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Writing Activity: Describe A Restaurant, Café or Eatery
In this activity you will practice creative writing skills by writing a fictional scene which takes place in some kind of eating establishment: a restaurant, café, milk bar, fast food joint, Saturday morning market, street vendor… Any sort of eatery will do. The first task is to simply imagine a scene. I recommend limiting the cast to two (main) characters…
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Baking In Art And Illustration
Bakers and baking in art and illustration
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Yours by Mary Robison Short Story Analysis
“Yours” is a 1982 short story by American writer Mary Robison.
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Excess, Hyperbole and Pestilence In Illustration
We love stories of excess. examples of excess and visual hyperbole can be seen all across children’s literature. Literally any item can be turned into a visual gag by creating a large number of it.
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Avocado Baby by John Burningham (1982) Analysis
Avocado Baby (1982) is a picture book written and illustrated by John Burningham. This was my first introduction to John Burningham. Our teacher read it in class. I was about six.
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Creepy Carrots by Reynolds and Brown Analysis
Creepy Carrots (2012) is a picture book written by Aaron Reynolds and illustrated by Peter Brown. For anyone wondering how to create a scary book for the very young reader without keeping them awake all night, this book is our masterclass in the horror-comedy blend. First of all, the story is about carrots — a familiar, everyday food item not…
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Candy and Sweets in Art and Children’s Stories
Sweets and children go hand in hand, especially in non-Western countries, where sweetness is so connected to childhood (and to femininity) that ‘real men’ eschew sweets and instead take up smoking, and probably drinking as well. When I was a teenager, my Japanese host father saw a photo of my Western father eating something sweet and laughed.
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Tawny Scrawny Lion (1952) by Jackson and Tenggren
Tawny Scrawny Lion is a Little Golden Book first published in 1952, written by Kathryn Jackson and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren
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Parties in Art and Fiction
Parties provide an excellent setting for getting people together. And when people are together this creates conflict, the backbone of any story. Like other high-stress, socially critical events such as competitions and staged performances, parties also often happen at the climax of a story. Events leading up to the party garner suspense due to the ticking clock. Kameeka is confident…
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Pettson and Findus Pancake Pie by Sven Nordqvist
Pancake Pie (1984) is a Swedish picture book written and illustrated by Sven Nordqvist, and is the first in the Pettson and Findus series starring a man and his cat who live together on a rustic farm, along with many little creatures who make the setting seem alive.
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Cannibalism in Storytelling
If you wanted to create a scary monster, the scariest ever, how would you go about it?
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Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell and Lillian Hoban Analysis
Bread and Jam for Frances is a picture book written by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban, first published in 1964 as a part of a series about a girl in the body of a badger, who lives in a middle class house and has access to all the spoils you’d expect of 1960s middle class Westerner. I never came…
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Egg Symbolism
Eggs are common ingredients in modern cooking. Likewise, throughout the history of folklore and fairy stories, eggs are a common ingredient in magic spells. Anyone who has kept chickens knows that poultry regularly go off the lay. If your chickens are hungry, stressed, clucky or sick you won’t get any eggs. Before modern chicken farms, eggs were a luxury food…
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The Cider Duck by Joan Woodberry Analysis
The Cider Duck (1969) is an Australian picture book written by Joan Woodberry and illustrated by Molly Stephens. ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR Joan Woodberry (1921-2010) was an influential, widely-travelled Tasmanian feminist whose efforts made women’s lives palpably better in Tasmania. Finding information on Molly Stephens is a little more difficult partly because she was also known as Molly Pascall,…
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The Gingerbread House In Hansel And Gretel
When artists choose to illustrate a single narrative moment, they make a choice of lasting importance, because their illustration creates a memorable impression for an entire story, one that visually anchors an impression of that story in its reader’s memory. Illustration history is full of such memorable moments. In the illustration history of Grimm’s Tales, one image predominates, that of “Hansel and Gretel” beginning to eat the witch’s house.
