Book Review: PICTURE THIS: HOW PICTURES WORK

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bang, Molly. 2000. PICTURE THIS: HOW PICTURES WORK. New York: SeaStar Books. ISBN 9781587170300

2. PLOT SUMMARY
In this very informative book, Molly Bang explores how the size, shape, color, and placement of pictures affect the emotions and perceptions of the viewer. To aid her in the discussion of this topic, she uses the story LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. She shows several examples of different, self created pictures and explains how slight differences made in each picture evoke different emotions from viewers. Bang's also moves beyond LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD and creates new pictures to demonstrate ten principles of pictures she created to help explain the results of her exploration into pictures.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The structure of Molly Bang’s book is superb. She goes into great detail about each picture, telling the reader what emotions the pictures evoke and why in clear, easy to understand manner. The illustrations are made of geometric shapes such as rectangles, triangles, and semi-circles just to name a few. These shapes also appear in various colors and sizes as well. All the shapes are simply made, but when combined together stir up different emotions just by the angle the shape is on the page or whether it is on the top or the bottom of the page. Her easy to understand explanations and geometric pictures, help the reader grasp a better understanding of the perceptions and the emotions people feel once the pictures are viewed.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT
THE HORN BOOK review: “…PICTURE THIS extends the imagination, encourages creativity, and helps readers reexamine their world and themselves from different perspectives. One senses that it has the power to change anyone willing to admit its magic.”

5. CONNECTIONS
*Apply the knowledge learned from this book to analyze other books illustrated by Molly Bang and/or other authors.
* Using the same method of creating illustrations as Molly Bang, assign children a certain line or chunk of text from a popular fairy tale and have them create illustrations using simple geometric shapes of various sizes and colors. Then on the back of the illustration, have the children explain why they used certain colors and shapes to create the picture.

Books about picture analysis:
Lacy, Lyn Ellen. ART AND DESIGN IN CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK: AN ANALYSIS OF CALDECOT AWARD-WINNING BOOKS. ISBN: 9780838904466
Evans, Dilys. SHOW AND TELL: EXPLORING THE FINE ART OF CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION. ISBN: 9780811849715

Other books that feature illustrations by Molly Bang
Bang, Molly. WHEN SOPHIE GETS ANGRY-REALLY REALLY ANGRY… ISBN: 9780439598453
Bang, Molly. TEN, NINE, EIGHT. ISBN: 9780688149017
Bang, Molly. THE PAPER CRANE. ISBN: 9780688073336