The Postmodern Picture Book and It's Impact on Classroom Literacy
Written Justification
In order to develop a full appreciation of the postmodern picture book and how it could impact a classroom literacy program requires first an answer to what is postmodern. Only then can the devices that are a part of the postmodern picture book be explored and their classroom value be fully appreciated.
Postmodern literature is passionately contested by scholars, though one undisputed feature according to Coles and Hall (2001:114) is ‘it’s rejection of unity, homogeneity, totality and closure’. Put simply the traditional beginning, middle and end text structure is not the focus, instead the reader is challenged and bewildered with elements of instability and becomes a co-author in meaning construction.
If postmodernism is difficult to characterise then it is understandable that many scholars find it difficult to explicitly catalogue the characteristics of a post modern picture book. In the increasingly graphic environment of our modern world, words and pictures are merging and developing a relationship that goes beyond the traditional word-picture associations of the past. (Dresang, 1999)
According to Pantaleo & Sipe (2008) there is a continuum of postmodern book characteristics and if books exhibit two or more they can be considered post modern. Within this range the devices most prominently employed by the author and illustrator have been termed “metafictive” (Anstey, 2002: 446) These devices ‘distance readers from the texts, draw their attention to the artifice of fiction, and position them in a more interactive and interpretive role as readers’ (Pantaleo, 2004: 211). They are essential to the postmodern enterprise, with its sustained attack on all manifestations of authoritative order and unity. (Lewis, 2001: 94)
The broad spectrum of metafictive techniques can be summed up essentially as being any techniques that are unconventional and experimental. They do this by rejecting the conventional and refusing to become ‘real-life’ or even ‘life-like’. When using metafictive devices there is a subversion of convention where reflexivity is on display. Pantaleo (2011) developed a comprehensive, but not necessarily exhaustive list of metafictive devices that may be used in postmodern picture books. It is important to realise it is the synergy of a number of devices that give the text it’s self-conscious status. These mechanisms include: the intertextual devices of parody and pastiche; multiple narrators and characters that are focal to the text; multiple interconnecting narratives and non-sequential plots as well as interdeterminacy.
Intertextual devices are an important element of the postmodern picture book. They refer to the interrelationships that exist between texts, illustrations, culture and knowledge; however where parody mocks or makes fun of an original work, pastiche imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other cultural artefacts or artists.
Narrators and characters also have an important role to play in the postmodern picture book. These entities show little regard for traditional narrative conventions or normative picture books. For example, the narrator can speak to the characters, the characters can ask questions about the ISBN or other elements of the text and pages can fall on characters or be turned by character. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Scieszka & Smith (1992) contains a plethora of these narrative and character focalisers. Further, ‘characters within a story are allowed by their author to wander beyond the narrative level to which they belong’ (Lewis, 2001, p. 94). As demonstrated by Grover in in Monster at the End of this Book (Stone & Smollin, 1971) breaking these boundaries draws young readers attention not only to the existence of language conventions but also to the freedom and gratification that can be achieved from experimenting with or subverting them.
Narratives in post modern picture books regularly break convention. Their text can be disturbing for a reader as it uses narrative disruption and discontinuity to force the reader into and understanding of the use of narrative codes and conventions. Frame-breaking to include multiple interconnection of narratives self-consciously draws the reader attention to these structures. These can include multiple interconnecting stories as demonstrated in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park (1998).
In post modern books, narrative can also appear non-linear in nature branching out to allow the reader choices in their construction of the plot. Probably the most cited example of the postmodern picture book is David Macauley's Black and White (1991). This book blurs, even destroys the barriers of the more traditional sequential plot using both form and format to engage readers by arousing their curiosity.
A final but important metafictive device to the postmodern picture book is indeterminacy. This can be simply defined as when components of a text require the reader to make their own decisions about the text’s meaning. It can occur if the text’s ending doesn’t provide full closure and there are still questions to be answered, or when the author’s original intention is not known. In David Weisner’s Three Little Pigs (2001), despite beginning with the traditional once upon a time changes dramatically after the first page. Throughout the book, gaps appear both in the text and in the images that encourage the reader to engage in mental gymnastics to follow the storyline
On gaining an understanding of the post modern picture book, it becomes clear that this form of text is valuable to improve both the reading and writing outcomes of students.
According to Layne (2009) in order to become a competent and successful reader a student needs first skill, then interest, attitude, motivation and engagement. Post modern picture books can provide this to readers of all ages They require the reader to actively process various representational forms, cope with the unexpected in both format and text structure and consider multiple meanings, readings and intents. In addition, post modern picture books provide new and challenging discourse on society's values and attitudes, and challenge the reader to engage in a critical analysis of these discourses. They make the reader more cognisant of each reading transaction as the child lingers to reflect on the complexities of each page. This process develops more interactive and responsive reading. It forces a higher level of engagement and requires more process oriented reading. Further, by distancing readers from the text, traditional reading expectations are frustrated and the definition of reading comprehension can develop new and unexplored levels.
In Australia many children come to school only equipped for the traditional type of stories that contain a beginning, middle and end. They have a clear temporal sequence that usually matches events in the real world. When teaching writing we still rely on these traditional structures around which narrative is organised. These structures usually required consistency in genre, beginnings and endings and spacio-temporality. The postmodern picture books can actually assist students to understand narrative writing by being self-reflective and not pretending to be real. It could be proposed that this form of picture book actually allows the reader to develop a better understanding of the fundamental structures of narrative whilst at the same time overviewing contemporary viewing and the constructiveness of our world.
