“It’s not all black and white”: Postmodern picture books...

The title of this article arises from the comments of one of mythird-year preservice teacher education students after I read themthe postmodern picture book Black and White by David

Macaulay (1990). The book, for those readers who are unfamiliarwith it, contains multiple stories within one overarching story. Thereader is alerted to these possibilities by the unusual layout of thedouble-page spreads. These are divided into four sections, each in adifferent illustrative style and telling a different but connected story(see illustrations later in this article). After the initial reading one ofmy students used the phrase, “It’s not all black and white” to de-scribe her confusion over how to read and interpret the text and theauthor/illustrator’s purpose or intent. Initially the students dislikedthe book because of the demands it made on them as readers. Intheir words, it stressed them; it was confusing and intimidating. Onestudent commented, “I liked Who Sank the Boat? (Allen, 1996) better;it was fun, easy, and told you the story.”

As a teacher educator responsible for courses in both literacy andchildren’s literature I have long used children’s literature as a way toreintroduce young adults to the joy of reading. I also use it to illus-trate how children’s literature, and in particular picture books, canteach students about literacy and about ways of understanding andbeing part of the social, cultural, political, and economic world.Recently, because of trends in literacy, particularly the redefining ofliteracy as multiliteracies involving multiple modes and technologies,

444

“It’s not all black and white”: Postmodern picturebooks and new literacies

Unexpected formats and textstructure, multiple meanings, and opportunities for critical

analysis are challenging features of these books.

Michèle Anstey

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 45:6 March 2002

©2002 International Reading Association(pp. 444–457)

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I had questioned my practice. I was concernedthat children’s literature could be constructed asan “old literacy,” comprising traditional print andvisual literacies. If this was the case then the useof children’s literature as a context in which toteach new literacies might be limited, as it wouldnot provide the opportunity for students to prac-tice new literacies.

Therefore I reexamined what reading is interms of new literacies and the ways in which aliterate person needs to be able to read in newtimes in order to assess the relevance of children’sliterature to the teaching of new literacies. I con-cluded that literature that exhibits particular char-acteristics can be most useful for teaching newliteracies. One aspect of children’s literature that Ifound particularly suited to teaching new literacieswas the postmodern picture book. It is a productof new times and incorporates many of the char-acteristics of new literacies, requiring the reader toengage with the text in new ways.

The purpose of this article is to share my jour-ney and demonstrate how the postmodern picturebook can be used with readers of various agegroups, but in particular secondary and tertiarystudents, to use and develop new literacies. I be-gin by briefly defining new literacies, and then ex-plore the ways in which the characteristics ofpostmodern picture books incorporate these litera-cies. The major part of the article presents teach-ing strategies for using postmodern picture booksto explore new literacies and other postmoderntexts such as film. I have used Black and White topresent these strategies as it had the greatest im-pact on my students.

After engaging in some of these strategies mystudents concluded that though they still mightnot like the book, it had stretched them as readersand made them think about reading quite differ-ently. They began to comment on its connectionsto other modes and media. One student who hada background in visual arts began to compare thestructure of Black and White to the ideas behindcubist art. Another saw parallels with the moviePulp Fiction because the plot did not proceed inthe usual way, and another likened it to the filmSliding Doors because of the multiple possibilitiespresented to the reader. They commented on thepossible social messages of Macauley’s text, sug-gested that the stories represented a person’s life,

and discussed the effects of working parents onchildren and relationships between adults andchildren.

New literacies and new timesChange is the overarching characteristic of the ear-ly 21st century and will continue to be so. Changeaffects all aspects of our lives, from the global tothe local, and is realised in both workplace andleisure. It is so influential on all aspects of ourlives that life in the 21st century is often referredto as “new times.”

Globalisation has had great effect on workinglives (New London Group, 1996). Workplaces in afast capitalist culture often move to a less hierar-chical organisation, where teamwork and multipleskills are valued (Cope & Kalantzis, 1995). Inthese new workplaces literacy, communication,and social skills are necessary that are differentthan those of the previous hierarchical organisa-tional structures in which each employee had aspecific task with a specific set of skills.

Other global changes affect our public (stateand civic) lives. Recently we have seen the break-down of “amalgamated states,” such as the USSRin Europe, and civil unrest in Asia and the Pacificdue to religious, ethnic, or cultural affiliations.Change is also a feature of countries that werelargely settled by immigrants, such as Australia,the United States, and Canada. In these countrieschange is characterised by acknowledgment andacceptance of difference in terms of ethnicity, cul-ture, and religion as views about the culture, iden-tity, and rights of indigenous people change.

