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| Photo Provided by http://www.bethkrommes.com/illustration/the-house-in-the-night |
“The House in the Night,” was written by Susan Marie
Swanson. The pictures in the book are by
Beth Krommes. I really enjoyed that this
book was based on a poem with a cumulative pattern. The pattern really draws the reader into the
book, much like the character in the story is drawn into the story and pictures
of her book. The illustrator did a
superb job in bringing to life what it would look like for the young girl to
get completely enthralled in her book; enthralled to the point in which she
feels like she’s flying on the bird that is in the story. Without the detailed black and white pictures
with yellow accents, I would not have noticed the contrast in the poem of the
brightness and darkness.
When I first sat down to read this book, I enjoyed it, but I
was not completely captivated with the story line. When I read through the book again, and paid
close attention to the details in the pictures, the story truly came to life
for me. It was then that I realized the young girl became part of the story she
was reading. In my second time of
reading the book, I also realized the illustrator chose to use yellow as an
accent color to show the impact of the brightness in the dark.
This book reminded me of “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” by
Brian Selznick. Both of these books use black and white pictures that bring the
story to life for the reader. Without
the pictures in both of the books, the reader would not truly understand what
was going on in the text. Both
illustrators also paid close attention to detail in the pictures that they use
to display the story line.
By reading this book, I learned that even repetitive text
can be used to create a powerful story.
Even though the poem in “The House in the Night,” seemed fairly simple,
it was captivating because of the pictures that brought it to life. I am usually primarily concerned with the
text that my students are reading, but this book showed me that pictures can
add deep meaning to a text. These pictures can be used to teach students the
importance of visualization when reading.
