Running to freedom

Front cover

Underground by Shane W. Evans recently won The Coretta Scott King Book Award, which is given to African American authors and illustrators for outstanding inspirational and educational contributions. I'm writing about it in my blog for I find it visually fascinating, and it awoke a curiosity I could not shake.  I've already  written about a picturebook which could be read and shared with a view to talking about historical events, The Rabbits, and Underground is another  such title.  Based on the Underground Railroad,  a complex network of people, who helped slaves escape to freedom during the 1800's, it tells the story of how people got to freedom. A minimal verbal texts is accompanied by fabulous  illustrations, achieved with a mixture of collage and paintwork. Evans uses a very blue pallet, a night blue, dusky and dark yet everything is clearly visible in its blueness. This blue is  partnered with subtle uses of white, sharply cut bits of white.  Yellow appears too, moving from representing captors' windows and flaming torches to highlighting and shining upon conductors (those who helped the slaves) and the colour of day and freedom all in one.

Back cover

The picturebook: The front cover portrays fleeing slaves, dark and sinister, the whites of their eyes accentuating their look of fear.  Rays of light emanate from behind them, rays of hope possibly. The back cover is not part of a continuous picture, but instead the ending. The endpapers are plain dark blue, the colour of night and as we turn the pages we pass the title page, different only in that it is painted blue and there are a number of stars scattered across it.
The first opening also contains the copyright information and a dedication, those dark skinned faces from the front cover appear again, only just visible. We might not know what this story is about, but already we are apprehensive. 

Opening 2

Whisper this spread, "The escape.": the leading figure has his finger on his lips as the three creep away.  The whites of their eyes shining out at us, looking left, looking right, looking left.  In the background you can see the light shining from a curtainless window of the owners' house, that together with the light of the thin crescent moon casts a thin shadow across their bodies. 
And so each spread opens onto more dark, dusky blue. Shadowy figures hunched across the pages, "We are quiet."...

Opening 4

The yellow in this spread accentuates "The fear." It touches each runaway face like orange tinged caresses, but they remain hidden. Is the torch bearer friend or foe? The sheriff in the background is sending his men elsewhere.  And so, "We run. We crawl."  ...  

Opening 7

"We rest." All but daddy who keeps his eyes open, watching. 
It seems like an endless night, but it must represent many nights. The next page turn shows us one of the conductors, those in safe houses who helped the fleeing slaves. 

Opening 8

"We make new friends:" The yellow light is welcoming, the runaways are inside safe.  But their journey continues. "Others help." "Some don't make it." "We are tired." and suddenly we turn the page ...

Opening 11

The yellow light shines as the day begins, lighting a huddle of people. It took me several views to realise that it is a woman and a makeshift mid-wife, for the woman is having a baby, her belly bulging, her bent knees highlighted by the sun. Man and children look on as the wife moans. 

Opening 12

"The light." The woman blinks as the light shines upon her face.  Is it the woman or the man who declare what's immanent?  Or is it the event of birth they are referring to? In Portuguese and Spanish when a woman gives birth they refer to the giving of the light (dar a luz). It's the beginning whatever it is, the light over a new horizon. As we turn the page, the triumphant father holds his child high up and the words tell us, "The sun."
The final opening is jubilant :..

Opening 14

"Freedom. I am free. he is free: She is free. We are free."

If we close the book and linger on the back cover, we realise now who the happy family depicted there is.  The newly born baby is the center of attention, a child born in freedom. 


Evans himself admits that for most of us it is difficult to imagine what being a slave was like, being owned by someone else, someone who dictated what you did, how you did it and when you did it.  It is possibly easier to 'relate to opening the door to assist someone.'  Many risked their own lives by aiding and abetting runaway slaves. This picturebook cleverly mixes the flight of the slaves with the assistance they were given.  Its shapes and colours share an emotion that touches all of us.  Could we use this picturebook with students learning history through English?  I'd like to think so.  


On a website about to this picturebook, Shane  W. Evans writes:

In so many ways the simplicity of this book says it all. This experience for me as an author and illustrator was one of the more dynamic experiences in my career. This journey for me was truly one through the lives of a people searching for freedom in their hearts and souls. These journeys lead me "home" in so many ways back to my own community today. If we look around us we can see the spirit of what this movement represented. The idea of freedom is a powerful one that in this world has a duality; this quiet journey of "underground" reflects that in a powerful way. This book not only pays homage to the many that decided to "steal away to freedom" in the 1800's, it pays homage to those that continue the fight for freedom today.

Rain, please rain.