Although these global and state-level changesare marked by fragmentation and difference, thetechnological and economic changes of the timesmean that in both our public and private lives wemust interact with different groups on a daily ba-sis. This interaction occurs not only face to face,but also through digital electronics: The Internet,e-mail, and other technologies (e.g., film and me-dia) are now an everyday part of our workplace,home, and leisure sites. Indeed print is only oneof many available technologies for communicationthese days (Durrant & Green, 2000). The literacy,communication, and social skills necessary formastering the technology and interacting with

445“It’s not all black and white”


these very different groups are both new anddifferent.

Technology has also changed our private lives.The concept of one largely shared set of commu-nity values and conventions promulgated by theprint and electronic media has been challenged bythe availability of multichannel media systems(New London Group, 1996) and growth in theprint media. These cater for different audiencesrather than one large homogenous audience.Simutaneously such systems facilitate global mar-keting to audiences such as children, who becomeconsumers of the same toys worldwide (e.g.,Pokémon). Issues and topics that previously wereprivate have suddenly emerged in these variousmedia, accessible to all. The print and electronicmedia, through magazines and current affairshows, now present details of the private lives ofcelebrities, royalty, and the general public. Theavailability of this information; the associatedviewpoints, values, and attitudes presented with it;and the way in which it is presented (e.g., bias,sensationalism) once again place new literacy andsocial demands on the viewers and readers ofsuch material (Kalantzis, as cited in New LondonGroup, 1996).

Implications for literacy and literacyeducationThe changes in work, public, and private lives de-tailed in the preceding section indicate that duringour working lives we will be required to changetasks, “multiskill,” or change occupations, andeach of these changes will require us to acquirenew literacy skills and interact in different ways.Furthermore, the changing technologies of ourwork, public, and private lives mean the acquisi-tion of literacies associated with these new tech-nologies. Technology in all aspects of our liveswill bring us into contact with a range of culturesand subgroups, each of which may require us touse different literacy skills or ways of interacting.Finally, the availability of vast amounts of informa-tion and the ideologies represented in it will alsorequire new and sophisticated literacy and socialskills in order to examine, accept, or resist the va-riety of ideas presented.

Recently literacy educators have coined theterm multiliteracies to focus on the ways in whichliteracy education will need to change in order toaddress the social diversity, technology, and glob-alisation of our new and changing world (NewLondon Group, 1996). The term literacy is nolonger appropriate, as it focuses on languagealone. Multiliteracies focus on the many modes ofrepresentation and forms of text that have beenmade available through multimedia and techno-logical change. Therefore, being multiliterate re-quires not only the mastery of communication, butan ability to critically analyse, deconstruct, and re-construct a range of texts and other representa-tional forms. It also requires the ability to engagein the social responsibilities and interactions asso-ciated with these texts.

New times and new literacies mean new goalsfor literacy education. The acknowledgment ofchange as the one constant of life in new times in-dicates that literacy education must focus not onlyon the mastery of certain knowledge and skills,but also on the use of these skills in various socialcontexts. Furthermore, literacy education must fos-ter the attitudes and abilities needed to master anduse the evolving languages and technologies ofthe future. Literacy education must also focus oncritical engagement and understanding of text andits inherent ideologies, in all forms, as well ascompetency in creating such texts. Such compe-tency will empower the citizens of the 21st centu-ry, enabling them to take more informed andcritical control of their workplace, public, and pri-vate lives. Literacy education in the 21st centuryshould aim to inculcate the following understand-ings in its students:

• All texts are consciously constructed and haveparticular social, cultural, political, and eco-nomic purposes;

• text comes in a variety of representationalforms incorporating a range of grammars andsemiotic systems;

• the reader or viewer may need to draw uponseveral grammars and semiotic systems in or-der to process some texts;

• changes in society and technology will con-tinue to challenge and change texts and theirrepresentational forms;

446 Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 45:6 March 2002


• there may be more than one way of readingor viewing a text depending on a range ofcontextual (social, cultural, economic, or po-litical) factors; and

• there is a need to consider the possiblemeanings of a text and how it is constructingthe reader and the world of the reader.

The postmodern picture book as a product ofnew timesJust as new times and new literacies challenge uswith change at a number of levels, so does thepostmodern picture book. Author and illustratorconsciously employ a range of devices that aredesigned to interrupt reader expectation and pro-duce multiple meanings and readings of thebook. These books also challenge the traditionalaudience of picture books. Traditionally the pic-ture book has been seen as the province of theyoung, inexperienced reader. However, the post-modern picture book appeals to a much widerage span, level of sophistication, and range ofreading abilities.

