Thus far, in chapters 2, 3 and 4, we have explored groups of visual resources that in combination fulfil certain functions in the narrative. We have looked at resources that can be used to shape the story world, to invite readers into the story, and to create emotion, call for judgment and foster appreciation.

In this chapter, we go over the generic structure of narratives and connect the resources seen so far to each of the stages that make up the narrative. In other words, we look at the resources more typically used at each stage of the genre. For every stage of the narrative (Placement, Initiating Event, Sequent events, Final event, Finale and Moral) we offer an overview of how the verbal and visual modalities combine to transmit the meanings made in each stage, and then, we delve into the visual resources in more detail.

5.1. Placement

The first stage in narrative texts is Placement. In it the author introduces the setting and the characters in the story. Sometimes this stage is discretely realised, i.e., it occurs as a separate stage before the action starts. Otherwise, the information that would be included in this stage is presented together with the first event of the story. When this happens, readers find out about the setting and characters gradually as they start reading. Both possibilities are quite frequent in picture story books.

Language and images combine to construe the Placement: the time and place in which the story happens, characters with their traits and habits, and a stable situation are all depicted through images as well as language. So how exactly does each of these modalities contribute to the construction of the Placement?

5.1.1. Meanings expressed through language and images in Placement

5.1.1.1. Setting

In general, the location in time and place is mentioned or identified in the text in nonspecific terms. Circumstances of temporal and spatial location –underlined in the following examples– are used.

• “The rabbits came many grandparents ago.” (Tan, 1998)
• “This all happened a few summers ago, one rather ordinary day by the beach. Not much was going on.” (Tan, 2000)
• “Oliver had just moved to the big city.” (Freedman & Hindley, 2015)
• “Once upon a time, but not very long ago, deep in the Australian bush lived two possums. Their names were Hush and Grandma Poss.” (Fox & Vivas, 1991)

The location is rarely described in the text, and when it is, it is done in very general terms. For instance:

• “Sunny lives in the Kalahari Desert. It is VERY dry and VERY hot.” (Gravett, 2007)
• “Mr. Piggott lived (…) in a nice house with a nice garden, and a nice car in the nice garage.” (Browne, 1986)

In the images, however, the background typically provides more detailed information as to where the story is set in place and occasionally in time. The reader can see what exactly the context looks like, its elements and precise features. The characters are not just ‘in a forest,’ for instance, but we can see exactly what the forest is like, what types of trees or animals live there, how dense it is, how dark it is. The time of the day is also depicted because of the lighting, unless the action is indoors without windows in sight, in which case clocks can represent the time. Clues as to which season the story takes place in can also be seen in nature or clothing.

In image 26 above, for example, we know the story will take place in a dense jungle, where temperatures are high enough for a loincloth to be suitable garment and plants are so luscious that they might hide actions from the readers’ –and even the characters’– view.

5.1.1.2. Characters

Character attributes and habits are introduced in this stage as well. These include their physical appearance, personality traits, likes and dislikes, possessions and routines; what they normally are like and what they normally do. Their relationships can also be reflected if they are central to the story. These features can be referred to in the language and depicted in the images.

Similar to what happens with the depiction of setting, when it comes to representing characters’ physical appearance, there is much more information offered visually than verbally. In fact, in most picture books, through the text the reader finds out whether the protagonist is an animal or a person and which kind (possum, elephant, girl, boy). For example: “Once there was a boy and one day he found a penguin at his door” (Jeffers, 2005). However, in the image, the reader can see exactly what the characters look like.

Only in stories in which the characters’ conflict is related to a physical trait do readers get a written description of the characters’ appearance. For instance, in Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001), the narrator says: “Gerald was a tall giraffe whose neck was long and slim. But his knees were awfully crooked and his legs were rather thin.” In this case, Gerald’s physical traits, which are central to the development of the plot, are not only shown in the image but reinforced by the words that accompany it, and in this way, they are brought to the reader’s attention.

As regards characters’ personality traits, these can be more easily –and perhaps more transparently– expressed through language. It is quite difficult to explicitly represent personality traits in images. So, for example, in The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman by Raymond Briggs (1984), the General is depicted in a clearly negative way, but it is not until we read the words that we get to know he is not precisely, or not just, cruel or violent –he is described as wicked in the text.

Nevertheless, readers are very rarely told explicitly what characters are like. More often than not, they have to work out characters’ personality traits by considering what their habits and possessions are, which are generally represented through both modes: text and images. While in the text the General is said to be wicked, in the image the reader can see him holding a blood-soaked sword and smoking a missile.

Another good example can be found in Piggybook (Browne, 1986), a picture book about a family that does not value all the housework the mother does. Through the actions depicted in the images and text, readers can get to know what these characters are like. There are in fact several images in which the two boys and the father are resting and telling the mother what to do while the mother does all the work. For instance, in the fourth spread, there is an image to the left of the boys taking their coats off as they arrive home and an image to the right of the father sitting on an armchair with the newspaper in his hands. They are all calling out to the mother. The text that accompanies these images reads:

“Hurry up with the meal, mom,” the boys called every evening when they came from home from their very important school.

“Hurry up with the meal, old girl,” Mr. Piggott called every evening when he came home from his very important job.”

Here, the characters’ actions and words reveal their personality traits: they are self-centred, disrespectful and oblivious to the mother’s efforts to make their house a home.

