Week 10 - Final Project

My final project was a picturebook creation.  Attached is my powerpoint story, the same story in a movie format, and the activity guide to go with the book.

Timmy & Tilly Powerpoint Picturebook


Timmy & Tilly Video


Timmy & Tilly Activity Guide

Week 9 - Project Check In

Hello!  I have chosen to create a picturebook about a dog named Tilly.  I hope you like the story of my fur-family!

Also, here is my activity guide.

Summary

A little boy wants a pet dog and goes to the nearby animal shelter to adopt a pit bull.  His mother doesn’t approve, but the little boy’s stubbornness prevails and they adopt a pit bull named Tilly.  Tilly later on saves the boy from a potentially horrible situation on a walk one night.  This story shows how one boy and dog bond to become each other’s best friend.

Illustrations/Images

What were your reactions to the illustrations?  What kind of gaps does the illustrator leave for the reader to fill in?  How does the story flow from page to page?  Can you read the story just from the images?

Finding Details

How does the story flow from page to page?  Is the text or images placed in such a way that engages the reader to keep going?

Image Analysis

Choose one image to analyze and answer the questions below.

·        What colors dominate the image?

·        How is the image framed?  Why do you think this way?

·        Do the characters directly look at the reader? 

·        Look at the size and scale.  Does this make an impact in the story?

Building Vocabulary

What level reader do you think this book was written?  Find three words in the story that you do now know and look up their definition in a dictionary. 

Extending the Text

·        Why do you think the author dedicated this story to an actual pit bull named Tilly at the end of the story?

·        Research various animal shelters to find their goals, missions, history, and what it takes to help animals in need.  Write a report that summarizes the animal shelter to include its goals and functions. 

Topic Study

Read The Stray Dog by Marc Simont

Read Bash and Lucy Fetch Confidence by Lisa and Michael Cohn

Compare and contrast the main character dogs in all three books.  How are they alike?  How are they different?  How did each child find their new pet dogs?  What kinds of activities did each child and dog do together?  What do you think you could say about each dog and family?

Week 8 Picturebook Creation

Please click below to view my picturebook. (The embed code was not accessible.)

Life Poem Picturebook


Analysis
1. Identify the image that in your opinion is the most effective in developing the story as a whole. and explain why it was effective.   Did the image and written narrative interact in a way the created irony, metaphor and/or metonymy?

I chose this image as the cover page and the picture that is most effective in developing the story as a whole because it shows people of different ages discovering and engaged in finding something new. I think it represents the poem well in the way that it relates finding the secret to life that has to be discovered by each person in order to find happiness. I believe the image does create metonymy because it connects possibilities for life with the orbs of light and the fascination created by discovering new secrets in life.

2. Explain how two or more elements in the illustration help support and develop the story. 
The elements that are shown in this image are color and composition of the image itself.  The color is soft and in the warm color family of oranges, yellows, red, and browns.  The colors support the warmth that can be felt with discovering new possibilities as well as positive attitude.  The image itself focuses on the orbs of light which can represent many different ideas to each person in the picture and can have different interpretations, which relates to the poem about each person discovering their own secrets in the world.

3. Identify two elements that are repeated throughout a majority of the images. Explain how these elements support the story.
Color - the images all have a color scheme that is repeated throughout the picturebook.  Also, the way that the colors are used to highlight the people or idea in each picture is carried throughout each image.

Size/Scale - Each image has a direct correlation to size and creating an emphasis on the enlarged/reduced focal point.  For instance, the third page shows people, the sky, and a giant tree with the people being significantly reduced to emphasize the possibility of numerous secrets represented by the vastness of the sky and the size of the tree.

Week 7 - Picturebook Analysis

Math Curse
Written by Jon Scieszka
Illustrated by Lane Smith
used with permission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_Curse#mediaviewer/File:Mathcurse.jpg




Text 
1. The text of a children's book is usually organized into simple sentences and short paragraphs. How is the text organized in the book that you have chosen to review? Explain whether this organization was sufficient for the story that this book is telling. 
The text in this book is organized in short and simple sentences.  The math problems are always illustrated in a text box with numbered problems.  The way the text is organized is sufficient because it is clear and concise.  The text is also bold and easy to recognize.

 

2. Children's book authors often employ literary tools to help make the story more vivid in the readers minds. Commonly used literary tools are rhythm, alliteration, repetition, refrains, onomatopoeia, simile, personification, rhyme, and imagery. Identify three different areas in the text where a literary tool has been employed. For each example you identify, state the type of literary tool that is used and how the employment of the tool helps support the story. 
Example 1:  Rhythm.  The way the text is read is written to create a type of rhythm, especially in the word problems.  Usually when one is anxious or overthinking things as the main character in Math Curse does, the text takes on a rhythm as the words and problems are read.


Example 2:  Repetition.  There is the story line followed by at least two or more problems for each new school event such as at the bus stop, at lunch, in class.


