The best children’s book ever
I have read the story my self several times over the years both as a child and as an adult, and I still love it as much as the first time. And I have been thinking about it a lot recently, while writing the story ‘The Little Birthday Helper’, trying to figure out, what makes a great children’s story. I love the illustrations made by Ruth Chrisman Gannett : the style of the pencil strokes with the roundings and the gradients give the illustrations a soft and velvety look. The I love the story. As a child I would shiver by the thought of Elmer’s bravery, how he hid for six days on a ship to get to the island, how he jumped and climbed from rock to rock across the sea at night, how he entered the jungle knowing about the fierce animals he would meet. Brrrr, I shiver now as I remember the story.
And I love the words: how polite Elmer is to every one, how he and the animals reason, and again, how civilization meets the wild not only with Elmer being in the jungle, but allso in the way the animals think: “It’s my mane,” said the lion, as he was figuring how many bites a little boy would make. “You see what a dreadful mess it is, and I don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. My mother is coming over on the dragon this afternoon, and if she sees me this way I’m afraid she’ll stop my allowance. She can’t stand messy manes! But I’m going to eat you now, so it won’t make any difference to you.” Now, I will not be attempting to write a childrens versions of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. But I think my conclusion on why I think My Father’s Dragon is so great is that it is full of contrasts, which gives suspense as in a rollercoaster ride. And that makes it immersive. So, Marie, the rollercoaster effect is what you will strive for in writing interactive children app-books.
When my father read My Father’s Dragon to me, I was so immersed in the story, that I was convinced that it was actually about my father. The only thing that did not make any My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (1923-) Texts and images: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gannett/dragon/dragon.html#10 |