Front cover

I've chosen Rain by Manya Stojic to celebrate recent rainfalls here in Portugal.  We've gone for nearly five months without any rain, and things were looking parched, plants were small and shriveled and the local farmers could be seen in huddles shaking their heads as they looked at the ground under their feet.  Some parts of Portugal had been rained upon, but not my bit, then a couple of days ago a great storm raged through the night and left everything humming and smelling delicious.  We all sighed happily.  I remembered this lovely picturebook, Rain, a gift from Opal Dunn, who has introduced me to so many picturebooks over the years. 

Rain was Manya Stojic's debut picturebook of over a decade ago.  The illustrations are bright, visibly made with large paint strokes that give the whole book a  feeling of immediacy and joyfulness.  The arm waving baboon on the front cover initiates the frivolity, you can almost hear him calling out happily, "Rain! Yeah!"

Each page and spread is painted right to the edges, this draws the reader into the narrative, and with every page turn we are carried out into an African savannah and feel the animals emotions as they sense the coming rain. 

Title page

Not only are the illustrations bold and bright in this picturebook, but it's a print salient picturebook - the verbal text is also big and bold.  Here on the title page we are shown an adult and baby baboon (the dedication above the illustration reads "In memory of my dad Lyuba with whom I enjoyed watching thunderstorms") and the words shout out at us, big and black.  This page we have to read, "Rain, written and illustrated by Manya Stojic"  What a great opportunity to talk about special picturebooks, created by one person. 

Opening 1

Turn the page and we see heat, sizzling heat.  The yellow grass is painted as though flickering flames and the sun in the top verso corner radiates across the pale blue sky.  Big black letters spell out "It was hot." 

Opening 2

On the next spread we are shown and told how the first of the animals sense the rain is coming. Thus begins a cumulative crescendo... "The rain is coming! I can smell it.  I must tell the zebras."  

Opening 3

Warning of rain comes with a flash of lightening, and the repetitive refrain, "The rain is coming!" (...) Porcupine can smell it. We can see it.  We must tell the baboons." 

Opening 4

With the roll of thunder, the baboons hear it and so our crescendo grows.  "Porcupine can smell it. The zebras can see it.  We can hear it. We must tell the rhino."  Notice that the animals in the three illustrations I've featured are shown in part, close up and even upside down. I really like this minimalist way of illustrating, and it doesn't stop children from understanding. 

Next we see a rhino, with large drops of rain - he feels it. "I must tell the lion."

Opening 6

Onto the lion, who lounges across the spread, tongue out. He can taste it.  

Lots of lovely repetition, which we can encourage children to chorus with us as we tell and retell. And then it rained and rained, black font against a painterly blue background. And what does rain bring?  

Opening 8

Lots of green, and even though the rain has stopped everything continues to grow, and so begins a second repetitive refrain beginning with the lion and going back through all the other animals: "I can't taste the rain now" ... "but I can enjoy the shade of these big, green, leaves." 

Opening 10

Lovely "cool, soft, squelchy mud."  Each animal reappears and delights in the results of the rain.  

Opening 11

The baboons eat fresh juicy fruit; the zebras have a refreshing drink, and the porcupine reminds us that even though he can no longer smell the rain, it will come back. 

And our narrative comes full circle, the sun dries everything up and ...

Verso back page

Wonderful in its visual representation of landscapes and animals, this picturebook is also especially good for young children who are beginning to notice print. Truely great for sharing. 

Copy Cat

Front cover

Copy Cat by Mark Birchall was sent to me by the publishers Child's Play at the end of last year, and I've been meaning to write about it ever since.  A lovely picturebook with a great little message and lots to see in the illustrations. 

"Cat was small and Dog was big, and whatever Dog did, Cat did too..."  Ever been 'copy catted'? This picturebook will go a long way in helping children overcome the frustration of 'putting up' with someone who's always around - it's a story about sharing, playing and being friends.

Back and front covers

Front and back covers make one complete picture, a bright blue sky and just the tips of a hills and mounts with occasional houses and trees on them. The title sits tightly in Cat's parachute, floating in behind Dog, already hinting at who copies who. But as we turn the pages, we'll discover that Cat is actually better than Dog, even if he is copying. Look at his happy face in comparison to Dog's, she looks plain scared!

End papers

The cameos of Cat and Dog on the endpapers continue to show us that Dog isn't as good as Cat at most things.  Cat can skate, Dog can't; Cat's plants grow strong and healthy, Dog's don't ... this message is shown in the illustrations only, throughout the picturebook, and I was left wondering if there is a deviousness to Mark Birchall's story, is he telling us boys are better than girls? That's one to wonder at!

