Jessica Drinks (LIBS 642)
The lion and the mouse by J. Pinkney
GRAND CALDECOTT EVALUATION
Jerry
Pinkney is both the author and illustrator of The lion
and the mouse. The book’s cover
measures approximately 11 by 10 inches.
It has a very large illustration of a lion on the front of the book and
the mouse on the back. Interestingly,
there is no title on the front cover. Both of the size of the cover and lack of a
title made me immediately pay attention to the large drawing of the lion on the
front. Once I opened the book, the
title, author/illustrator’s name, and a short summary are located on the front
dust jacket design. The endpapers are
completely covered by even more amazing illustrations—a full safari scene in
the front with lions, elephants, zebras, and giraffes and a family of lions with
their cubs giving the mouse family a ride on the back. The inside of the back endpaper houses the “artist’s
note” that explains the story’s basis in the Aesop fable. The large number of illustrations really
caught my attention and drew me into the story before I even began “reading” it
(I put reading in quotes since it is a wordless book).
The
illustrator uses both watercolors and colored pencils to create the
illustrations, which are done in a very realistic way. The use of watercolor gives a lot of movement
to the drawings and the use of white in the background instead of sky blue is
very calming. In the beginning of the book,
the large illustrations take up two pages.
The use of such large illustrations suggests that the author is drawing the
reader into the story with the sizeable, detailed pictures. On some of the pages the illustration is very
large and in your face, such as when the lion is caught in the trap. This causes a heightened sense of danger for
the reader. On other pages, the
illustrations are drawn inside panels, suggesting a sequence to the action for
the reader. The panels show that the
reader should follow the movement from left to right, the way you would read a
comic book. The story of “The lion and
the mouse” is a classic Aesop’s fable.
While the giant, majestic lion and the tiny, scampering mouse feel like
opposites of the animal kingdom in a written version of the story, they are
equal in heart in this wordless book.
The illustrator uses the cover to draw both animals the same size,
suggesting that they are both worthy of being saved by the other.
The cover shows both the lion and the mouse in
an outdoor, wild environment, so I knew immediately that it wasn’t a story
inside a zoo or other enclosure. As soon
as I opened the book, the inside illustrations show a large scene of the
African grasslands with multiple examples of animals native to Africa (giraffe,
zebra, elephant, etc.) Because the cover
shows both the lion and the mouse, we immediately recognize them as the main
characters. Even on pages with other animals
in the drawings, the lion and mouse are always the main focus, either because
of their size or location on the page.
For example, when the lion is caught up in the trap, there are howler
monkeys in the background, shouting out.
But the lion takes up the majority of the page so that the reader knows
the monkeys are not the focus.
As
far as visual elements go, Straight lines in the drawings give the pictures
height, such as mouse balancing on tall grasses when he hears the lion’s roar
after being captured. The wavy lines on
the lion’s mane and mouse’s fur give much realistic detail to their
appearance. Cross hatching gives depth
to the drawings, such as in the grasses underfoot. Curved lines give movement to the
illustrations. The illustrations are
done in a very muted, realistic color palette.
The color fills the page, not just with the main characters but also the
detailed backgrounds. The realistic
coloring makes the reader wonder if this story could actually happen in real
life. Some of the pages include
illustrations completed inside square panels.
The use of these panels almost acts like a frame around the
illustration, giving it emphasis. The
drawings of animals are done in natural, curvy shapes without jarring, harsh
straight lines. There is so much texture
in the illustrations that some of the pages almost feel like photographs! The illustrator showed so much detail and
texture in the environment (grasses, rocks, trees), animals (fur, eyes, faces),
and supporting details (rope, net). The
rope looks braided and tangled, not flat.
The lion’s mane is large and fluffy.
The tree bark is uneven and rough as the mouse scampers across it.
The
use of panels in the rescue sequence draws attention to the plot of the lion. In the first panel, we see the mouse climbing
grasses, going about his daily routine.
The text “RRRROOOOAAARRRRrrr” is shown above his head. The next panel shows the mouse running along
the branch in search of the lion. The
next panel shows the mouse pausing and looking up, trying to find the location
of that distressed call. The fourth
panel shows the mouse discovering the rope that holds the lion in the
trap. This arrangement of panels gives a
sequence of movements to the story in the way that a single drawing could not
do. We follow along with the mouse as he
suddenly becomes aware of the lion’s distress and then finds the lion in his predicament.
In
my opinion, the most outstanding feature of this book is the fact that it’s
wordless. The illustrations make words
unnecessary in this story. The detail of
each illustration leads the reader through the story without being bogged down
by dialogue. And honestly, while animals
can communicate within species, animals from different species don’t usually
communicate. So I found this story to be
realistic, even though it’s based on a fable.
The very few times that text is used in the book show the importance of
those instances, such as the “RRROOOOAAAARRrrr” across the top of two pages
when the lion is first trapped and the tiny text that shows “squeak, squeak,
squeak” in the mouse’s den.
