Journal 8 - The tale of Peter rabbit

        

        Peter rabbit, a naughty rabbit, lived with his mother and sister. One morning, while Mrs. Rabbit were going out, she asked her children not to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden. However, unlike other rabbits picked blackberries, Peter rabbit ran to Mr. McGregor’s garden. After he ate lots of radishes and parsley, he met Mr. McGregor. Peter rabbit was shocked and tried to run away, but he was caught by a net. Then Mr. McGregor tried to trap Peter rabbit, he wriggled out immediately. He jumped into the watering can for a while and then jumped out of the window safely. He ran as fast as he can to flee the garden. After Peter returning home, he got sick. Mrs. Rabbit made him some tea and took care of him.

• Line: There is no straight line in every picture, which conveys warmness and harmonization to the readers.

• Painterly Techniques: Water color

• Shape: Most of characters and background are rounded shapes. They suggest comfort and stability.

        Peter Rabbit is familiar with us. I learned this cute little bonny from the packing of cookies in my childhood. When I grew up, I realized that he was from a picture book. What’s more, I was attracted by the picture books of Peter Rabbit because of the author’s warm and light painting style. The series of Peter Rabbit are not serious and didactic; I think it is one of the reasons why Peter Rabbit are so popular for a long time.  

Journal 7 -Cloudland

         Albert and his family went mountain climbing. When they were going down, Albert fell off a cliff! His parents looked everywhere but not found him. At this time, the cloud children saw him falling down and spoke out some magic words. So Albert became very light and was caught by the cloud children. After Albert slept over a night in the cloud, these cloud children had breakfast, played jumping games, and played cloud ball with Albert joyfully. While the clouds became darker and darker, they made lots of thunderous noises. They swam in the rain, painted in the rainbow, and had races in the wind. As Albert was left far behind, he nearly was crushed by an airplane. Luckily, he walked to the other cloud children through pain which the plane left. Although Albert seems to enjoy the time in the cloud, he missed his home. He told to the queen and queen promised him that she would make the cloud drift over his country. Before Albert’ leave, the cloud children planned a party for him. Next evening, the cloud arrived and the queen spoke out the magic words again. Albert returned home, but he still thought whether he could go back to the cloudland by the magic words.

Line: There no straight line in each characters. 

The illustrator used undulating line to compose every picture.

Artistic media: Composite Technique

John Burningham used photos as background, and pasted hand-drawn pictures.

        I had dreamed and imaged to stand on the top of the cloud when going mountain climbing in my childhood. As I grew up, I almost forgot this childlike imagination. Thanks to this picture book, it reminded me something important. In the end of the story, Albert tried hard to return to the cloudland. However, he could not remember the correct magic words so that the cloudland remains innocent and pure times somewhere in his heart. 

Journal 6 -When I was young in the mountain

        This book talks about a period of time when she was young in the mountain. She lived with her grandparents. Her grandpa worked in the coal mine. After he came home, grandma would prepare lots food for us. During the leisure time, the girl and little sister went across the wood and swimming in a hole which was muddy and dark. On their home, they bought some butter in Mr. Crawford’s baking store. Before taking a bath, they had to pumped water from the well and heat it. They wore clothes near the stove where grandma heated cocoa. In the night, the mountain was so natural that they listened to frogs, and sometimes snakes would appear. Grandma killed it and took a picture with kids. She never wanted to go to anywhere else except the mountain. Living in the mountain, sitting leisurely on the porch with her grandparents in the evening are enough for her.

• Narrative point of view: First person narrator

In the story, the author used “I” to narrate the whole story for us.

• Theme: A contented mind is a perpetual feast.

In the end of the story, the girl said, “I never wanted to go anywhere else in the world, for I was in the mountains.”

• Color: Yellow, brown, and white

The author chose warm shade to represent a warm story, such as yellow, brown. 

        As we learned in the class, Children’s literature is aim for teaching and entertaining children. But how does the literature influence adults after reading the literature? I think that it reminds me the peaceful time without anxiety and worry in my childhood. I went to my grandparents’ mountain when I was eight. I swum in the brook and caught the little fish. Everything there was novel for me because I lived in the city. Now there is no more fish in the brook, and I am too busy to return. If I get there one more time, could I be as joyful as a child? The last picture made me very miss my grandparents and the mountain.