Although perhaps more economically expressed through language, characters’ likes and dislikes, habits and possessions are quite frequently represented through both modes. For example, in the first page of Gorilla by Anthony Browne (1983), the protagonist, Hannah, is characterised as follows: “Hannah loved gorillas. She read books about gorillas, she watched gorillas on television and she drew pictures of gorillas.” Two of these actions are depicted in the image accompanying these words, where Hannah is sitting, reading a book with pictures of gorillas in its covers and has a drawing of a gorilla that presumably was made by the girl pinned to the wall behind her. We can tell she enjoys the book because of her facial expression.

Similarly, in the second spread of Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001), Gerald is shown eating leaves off a tree in the image to the left and running and falling hard on the ground in the image to the right. The text that goes together with the images reads: “He was very good at standing still and munching shoots off trees. But when he tried to run around, he bucked at the knees.” We can find a third example in the second spread from Switch on the Night (Bradbury et al., 2004). While the text says: “He liked lanterns and lamps and torches and tapers and beacons and bonfires and flashlights and flares,” the reader can see the boy with all these favourite possessions of his in the image.

Finally, character relationships are generally depicted through images because when more than one character is included in a same image, the way they are positioned in respect to one another necessarily reflects the relationship they have. If the relationship is central to the development of the plot, it might be mentioned or described in the text. Otherwise, though relationships are unavoidably shown visually, they usually go unmentioned in the text.

One example in which the relationship between the main characters is central to the story, and thus, it is presented through both modalities, is The Tunnel (Browne, 2008). This is a story about two siblings that do not get along at the beginning, but after going through a series of dangerous events along the story, they become closer. In the Placement, they are said to be very different: they have different interests and activities. This first stage closes with the words: “Whenever they were together they fought and argued noisily. All the time.” Through the pictures we see they live in totally separate worlds and do entirely different things. Towards the ending, they are said to do everything together. In fact, when the mother asks them if everything is alright, the readers get to know through both modalities that they smile to each other.

So far, we have seen how images and text combine to build the Placement in picture story books. While images are used to give more details as to where (and when) the action takes place and what the characters look like, their personality traits are represented through both modes, although they would be much more economically represented through language. Characters’ likes and dislikes, possessions and habits are frequently expressed visually and verbally.

Next, we present the main features of the images in the Placement according to whether they are mostly building the setting, representing characters’ attributes, reflecting their habitual actions or portraying character relationships.

5.1.2. Visual resources in Placement

5.1.2.1. Setting

Sometimes illustrators wish for readers to focus on the setting before they get to know the protagonists. As the story opens, readers may find a long shot image that shows the setting at large. This is more commonly done through conceptual, static images, which focus on the representation of what things are like rather than ongoing action.

If illustrators choose to include characters in the image, they are typically shown from far away so that readers can observe them in their usual context. In these cases, characters are depicted as one more element of their environment from a rather impersonal or objectifying perspective. At this point in the story, readers are not meant to build a relationship or interact with characters yet. Thus, these images show detachment, as characters are typically involved with some other element in the context, and are unmediated, observe: characters are not making eye contact with readers.

As regards ambience, a specific colour scheme to represent the setting is chosen according to whether the reality presented is characterised as rather calm, cold, gloomy, or more energetic and cheerful. In this way, a specific tone is set from the start as illustrators create a specific atmosphere that will envelop the characters henceforth.

In terms of composition, these images are typically centred. If there are opposing focus groups of information –groups of information in different sides or corners of the image–, represented in polarised images, the different focus groups are usually balanced so as to create a rather harmonious environment.

Using an image at the beginning to show the setting, then, is a very useful option to highlight where the action will take place or represent characters in their natural habitat to foreground where they live. This will serve to contextualise the introduction of the characters and set the action that ensues in a given place and time.

5.1.2.2. Characters and their attributes

Images that present the main characters and their attributes are generally conceptual as well. Conceptual images portray characters “in terms of their more generalised and more or less stable and timeless essence” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 59). They do not show action but a rather static representation of what the characters are like. In some cases, these images even show characters as if they were posing for a picture. In this way, static, conceptual images give readers the chance to look at the characters’ attributes in detail.

Additionally, the characters are generally seen from a social distance, so that their full form is shown if it is relevant for the plot of the story, or from a more intimate distance to create the impression of intimacy between character and reader. For example, in Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001), Gerald, the main character, is shown in full form in a mid-shot so that readers can notice he has crooked legs, an attribute which triggers the problem Gerald has to face in the story. In other cases, such as The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (Scieszka & Smith, 1996) and Zoo (Browne, 1992), characters’ faces and shoulders are shown in close-ups, allowing the reader to appreciate their feelings or expressions as part of their attributes and build from the start a more intimate connection with them.

In these images, characters can also be facing the readers and on several occasions they are making eye contact, establishing “pseudo-interpersonal relations” with the reader (Unsworth, 2015, p. 93). This relationship built between readers and characters is generally one of equality, which is represented by showing the character at eye level. This invites the reader to relate to the characters as equals, perceive them as friendly and empathise with them. However, there are cases in which characters are depicted from a low angle, as if seen from below, to give the impression they have power over the reader and perhaps characterise them as imposing, dangerous or even scary. For instance, in The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman (Briggs, 1984), the General is seen from below as he is presented to the reader. Although we did not find any examples in Placement, characters could be seen from above with a high angle to show their weakness or helplessness. The size of the character in relation to the whole image, that is, whether the character is occupying most of the image or very little space in it, could also hint at how powerful or powerless they are. In the case of the General, he is occupying almost all the space available and he comes across as huge compared to the mountains that are depicted alongside him.

