Challenging and Controversial Picturebooks: Creative and Critical Responses to Visual Text ed. by Janet Evans (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Challenging and Controversial Picturebooks: Creative and Critical Responses to Visual Text ed. by Janet Evans Donna Sayers Adomat CHALLENGING AND CONTROVERSIAL PICTUREBOOKS: CREATIVE AND CRITICAL RESPONSES TO VISUAL TEXT Ed. by Janet Evans. London and New York: Routledge, 2015. 291 pages. ISBN: 978-1-138-79774-1 Picturebooks are often assumed to be for the very young; however, this edited volume by Janet Evans shows that picturebooks and other visual texts with challenging and controversial topics and illustrations provide rich opportunities for responses by readers of all ages, including young children, who are able to derive rich meanings from such complicated texts. These “unconventional, non-conformist” books push all readers to question deep philosophical and psychological issues and are reflections of our post-modern and increasingly diverse world. The articles in this edited volume examine book format, subject matter, and reader, and they raise many questions about challenging and controversial visual texts, among them: Who are such books for? What kinds of philosophical life issues are raised? How do these books challenge notions of childhood or what is suitable for children? What is the place of picturebooks in contemporary society? How can controversial topics be understood in an aesthetic way? What are the sophisticated and complex ways in which children respond to them? Are the boundaries between children’s and adult literature being erased? The various contributors, who represent internationally respected picturebook scholars, wrestle with these questions, among others. In addition, the reader is introduced to picturebooks that have not received wide exposure in the English-speaking world, such contemporary Scandinavian picturebooks, Italian fairy tales, and French wordless picturebooks. The book is organized into four parts: challenging and controversial picture books—what are they and who are they for; controversy and ambiguity in the art of the visual; creative, critical, and philosophical responses to challenging picture-books; and thoughts from a children’s book publisher. Evans’s interview with Klaus Flugge, Managing Director of Andersen Press, a press that has often published unconventional books, examines why publishers would be willing to take risks with books that “challenge, provoke, [and] arouse admiration, respect, surprise and controversy.” What constitutes a challenging and/or controversial visual text? The definition covers a wide range of topics and visual formats. The contributors to this volume write about death, war, drugs, abortion, and immigration as well as picturebooks, comics, graphic novels, and “fusion texts”. Particularly powerful are the studies that report children’s interactions with picturebooks and how these books provoke a great deal of thoughtful discussion on controversial or philosophical issues. In a classroom study, Evans found that children are easily able to deal with challenging subject matter, perhaps more than adults would give them credit for. As one girl stated: “A challenging picture-book is a book that invites discussion and scrutiny so you can understand it.” Children seem less daunted by challenging or controversial subject matter than adults, who filter, censor, and select books for the young. In the empirical work in classrooms, various authors found that using challenging and controversial books with young readers has many benefits. They encourage children to develop their interpretive [End Page 68] responses, to challenge stereotypes, to change their own visual preferences and aesthetic understandings of complex texts, to develop the uses of symbolic visual language, and to learn about complex emotions and confront fears. Arizpe notes that the “power of the image…and the impact of the word” work together to deepen the impact of controversial, even unsettling subjects. She adds that there are “picturebooks whose controversial subject matter and unconventional, often unsettling style of illustration challenge the reader, pushing them to question and probe deeper to understand what the book is about.” As multiple contributors to this volume show, children responding to visual texts with challenging and controversial subject matter are able not only to understand such matters, but they provide fresh and sophisticated ways of thinking about and viewing them. The book highlights in myriad ways the importance of controversial and challenging visual texts. They push the boundaries of “acceptable” subject matter and visual formats and move the publishing industry forward in reflecting contemporary society. These books offer a mirror for a...