TEACH READING & WRITING
55
B
rowse through any picturebook by
Anthony Browne and you’ll soon
get a sense of the scope and power
of his work.
Fromthe reassuring
domesticity of Dad to the
dysfunctional family in
Piggybook,
readers
embark on a journey fromthe familiar into
places inwhich little is predictable and
everything can be challenged. Take
Voices
in the Park
, for example, inwhich four
narrators offer different perspectives on
the same event, or
Changes
, inwhich a child’s
sense of unease about his family is revealed
by theway that household objects are
transformed. These books grab our attention
by drawing us into detailed and
unsettlingworlds that are quite
simply impossible to ignore, and
make a rewarding starting point
for discussion and creativework
with older children, aswell as
younger ones.
Discover
thedetail
Start by sharing
Changes
with
your class. What’s happening
in this book? Are the objects
really changing? If not, why do
they look as if they are? Talk
about what isn’t being shown (the
events ‘off stage’; the anxieties
and emotions…) How is Joseph
feeling, and howcanwe tell? Look
for hidden details. Why didBrowne
choose to include them, andwhat
effect do they have?
Browne has always been
interested in dreams, symbols
and transformations – not just
UNSAID
SEEINGTHE
Thepictures inAnthonyBrowne’sbooksoftentell adifferentstory
tothewords, andgettingchildrentofill inthegapsbetweenthe
two is richandrewardingwork, says
CareyFlukerHunt
...
for their visual possibilities, but because they
help himexplore the emotional landscape
of a book andmake deeper connectionswith
his readers.
Investigatedreams
andsymbols
What happens in your dreams? Do you think
about themwhen you’re awake? Has a dream
ever told you something about your feelings
that you didn’t know?
Collect dream-elements and categorise
yourmaterial. Is it possible to use a single
image or symbol to represent a category?
For example, afire to represent
anger, or wings to represent flight.
Dreams link to our subconscious,
and being aware of our
subconscious can help us bemore
imaginative and creative. This idea
lies at the heart of Surrealism.
Find out aboutMagritte and
Dali (who influencedBrowne’s
work) before exploring some of
the books listed below. Put on
your Surrealist hats and lookmore
closely at the illustrations tofind
asmany dream-details and hidden
clues as you can. Can youmake
any connectionswith the dream
elements you collected earlier?
Are the hidden objects in
Browne’s pictures ‘real’?Or do
they represent something: an
idea, perhaps, or an emotion? To
Browne, these details are visual
simileswhose function is tomake
us question and connect. The trees
in
The Tunnel
aren’t really turning
intowolves (but Rose is frightened
“These books grab our
attentionby drawing
us into detailedand
unsettlingworlds
that are quite simply
impossible to ignore”
CAREY FLUKER HUNT
is creative projects manager at Seven Stories
Illustrations: Copyright © 1984 Anthony Browne. FromWILLYTHEWIMP by Anthony
Browne. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd
