Children’s Books Should Be an Open-Ended Experience

By:
Prof. Martha Carothers,
Danielle Delaney,
Allison Casey
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Traditionally, children’s books have been close-ended, or in other words narratives with representational images. Harlin Quist, an innovative publisher, had the vision that reading should be an open-ended experience with no guidelines maintaining a strict relationship between text and image. From Quist’s 1964 publication of the classic text, Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat, through to the 1998 revamped edition of Shhh! by Patrick Couratin, Quist married text and image in a way that encouraged and elevated children’s literary and visual experience. The text of picture books might be narrative, nonsensical, or both. Imagery might be representational, conceptual, or a mix of the two. Quist’s insight came to fruition with imagery that conceptualized text. Understanding this text and image relationship, begins with a look at Quist books which interpreted beloved classics. His open-ended approach is further explained by comparison of differently illustrated versions of the same text within the Quist collection. Presenters will engage a dialogue with the audience, who will take on the role of publisher. By utilizing components of Quist books, the audience members are asked to consider their decisions in marrying text and image. As publishers will they save, change, or discard images in order to reinterpret the text as an open-ended experience?


Keywords: Text and Image, Children's Books, Illustration, Publishing
Stream: Books, Writing and Reading
Presentation Type: 60 minute Workshop Presentation in English
Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Prof. Martha Carothers

Professor, Department of Art, University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware, UNITED STATES

Martha Carothers is Professor of Art in the Visual Communications program at the University of Delaware. Carother’s graduated from Penn State University, School of Visual Arts and Graphic Design; BA 1977, MFA 1980. Carothers’ graduate research was the design and production of children’s pop-up and moveable books. As a book artist, Carother’s has exhibited nationally and internationally, included in the collects of Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, Library of Congress, and Ruth & Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete & Visual Poetry.

Danielle Delaney

Student, Department of Art, University of Delaware
Randolph, NJ, UNITED STATES

Danielle Delaney is a Senior Undergraduate Visual Communications Illustration Student at the University of Delaware. She is currently a Undergraduate Scholar in the Undergraduate Research Program working alongside her Professor Martha Carothers and fellow researcher Allison Casey. She is also currently pursuing her senior thesis in children’s book.

Allison Casey

Student, Department of Art, University of Delaware
Fredericksburg, VA, UNITED STATES

Allison Casey is a Junior Undergraduate Visual Communications Student at the University of Delaware. At the age of 18, she was published as an illustrator in the book _Portal in the Park_, written by Grand Master Melle Mel and M. Casey. She is currently a Undergraduate Scholar in the Undergraduate Research Program working alongside her Professor Martha Carothers and fellow researcher Danielle Delaney.
Text and Image, Children's Books, Illustration, Publishing

Ref: B07P0118