All of these features help give readers the impression that the characters are being introduced to them at the beginning of the story. A particular relationship is established between readers and characters before the action starts. Because of this, it only makes sense that readers at this point in the story should see and relate to the characters from their own perspective as outsiders. Thus, images that introduce characters are unmediated.

Finally, as regards composition, images presenting characters’ attributes in the Placement of the story many times show one focus group which is centred, depicting the characters as a single unit in the middle of the image to help readers focus on them and their attributes.

As we said before, illustrators can also represent characters’ attributes in the background of the image by including objects around the character that give the readers clues as to who these characters are, their possessions, interests, likes and dislikes, social position.

5.1.2.3. Characters’ habits

In contrast to images that reflect characters’ attributes, which are usually static and conceptual, characters’ habits are more commonly depicted through dynamic, narrative images. These images “serve to present unfolding actions and events, processes of change, transitory spatial arrangements” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 59). In other words, this type of image is more fitting to show characters carrying out actions.

Typically, in narrative images characters are seen in full form from a social or impersonal distance, which allows readers to ‘zoom out’ and see action taking place –something they would not be able to do in a close-up that just shows the characters’ faces. Because characters are carrying out actions, they are not usually facing readers but viewed from the side or back and are making no eye contact with readers but looking at someone or something else. Again, readers here maintain their own viewpoint as they are still getting to know the characters and so relate to them as outside observers. In this case, then, the use of detached, unmediated, observe images positions readers to observe rather than interact with characters as characters are busy involved in action or involved with other characters. Going back to the example from Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001), when Gerald, the giraffe, is depicted running and falling, an accident that is apparently habitual for him, he is seen from the side, at a social distance in an unmediated, observe image.

In terms of the composition of the image, these habitual actions can be represented as a sequence of smaller images through the use of iterating focus groups. In other words, characters can be depicted repeatedly to represent the progression of the action in small, separate images or within the same background as part of one image. Habitual actions can also be shown in decontextualised images, that is, in images in which the background is not depicted. This choice emphasises the habitual and generalised nature of these actions, regardless of the specific context in which they might have occurred, in contrast to one-time events that take place at a particular time and place. For instance, in the same example from Giraffes Can’t Dance, Gerald is depicted three times in nearly decontextualised images that only show a little bit of grass under his hooves.

5.1.2.4. Character relationships

In addition to the characters’ attributes and habits, their relationships may be represented along the Placement to further characterise them. In images where more than one character is depicted, their relationship is represented by the position in which the characters are placed with respect to one another: whether they are facing each other or angled away, whether they are making eye contact or not, and whether they are standing close to or far away from each other. Their power relation can also be shown through the vertical angle: the characters can be at eye level or one of them can be positioned to look down on or up to the other.

As regards the composition of the image, when characters have a close relationship with one another, they are generally represented in one focus group together, as constituting one unit. In contrast, when the characters do not share a close relationship, they can be placed in a polarised image, where each character constitutes a focus group on its own, positioned as a separate entity, on opposing sides or corners of the image.

There is a very good example of characters’ relationships depicted in images in The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka & Steve Johnson (1994), a very funny picture book about the story of the Frog Prince and his wife after they lived happily ever after. The first image in the book shows the prince and the princess surrounded by a heart of flowers in the centre of the image. The characters are very close to each other. In this case, they visually constitute only one group of information. They are turned towards and looking at each other. In the following image, the couple is shown again but some time has passed, and the relationship has changed: they are not as happy living together as they thought they would be. This is represented by placing the characters in opposing corners of the image. In this case, they constitute two separate visual units. To highlight the troubled relationship, the characters are also facing away from each other, without making eye contact.

5.1.2.5. In short: Choices in Placement

Illustrators may choose to highlight different aspects of the Placement before the action starts. They might wish to direct readers’ attention to the setting of the story, or foreground particular features of the main characters, i.e., their attributes, habits or relationships. The emphasised aspect of Placement will most probably be closely connected to what brings about problems for the protagonist later on in the story. The conflict may arise from the characters’ context or environment, their attributes –whether they be a physical condition, reflected in their possessions or in their personality traits–, their habits, or their relationships.

As we have said so far, the features of images in this first section of picture story books vary according to the illustrators’ intention; what they wish readers to focus on. The different options discussed above are summarised in the table below.

Table 5 – Visual resources in Placement.

5.2. Events: Complication & Resolution

As mentioned in Chapter 2, after the story is set in time and place, there is an event that interrupts the even tenor of existence and kicks the story off. This Initiating event is followed by Sequent events that increasingly complicate things for the character and, thus, contribute to building mounting tension in the story. Finally, the action culminates with a Final event that provides a resolution for the conflict of the story. These events move the plot forward, initially building up tension to then dissolve it as the conflict is sorted out.

Each of these events in the narrative is made up of three elements:

• the frame, which is the local setting in which the event takes place –certain characters in a particular time and place;
• the main act, that is, the particular happening that takes place in this event and moves the plot forward; and
• the sequel, which is the consequence of the happening –an emotional reaction or a decision taken by the characters.

Next, we will take a look at how text and image combine to make meanings in these three steps within each event and then we will go over the main visual resources used by illustrators to fulfil these steps.