Dedication and copyright page and title page

A fun set of dedications, imitating children's drawings and on the title page, our two characters are busy painting.  Cat copying Dog, but look, even here, Dog paints up side down, left to right, Cat paints upside down and right to left (even more skillful!).  This is a lovely title page, cleverly telling and showing. 

Opening 1

"Cat was small and Dog was big, and whatever Dog did, Cat did too." Dinosaur hunting.  Who saw the dino first?  Balancing on the hire wire, guess who is less wobbly! "'Copycat', said Dog."

Opening 3

They went digging for pirate treasure, and who finds it? Deep sea diving and off to the moon.  

Opening 6

It is here on the moon, that Dog really blew ... "Why must you always follow me?" Dog looks mad, and Cat does too (and in the background we can see that Dog didn't do too well at landing her red rocket).
Next day, Dog went dragon hunting (no Cat), then the day after she went looking for the North Pole (no Cat). She wanted to play soccer, but it's not much fun on your own, so she went to find Cat. 

Opening 9

Poor Cat, he had spots! So Dog looked after him, making him soup, giving him medicine and reading him stories and of course Cat got better.  So much better he went to find Dog, to play with. She wasn't anywhere to be found...

Opening 13

Dog was in bed with spots! Now who's a copycat? And of course Cat has to look after Dog now!   
There's a nice little final verso page, of the two friends, well and happy.  Dog leading with map in hand, but Cat knows the way, he can read the signs!  Off they go to The Great Unknown, together. 


It's a cute little book, nothing complex, just a good story, with a neat little message. The illustrations support the words, but if we look carefully they go beyond them - who really knows what to do and does it better?  But does it matter, as long as we do what we do with friends?

Jane the girl who followed her dreams

Front cover

Me ... Jane is a picturebook about the world famous Jane Goodall.  The author and illustrator, Patrick McDonnell, is the cartoonist who creates the MUTTS strips, and an animal lover inspired by Jane Goodall and her work. Selected as one of the three Caldecott Honour books in 2012 the blurb goes: "Watching the birds and squirrels in her yard, a young girl discovers the joy and wonder of nature. In delicate and precise India ink and watercolor, McDonnell depicts the awakening of a scientific spirit. A perceptive glimpse of the childhood of renowned primatologist Jane Goodall"

I was so pleased when the book arrived in the post, I wasn't sure if it would be suitable but I liked the idea of writing about a book which encourages children to follow their dreams, and Me ... Jane really is just perfect. 

Back cover

It's slightly longer than the average picturebook, 48 pages in all.  But ever page is worth its inclusion.  The book itself looks rather like one of those travel logs.  The front cover has a photo-like image of a blond haired girl holding a chimp (is it real?) stuck onto a background of delicately watercoloured animals in the jungle. If you turn over and look at the back cover this same girl is running, pulling her now obviously toy chimpanzee behind her, and simultaneously we see the real Jane and a real chimp, the dream come true.   

Front endpapers

The endpapers carry the mocca brown colour from the covers, a repeated doodle-like pattern with occasional paint smudges. Could they represent an African pattern?

Title page

The title page brings us back to the real Jane, hugging her toy gorilla, Jubilee.  There are a collection of different images on this page, giving us a taste of what we are likely  to find inside.  Talking about his choices of media and image, Patrick McDonnell says: "One of the things that makes Jane Goodall so special is that she has the mind of a scientist coupled with the heart of a poet. Her way of seeing the world unlocked groundbreaking work with chimpanzees. I wanted Me...Jane to represent these two characteristics. My more impressionistic watercolors evoke her poetic/humanistic soul, and the intricate 19th- and 20th-century engravings of fauna and flora represent her analytical thinking." We see both the watercolours and the engravings here.  

Opening 1

Opening 1 begins the rhythmic visual verbal pattern: recto watercolour and verso engraving and verbal text.  The engravings are sometimes so fine and light we need to peer closely to see them. For a classful of children this would mean leaving the picturebook in the classroom for them to browse through at their leisure, the illustrations certainly deserve of close scrutiny. The adult's arms presenting Jane with a gorilla are significant, McDonnell says: "It was Jane's father who gave her Jubilee in real life; in my book his hands also represent the hands of fate—which set Jane out on the journey of her life." Jane is seen alone in her world with Jubilee for the rest of the book.  Jubilee accompanies her on all the pages, for in real life he was her constant companion. We are shown Jane watching birds making nests, and squirrels climbing trees.  Jane loved the outdoors and when she wasn't outside she was reading about the outside.

Opening 5

Opening 5 is quite different, a page from Jane's own "The Aligator Society" magazine, with notes and sketches she made as a child. This is a lovely spread, and children will enjoy seeing what such a famous person did at their age. 

