In last week's session, we watched a documentary about children's books of the past and how they pathed the way for future books. One of my favourite writers and books talked about in this documentary was a book written by Pat Hutchins called Rosie's Walk. I like this book a lot because it relies a lot more on the visuals in the book which is what children learn quicker and more easily.
As the hen makes it way through the farm and through fields. It is being pursued by a hungry Fox. This is not easily noticed by the adult because they are busy reading the text. The child notices it first and this creates an interesting level of interaction for the child.
If the adult notices they can pretend they down to make it more entertaining for the child. The Fox is never mentioned in the text to allow for extra stealth for the Fox. Because this book is more visually weighted with little text, the imagery style is very nice in texture and design with unique patterns on everything.
As the story develops the Fox starts to gain on the hen. However each time he tries to attack the hen, he gets caught in a trap in a comedic fashion each time the page turns. This plays on the classic children's cartoon story like Tom and Jerry or road runner which were very popular tv shows. When I was a child, I always enjoyed the more visual side of books with higher levels of interaction. I liked the books where you had to find things and solve puzzles.
I think this book would have been aimed at 6-10 year olds because some younger audiences might be frightened of the fox. Also the small maount of text in the book and the focus on imagery suggests it is for younger audiences.
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