5.2.1. Meanings expressed through language and images in Events

5.2.1.1. Frame

The frame or local setting of every event is generally marked in the language by a temporal adjunct –linker– or with a circumstance of temporal or spatial location, typically included at the beginning of the clause. For example:

• “One summer afternoon, Spike Trotter met Bubba D’Angelo by the service station and together they went up to the tower for a swim.”
  “When Bubba reached the top, he lifted himself out and squatted a moment, catching his breath, calming his heart.”
  “When Spike returned, calling and waving the shorts, Bubba stuck his head straight out of the tank.”
  (Crew & Woolman, 2011)
• “In the afternoon, every subject is a problem.”
  “We are about to go home when Rebecca remembers the special birthday cupcakes her mother made.”
  (Scieszka & Smith, 1995)
• “Then he found a little clearing and he looked up at the sky.”
  “Then Gerald felt his body do the most amazing thing.”
  “Then one by one, each animal who’d been there at the dance arrived while Gerald boogied on and watched him quite entranced.”
  (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001)

Visually, the frame is not usually represented in a separate image but depicted in the background of the images that show the action. The information offered by the text, which sometimes might not be as detailed as in the picture, generally complements what is shown in the images and together they help readers understand that a new event is starting, and to know which characters are involved in this event and where and when it is taking place.

The frame of an event may be omitted when the setting and the characters involved in it are the same as in the previous event.

5.2.1.2. Main act

In the main act, which is the core section of an event, the text describes what happens in detail while the images can only represent part of what happens. The longer the text is, the more unbalanced the amount of information about the happening provided by the two modalities is. In picture books where there is very little text, the images and the text can both represent what is happening to a similar extent. In fact, some picture story books show through images more about the event than what is written in the text about it. However, in picture books in which a lot of text accompanies the images, the images only focus on the representation of the main happening of the event or on depicting what happens in general terms, while language takes care of representing the main act in its entirety. Through language, then, authors can depict what happens more economically and in more detail in the main act.

Characters’ words, intentions, thoughts and perceptions –especially imagery related to senses other than sight– are expressed only through language. We can find a very clear example of this in an event from The Watertower (Crew & Woolman, 2011). In the image, one of the main characters, Bubba, is sitting on a ladder rung halfway down the ladder inside of the huge and bleak water tower. Although it is a long shot that shows the character from far away, his face seems to show concern. The green water below him is moving, as it is full of ripples. In the text, however, we get a lot more information about what is going inside Bubba’s head:

“Bubba climbed in the tank. ‘I’ll be all right,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll be all right.’ But when he looked down, the bottom rung was a long way from the light. And the water seemed darker. So he stopped halfway, and waited.

All about him the tower creaked and groaned. That’s the heat, he reasoned. The heat expanding the metal.

There was a smell. That’s the algae. All rotten and festering.

The water eddied and swirled. That’s the wind shifting the tower. It’s old and rickety.”

We can see that in this case the information included in the text helps the reader know what Bubba is saying, thinking, sensing and feeling. This information would be virtually impossible or much less economical to represent visually.

Although in most cases the main act is constructed through language more clearly and in detail, sometimes certain details or important happenings are only depicted in the image and left unsaid in the text. This typically happens when characters themselves are unaware of the detail that goes unmentioned. For instance, in Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (2006), a young girl, Trixie, who is very excited about showing her classmates at school “her one-of-a-kind Knuffle Bunny,” finds out that another girl has a very similar stuffed rabbit of her own called Nuffle Bunny. After the girls have quarrelled all morning, their teacher takes both bunnies away and when she gives them back, the bunnies are switched. If readers have been paying close attention, they are able to tell them apart because their ears are different colours. However, this fact is not mentioned in the text and Trixie goes about her afternoon activities oblivious to the fact that she has got the wrong bunny. This detail, even though it is just shown visually, is very important to create tension and build expectations for the readers.

Another example is illustrated in Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (2005), a sweet story about a boy who finds a lost penguin and tries to help it find its home. As the Sequent events take place and tension is built, the boy takes the penguin to the South Pole and leaves it there, thinking this is the right thing to do. But as he is rowing away, he realises that the penguin had not been lost but lonely all along, so he decides to row back to the South Pole and look for his friend. While the text reads: “Quickly he turned the boat around and headed back to the South Pole as fast as he could,” in the image the reader can see that as the boy is going back, he has to row around a big iceberg that is in his way. At the same time, the penguin is going the other direction and going around the iceberg on the other side, missing the boy. The text continues describing the boy’s desperate search of the penguin as he arrives at the place where he had left it, without any mention of the fact that the characters have missed each other in the way. Here, the image carries information that is only provided visually in the book and that is central to the understanding of the development of the plot.

To round off, in the step main act the text usually carries the complete information of what happens in the event, especially when it comes to expressing what characters say, think, sense and want to do, while images visually represent part of the event and provide extra visual imagery. Nonetheless, some information is sometimes shown only in images for readers to discover and interpret themselves.

5.2.1.3. Sequel

In the sequel, the consequence of the main act is made explicit. The consequence may be an emotional reaction characters have or a decision they take based on what has just happened. This section of the event is sometimes marked in the language with the causal conjunction so. These consequences are often referred to exclusively by means of the language, because it is faster and simpler than including a new image to show them.

However, when the event is important and authors wish readers to reflect upon its consequences, illustrators can add an image for the sole purpose of representing the impact of the event on the characters. This extra image constitutes a pause after the action to help readers consider its consequences more carefully before moving on to the next event.

