Master Studies of Picture Books

I learned about  Master Studies of Picture Books from awesome Arree Chung's Storyteller Academy class, and It was helpful to understand my favorite picture books.
I would like to share my studies of Good Night, Gorilla , Little Blue Truck and Where the Wild Things Are.  Hope you enjoy and try for your favorite books too!

Title: Good Night, Gorilla

Words by: Peggy Rathmann

Pictures by: Peggy Rathmann

Year: 1994

Publisher: Putnam's Sons, Board Books

1. Characters : Gorilla, Zoo Keeper, His Wife, and Zoo animals

2. Location : Zoo and Zoo keeper's house

3.Time : Evening to Night

4. Problems : Gorilla opens doors of zoo gates.

5. ll/Esc* : All animals escape from their cages and go to Zoo Keeper's bedroom.

6. Resolution : Zoo keeper's wife walks back with the animals to their cages.

7. Concept : It satisfies children desire to sleep with their parents even though their parents want their children to sleep in their own room.

8. Successful : My son laughs when the wife finds out the animals sleep with her in the dark and he calls the wife, "Mommy'. and Zoo keeper, "Daddy." the pictures in the room shows relationship between the couple and animals which is like parents and children.

Beautiful lighting and color remind me impressionism. It scarifies one page with solid black.  Background sets in the picture also tells stories without words. - example, photos of baby animals on the wall. Female character takes care of the mess.  Little banana and mouse interaction is fun to watch. The book shows all animals in every pages even if they only show a part of their bodies.  My son loves finding a balloon, and he never gets bored. Gorilla is funny and he talks to readers with his gesture.

9. Unsuccessful : First, I thought Zoo keeper character is weak, but, I think the author mean to do that to make female character stronger character.

Title: Little Blue Truck

Words by: Alice Schertle

Pictures by:Jill McElmurry

Year: 2008

Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

1. Characters : Blue Truck, Yellow Truck, Frog and Farm animals ( Cow, Chicken and etc)

2. Location : Farm

3. Time : Day time

4. Problems: Mean Yellow truck gets stuck in the mud.

5. ll/Esc : No one wants to help mean Yellow truck but Blue truck. Since Blue truck helps yellow truck, everyone helps Blue truck to rescue Yellow truck.

6. Resolution :Tiny frog pushes everyone and Yellow truck is rescued. ( I like the joke.)

7. Concept : Be good to everyone , then they will help you when you are in trouble.

8. Successful : Beautiful art brush strokes, character designs and funny frog's gestures. It shows how to help friends. Blue color of the truck is unique. ( It is not typical red.)

9. Unsuccessful : Typical story line and expected ending. It is little preachy.

Title:Where the Wild Things Are

Words by: Maurice Sendak

Pictures by: Maurice Sendak

Year: 2012

Publisher: HarperTrophy

1. Characters: Max, Mom and Monsters

2. Location: Max's room, Imaginary Monsters World

3. Time : Late afternoon to late evening.

4. Problems : Max misbehaves and he is angry with his mom.

5. ll/Esc : Max leaves home and went to imaginary world. Then he becomes a king.

6. Resolution : Max misses home and comes back. And dinner is waiting for him.

7. Concept : Max runs away from home and makes new cool monster friends who accept and admire Max's misbehaving. But he learns that he misses his  mom and comes home.

8. Successful : The story satisfies children's ego. They want to be free. The soup replaces Mom character in the picture. I am glad that there is not a single picture of mom. It is not too preachy and tells the story from children's point of view. Strong beautiful wild monsters designs,and unique layout are successful. Why max is wearing a costume? I think this is the most successful element because it created iconic character in the picture book history.

9. Unsuccessful : I can't find any.

II* = Inciting Incident (The event that starts the story.)
Esc = Escalation (How one event causes a bigger event that causes another bigger event.)




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