for an emerging independent reader.  It can also be enjoyed as a story that is read out loud over several sittings from a parent or caregiver or with a class.

References:

Cleary, B. (1975). Ramona the brave. New York, NY: Morrow

The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, (1994). Human development from birth to adolescence. In New Zealand Certificate in Family Day Care: Caregiver. Lower Hutt, New Zealand: Author.

Van Orden, P.J, & Strong, S. (2007). Fiction. In Children’s books: a practical guide to selection (pp. 91-104). New York: Neal Schuman.