Jumanji
Written and Illustrated by: Chris Van Allsburg
Literary Elements
The Literary Elements are displayed great through the illustrations in the book. The words on the left side of the pages correlates the the images created on the right side. Plot is displayed well by creating the scenes through the images. Each paragraph has the kids placed somewhere whether it be in the kitchen, living room, or going to the park. Each image the relates to the text works together. The theme of the book is shown by the realistic illustrations of the children's game coming to life. The game they children play has turns of events in which inanimate animals are coming to life placing them within the game.
Physical Features
The Physical Features of the book are displayed through many different aspects. The book itself is a rather large book in comparison to others books. Due to the size of the book the pictures are able to be noticeably bigger and more detailed. The cover is a picture that it already in the book so the term what you see is what you get can describe this a little bit. You see a little girl walking into the kitchen, only to find two monkeys on the kitchen table.
Visual Elements
The Visual Elements in the book are stunning. The images are in black and white, but the contrast of the different parts in each image really shows. Each picture has a border but the border is not framed, the image just stops. My favorite image in the book is when the kids are running to the park from their house. You can see the sidewalks borders, where the grass patches starts. You can even see the different leaves on trees and bushes. The lines of the sidewalk and wall shows you property area showing that the kids are leaving a "protected area".
Artistic Style
The Artistic Style in the book I would say is realistic. The realism in the images gives the reader the thought of being able to place themselves within the story of the book. They are able to see things that they would find in their own homes including bedrooms, a kitchen, a full blown house. With them book being mainly about the kids playing the game kids can join in on the adventure in the images. Some may say that with it not being cartoon enough kids would lose interest quickly. I would disagree as at some points the situations that the kids are placed into are very dangerous (i.e. The lion coming to life and chasing the little boy) This aspect adds excitement to the reading experience.
Artistic Media
Chris Van Allsburg uses his knowledge of black conte crayon to create his wildly vivid images. His characters as well as animals within the book tend to be either lightly shaded or dark. The use of extreme perspectives lets the reader see into his thoughts. The dark portrays possible danger and sometimes even foreshadowing. Understanding what he drew these images with truly makes me appreciate the images more for his talent displayed. Even though he mainly used a combination of 3 crayons, you can still look at the elements within the picture and create your own color. Conte crayons are made by combining powder from the graphite in a pencil or sometimes charcoal and mixing it with a type of wax or clay base. Due to their composition it makes it easier to control your drawings. You can tell that not everything in the room is black or white. The shading makes everything separate which even furthers amazes me as to how detailed he made these rooms look.
Elements of Illustration
The Elements of Illustration the Chris Van Allsburg uses throughout the book are amazing. His images have a soft frame meaning that there is not a hard border but you are able to the the the image has more to it but the page was not big enough to hold the full image. I feel this lets the reader visualize the rest of the room for themselves. The page turns in the book to a point can tell the story with the images. Each image isn't able to say exactly what you will read on that particular page but it gives you a bit of insight into what the main point of each page's text will share with you.
Interplay of Text and Illustrations
The Interplay between the text and illustrations works together quite well. I noticed that every image is on the right side of pages and the text is on the left side. So following English reading rules you will read the story on the left side of the page. Finish with the text and then you will go to the image. The image will give help you to create an image in your head of what exactly is going on. Whether it be the monkeys making a commotion in the kitchen or the rhino stampede running through the house. The images also show the main point or main actions that take place during this point in the story.
Citations
Kids from Jumanji walking down the sidewalk. Digital image. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Lion on piano in Jumanji. Digital image. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Jumanji Cover. Digital image. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Displays of Pages in Jumanji. Digital image. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Black Conte Crayons. Digital image. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Canow, Joanne. "The Looking Glass : New Perspectives on Children's Literature." Surrealism and Dream: Chris Van Allsburg's Picturebooks. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
"Art Supplies from Blick." Conté Crayons. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.