Opening 8

A cute story from Jane's childhood relates her hiding in Grandma Nutt's chicken coop to discover where eggs come from.  There are three double spreads in sequence which show Jane and Jubilee hiding and watching as a chicken lays an egg.  Each nicely demonstrates McDonnell's choice of watercolour and engraving coming together showing her humanistic soul facing her analytical thinking.: The first opening shows delicate engravings of chickens in the verso, the second a stopwatch with three bunches of wheat tied neatly, the third, seen in opening 8 above, neat rows of eggs.  Each recto the watercolour depiction of a small child entering a hen coop. 

Opening 9

The sequence of verso recto is suddenly broken again in the next opening, a double spread in watercolour with Jane embracing the world and its miracles.  Little chicks pecking on the grass around her, chicks hatched from the very eggs she watched being laid. 

Until now her life has been very much centered upon her own nearby world, but gradually we see her reading about far away places (sitting in her favourite tree called Beech), reading and rereading Tarzan and the apes. The engravings show wild animals...

Opening 12

But upon turning the page, we are told she dreamed of a life in Africa, and the these animals appear large as life in the watercolour recto, to be followed by a double spread all in watercolour of Jane swinging, Tarzan-like through the jungle. 

Opening 14

The following three spreads show Jane going to bed, tucking in Jubilee and falling asleep next to him.  She wakes not in her childhood bedroom but in a tent ...

Opening 17

for her dream has come true ...

Opening 18

The real life photo of Jane and a chimp emphasize the reality of everything.  The last opening a single verso is a sketch Jane made when she was first in the jungle, with notes on the art work that has appeared in the book. There's also an afterword by Jane Goodall, which inspires us all to follow our dreams...

"There are many people who have dreamed seemingly unattainable dreams and, because they never gave up, achieved their goals against all odds, or blazed a path along which others could follow ... They inspire me.  they inspire those around them."

The illustrations appear very faint in my photos, they are gentle illustrations and we do have to look closely to see everything, but it such a lovely picturebook and well worth sharing the message it brings with it.  A small group of children sitting close to the teacher could easily see the illustrations and be helped to talk about some of the things they depict.  Follow up activities could include discovering a little more about Jane Goodall, and the work she does. The Jane Goodall Institute celebrated its 35th anniversary this year.  There is loads to discover on the website by clicking on the links. Then children could investigate chimps and their habitats and possibly even look at engravings and see how they are made.  But  sharing this book and talking about its message is just as good.

The quotes from Patrick McDonnell come from an interview he gave, which can be found here.

The rabbits came many grandparents ago

Front and back covers

The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan is one of those picturebooks that leaves you gaping from a mixture of shock and admiration. It was the third picturebook illustrated by Shaun Tan to reach my bookshelf and to be featured on this blog.  I've featured The Lost Thing and The red tree. 

Both Marsden and Tan are Australians and through this picturebook make a very clear statement about cultural awareness, expertly creating an allegorical tale of colonialism. The Rabbits  has been used in secondary schools since it was published in 1998 in areas of the curriculum that include English, Art and Technology, Philosophy, History, Geography and Environmental Studies.  But has it been used in ELT?  Let's see if I can convince the readers of my blog to consider its possibilities.

I've taken a photo of the front and back covers together - the image is so powerful: a huge ship with a pointed, harpoon-like prow. Napoleon-like creatures stalk around on pin legs, we can't quite make out what they are... though from the title they have to be rabbits. That strip of red on the back cover is actually a collage, a piece of red cloth, fraying at the edges.  Could it be from the flags? Or from the invader's coat?  The words on this fraying piece read:

"The rabbits came many grandparents ago.

They built houses, made roads, had children.

They cut down trees.

A whole continent of rabbits ..."

The front endpapers

The endpapers are a calm blue-lilac.  Clean water, the home to graceful, long legged birds.  What a contrast to the front cover.  Is this the land these invaders have arrived at, that they will soon be invading? 

The half title page

The dark brown half title page imitates the format of a well known flag, with pen-inked squiggly writing and some sort of shield in the centre, superimposed over a map.  You can peer and peer, but nothing can be discerned or made out.  

The title page comes next: a ripped sheet of paper, covering that blue-lilac bird-filled lake. We can see that some of the paper has begun to soak up the water, turning the white into a creeping grey, the birds are moving away from us, their backs are turned and they are all looking to the right, they've seen something we can't see yet.   The white paper  is both a cover as well as a vehicle for the pond life, as flowers are growing from its edges and dragon flies hum towards the dedications. The title font, as on the front cover, is not quite normal, the 'e' has a strange wave under it and the 't' is uncharacteristic.  Are these letters from a past, letters that have changed over time to those we know and recognize today?