The devices consciously employed by authorand illustrator have been termed metafictive(Bradford, 1993; Grieve, 1993; Lewis, 1990;Waugh, 1984). These devices are found in the de-velopment and representation of both written andillustrative text and even the overall design andphysical construction of the book. The develop-ment of different relationships between the writ-ten and illustrative text is also an important featureof the postmodern picture book. The followingdevices are those most commonly found in post-modern picture books (Anstey & Bull, 2000):

• Nontraditional ways of using plot, character,and setting, which challenge reader expecta-tions and require different ways of readingand viewing;

• unusual uses of the narrator’s voice to posi-tion the reader to read the book in particularways and through a particular character’seyes (this can be achieved by the written orvisual text);

• indeterminacy in written or illustrative text,plot, character, or setting, which requires thereader to construct some of the text andmeanings;

• a pastiche of illustrative styles, which requirethe reader to employ a range of knowledgeand grammars to read;

• new and unusual design and layout, whichchallenge the reader’s perception of how toread a book;

• contesting discourses (between illustrativeand written text), which require the reader toconsider alternate readings and meaning;

• intertextuality, which requires the reader touse background knowledge in order to accessthe available meanings; and

• the availability of multiple readings andmeanings for a variety of audiences.

In summary, the postmodern picture book, likemany of the texts available today, looks differentand is meant to be read differently. In fact, if youreview the challenges and changes to literacy thathave been discussed in the preceding sections, itis possible to recognise many of these features inthe list of metafictive devices employed in post-modern picture books. In the Table the features ofmultiliteracy and new requirements for literacy ed-ucation have been juxtaposed against the featuresof postmodern picture books in order to demon-strate how postmodern picture books provide anopportunity to engage with many of the new lit-eracies and the concept of change.

I will now use Black and White to demonstratefurther the use of the postmodern picture bookfor developing multiliteracies and examining andunderstanding change. The five understandingsabout the new literacies and the associated post-modern features identified in the Table will beused as an organising structure for the analysis ofthe book. Clearly not every feature of the bookcan be discussed, only those that I feel bestdemonstrate the understandings about new litera-cies. Specific ideas for teaching strategies followthe discussion of each understanding.

Black and White (written and illustrated byDavid Macaulay, published in 1990) tells the storyof an interruption in commuter train service andits impact on people’s lives. However, there areother possible readings and physical features,which make it an excellent site for students to en-counter new literacies and examine the concept ofchange. These will now be discussed in terms of


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How postmodern picture books provide experiences with the new literacies

Understandings about text required in order tobe multiliterate in the 21st century

All texts are consciously constructed and haveparticular social, cultural, political, andeconomic purposes.

Text comes in a variety of representationalforms, incorporating a range of grammars andsemiotic systems.

Changes in society and technology willcontinue to challenge and change texts andtheir representational forms.

There may be more than one way of reading orviewing a text depending on a range ofcontextual and other factors.

There is a need to consider the possiblemeanings of a text, how they are constructingthe reader and the world around him or her inparticular ways, and why this construction isbeing made.

Features of postmodern picture books that provide experiencewith these understandings.

• The postmodern picture book is consciously constructed tochallenge and engage the reader in new and different ways.

• Unusual uses of the narrator’s voice position the reader to readthe book in particular ways and through a particular character’seyes (this can be achieved by the written or visual text).

• A pastiche of illustrative styles requires the reader to employ arange of knowledge and grammars to read.

• New and unusual design and layout challenge the reader’sperception of how to read a book.

• The postmodern picture book is consciously constructed tochallenge and engage the reader in new and different ways.

• A pastiche of illustrative styles requires the reader to employ arange of knowledge and grammars to read.

• New and unusual design and layout challenge the reader’sperception of how to read a book.


• Indeterminacy in written or illustrative text, plot, character, orsetting requires the reader to construct some of the text andmeanings.

• Contesting discourses (between illustrative and written text)require the reader to consider alternate readings and meaning.

• Intertextuality requires the reader to access and usebackground knowledge in order to access the availablemeanings.

• Multiple readings and meanings are available for a variety ofaudiences.


• Indeterminacy in written or illustrative text, plot, character, orsetting requires the reader to construct some of the text andmeanings.

• Contesting discourses (between illustrative and written text)require the reader to consider alternate readings and meanings.

• Multiple readings and meanings are available for a variety ofaudiences.


each of the five understandings about new litera-cies and the associated postmodern features.

Understanding 1 and associated postmodernfeatures

All texts are consciously constructed and have par-ticular social, cultural, political, and economic pur-poses.

This book comes with a warning on the title pagethat immediately alerts readers and viewers to thefact that they will be required to engage with thisbook in new ways:

WARNING

This book appears to contain a number of storiesthat do not necessarily occur at the same time.Then again, it may contain only one story. In anyevent, careful inspection of both words and pic-tures is recommended.

