Picturebooks

This workshop will offer the opportunity to do an in-depth exploration of what is probably Shaun Tan’s best known book, The Arrival, almost 20 years after its publication in 2006. During this time, the current global issues around the displacement of populations has meant that the production of, and attention given to, migrant and refugee stories in children’s and YA literature has greatly increased. In this workshop we will explore not only how Tan uses visual art to tell his story but also whether and how Tan’s visual narrative has stood the test of time and of the critics. We will discuss scholarship about the book -approached from both literary theory and empirical studies with readers of different ages- considering visual storytelling and displacement but also topics such as posthumanism, postcoloniality, utopia, memory and nostalgia. We will also go back to Tan’s own reflections on creating the book. Finally, we will engage with some creative activities to help deepen our understanding of this wordless visual narrative and our own responses to it.

Reading list 

(Some of these may be difficult to access, so don’t worry if you can’t read them all.)

Busi Rizzi, G. (2021) Immigrant song: nostalgic tensions in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 12:5, 647-666, DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2020.1735464

Martínez-Roldán, C. M. & Newcomer, S. (2011) “Reading between the Pictures: ImmigrantStudents’ Interpretations of The Arrival.” Language Arts 88 (3): 188–197.

Pantaleo, S. & Bomphray, A. (2011) Exploring Grade 7 Students’ Written Responses to Shaun Tan’s The Arrival , Changing English, 18:2, 173-185, DOI: 10.1080/1358684X.2011.575250

Tan, S. 2006. The Arrival. Melbourne: Lothian

Tan, S. 2010. Sketches from a Nameless Land. Melbourne: Hachette.

Tan, S. with additional questions and editing by Harriet Earle (2016) Strange migrations: An essay/interview with Shaun Tan, Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 52:4, 385-398, DOI: 10.1080/17449855.2016.1219139

Drawing on Kenneth Kidd’s statement that “[o]f all contemporary genres of children’s literature, the picture book offers the most dramatic […] testimony to trauma, precisely because the genre is usually presumed innocent” (Kidd 2005, 137), this workshop will bring attention to the genre of Holocaust picturebooks, which has developed into a highly literary and artistic field of re-imagining the Holocaust. Since Roberto Innocenti’s “Rose Blanche” (1985), visual representations of the Holocaust in picturebooks became a genre that raised fundamental questions about the visual representation of the Holocaust including trauma, atrocities and death for young people. By offering broad images about the unspeakable, the discourse of genocide, memory and childhood broadened and ultimately revolutionised the imagery of the genre. In this workshop we examine three international examples that influenced discussions about the visuality of the genocide in picturebooks: “Rose Blanche” (1985) by Roberto Innocenti, Julie Vivas and Margaret Wild’s “Let the Celebrations Begin” (1991) Antón Fortes’ and Joanna Concejo’s “Smoke” (2009).

Required reading list

Fortes, Antón. Smoke. Illus. Joanna Concejo. Pontevedra: OQO Editora, 2009. 

Gallaz, Christophe. Rose Blanche. Illus. Roberto Innocenti. Mankato: Creative Editions, 1985. 

Wild, Magaret. Let the Celebrations Begin! A Story of Hope for the Liberation. Ill. Julie Vivas. Summerville: Candlewick Press, 1991.

Kimmel, Eric A. “Confronting the Ovens: The Holocaust and Juvenile Fiction” The Horn Book Magazine, 1977, pp. 84-91.

Preparatory task for all participants

Please write down all aspects of the connection between visual and verbal representation of the Holocaust in the three examples which are most relevant for you. Additionally, note 3 questions that arise from your notes that you want to discuss in the workshop.

Assignment for students taking ECTS credits 

Please write an essay (400 words) on one of the three examples and answer the question in which ways images and text influence the perception of the Holocaust and memory of children within the genocide. Please send the essay until June 25, 2024 to ada.bieber@hu-berlin.de

Tattooed bodies already appear in early non-fiction books for children and young/juvenile people, but in the last few years in particular, a striking number of them have appeared on the children's book market. In this workshop we will explore the forms and functions of tattoos and tattooing in picturebooks and illustrated children’s literature. Among other things, we will discuss in which books and on which bodies tattoos can be seen and how the perception of tattoos and tattoos themselves have changed.

