Voices in the Park

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What are more interesting to note is the implications of the division of class in these illustrations. In the illustrations for the first voice, there is one frame where it shows Smudge's father in worn clothes, reading a newspaper while sitting on a park bench. Behind him is a dog waste disposal and garbage littered on the ground. Then, there is a lamppost that divides the frame between him and Charles’ mother. She is standing there, dressed in more expensive and fancier clothes with all of her jewelry on. Notice behind her, there is no garbage at all. The grass all around her is nice and clean. This illustration shows the social class divide, comparing the surroundings of someone that is of lower class and upper-class drawn together in a public park. That lamppost serves as a device to show a comparison between the two next to each other. The line of the lamppost works again in showing the divide between the perceptions of the world from the point of view of Charles and Smudge in an illustration placed in the third voice. By placing the line between characters resemble some type of separations in this book whether it is in relation to relationships or social class status. Stories come in a variety of shapes. Most picture books have a linear storyline. The structure of Voices In The Park is rare. Impressionists have a word to describe it — ‘ parallax‘. (Note, too, that some of the illustrations include Impressionist techniques, at least in comparison to Browne’s signature work — the spots of colour on the orange cover trees are a good example.)

Impressionism. 23 July 2010. Wikipedia. 17 Aug. 2010 < http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/​impressionism>. student exemplars - modelled writing resources used for the “fifth voice” assessment task to guide students as to what their final product should look like. This is a Literature unit based on the excellent text Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. I love this book for teaching perspective, point-of-view and just the importance of friendship.

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Another implicit message in Voices In The Park seems to be this: “They were poor but they were happy.” I’m not so comfortable with this one. It’s a very old message, connected to Christianity (and probably to other world religions). In this story, the father and daughter are poor, but they are clearly more carefree than the mother and her son, who are rich. Because of cognitive biases, the reader will connect a cause and effect to these universal archetypes, and I believe this is intended. The story starts with an upper-class mother and son who walk their dog to the park and meet other people who are depicted as coming from a lower class status. What I found interesting within the story is that this can be a realistic occurrence that can happen daily. I consider the characters can also relate to the reader quite accessibly. In my opinion this is done through a good use of language and wonderful illustrations that pose extraordinary features. Although many may find these as unusual, I believe the use of these types of pictures as appealing.

Notice the ‘a’ in the circle etched into the wall behind him: A symbol for anarchy since the 1970s. Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is sceptical of authority and rejects all involuntary, coercive forms of hierarchy. In this sense, Voices In The Park has an anarchist message. Anarchism also calls for the abolition of the state, which it holds to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful. This story appears to be set in England, though I’ve never seen a big English park as deserted as this one. This park is a representation of the characters’ inner states, in which no one is truly connected to the others. (See also: Loneliness in Art and Storytelling.)how the characters are shown – what do the colours and images suggest to you about the characters – what do they make you feel?; Whilst I teach in an Australian context, these books are not linked to specific Australian content and would be well-suited to any English speaking classroom. Spelling and grammar are UK/Australian.

Anthony Browne is a highly acclaimed and multi award winning author and illustrator whose books are known and enjoyed for their surreal illustrations and thought-provoking themes.Everyone in this story is each other’s opponent, except for the dogs, whose easy friendliness juxtaposes against the reserve of the human characters — each at a different point on the ‘reserved’ spectrum. Why do you think Anthony Browne chose a park as the setting? Would a different setting affect the attitude and behaviour of the characters? Some of the illustrations might lend themselves to straightforward copying – illustrations of carefully drawn skeletal trees in the shape of hats, or two dogs chasing each other through trees. You might also: The larger units of work are "Voices in the Park", "Gorilla", "Silly Billy" and "Zoo", which all contain literature circle task cards, linked Creative Arts activities, step-by-step shared reading guides and much more. Another picture book with a different structure, different art style but identical message is Who Wants To Be A Poodle I Don’t by Lauren Child. I don’t buy the binary that some picture books are didactic while others are not. All stories contain a message, even if that message is conveyed by what they leave out rather than what goes in. More useful: to draw a distinction between implicit and explicit messaging.

Think about the hopes and dreams of the different voices who are speaking. Could you describe these to a friend? Throughout, Voices in the Park, there are different types of art used in the book. Here is a list of a couple of those styles and how the book's illustrations relate to them. Each style can be used in an illustration with another style too. Children's books reviewed by parents for you and your kids. 17 Aug. 2003. 1 Children Books Malaysia. 17 Picture book. 18 July 2010. Wikipedia. 17 Aug. 2010 < http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/​picture_book>. Voices in the Park” is a very well written picture book for children. This book written by Anthony Browne allows the reader to see life through four different characters within this story.This is the equivalent to WEEKS of literacy teaching and learning - we spent ten weeks in total looking at the work of Anthony Browne using these resources. To start your critical literacy session with the kiddos, I suggest that you read the book and have the discussions anytime but bedtime. We read them during our calm down time of the day which is after lunch. Sit down in a cozy spot and pull out the book. Read the title of the book and ask your child this question: Voices In The Park is loved by teachers because it requires students to read pictures as well as text, and offers a lot to talk about. There’s a sparse loneliness to Anthony Browne’s work, like looking at a Hopper painting. Even when characters share the same arena, they aren’t necessarily understanding one another. I prefer Browne’s picture books as daytime rather than before-bed reads. FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION Let’s take a close look at Browne’s illustrations. The seasons are different for different characters, even though it’s the same bench.