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Belonging*
'Belonging' is a picture book by Jeannie Baker which is clever, unique and illustrated with great detail.
It is a fantastic text to use with students to highlight that a story can be told through illustration as opposed to only text. 'Belonging' doesn't follow a typical narrative structure as outlined by Gamble and Yates (2008) as exposition, complication, climax and resolution. Rather, Baker uses thirteen double page illustrations and no written text or dialogue to narrate this text. The illustrations are each from the same window in a house that overlooks the front garden and street. With each page turn several years pass and we can follow along by looking at the fine detail of the illustrations how much time has passed. For example we see pictures that the little girl Tracey draws and writes her age on, or see the letter she has written to a friend. The first picture shows a couple bringing home their new baby and from then on advances so that we see the child growing into a woman, who attends university, gets married and has a child of her own. What we also notice in the foreground is the changes that occur to the stores and buildings on the adjacent street, the changes the family make to their own garden (including planting a tree) and the communities efforts to create a small park. In true Jeannie Baker style the illustrations are unique with such great texture it looks as though you are looking at a collage.This book takes several reads to really take in all that it has to offer, and the authors note explains the message Baker was illustrating. Baker points out that many people live in urban communities there they don't feel a strong connection to the land they live on. But some communities are making efforts to bring back native plants and realising how dependent we are on the land that feeds and supports us. Baker says, 'we can choose between just having a place to live or belonging to a living home'; hence the title, 'Belonging'.
Baker has written other books in this style, such as 'Windows'. Either of these texts could be studied in the classroom with a myriad of activities that could derive from reading them. This text would be great to study as a whole class and discuss what the illustrations are telling us as a reader, paying close attention to the detail. Students could write a narrative to accompany the illustrations, or use the book as a starting point to create a similar book of their own. 'Belonging' also provides a good introduction into a SOSE unit on sustainability or conservation. 'Belonging' was an honour book for CBCA Picture Book of the year in 2005.
'Belonging' is a picture book by Jeannie Baker which is clever, unique and illustrated with great detail. It is a fantastic text to use with students to highlight that a story can be told through illustration as opposed to only text. 'Belonging' doesn't follow a typical narrative structure as outlined by Gamble and Yates (2008) as exposition, complication, climax and resolution. Rather, Baker uses thirteen double page illustrations and no written text or dialogue to narrate this text. The illustrations are each from the same window in a house that overlooks the front garden and street. With each page turn several years pass and we can follow along by looking at the fine detail of the illustrations how much time has passed. For example we see pictures that the little girl Tracey draws and writes her age on, or see the letter she has written to a friend. The first picture shows a couple bringing home their new baby and from then on advances so that we see the child growing into a woman, who attends university, gets married and has a child of her own. What we also notice in the foreground is the changes that occur to the stores and buildings on the adjacent street, the changes the family make to their own garden (including planting a tree) and the communities efforts to create a small park. In true Jeannie Baker style the illustrations are unique with such great texture it looks as though you are looking at a collage.This book takes several reads to really take in all that it has to offer, and the authors note explains the message Baker was illustrating. Baker points out that many people live in urban communities there they don't feel a strong connection to the land they live on. But some communities are making efforts to bring back native plants and realising how dependent we are on the land that feeds and supports us. Baker says, 'we can choose between just having a place to live or belonging to a living home'; hence the title, 'Belonging'.
Baker has written other books in this style, such as 'Windows'. Either of these texts could be studied in the classroom with a myriad of activities that could derive from reading them. This text would be great to study as a whole class and discuss what the illustrations are telling us as a reader, paying close attention to the detail. Students could write a narrative to accompany the illustrations, or use the book as a starting point to create a similar book of their own. 'Belonging' also provides a good introduction into a SOSE unit on sustainability or conservation. 'Belonging' was an honour book for CBCA Picture Book of the year in 2005.
This sounds like a really interesting book Sophie. I am really intrigued by the unconventional structure of this book, which as you said consists of thirteen double page illustrations and no written text or dialogue to narrate this text. This would be a great example to show students and use as a model text in order to help them think of narratives as more than just written text. I will definitely go out and read this book!
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