The representation of the characters’ emotional reaction through image together with language seems to be a more frequent choice than the visual depiction of characters’ decisions alone. This dual representation of the characters’ emotional reaction is particularly effective since just reading about what the characters feel may not be enough or as powerful as seeing the characters’ facial expressions. It is interesting to notice that each modality plays a slightly different role in these cases. While the text can be more precise as to what emotion the character is exactly experiencing, its visual representation appeals more strongly to the readers’ emotions, as it has a powerful and more immediate effect on the readers. This can help readers feel for the character more readily or easily.

With respect to decisions taken by characters as a result of what happens in the main act, these are more typically and economically expressed through the text. There are some cases, however, in which an image has been included after an important happening to represent the decision taken by the character.

In some rather rare cases, both types of consequences can be depicted through both modalities. For instance, in Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001), after several animals from the jungle have danced, it is Gerald’s turn to take the dance floor, but as he steps into the middle of the circle, he freezes up and all the animals point and laugh at him. After this main act, there is a spread with two images that represent the sequel: in the image to the left, Gerald’s emotional reaction is shown, while in that to the right, Gerald’s decision to walk away from the party is depicted. The text that is included in this spread together with the images helps readers ponder on the effects this event has on Gerald, feel as sad and ashamed as the character does, and understand his decision to leave the place.

5.2.2. Visual resources in Events

5.2.2.1. Frame

As said above, the frame is depicted in the background of the images that show the main act. Since images showing the action are typically contextualised and drawn from mid or long distance so that the action is visible, it is quite easy for the readers to recognise where and when the action is taking place, as well as which characters are involved in the event.

5.2.2.2. Main Act

The action in the events is visually represented in narrative, dynamic images in which characters are doing, saying, perceiving. Because characters are involved in action, it makes sense that they be depicted from a social or impersonal distance, i.e., from far enough so as to show them carrying out actions. Besides, they are typically seen from the side or the back, facing and looking at someone or something that is implicated in the action as well. Therefore, images in the main act are observe, unmediated and detached.

Most of the time, readers are outside observers of what is going on in the main act and view the action from their own perspective. The relationship between characters and readers is not the focus in this section, giving way to the representation of relationships among characters, as well as their behaviour and actions.

However, as the mounting action moves towards the highest peak of tension, that is, the climax, some of these features may change, bringing the reader closer to the characters and their reality. The distance may gradually shift from impersonal, to social, to intimate as details are shown or characters come closer to the reader. The reader may also be positioned to experience the action from a character’s viewpoint in mediated images. In these cases, characters may make eye contact and face the reader, moving from observe and detachment images to contact and involvement images. Characters may also be seen from above or below, establishing a relation of unequal power between reader and character at particularly significant or tense moments in the narrative.

If relevant to the story, the colour scheme may also change to establish a different ambience as the story moves towards its climax. As regards the use of margins and frames, which serve to demarcate the story world and separate it from the reader’s world, they are often unchanging throughout the story. However, when they vary along the narrative, it is highly probable that towards the climax, they become thinner, are breached by characters or elements of their context, or disappear completely.

5.2.2.3. Sequel

In the sequel, after readers have observed from outside the story world the action taking place, they are invited back to come closer to the characters and reflect upon what the consequences of what has just happened are for the characters.

Images that represent an emotional reaction in the sequel are typically conceptual, static as they reflect the characters’ state rather than show ongoing action. As said before, these static images serve to slow down the pace of the plot or pause the action momentarily to give readers the opportunity and the time to focus on the emotional impact of the event.

To clearly depict the characters’ emotional reaction, these images show them from an intimate distance with a close-up so that the facial gestures are visible and can be more easily interpreted by the readers. At the same time, from such a close distance, readers are prone to feel they have a close and intimate connection to the characters, which serves to foster a more empathetic view.

This connection can be enhanced by positioning the characters facing readers and, on some occasions, having them make eye contact with them. The characters’ gaze, which gives readers the impression they are being addressed, compels them to feel more connected to the characters and involved with what the characters are feeling and going through.

As regards composition, the characters are generally centred in these images, constituting a unique focus group for readers to look at and analyse. These images can also be decontextualised, helping the readers to focus solely on the characters and their emotions.

When there is no separate image to deal with characters’ emotional reaction –which is sometimes not even mentioned in the text–, their facial gestures in the image showing the main act can give clues for readers to know how the event is affecting the characters emotionally.

Regarding the visual representation of sequels that involve decisions, these are more similar to images that show action in the main act. They are narrative, dynamic, from a rather social or impersonal distance, in which characters are seen doing something; besides, they are often unmediated, observe images and there is typically detachment.

5.3. Bringing the story to an end: Final event & Finale

After the complicating events come to a climactic point, the tension starts descending and the story begins to close. At this point, a new situation for the characters is built that is different from the one presented at the beginning yet echoes its stability. This is done particularly in the Finale, an optional stage that has the function of establishing a new state of affairs. However, since this stage is not always present, the Final event, which resolves the conflict, sometimes serves to hint at a new situation for the characters. In other words, towards the ending of the story, whether it is done separately in an extra stage or not, a new scenario is presented of what things for the protagonists are now like.

While in the Final event the action narrated is still a one-time occurrence, in the Finale, the state of what things are like is established in more habitual and general terms. Because of this the Finale is quite similar to the initial stage of Placement in nature, as it reflects what things are like rather than narrating action.