Required reading

Kloß, Sinah Theres (2019): 'Indelible Ink'. In: Tattoo Histories. Transcultural Perspectives on the Narratives, Practices, and Representations of Tattooing. New York: Routledge, 3-30

Preparatory task for all participants

Please search for tattoos and tattooing in picturebooks and children’s book illustrations, especially from your home country.

Baby books (including early-concept, concept, ABC, and counting books), are most often analysed in terms of their impact on the cognitive development of their readers. Only recently has more attention been given to their aesthetic properties in a special issue of “Children’s Literature in Education” titled “Aesthetic Approaches to Baby Books” published in November 2023. However, there is still much more to investigate concerning this type of book for very young children (i.e., under the age of 3).

The workshop aims to discuss the ideology in baby books. We will examine works from diverse cultural backgrounds, delving into the ideological layers of selected titles, methods to identify them, and potential impacts on both baby and adult readers. We will analyse various baby books covering diverse topics that participants will bring to the classroom and conduct a detailed analysis of one particular baby book. As a result, participants will gain a heightened awareness of baby books as diverse, complex, and not so innocent types of picturebooks.

Required reading list

Beauvais, Clémentine. ‘A is for Aesthetics: The Multisensory Beauty of Baby Books’. Children’s Literature in Education 54.3 (2023): 287–293 (Available here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-023-09550-y)

Kümmerling-Meibauer, Bettina and Jörg Meibauer. ‘Early-Concept Books and Concept Books’. The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks. Ed. Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer. New York: Routledge, 2018. 38–48. (Available on Blackboard)

A baby book of your choice, preferably in your language or from your country. Bring a hard copy (or take pictures of it) so you can share it with others during the workshop.

Preparatory task for all participants

Read Clémentine Beauvais’s essay and reflect on your attitude towards baby books: Do you read/use/investigate them? Why or why not? Next, read Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer and Jörg Meibauer’s chapter on early-concept and concept books, and make notes useful for analysing baby books, paying attention to terms such as ‘categorisation’ and ‘prototype’. Finally, take a closer look at a baby book of your choice (preferably in your language/from your country) and reflect on it: Is there something funny, strange, surprising, or disturbing? Why? Come to the workshop with a hard copy of that book (or take pictures of it) and be prepared to share your thoughts with others.

Assignment for students taking ECTS credits

Referring to secondary source(s) from the reading list, analyse the ideology in a baby book of your choice, preferably in your language/from your country. Focus on verbal and visual strategies used to convey values and worldviews you identified in the book. The text should not exceed 700 words, but feel free to include any number of images. Send the Word or Pages file to km.rybak@uw.edu.pl before July 14th.

When asked to conjure images of Canada most people would think of idealised pictures of natural landscapes: majestic national parks and mountain peaks, wild forests, sprawling prairies and lakes. However, whilst Canada’s natural wonders are famous world-wide, most Western Europeans have little knowledge of the history of colonialism and the past realities that have shaped Indigenous and settler existence in Canada.

Certain aspects of history are complex, nuanced and controversial. Residential schools represent just a single component of the settler colonial system, often consigned to history books, if acknowledged at all, and largely overlooked, out of sight in the fabric of common knowledge. The legacy of Indian residential schools remains a controversial subject in Canadian history. It can be a very sensitive subject and it is important to approach this topic with respect.

In this workshop we will analyse a sample of Indigenous picture books and stories and read them as ways to enable younger audiences and generations to engage with the history of Canadian residential schools in a decolonial manner. All the picture books offer stories that talk about the strength and survival of those who suffered the trauma and pain of residential school experiences (either first-hand or through close relatives). We will examine the narrative strategies used and look at how these stories deal with themes of displacement and reconciliation.

Participants will be asked to read books in advance in order to bring to the classroom their own insights and think about how to ethically engage with Indigenous stories. As a result, participants will gain critical literacy skills that encourage and develop reader ability to think “beyond” the text and raise awareness about the way picture books can be read as spaces of reconciliation by fostering dialogue and cultivating empathy in the reader.

