Mary Carty

Last June I had the pleasure of interviewing UK children’s laureate Anthony Browne for Inis The Children’s Books Ireland Magazine. After all the discussion on the merits of the “50-book challenge” as proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove, I thought it would be refreshing to read Browne’s approach to children’s literature and most importantly picture books. I hope you enjoy it. To see my article with pictures, why not pop over to the beautiful Inis Magazine Online here.

Picturing a world of story: a conversation with Anthony Browne

Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne is on a mission to promote picture books. Appointed as the 6^th U.K. Laureate on the 9^th of June 2009, Browne believes that picture books are often overlooked and hold a value way beyond that of introducing children to reading. He passionately advocates that picture books should not be discarded in the race to teach children how to read. Browne believes that picture books are not just for children but to be enjoyed by people of all ages. I was fortunate to interview Anthony Browne recently and ask him a few questions about life as Laureate, his work as author and illustrator and the passions that drive this highly successful and globally acclaimed author.

Browne’s work is characterised by its warmth and humour, its bold, inviting colours and vivid landscapes. His stories invite the reader in through stunning visual imagery and characters that resonate deeply with readers young and old. Browne has authored over thirty books to date and his repertoire has given birth to some of the most beloved characters, both animal and human, in English children’s literature. Browne brings a masterful combination of superb draftsmanship coupled with an intuitive sense of language to each book.

Take the Willy series as an example. Willy is a cheeky little chimpanzee who tries to come to terms with the world around him. He fights off bullies, he makes friends, he is often left out and sometimes, he discovers what he loves. In Willy the Dreamer, a beautifully illustrated work, we see the sleepy protagonist dreaming of what he might become. Borrowing from the cannon of Art History, Browne takes paintings of Magritte, Dali, Van Gogh and Rousseau and alters them, with some subtle additions, to act as a backdrop to the narrative. Willy’s dreamscapes encourage young readers to believe in their dreams, and with Willy as their guide anything can happen. It is exciting for little readers to discover all the hidden bananas as they journey through each surreal landscape.

Browne’s illustrations often contain visual puns, unexpected events and strange happenings see My Dad, Willy the Dreamer, My Mum and Gorilla for great examples. His illustrations convey a sense of the possible. As the author explains, “first of all I want my books to be entertaining, and for me that does mean that anything can happen. I also want my books to have a point and so I try to use the transformations or strange happenings to try to tell us something that the words don’t.” In most cases, the images speak for themselves and from the hands of this amazing artist attention is given to every little detail, right down to the tiny patterns on Dad’s bathrobe in My Dad.

Written with minimal language and accompanied by vivid pictures, Browne’s stories give ample scope for the imagination; a quality Brown believes is at the heart of the very best picture books. “For me what makes picture books exciting is the gap between the pictures and the words, the gap that’s filled by the imagination of the reader. The words shouldn’t be captions to the illustrations and the pictures shouldn’t just show us what the words have already told us.”

It is intriguing to find out what comes first, the image or the text, when he comes up with an idea for a new book. Brown describes the process likening it to a movie script. “An idea usually comes to me in the form of something like a dream or an idea for a film – a mixture of images and words in a vague story form. The first thing I put down on paper is a storyboard, like a film director, except in my case the rough little drawings and words represent each page in the book rather than the scenes of a film.” To bring his ideas to life and form them into picture books is not an easy task. It took some time to learn and time to refine. Gorilla, his seventh book, “was the first one I felt I understood how picture books work, story and image, a proper picture book.” It is possibly his favourite book but he does not really like to admit it.

As original and interesting as his ideas may be, they often take trial and error and lots of iterations and lots of perseverance to become the finished product we find in the book store. His most recent book Me and You did not have an easy birth. In choosing to retell the classic Goldilocks and the three bears from two points of view. Set in suburbia, Browne turns a once familiar story on its head, giving the reader a fresh, new perspective. “I always thought it was an unfair story. We think of Goldilocks as a selfish, greedy little girl, but maybe there was a reason she was there. Maybe she was cold, hungry, or lost” he explains.

After many attempts, the winning solution came about by giving the Baby bear a voice and telling Goldilocks’ story through illustration alone. Using two very distinct styles and palette, one cold, muted and grey, and the other soft, warm and welcoming; the reader is immersed in this new version. In Browne’s version, the bears are always pictured on the left page and Goldilocks to the right thus reinforcing the narrative and the gulf between them. The sharp illustrative style of Goldilocks is in contract to the warm hues of the Bears and their surroundings. Their home is cosy and welcoming while it is easy to recognise the loneliness and isolation of the little girl. At the end though we are not so sure who has the better life, lots to think about after all.

Browne has never shied away from tackling difficult themes in his work. He has a keen sense of social justice and likes to bat for the underdog. Many of his characters are very much the underdog. In Me and You this concept is explored in the form of Browne’s Goldilocks. Other books that deal with themes like bullying, separation and isolation include, Willy the Wimp, Willy the Champ, and Gorilla. Our heroine in Gorilla wishes to spend more time with her overworked and often absent father, until one magical night a Gorilla arrives and unexpected things happen. As amazing as her adventures are with the Gorilla they are unmatched by the joy of visiting the Zoo with her father.