By the end of the story, then, characters have changed in some way as a result of the events in the plot, of the experience gained, of lessons learnt. This change may be reflected in their reality or life circumstances, views or knowledge of the world, attributes, feelings, habits or relationships. In these last stages of the story, these changes are highlighted, in many cases, by drawing clear parallelisms between the situation in the Placement or during events in the story and the situation in the Final event and Finale. These comparable aspects make it easier for readers to identify the differences and changes occurred.

For instance, in Gorilla (Browne, 1983), readers can find several contrasts. The story is about a young girl, Hannah, who loves gorillas and wishes more than anything that her father take her to the zoo to see a real gorilla. However, her father is so busy that he seems to have no time to spend with her. The night before her birthday, she gets a small toy gorilla. Disappointed, she goes to sleep. But during the night the stuffed gorilla grows and turns into a real gorilla that spends all night with her and takes her to her favourite places, including the zoo.

In this picture book, several correlations can be established between moments from the Placement that show father and daughter and some other moments along the events that show the gorilla and the girl. All of them serve to compare the cold and rather lonely life Hannah has with her father against the vibrant and fun night she experiences with the gorilla. The same moments from the Placement can also be compared to some of the details from the Final event, in which father and daughter appear together again. Through these parallelisms, readers can easily see how their reality and relationship has changed for the better. Finally, some moments in the complicating events can be compared to the ones in the Final event, as the characters spend time together at the end of the story doing some of the things Hannah did with the gorilla during the night.

In the section below, we take a look at how these contrasts are marked through language and images in picture story books.

5.3.1. Meanings expressed through language and images in Final event & Finale

In general terms, in the images readers can find clear and quite obvious parallelisms between the characters’ final situation and the state of affairs marked in the Placement or some events in the story. However, many aspects of these changes go unmentioned in the text.

For example, in the case of Gorilla (Browne, 1983), while the images clearly mark changes for the girl’s reality or life circumstances through colours, the relationship with her father through the positioning of the characters in the image, and her feelings though her facial expressions, the text lets the readers know that Hannah looks at her father when he asks her if she wants to go to the zoo and that she is very happy. Eye contact may be important, but it is not marked as a change in the relationship because we do not know whether the father is making eye contact with her as well. Besides, the written references to what characters are doing at this point are not in clear contrast with previous utterances in the story. Although we are told the father does not have time to go to the zoo, we do not necessarily get the feeling, through the words, that there is a change in his attitude. In addition, we are never explicitly told in the story that the girl is sad. There is no mention of her feelings at the beginning of the story and the only clue readers get as regards negative feelings is indirect; we get to know that she is disappointed with her present because the narrator says the Gorilla “was just a toy,” and she dumps it in a corner of the room with other toys.

The changes that are commonly marked through the text have to do with different actions, attributes or feelings characters are connected with towards the ending of the story. However, the readers have to make a greater effort when interpreting these changes because they seldom contrast in a direct, explicit way with actions, attributes and feelings described as the story opens.

So, for example, in the Placement of Piggybook by Anthony Browne (1986), the father and children are shown yelling, idly sitting and watching TV in images with bright and warm colours while the mother is shown working in the house alone in images with sepia tones. The text mainly reflects what the male characters say to the mother and every utterance starts with hurry up. It also refers to all the household chores the mother carries out. In the Finale, however, the male characters are related to actions in the text that the mother used to carry out –wash dishes, make beds, iron, help with the cooking. The text also mentions that the boys and father sometimes liked helping out. All these actions are represented in the images as well, which show the characters smiling while doing the chores. In the page previous to last the mother is said to be happy. The last page says the mother is now fixing the car, something the reader can assume she likes doing because of her smile. In this case, many of the changes are shown through both modalities, but the feelings of the characters and their relationships are not mentioned at the beginning through the text explicitly, while they are unavoidably reflected in the images. So the comparison is most of the times more easily and comprehensibly made through the visual modality.

5.3.2. Visual resources in Final event & Finale

Visually, the contrast between the characters’ reality or state of affairs at the beginning and ending of the story is quite frequently drawn to the readers’ attention through the composition of images. That is, parallelisms are established between elements included in images and their respective positions. As we said above, these similarities between the images that make up the Placement –and sometimes different events along the story– and the ones included in the Final event and Finale help readers clearly identify the elements that have changed.

In the following section we go over some of the features images can have towards the ending of the story depending on which aspects of the characters’ and their situations have changed.

5.3.2.1. Characters’ attributes

One change that can be marked is related to the characters’ attributes. These can be physical attributes, personality traits or possessions. To highlight the changes, illustrators represent characters with new features or possessions towards the ending of the narrative, in images that are generally similar to those presented in the Placement.

These images are usually part of the Finale or the last images in the picture book. They tend to be conceptual, static to give readers the time to look for the differences more carefully. Because there is no action taking place, all readers can focus on are the characters’ qualities. Besides, readers perceive characters from their own perspective as outsiders in unmediated images. However, there may be contact and involvement as characters connect and interact once more with readers to show them how they have changed.

As regards distance, images in this case may show the characters from a social distance so that readers are able to see them in full form and appreciate changes in their attributes, particularly if these are related to characters’ physical appearance or possessions. Some other times, characters are depicted from a more intimate distance, especially when the change has been emotional and can be reflected in the characters’ facial expressions.

