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This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen Analysis
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen shows that toddlers can cope with the horror genre. “Jon Klassen’s darkly humorous illustrations are a joy to behold. Deceptively simplistic, the expressions and events that he captures, which range from the sublime to the sinister, are utterly wonderful.” The CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal judges’ […]
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What is an aphorism in simple terms?
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a concise form, designed to be memorable. The aphorism is ‘the takeaway point’ of a story, article or speech. Aphorisms should be somewhat surprising: “Oh yeah, that’s true actually. I hadn’t thought of it like that. Ha.”
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What makes a children’s picture book old-fashioned?
Room On The Broom is now over twenty years old and is no longer contemporary, but because of the similarities in plot, I’ll use Julia Donaldson (and Axel Scheffler’s) book to illuminate how — exactly — Mary Calhoun (and Roger Duvoisin’s) popular American picture book from the mid 20th century feels like a book from an earlier era.
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What is the Symbolist movement in literature?
In Symbolist work, the author is aiming to hit the essence or ideal of something which lies behind objective matter and the realm of chance.
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What Makes Something Cute? Cute vs. Kawaii
‘Cute’ describes something attractive in a pleasing, nonthreatening way. Things that are small or young are often described as cute: babies, fluffy puppies with big eyes, squishy toys. Cute things are easy to like.
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What is the definition of film noir?
Noir is a visual aesthetic in storytelling associated with certain plots and character archetypes. The term was popularised in the field of film criticism, hence film noir. It comes from several movements, notably the hard-boiled detective tradition of popular cheap paperbacks. Think Raymond Chandler, uber hard-boiled writer. A BRIEF HISTORY OF FILM NOIR SPOOF NOIR…
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What is the objective correlative in literature?
When a story about one thing is really saying something about a character’s emotion. Objective correlative: The tangible manifestation of an intangible, created and used by the author to help the reader grasp the intangible concept. Most literature is about emotions or ideals — things that you cannot see or touch. So the objective correlative becomes…
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What is a queer narrative?
The word queer meaning LGBTQIA+ was first a slur, then reclaimed, then it got hijacked in the 1990s. (Some) people stopped using it. Now it’s back. Again. But because gender, romantic and sexual minorities continue to experience bigotry, the words used to describe those identities will be under attack for as long as bigotry continues.…
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Transphobic Urban Myths
Do urban legends seem unanimously ridiculous to you? Good. Because there’s a new one doing the rounds.
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What Is Autofictionalisation?
Autofiction is a little similar to free indirect discourse but is suited to stories which deal with themes around truth.
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What is an example of matriarchy?
The word matriarchy does not mean what you think it means. You probably mean ‘matrilineal’ or ‘matricentric’.
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What does “modesty” mean?
What does modesty mean in relation to people, specifically femme people (mainly women and girls)? When I was young, I spent so much time trying to be right. I tried so hard to damp myself down, to make myself smaller, to not talk so much or put my opinions so forcefully. […] I was too…
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The Wind Is My Lover (Singoalla) Swedish Classic
I need to show you these beautiful illustrations by Swedish illustrator Carl Larsson, more famous for colourful, domestic scenes.
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Schnitzel von Krumm Forget-Me-Not by Lynley Dodd Picture Book Analysis
Schnitzel Von Krumm Forget Me Not is the tenth book in Lynley Dodd’s Hairy Maclary series, and was published in 1998. Many of Lynley Dodd’s picture books are told with a carnivalesque structure. Schnitzel von Krumm, Forget-me-not is different. This one is told using classic structure and, in my opinion, is one of the most…
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What is Aporia?
Aporia is a concept from philosophy but I’m talking about aporia when describing a literary (or rhetorical) device.