Required reading list 

"Kill the Indian in him, and save the man": R. H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans

Excerpt from Captain Richard Henry Pratt's speech in which he used the now well-known phrase to describe his philosophy of assimilation. The speech was delivered in 1892 during the National Conference of Charities and Correction, held in Denver. Colorado. The ideas expressed in Pratt's speech are central to the development of the Carlisle Indian School (founded 1879) and other boarding schools across the country, which aimed to "civilize" and "Americanize" the Indian. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School (CIIS) served as the model for off-reservation boarding schools across the U.S. and Canada. 

For an introduction to Residential Schools read: Miller, J.R.. "Residential Schools in Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 11 January 2024, Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools. Accessed 12 March 2024.

Students should read at least two of the following books:

I Am Not A Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis & Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gillian Newland (2016).

Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton (2010).

Shi-shi-etko by Nicola I. Campbell (2005).

Stolen Words by Melanie Florence (2017).

Preparatory task for all students

Summarize the main points of Pratt’s argument. Why does he feel it is necessary and right to establish Indian schools to assimilate Native children? In what ways does his argument seem logical or illogical to you? In what ways does it seem morally sound or unsound?

Preparatory questions (to be discussed during the workshop):

• Had you heard about Indian Residential Schools?
• What were the goals of the residential schools?
• How were students at the residential schools affected by the neglect, abuse, and lack of affection?
• How have residential schools impacted the lives of Indigenous Peoples?
• Reflect on differences between Indigenous and Western worldviews. Think about how residential schools were imposed on Indigenous children, families, and communities
  

Post-reading activities:

1. Explain how/whether the book depicts the theme of reconciliation.

2. Provide two relevant passages/ quotations from the book.

3. Write down any questions that arise from your reading that you want to discuss in the workshop.

Further learning 

View the Interactive Map of residential schools in Canada at https://nctr.ca/records/view-yourrecords/archival-map/

Read the Summary of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report online at https://ehprnh2mwo3.exactdn.com/wpcontent/uploads/2021/01/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf

Assignment for students taking ECTS credits

Referring to the sources listed (and others if you wish), write an essay (around 500 words) on one, or more, of the books you have read, analysing both the text and images explaining how they depict the theme of reconciliation. You may want to use the following questions to help you: What narrative techniques are used by the authors? How are the stories told and illustrated for children? What relationships are created or re-created during the act of storytelling? What bonds are formed or rekindled through storytelling? Please send your final essay before 13 July 2024 to kerslake@ua.es

In American picture books, rarely have Black/African American children been depicted having immersive recreational experiences outdoors until recently. These picture books are now beginning to emerge, in part because of movements like Outdoor Afro and Black Folks Camp Too that focus on getting people of color involved in pursuits like hiking, camping, biking and skiing. Focusing on books such as Carmen Bogan and Floyd Cooper’s Where’s Rodney and Jennifer Mann’s The Camping Trip, Michelle H. Martin and J. Elizabeth Mills developed a literary framework that explores the commonalities among these books—a framework that can be used to evaluate these portrayals in new picture books of this genre. This session will explore books that have been published in the US since Martin and Mills’s 2022 Children’s Literature annual article was published--books that portray Black children enjoying nature and outdoors.

Required Reading

Martin, Michelle H. and J. Elizabeth Mills. “Welcoming Black Children intoLiterary Wildscapes: Wildness in African American Children’s Picture Books.” Children’s Literature 50 (2022): 269-95.

Martin, Michelle H. “Black Kids Camp Too . . . Don’t They?” Embracing ‘Wildness’ in Picture Books. The Horn Book (11 September 2019). https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=black-kids-camp-too

Preparatory task for all participants

If you can get the picture books that are featured in the article, read them. If not, I will try to make them available to you before the Institute, or bring them. If possible, please read and bring (digital books are ok) a picture book from your own country that you feel is representative of how young people are portrayed deliberately enjoying outdoor activities.

Assignment for students taking ECTS credits

Write a 2-4 page paper either about the diversity (or lack thereof) in books about children having immersive experiences outdoors in your country, using specific examples (preferably with images included) or choose one picture book in this genre and use Martin & Mills's framework for analyzing that picture book.