So how much does he write with children in mind and how much for the adults, is there a conscious decision to speak to both audiences? “I suppose I’m writing for the child that I was, trying to make the kinds of books that I would have liked to see then. Now, of course, I’m an adult, so I’m also trying to make books that I’d like to see now. So, in a way, I’m writing for children and adults – but primarily for children. Of course, if the adult who’s sharing the book with a child is interested then they will convey that interest to the child and the experience will be better for both of them.”

One of the most interesting things about Browne’s work is his ability to empathise with his readers. There is often a poignancy to his stories but they are never over-sentimental or nostalgic. He deals with each theme with sensitivity and humour. His stories have a universal resonance and capture the hearts of the readers. Many times there is twist in the tale that catches the reader off guard and makes the experience all the more rewarding. Browne is a clever story teller weaving his magic with a deft hand.

Simple, easy to understand messages are contained in each story, never preaching or heavy handed and always written in a style and language that is understood by children, appealing directly to their innate sense of fair play. His stories are universal and are loved by people of all ages, girls and boys alike.

At a time when falling literacy standards among boys is causing grave concern in the UK and Ireland, Browne feels that picture books have a positive role to play in addressing this very important issue. “Children nowadays and boys even more so, are dragged away from picture books. To be educated, to get educated, is to read books without pictures. We leave pictures behind and have books with words. Boys particularly love the combination of pictures and words. They love comics and as adults read graphic novels. Maybe one answer is to engage children with picture books for longer” The author went on to explain, “From speaking with teachers older boys have rediscovered the excitement of reading by being introduced to my books” a fact that makes him very happy indeed.

The value of picture books does not rest with the joy of reading alone. It is the very act of creativity itself that is central to the making of picture books. Encouraging children to continue to explore their creative talents and not giving up drawing when they reach a particular age is central to Browne’s message. “Most children start to think that they can’t draw after a certain age, and I think they become inhibited by what they think of as their inability to make a drawing that looks like a photograph. When children are young they instinctively know what drawing is really about – communicating and I think we should encourage that.” Ask any adult to draw like a photograph and indeed most would find it a daunting task. This is where he believes the “Shape Game” comes into its own. The Shape Game has been an important creative activity for the author since early childhood. It is a simple game where each player takes turns at drawing a shape. Each person then adds to the shape in turn until the shape becomes something, a robot, a dinosaur, a city or a huge skyscraper. The only limitation is your imagination. “I would like to encourage everybody, children and adults, to play the Shape Game. It is a great way to help them to develop both their drawing skills and their visual imagination” he remarks. The Shape Game is not just for children as Browne explains “adults can so this too. Once they get over their initial apprehension they revert back to childhood and realize that drawing is just communication.”

In his frequent visits to schools Browne imparts an important lesson, “artists, writers and creative are not special; they are the same as you and me, the only difference is that I carried on making stories and I am very fortunate for that.” With this inspiring message we hope that the next generation will hold on to their immense creativity and enjoy it well into later life.

So what has Anthony Browne learned from his experience as Children’s Laureate so far? “I’m slowly learning how to pace myself as Laureate. It’s been very difficult to find time to work on a book (which is what I’m best at and why I was chosen to be the Laureate in the first place). I’ve learned of the appetite for picture books from both children and adults, and realized that many people agree with me that you’re never too old for a good picture book!”

It is good to know that Browne is currently working on a new book, returning to a series he wrote when his children were small. Called How do you feel it is a simple picture book describing emotions in shape and colour. The book featuring the same loveable monkey found in earlier titles Things I like and I like books. As many parents and teachers know, it is often very difficult for little ones to describe their emotions. “It is important to tell children to feel angry is ok, you shouldn’t feel about being angry. To feel shy is ok. Everybody else feels the same” says Browne. No doubt this book will assist parents and teachers help their little charges feel more confident about their feelings and help name their emotions. How do you feel will be published later this year.

His goal is to keep on going, writing and illustrating books for us to enjoy, while continuing to persuade that picture books are worth sharing with children and they should not be left behind at an earlier and earlier age, and travelling the length and breath of the globe sharing this message with big and small, old and young. A busy publishing schedule also lies ahead, on average Browne publishes one book a year, so we can look forward with pleasure to many other projects coming on stream over the next few years. The Children’s laureate will not be resting on his laurels!

As to the future prospects and opportunities for the beloved picture book, given the onset of modern technology like the iPad and the iPhone; Browne is convinced that “the picture book will exist for quite a while to come – maybe forever. There are some exciting possibilities in new technology, but I feel that the special relationship between a book and a child (and maybe an adult) will last a long time.” And I for one have to agree with him.

See Anthony’s illustration gallery here.

(C) Mary Carty Inis, September 2010