Concerning their composition, these images are typically centred, focusing the readers’ attention on the characters and their new attributes. The elements that have changed can be made salient by contrast in colour or size, or by foregrounding them (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 177). These images may also be decontextualised, i.e., without background, for the reader to focus solely on the characters and their features, regardless of where they are.

For example, the picture book Madlenka by Peter Sis (2010), which is about a girl who goes on a learning journey around her block, starts by saying that the girl has a loose tooth. The image shows a girl through a window wiggling her tooth as she faces and makes eye contact with the reader. The last image shows the girl in full form from a social distance; she is facing and making eye contact with the reader again, but this time she is missing a tooth. She is presented in a conceptual, centred, decontextualised image that invites the reader to analyse her attributes and see how she has changed. Her missing tooth is salient, as it is painted black and in sharp contrast with the rest of the light pastel colours used in the image. The clear parallelism drawn by these images helps readers see the change in her. This closes the story nicely by symbolising in the loss of the tooth the journey of discovery and growth the girl has gone through.

In the Placement of Piggybook (Browne, 1986), the first image shows the father with his two children dressed in a suit and school uniforms as they are standing on the lawn in front or their “nice” house and car. This conceptual, static image focuses on the characters’ physical traits and possessions. The characters are facing the reader and making eye contact. In the Finale, a very similar picture is included, but this time the children and father are wearing aprons and chef hats and holding pots with food they have cooked. This difference, drawn to the readers’ attention by the very similar composition of the image –the father in between the two boys forming a triptych–, marks a change in the characters’ attributes and attitudes that is central to the message of the story.

5.3.2.2. Characters’ actions and habits

If characters’ habits have been depicted in the Placement, it is quite common to have images showing how these habits have changed in the Finale. For example, in The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers (2008), a story about a bear who is secretly felling trees in the forest while everyone is looking for the culprit, the bear is represented at the beginning carrying an axe. A very similar image is included at the end, but this time the bear is watering a young tree he has planted.

These images, just as the ones showing habits in the Placement, tend to be narrative, dynamic and characters are shown from a social distance so as to portray them in action. There is no need for involvement or eye contact, unless characters are more explicitly addressing the reader to show them how they behave now. The character may be in the centre of the image so that it is salient.

Going back to Piggybook (Browne, 1986), in images which show habits in the Placement, the boys and father are always depicted from a social distance in narrative, dynamic images, either yelling or sprawling on the sofa while watching TV. But in the Finale, these characters are shown doing varied household chores. Some of these images are quite similar in composition to the ones shown at the beginning to draw a sharper contrast, and in some of them, the characters are facing readers and making eye contact with them.

5.3.2.3. Characters’ relationships or status within a group

Another change that can be marked in images from the Final event and Finale has to do with characters’ relationships. These images are generally comparable to previous images in the Placement or in central events in the story, to see how relationships have evolved.

As we said before, whenever more than one character is depicted in an image, their relationship is inevitably reflected. Characters can be facing each other or not, making eye contact or looking away, standing close to each other, and constituting one unit –they can even be making physical contact– or placed far away from each other. When characters are placed side by side facing the same direction, solidarity between them is construed as they share a common direction, purpose, interest. Contrasts in images in which the same characters appear can show how their relationship has changed. These may also highlight the differences between relationships main characters have with diverse secondary characters in the picture book.

For example, in The Frog Prince Continued (Scieszka & Johnson, 1994), the prince and the princess do not have a good relationship at the beginning. In the Placement, whenever they are both represented in the same image, they are facing different directions, without making eye contact and far away from each other, constituting different focus groups in the image. In one of the images, the characters’ power relationship is depicted as unequal: the princess has power over the prince. However, as the story comes to an end, the characters are shown close together as one single unit, making physical and eye contact, facing each other as equals. The very last image portrays the couple facing the same direction, which symbolises their solidarity.

Similarly, in Gorilla (Browne, 1983), Hannah is first seen in the Placement having breakfast with her father in a rather dull and cold setting. Although they are facing each other, they are not making eye contact and are sitting at opposite ends of the table, far away from each other. This image is in sharp contrast with an image in one of the events that also shows Hannah having a meal, but with the gorilla. In this second case, the warm and bright colours reflect a much cosier, vibrant and joyful atmosphere. In addition, the characters are sitting closer, facing each other and making eye contact. Finally, the morning of her birthday, Hannah is sitting at the table in front of a cake and her father is holding her shoulders and standing behind her. They are close to each other, constituting one focus group together. Although they are not making eye contact or facing each other, they are close to each other as the father puts his hands on the girl’s shoulders and they are facing the same direction. The ambience in this third image is warm and vibrant, which symbolises joy and cosiness.

When a characters’ status in a group changes, this can also be reflected through the composition of the image. As we mentioned before, one possibility is to represent the character together with other characters in the same focus group, or apart from others to show them as outsiders. Another choice is to represent characters in a circular composition. Characters that have been depicted as outsiders, occupying one of the sides or corners of the image, may be moved to the centre of a circular organisation as the story closes to show the character now belongs to the group or vice versa.

For instance, in Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001), as Gerald steps on the dance floor, he is in the middle of a circular image, surrounded by animals that make fun of him. In the following spread, we find an image of the jungle party in which animals are happily dancing in the foreground and Gerald is depicted very small in the background in a corner of the image as he leaves the party alone. Here the character has gone from a central position to become an outsider because of the events in the party. Towards the end of the story, after Gerald has found his own rhythm and learnt how to dance, another image puts him in the middle of a circle made by animals that watch as he dances. This time the animals are cheering and throwing flowers at the giraffe. The composition of the image helps readers know Gerald is now part of the group of animals and he occupies a central position. He is no longer alone or rejected, but accepted.

