Picture Book Analysis

Eric Carlewww.eric-carle.com/home.html

The book is written simply and is easy for younger children to understand. Through out the book, the pages start very small and eventually reach full size creating a staggering effect. This is a great visual and a way to get the reader to interact with the story as the catepillar eats through the days of the week. The story flows page by page and the character goes through changes from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

The cover of the book is big and bright. The cateepillar is green and red on a white background which makes the colors pop. The text is a simple black with clear font. The pages are fun and staggard showing different fruits with holes in them making them entertaining and interesting for young children.The text in the book is short and simple. Despite it's simplicity, the text conveys it's message. This book is simple but bright and pleasing to the eye.

Overall Picturebook Design

At first glance the book is bright, simple, and the artworlk will catch anyones eye. Typically, this book is a boardbook, perfect for young children. The end pages are decorated with bight dots on the bottom half og the page with the title of the book above that. This continues the trend of right colors on the white background. There are many different versions of this book as well. Including paperback, pop up, and playbooks.

Pretextual Elements

The authors style is very distinctive. He uses a collage tecnique with hand-painted paper. His work is very bright and very clear. The text is bold and black amoungst the bright color of the illustrations. The text and the illustrations constrast visually however, they work together seamlessy. Bothe the words and the text work together to create a story, as they should within a picture book. What makes the text and illustrations so eye catching is the white background. The author knew this and uses this format for many of his other works.

Elements of Design

Narrative Elements

This image is in the middle of the book and lists a variety of different foods the catepillar eats. The image works with the text to give the list a perfect visual of what the catepillar eats. The image is a full spread across two pages. It is very bright and clear, making it pop. The text is set above the illustration in black on the white background making it stand out against the brightness.

The story's prominate character is the catepillar. He goes through changes through out the book including getting fat, going into a cacoon, and eventually becoming a butterfly. This is a great way to teach children about a catepillar's lifecycle. The book also lists the days of the week which can become another learning opprotunity for young chidren. The illustrations are the focus point of this story as Carle's style is so unique. However, the book is written well and the story compliments his illustrations very well. The book flows with every turn of the page and the staggered pages is a fantastiv visual tool. As the prominate character is a caepillar there is a great absence of gender, race, and ethnicity. The foods used are basic foods that can be recognized around the world, therefore it can be read by almost any child of any culture.

Critical Analysis