I Remember: An Exploration of how Memory is Portrayed in a Selection of Contemporary Picturebooks

Abstract

Traditionally, temporality, one of the essential aspects of narrativity, has posed problems in the design of children's picturebooks. The mimetic nature of the visual images has limited the representations of temporal elements to images such as clocks, the sun and the moon or to a chronological sequence of pictures suggesting the passing of time. Jenny Wagner and Ron Brooks' 'John Brown, Rose and The Midnight Cat' (1977), for example, uses the moon and darkness in strong crosshatched muted illustrations to convey images of the night, and pale blue sky glimpsed through windows to suggest daylight. A clock on the mantelpiece, visible in five of the images, indicates the slow passing of time while photographs and memorabilia convey clues to time past. Meaning has been clarified and enhanced through the verbal text. The text tells us 'Rose's husband died a long time ago.' Texts such as this have relied on the complementarity of the verbal narrative with the illustrated. 'Window' (1991) by Jeannie Baker, an almost wordless picturebook, uses a chronological sequence to show the passing of time. It does this by changing images that reflect historical time observed through a window and shows the passing of time through birthday cards that indicate the age of the main character, Sam.