Visual Literacy as a Great Value to English Learning - Case Study Example

Introduction ANALYSIS ASSESSMENT TASK-LOOK, A BOOK! Introduction Stories can be toldin a picture book by use of words and pictures. The use of stories and pictures make important contribution on how the story is told and the meaning created. The use of visual and verbal narratives in book format is for the purpose to reach young children. The picture books use different materials such as paints acrylics, water color and pencil. The picture book is unique because neither words alone nor pictures can tell the story. The picture is so important that sometimes words are dropped and pictures alone are sued to tell the story. Picture books are so important and they have become so common and are used to deal with controversial and complex issues important to a mature audience. The books are also important in promoting core values useful in curriculum. the books also enhance thoughtful thinking in arrange of issues. Which is important in helping students attain visual literacy which is great value to English Learning Picture books have several qualities. As an aesthetic for example, different elements are often used to illustrate the aesthetic part of the picture. These include color, lines, shape, texture and sometimes, page breaks and turns, borders and breaking the frame, relationship of words and picture, and connection of other works of art. The illustrations in the picture book are meant to be seen in sequence. However, it is only possible to see one at a time. Color as has natural associations. Red, for example is a symbol  for excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, all things intense and passionate.   Pink symbolizes love and romance, caring, tenderness, acceptance and calm. Ivory symbolizes quiet and pleasantness. Beige symbolizes calm and simplicity. Yellow symbolizes, joy, happiness, betrayal, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, gold, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard and friendship. Blue symbolizes peace, tranquility, cold, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, technology, depression, appetite suppressant.   Turquoise symbolizes calm. Purple symbolizes royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, and mourning.   Lavender symbolizes femininity, grace and elegance. Orange symbolizes energy, balance, enthusiasm, warmth, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant, demanding of attention.  Green symbolizes nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, vigor. Brown symbolizes, earth, stability, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, simplicity, and comfort. Grey symbolizes security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, sadness, boring. Silver symbolizes calm. White symbolizes, reverence, purity, birth, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical. Black symbolizes, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, anonymity, underground, good technical color, mourning, death (Western cultures).  Illustrator’s use of these associations will therefore depend on their cultural background. Colors have three aspects; hue, tone and saturation. Unlike in novels in which words flow from one page to the other, the page breaks are considered very important in picture books. Authors, illustrators and editors, pay close attention to the page breaks. Babra. B, (1976), suggests that the page breaks bring about the excitement and aesthetic of a picture book. The picture book, Look A BOOK! by Libby Gleeson and Frey Blackwood, contains a sequence of pictures that tells a certain story of two children who found a red book in a dusty floor. In the first picture, the two children a boy in a white shirt and a pair of green shorts and a girl in a green dress with white dots are looking at a green book on the floor. A woman pushing her baby on a baby trolley with her dog behind her, do not seem to be interested in the book, therefore, passes by the it without  paying any attention to it. The two children return to the sight they had left it, and after a thorough such, found it the same place they had left it. The young girl picks it, and they climb in a secret hilly place to read it. While on the hilly place, the girl refuses to share reading it with the boy. Since the place is dangerous, and either of them can fall, the boy decides to let her read it alone. They decide to go home with the book, after the boy had advised the girl not to leave it behind, where the dust will not blow on it, the dog chew on it nor the rain will fall on it. As they sail to the other side of the river, unfortunately, the book drops in the river. They start looking for it but they could not see it since it had sunk down into the water. They then decide to dive into the river and fortunately found it at the bottom of the river. The picture story ends with the two children together holding the book and keeping it closer to avoid losing it again.     In image 16 on the Look, A BOOK! a young girl of around age nine and a boy of around age twelve are shown swimming towards the bottom of a river. Both are focused to reach a book which is inside a cracked bottle. The bottom of the river appears to be very dangerous due to the presence of the cracked plastic container, a glass bottle and other objects that can be seen lying next to the glass bottle. The green dress the girl is putting on, symbolizes her fertility, nature,  healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, inexperience, jealousy ,misfortune, and vigor while the white dots on her dress symbolizes her purity and cleanliness. The boy on the other hand is Peaceful, tranquil, cold, calm, stabile, harmonious, trustworthy, truthful, confidence, conservative, secure, clean, orderly, loyal, pure and depressed. This is vividly illustrated by his blue pair of shorts and his white shirt. They are swimming towards a cracked bucket that contains a red book. The book must be containing exciting, powerful and passionate information as illustrated by its red cover. They are motivated in getting the book and keeping it safe, despite the fact that, it is too dangerous at the bottom of the river since they may drown in the river or get cuts on their bodies from the cracked bucket that contains the book and the bottle at the bottom of the river. Their focus is on the book, and they are not interested in anything else, hence both are looking directly at the book. The information in the book, seem to be very important, interesting and exciting to them that their desire is to have the book and take it to a safer place, where they can read it together, and nobody will disturb there peace. The two children are imagining of how they will get the book and have it safe. This is illustrated by the second picture beside them that shows a hilly place and part of the girl’s dress and her leg. In image seventeen, the first picture shows, the girl on top of the hill, while the boy has climbed down the hill. They finally reached the place they had desired to be and yet they still do not have the book which is shown to be lying down in front of the boy. Both of them are keenly looking at the book. Their efforts, energy and attention are all towards the book. Hence both are looking at it. Though the path towards where the book is very rough with tyres and rocks and it seems to be at higher height from where the girl is, they have not yet lost hope and are still in the search of the book. Finally, they get to where the book is, picked it up and they are both looking at it. The girl has now agreed to share it with the boy and both seem to be very excited and anxious of what the book contains. They are both holding it tightly so that they do not lose it again and to enable them to read and share the exciting and highly pleasurable information in the book. The words ‘let’s hold it close’ further illustrates how the two children yearn to have the book they had looked for a long time and keep it safe. They  do not want to lose it anymore  to avoid the hard search they had underwent, instead they would like to read it and share the information it contains. Finally, their imagination and dream has been realized.  Conclusion Look, A Book! is a picture book by Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood. Set in an underprivileged society as illustrated by the state of the environment they are in. Two children; a boy and a girl, discover a book lying in the dust. Dreary surrounds become magical scenes of wonder, as the children’s imagination transforms their reality. On their journey, they sail through dust, float in a teacup and ride on top of a plastic bottle. The minimal text set among the whimsical illustrations teaches younger readers about the magic of imagination that can stem from reading a book. References Kress, G. & Van Leeuwen(2006). Narrative Representation: Designing Social Action. Routledge, London. Nodelman,P. & Reimer, M.(2003). The Pleasures of Children’s Literature: Allan and Bacon, Boston. Nikolajeva, M& Scott, C .(2001). Introduction: How picturebook work. Garland, Newyork. Painter, C.(2007). Children’s Picturebook Narratives: Reading sequence of images. Continuum, London. Sipes, L.(2011). Qualities of  Picturebooks: The picturebook as an aesthetic object. Routledge, New York.   Read More