Opening 1

Opening 1 confirms our haunch, the birds are indeed fleeing, if the book had sound we would hear their calls of alarm, we would hear the snakes hiss in warning.  What is that strange black chimney in the horizon? What are the fossil-like shapes in the dark cave behind the snakes?  Does Tan want us to think of the time these fossils have taken to form? An age-old land.   We read an invisible narrator's words, "The rabbits came many grandparents ago". 

Opening 2

This illustration is of an immense land, home to tiny creatures, birds and insects.  It has been marked by the wheels of a strange machine, which we can just make out on the horizon.  Two worlds meet and wonder at each other: "They looked a bit like us ..."  they were creatures, they had ears and tails, but they wore clothes and had strange machines... "There weren't many of them. Some were friendly."

And soon more came, and the old people warned us all... "they came by water."  And we see the front and back cover as a spread, even more frightening now as we have begun the story, we know the significance of these strange creatures. 
We are told and shown how different they are:

Opening 5

"They didn't live in trees like we did. They made their own houses." This particular spread gives us information in layers. The slightly lighter blue strip at the top is the original layer and belongs to the narrators. They are sitting in their trees, watching their world change. The darker blue is a superimposed layer, the result of the rabbits: we see both the buildings being built and what they will look like. The buildings are like puzzles, already spewing black smoke. Everything is mechanical, even the rabbits seem so, the symmetry emphasizing the mechanical way they changed the world.  

Opening 6

Not only were the rabbits' homes different, but "...they brought new food, and they brought other animals."   The illustrations show us massive grass eating sheep, machines dressed in lambs' wool.  Cows, already marked for the butcher's knife.  The land is covered in these strange creatures, either in the fields or pilled high on spindly locomotives.  More words tell us that "... some of the animals scared us."  But that's not all, "... some of the food made us sick" (the last three words turned upside down, as though rolling over with belly ache).  The illustration shows a rabbit giving a bottle to the aboriginal creature collaged upon another illustration of a dried up water bed, littered with flapping, gasping fish. 
There was no stopping the rabbits, they spread across the country. There was fighting, "but there were too many rabbits"

Opening 8

"We lost the fights." Those fossils we saw at the beginning, denoting an ancient world, dominated above by the rabbits' flags, the aboriginals, prisoners in their age old world, defeated below. 
The atrocities continue: "They ate our grass. They chopped down our trees and scared away our friends... "

Opening 10

I find this spread the most shocking: hundreds of kites, with baby animals inside, being pulled by strange air machines.  Mother creatures, as though dancing, hands raised towards their children, you can almost hear them moaning.  And the rabbits, big and black, their vertical backs turned against the mothers. They have red and yellow eyes and the peacock feather pens mirror these evil eyes, dripping with the blood red ink they have just used to write on the certificates. These contain the verbal text of this page, each word on a separate sheet of paper, as though being spoken in jerks of distress,  "and . stole . our . children."

Opening 11

"... everywhere we look there are rabbits."  The statue in recto, a large rabbit, the motto MIGHT = RIGHT.  A grey automated world, polluted and literally filled with rabbits, right to the very edges of the page.  Can you see the only aboriginal creatures on the steps of the statue?  The fallen kite? The rabbits holding masks? The gigantic curved chimneys, sucking in the blue sky and puffy clouds? A curious image, a frightening image.
"The land is bare and brown and the wind blows empty across the plains. Where is the rich dark earth brown and moist? Where is the smell of rain dripping from the trees? Where are the lakes, alive with long legged birds?"
A final verso page shows a small cameo illustration against a black background.  Two solitary creatures, a rabbit and an aboriginal. 

Back verso

"Who will save us from the rabbits?".  The land is wasted, littered with bones, lost and broken pieces of machinery and empty bottles.  A small water hole reflects the stars in the sky.  Can we read this as an image of hope?  Is there any hope left? If we turn again to the back endpapers, we return to the bird-filled lake of cool lilac-blue water. A distant memory?  A possible future?


When I first saw this picturebook I got goose bumps, and every time I look at it I get that goose bumpy feeling. It's quite something.  A simple verbal text alongside such complex visual images, makes for much interpretation.  There are many issues here and therefore lots of opportunities for talk and discussion.  If you are teaching English through history, could this picturebook be of use? If your programme includes such topics as multiculturalism, could it be of use? Or, if you happen to have a group of interested teenagers, keen to talk and discuss, keen to put the world to rights, could this book be of use?  I'd say 'yes' on all three occasions.