The Runaway Bunny written by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated by Clement Hurd is a classic picture book that has been loved by many, and will continue to influence future generations. This book should receive the Caldecott award because the pictures throughout the novel vary and reinforce the story. The Caldecott award is given to the artist that creates the most distinguished illustrations for a picture book. Clement Hurd uses a variety of artistic media, including paintings and drawings throughout the story. Every page that contains text features a sketch or drawing, while the following page is a full painting that reinforces the text. On the pages with text, Hurd choses to use a drawing of the Bunny and his mother in black and white which leaves white space for the child’s imagination to expand. While on the following two-page layout there is no text and no white space, these pages recreate what the Bunny says he will do. For example: the bunny says he will become a sailboat to sail away from his mother and the mother says she will become the wind and blow the Bunny, on the following page the Bunny is literally a sail boat, with his ears as the sail and the mother is a cloud blowing the wind. This reflects Hurd’s ability to unify elements on each succeeding page. Hurd’s acrylic paintings that take up the full two-page spread appeal with basic, earthy colors and simple lines. The colors that Hurd choses to use are very natural and reflect the story of a bunny’s adventure, while the lines are mostly horizontal and create a sense of peace. For these artistic techniques, Clement Hurd should be the next recipient of the Caldecott award.
After completing the unit on picture books, one of the major concepts that I took away from the reading was the importance of the elements of design. This was important to me because they really assist in the creation the meanings within a picture book. The elements of design include line and shape, color, value, space, perspective or point of view, and composition. Each of these elements reflects the artists’ choices and conveys a meaning within the images/story. Although I never really considered the importance of images within picture books, they defiantly hold a key role in the comprehension of the story. The four basic modes between picture and text interact are: reinforcing, description, reciprocal, and establishing. Any of these four roles allow the student or reader to better comprehend the story, and comprehension is a very important factor in education. It was insightful to look deeper into the meanings behind the images, and figure out what the elements of design are bringing to the story because it expands my knowledge of a “good picture book”. It was also interesting that the language or vocabulary within the picture books are sometimes at a much higher level then expected. This is because children are often being read these stories rather then reading themselves. Since the vocabulary is not oversimplified, the students are able to expand their knowledge and the author is able to convey a much deeper message.
The stories that I selected for this unit were The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown and pictures by Clement Hurd (selected for literary analysis), Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr.Seuss, Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin and pictures by Harry Bliss, If an Elephant went to School by Ellen Fischer and illustrations by Laura Wood, Whiffy Wilson the Wolf Who Wouldn’t go to School by Caryl Hart and Leonie Lord, and the two required stories Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. All of these stories were very insightful into the realm of picture books, and very extremely enjoyable.
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O'Neil, K. (2011). Reading Pictures: Developing Visual Literacy for Greater Comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 65(3), 214-223. doi:10.1002/TRTR.01026
The Randolph Caldecott Medal. (n.d.). Retrieved September 16, 2015, from