Example 3:  Imagery.  Throughout the entire book, the problems are included in the images.  Also, when the boy realizes he is in a math curse, he sees math problems spiraling down towards him.  Another instance is his lunch dilemma of pizza and pie for lunch and how much should he eat.  The image in the book shows his head with his eyes showing pizza and pie fractions.

 

3. Identify two areas in the text that use a question or other device to help move the reader to the next page. 
In the book, there are little bonus questions.  The bonus questions occur twice and they keep the story moving by asking the reader questions to answer that relate to the math curse the character is in.
The second instance where a device is used is how the text is arranged.  In the middle of the book the text wraps entirely around two full pages and makes the reader turn the book to be able to read the text. 

 

Images

1. Some picture books have an images on the front cover that presents the main conflict or point of the story. Identify two or more elements from the front cover of the book you are reviewing and explain how they relate to the story. 
The images on the front cover show math symbols and numbers used in the book and are arranged on the perimeter of the cover image.  The inside area of the front cover image is the character spiraling down a spiral of numbers, evoking a sense of becoming consumed by the math and problems.  The back cover shows all the answers to the problems in the story.

 

2. What is the primary medium (collage, drawings, photographs, etc.) used in the images? 
The primary medium used in the images is drawings that look like collages, with some uses of actual collages such as the birthday graph on pages 7 and 8 (although there are no page numbers).

 

3. Identify the image that in your opinion is the most effective in developing the story as a whole. Explain how two or more elements in the illustration help support and develop the story. If you can, insert a screenshot of the image into your blog.

The image that I feel captures the story is when the boy has a dream that he is stuck in an eternal math problem.  The elements present in this image are the spiraling text that goes all the way around the two pages and the fact that the pages are covered in math numbers, symbols, and problems.

 

4. Identify two elements that are repeated throughout a majority of the images. Explain how these elements support the story. If you can insert a screenshot into your blog.

The main character is present in almost every image on the pages.  He is also depicted as showing confusion and an overwhelmed feeling due to all the math problems in his life.  The second element in the images are the numbers in the problems.  Each image has numbers or symbols associated with math as either the focus such as the eyes of the boy at lunch or in the background.  These elements support the story because it is the boy who is in the math curse and the numbers and symbols are directly connected to the topic of math.

 

5. Find an example of how the images and text work together to create irony,metaphor and/or metonymy. If you can insert a screeenshot of the image into your blog. 

The boy puts a hole on the wall and jumps out of his math curse dream.  The next page shows him with a smile and the words "I'm free."  the page on the left is completely black except for the white text and the page with the boy on the right is completely white with black text.  This shows metonymy because it's connecting dark, depressing colors of black and the idea of needing an escape with the images and text on the left page.  On the right page, the color of white connects hope, happiness, and freedom from the math curse and the joy with completing escape from a terrible thing.

Characterization 

1. What is the easily identifiable dominant trait of the story's main character? 
The dominant trait of the main character is that he is a student that listens to his teacher and maybe overthinks statements.

 

2. Identify a character trait of the main character that is established through the text. 

The trait the character establishes through the text is his notion of recognizing math problems in everyday life.

3. Identify a character trait of the main character that is established through the images. 
The trait that is established through the images is his anxiety over finding all these math problems and trying to solve some of them. His facial expressions are drawn in such a way that you can easily identify his level of anxiety and confusion with the problems.

 

4. Identify two character traits of the main character that young children identify or sympathize with. 
Sadly, most students believe they are not good in math and so students can easily identify with the character's pension for not solving the problems.  Also, his feelings of anxiousness and hopelessness can be identified with students who get frustrated with math and it's many problems and types of problems.  Another instance where children can identify with is his schedule.  The main character is in school, with a teacher, and has multiple classes and lunchtime with friends.  Students everywhere understand this schedule and recognize when they have their time for free time such as lunch and spending time with friends.

 

5. What was the main problem that the main character faces in the book? How is this problem similar to a problem that most children have faced before? 
The main problem the character faces in the book is that he sees everything as a math problem after his math teacher suggests everything can be viewed as a math problem.  This challenge is similar to children's experiences because the problems in the book contain problems that they encounter on a daily basis such as time and money.

 

6. Sometimes a children's book character will solve the main conflict on his or her own. How did the character in the book you selected turn to self-reliance to solve the main conflict of the story?
The boy solved his own math curse by realizing he knew the answer to 1/2 plus 1/2 equals a whole which he then translated whole to hole and drew a hole to climb out of his math curse.  The little boy realized he could solve his math problems and was able to escape his math curse by simply doing the math.