Finally, Pantaleo suggests that postmodern picture books can facilitate the development of the polysemous understanding of the nature of stories and the multiple ways that they can be written, represented and told (2014: p.324).
Postmodern literature is passionately contested by scholars, though one undisputed feature according to Coles and Hall (2001:114) is ‘it’s rejection of unity, homogeneity, totality and closure’. Put simply the traditional beginning, middle and end text structure is not the focus, instead the reader is challenged and bewildered with elements of instability and becomes a co-author in meaning construction.
If postmodernism is difficult to characterise then it is understandable that many scholars find it difficult to explicitly catalogue the characteristics of a post modern picture book. In the increasingly graphic environment of our modern world, words and pictures are merging and developing a relationship that goes beyond the traditional word-picture associations of the past. (Dresang, 1999)
According to Pantaleo & Sipe (2008) there is a continuum of postmodern book characteristics and if books exhibit two or more they can be considered post modern. Within this range the devices most prominently employed by the author and illustrator have been termed “metafictive” (Anstey, 2002: 446) These devices ‘distance readers from the texts, draw their attention to the artifice of fiction, and position them in a more interactive and interpretive role as readers’ (Pantaleo, 2004: 211). They are essential to the postmodern enterprise, with its sustained attack on all manifestations of authoritative order and unity. (Lewis, 2001: 94)
The broad spectrum of metafictive techniques can be summed up essentially as being any techniques that are unconventional and experimental. They do this by rejecting the conventional and refusing to become ‘real-life’ or even ‘life-like’. When using metafictive devices there is a subversion of convention where reflexivity is on display. Pantaleo (2011) developed a comprehensive, but not necessarily exhaustive list of metafictive devices that may be used in postmodern picture books. It is important to realise it is the synergy of a number of devices that give the text it’s self-conscious status. These mechanisms include: the intertextual devices of parody and pastiche; multiple narrators and characters that are focal to the text; multiple interconnecting narratives and non-sequential plots as well as interdeterminacy.
Intertextual devices are an important element of the postmodern picture book. They refer to the interrelationships that exist between texts, illustrations, culture and knowledge; however where parody mocks or makes fun of an original work, pastiche imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other cultural artefacts or artists.
Narrators and characters also have an important role to play in the postmodern picture book. These entities show little regard for traditional narrative conventions or normative picture books. For example, the narrator can speak to the characters, the characters can ask questions about the ISBN or other elements of the text and pages can fall on characters or be turned by character. The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Scieszka & Smith (1992) contains a plethora of these narrative and character focalisers. Further, ‘characters within a story are allowed by their author to wander beyond the narrative level to which they belong’ (Lewis, 2001, p. 94). As demonstrated by Grover in in Monster at the End of this Book (Stone & Smollin, 1971) breaking these boundaries draws young readers attention not only to the existence of language conventions but also to the freedom and gratification that can be achieved from experimenting with or subverting them.
Narratives in post modern picture books regularly break convention. Their text can be disturbing for a reader as it uses narrative disruption and discontinuity to force the reader into and understanding of the use of narrative codes and conventions. Frame-breaking to include multiple interconnection of narratives self-consciously draws the reader attention to these structures. These can include multiple interconnecting stories as demonstrated in Anthony Browne’s Voices in the Park (1998).
In post modern books, narrative can also appear non-linear in nature branching out to allow the reader choices in their construction of the plot. Probably the most cited example of the postmodern picture book is David Macauley's Black and White (1991). This book blurs, even destroys the barriers of the more traditional sequential plot using both form and format to engage readers by arousing their curiosity.
A final but important metafictive device to the postmodern picture book is indeterminacy. This can be simply defined as when components of a text require the reader to make their own decisions about the text’s meaning. It can occur if the text’s ending doesn’t provide full closure and there are still questions to be answered, or when the author’s original intention is not known. In David Weisner’s Three Little Pigs (2001), despite beginning with the traditional once upon a time changes dramatically after the first page. Throughout the book, gaps appear both in the text and in the images that encourage the reader to engage in mental gymnastics to follow the storyline
On gaining an understanding of the post modern picture book, it becomes clear that this form of text is valuable to improve both the reading and writing outcomes of students.
According to Layne (2009) in order to become a competent and successful reader a student needs first skill, then interest, attitude, motivation and engagement. Post modern picture books can provide this to readers of all ages They require the reader to actively process various representational forms, cope with the unexpected in both format and text structure and consider multiple meanings, readings and intents. In addition, post modern picture books provide new and challenging discourse on society's values and attitudes, and challenge the reader to engage in a critical analysis of these discourses. They make the reader more cognisant of each reading transaction as the child lingers to reflect on the complexities of each page. This process develops more interactive and responsive reading. It forces a higher level of engagement and requires more process oriented reading. Further, by distancing readers from the text, traditional reading expectations are frustrated and the definition of reading comprehension can develop new and unexplored levels.
In Australia many children come to school only equipped for the traditional type of stories that contain a beginning, middle and end. They have a clear temporal sequence that usually matches events in the real world. When teaching writing we still rely on these traditional structures around which narrative is organised. These structures usually required consistency in genre, beginnings and endings and spacio-temporality. The postmodern picture books can actually assist students to understand narrative writing by being self-reflective and not pretending to be real. It could be proposed that this form of picture book actually allows the reader to develop a better understanding of the fundamental structures of narrative whilst at the same time overviewing contemporary viewing and the constructiveness of our world.
Finally, Pantaleo suggests that postmodern picture books can facilitate the development of the polysemous understanding of the nature of stories and the multiple ways that they can be written, represented and told (2014: p.324).