5.3.2.4. Characters’ new reality or final situation

When characters’ reality or general situation changes, a new background or context can be depicted surrounding the characters. Sometimes a change in ambience can help depict a new, changed reality. The colour palette varies as the mood and atmosphere in the story change, for instance, from calm, cold and gloomy –cold, muted colours– to warm, energetic and joyful –warm and vibrant colours.

One example of this change is the situation of the wolf in The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (Scieszka & Smith, 1996). In the Placement, Alexander T. Wolf is depicted in the background cooking at home, but at the end he is behind bars in jail.

In Piggybook (Browne, 1986), we can see the change depicted through ambience. In the Placement, the mother is depicted doing all the household chores in dull images with sepia tones, which are in sharp contrast with the bright and colourful images that show the activities of the rest of the family. This difference in colour configurations marks the rather tedious and unfulfilling life the mother lives while she aids the rest of the family to live their exciting and ‘important’ lives. It is as if the sepia tones rendered her existence as less real or important than her family’s. By the end of the story this situation has changed and while the rest of the family is doing the household chores, the mother is happily fixing the car. Her reality is now depicted in vibrant, warm colours, just as the rest of her family’s.

5.3.2.5. Bringing closure to the story

One last option taken in quite a few picture books is to provide closure to the relationship that has been built between characters and readers throughout the story. This can be done in two main ways: by zooming out or by showing the characters from behind.

First, readers may get the feeling that they are zooming out from the story, distancing themselves from the characters and their reality. Long shot images with impersonal distance can be used to give the impression to the reader that their relationship with characters and the story world is coming to an end.

The last image of Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers (2005), for example, shows the boy and penguin rowing back home together in a boat from far away and above. In The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan (2000), the illustrator has decided to include four last small images in which the protagonist zooms out of view. In both these cases, readers get the clear feeling that the story has come to an end, as has their relationship with the characters.

Another way of distancing the readers from the characters is positioning the characters with their back towards the readers, as if they were walking away, continuing their lives without the presence of the readers. This signals the culmination of the story, as readers will no longer be witnesses to what happens in the lives of these characters. The last images of Cows Can’t Fly by David Milgrim (2000), Gorilla by Anthony Browne (1983), The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka & Steve Johnson (1994), for instance, show characters walking away, carrying on with their lives now that the conflict has been resolved, and severing their relationship with the readers, who will no longer be part of their lives.

5.4. Moral

One last optional stage in picture story books is the Moral. In it, authors explicitly tell readers what the message of the story is, what they want readers to learn. In most narratives, the Moral is not explicitly mentioned, as it is expected that readers find out for themselves what the message of the story is. However, in some narratives for young children, the moral teaching is made explicit at the end of the story.

There are some linguistic changes that signpost the Moral. Language that so far has been about one-time events, specific characters and a particular time and place now becomes more general to refer to truths that are rather universal. Readers are often referred to explicitly through pronouns such as you, we or one. Readers might be given commands to follow or there might be conditional sentences that sometimes act as warnings of the possible consequences of determined actions or decisions.

We have found only three examples in our extended corpus of picture books in which the stage Moral is present. In all these cases, the last pages in the story mark the moral teaching. These last images are conceptual, static to allow time for reflection and unmediated, as it makes sense that readers see the image from their own perspective because they are the ones who need to learn the moral teaching of the story.

In the last images of Class Two at the Zoo by Julia Jarman & Lynne Chapman (2007), while through the text the reader is warned about the dangers of going to the zoo, in particular of seeing the anaconda, in the images readers see the characters run away from the zoo and they are left alone with the anaconda. In this last image, the snake is making eye contact with readers and is seen from a social distance, perhaps to appreciate the size and the dangerous side of the anaconda.

A second example can be found in Giraffes Can’t Dance (Andreae & Parker-Rees, 2001). In this case, characters are seen from behind looking at the big moon in a conceptual, static image. The fact that the image shows a state rather than ongoing action gives readers time to wonder and reflect upon the message of the story. Besides, the fact that characters are all facing the moon together with readers shows solidarity among them. It is as if characters were inviting viewers to reflect together with them, sharing this moment of contemplation and thought.

A very similar image to this last one is found at the end of Zen Ghosts, by Jon J. Muth (2010). Although the text does not explicitly refer to the Moral, there is one last image in which the characters sit still side by side showing their back to the readers and look at the moon in silence. This image seems to be inviting readers to join in this peaceful and silent moment of reflection. After having shared the events in the narrative, characters and readers find themselves in a similar position, ready to take a moment to reflect on what the moral teaching of the story might be.

5.5. Coda

In this chapter, we discussed the visual and verbal resources that are mapped onto each stage of the narrative to fulfil its key functions and contribute to its overall purpose. As we have seen, while language and images complement each other to convey key meanings, sometimes one modality is more outstanding than the other in the establishment of a particular meaning in the story. Thus, words and images can rely on complementarity to communicate meanings or, alternatively, highlight different areas of experience. Besides, different resources gain relevance at different stages to fulfil a wealth of functions, so that some resources are more typically used at some stages of the genre.