Week 6 - Analyzing Visual Images and Design in Picturebooks

Begin by considering the format of the images and their placement in the picturebook

• Where is the text located? Within the image? Separated by borders or white space, Why?
• The text is located on the right side of the screen.  The text is always black lettering on white background.  I think this is to emphasize the text because the typography of the letters plays a role in the book.
• Are the illustrations double page spreads, single page images, collages, overlapping images, or portraits?
• It is hard to tell what is the exact locations of the images because it is an electronic version, but for the most part I would say the images are single page images.  I did see some portrait and landscape type of images.
• Consider the series of images in the picturebook. Do the images change over the course of the book? Do they get bigger, smaller, change?
• The images do change through the course of the book depending on which character is telling their side of the story.  Some images do get bigger such as the mother screaming for her son and the image where the two children are standing under the trees.

 

Select an image from Voices In The Park to consider. Use the following questions to guide your analysis.  Take a Screen Shot of the Image and embed the image in your blog. 

 

What is fore-grounded and in the background?

The foreground has the mother and her dog and the other character's dog's snout in the front.  In the background is the park with trees, buildings, a walking path, and people walking on the path.

 

Consider the path your eyes follow as you approach the image. What catches your eye first? Why is that element salient?

The first thing I notice is the woman's red hat.  I believe this is the most notable because it is located near the center, is a vibrant red color, and is angled toward the dog. I believe this element is most salient because it is on the character whose point of view we are reading first, and it is a bright red color.

What colors dominate the image? What effect does this have on you as reader?

The colors that dominate the image are red, blue, and green.  As a reader, they garner my attention first since they are the most dominant and bright colors on the page.

 

Consider the use of white (negative) space. Are the illustrations framed or full bleed? How does this position you as a viewer?

The illustration is framed in this page.  As a viewer, it positions me to look at the items in the picture, similar to a framed picture in your home.  You look at the items inside the framed border.

What is the reality value or level of abstraction? Are the images life-like or stick figures?

 The reality value is high because the situation the character is engaged in is an everyday occurance for many people, taking their dog to the park and letting them off of the leash.  The characters are lifelike but not exactly.  The images have a stylized appeal.  In addition, the "person" is a gorilla, which is being portrayed as a human.  The book has clear personification with the gorillas as the main characters.

Are there any recurring patterns in the images?

 The only reoccurring pattern that could be depicted in the image is the element of line.  The shadows from the characters and animals is shown, the line of the sidewalk, the lines of trees being off to the right a little, the buildings create vertical lines, the lamppost creates a line, the horizon creates a line, the red had creates a line to the dog, the dog's back creates a line to the snout of the black and whit dog.

Are there any anomalous elements? Things that stick out, or seem out of place? Are these important to consider?

There are no out of the ordinary elements in the picture.

What is the artist trying to get you to look at through leading lines, colors, contrast, gestures, lighting?

I think the artist is wanting the viewer to look at the gorilla, dog, and second dog the most.  The lines in the picture keep the eye moving, but the main focus is on the character and her dog.  The use of color is shown by the boldness of the gorillas hat and coat in relation to the subdued colors of the grass and the dog.

 

Are there any recurring symbols or motifs in the images?

 There are no recurring symbols or motifs present in this image.

Consider the style or artistic choices? Are the appropriate, and how do they add to the meanings of the picturebook?

 The style is consistent throughout the picturebook.  Here, the style and artistic choices are shown with the colors used to draw attention to the character.  Furthermore, the choice of using gorillas as the characters and not actual people shows a deliberate choice, since all the other images and dogs are somewhat set in reality.  (Meaning, the gorilla is acting like a person, and the dogs and setting are normal in the real world.)

How are the images framed? Are there thick borders or faded edges?

The images are framed with a watercolor type of border.  There is a clear distinction between the illustration and the page, but the viewer has to deliberately look at the border to see that it is a border.  The border is somewhat thin and very close in color to the page color.

 

Consider the setting of the story. How is this realized in the images? Realistically? Metaphorically?

The setting of the story is strongly shown in this image.  The story takes place in a park, and that is exactly where this image takes place.   The park is shown realistically because there is green grass, a walking trail, trees, and of course the dogs.

Consider size and scale. What is large? Why are certain elements larger than others? Does this add to meanings of power, control?

The size and scale of the gorilla and the dogs is much bigger because they are in the foreground of the picture.  The one item that may be shown larger than it would be usually would be the red had the lady is wearing.  The enlarged hat could mean that she is in charge and in control since the hat is larger and it is red in color.

Consider the viewers point of view. Do characters directly gaze or address the viewer? Are the characters close up or distanced? How does point of view add to relationships with the characters?

The characters do not directly gaze or address the viewer.  The characters are usually shown at a reasonable distance, not too close and not too far away.  The use of point of view is shown by the characters being farther or close to the viewer and helps to illicit a greater response.  The image where the mother gorilla screams for her son is great big and very close to the viewer.  This closeness and size of the gorilla makes the viewer more aware of the situation and feel the emotions the mother is feeling (terror, anxious, worried) when she realized she had lost sight of her son.

The point of view adds to the viewers experience because it can draw in the viewer to understand better the relationship or action that is happening in the story.