(Macaulay, 1990, Title page)

The warning, which the reader may interpret ashaving been provided by the author/illustrator,publisher, or some other “authority,” has immedi-ately positioned the reader to read both represen-tational texts (illustrative and written) in aparticular way (through “careful inspection”). Ithas also placed responsibility for making sense ofthe story (or stories) on the reader through thecontradictory statements about how many storiesthere may be. Thus the reader is challenged andalerted to the possibility of change in both theform of the book to come and the ways in whichit is to be read.

There are a number of other unusual features onthe title page. The title of the book across the topof the page is Black and White, but it is written inred, the only colour upon the page except for theword WARNING and the heavy rectangular outlineof the warning. A black-and-white silhouette ap-pears to represent a barred gaol cell window withsome bars missing, and a knotted sheet hangsdown the page disappearing off the bottom withthe missing window bars. The author/illustrator’sname is printed awry, along with the publisher’sdetails.

These unusual formatting features and chal-lenges reinforce the concept that text is conscious-ly constructed, and the reader must take respon-sibility for deconstructing it and considering itspurpose.

Teaching notes: Focus on (a) understanding thatthe author/illustrator has a particular purpose, (b)how one is being positioned as a reader, and (c)coping with challenges to expectations as a reader(change).

Discussion of title page: Before opening thebook further, consider the format and layout ofthe title page and its warning and predict how thebook might need to be read. Use hints from thelayout (printed text drifting down page) and thewarning sign placed at an angle across the page toaid prediction. Consider the title (and the colourof the text) as well as the illustration. Why is thetitle Black and White written in red? What hintmight it provide about how to read the book?What does the silhouette represent? What might ithave to do with the story? Guide students to ex-trapolate from this reading situation to other real-life situations when they might be positioned toread in a particular way, and consider why thismight be the case.

Understanding 2

Text comes in a variety of representational forms,incorporating a range of grammars and semioticsystems.

Examination of the book reveals that each double-page spread is divided into four equal rectangles,each illustrated in different styles, colours, andtechniques. The first double spread also incorpo-rates some written text (again in different fontsand styles), which might be construed as titles tofour different stories: Seeing Things, A WaitingGame, Problem Parents, and Udder Chaos (seeIllustration 1). The format and signals provided bythe four titles also challenge the reader as to howto continue to read the book. Should the readerattempt to read it conventionally (top down, leftto right, as one story), or should each story beread separately? Should you read the book fourtimes, concentrating on one story at a time, or try



to read them all at once and make sense of themsimultaneously?

The unusual formatting and layout combinedwith the pastiche of illustrative styles, fonts, andcolours require the reader to draw on knowledgeof a range of semiotic systems and grammars toread the text. For example, there are four differentstyles of illustration. On the lefthand page, one il-lustration is in soft watercolour, and the other is insepia wash with fine pen-and-ink line and speechballoons adding to the written text. On the right-hand page, one illustration is in line and colouredink drawings with caricatured people and build-ings, and the other has all line removed, leavingsilhouettes of colour that require the eye to buildthe illustration from visual memory. The reader isleft to consider the significance of these four dif-

ferent styles of representation for the story(ies)and the possible relationships between them (seeIllustration 2).

Teaching notes: Focus on (a) the different repre-sentational forms in text and their purpose, (b)unusual formatting and layout and their purpose,(c) using knowledge and experience from otherreading and viewing experiences as a way to un-lock new reading and viewing experiences, and(d) coping with challenges to expectations(change).

Focus on the first double spread of the book.Examine the layout and consider the implicationsfor reading further. Should the book be read con-ventionally as one story, or should each story beread separately? Should you read the book fourtimes, concentrating on one story at a time, or try


ILLUSTRATION 1

From the book Black and White. Copyright © 1990 by David Macauley. Reprinted by permission of Clarion Books, an imprint of HoughtonMifflin Company. All rights reserved.


to read them all at once and make sense of themsimultaneously? Think about all these alternatives(and any others suggested) and attempt to build acase for each. Draw on other reading experiencesthat are similar or different to aid this discussion.Choose one approach to reading the book andfollow through, monitoring its success and modi-fying it as necessary. Reflect on the role of formatand layout in reading and making sense of text.Extrapolate to other reading experiences.

Study the different illustrative styles presented.Relate them to other illustrative experiences withbooks, art, or other media. As you read the bookconsider why each style has been used for theparticular story and written text. Draw on otherexperiences to aid this discussion.

Finally, discuss the interaction of these repre-sentational forms (the written and illustrative text).What role does each play? Are they complemen-tary? Do they challenge or contradict one another?What is the overall effect on the reader?

Understanding 3

Changes in society and technology will continue tochallenge and change texts and their representa-tional forms.

One of the interesting aspects of this book is thetechnology that makes its production possible.Prior to the 1970s printing techniques would nothave been sophisticated enough to achieve the


ILLUSTRATION 2



fine reproduction and colour definition of the dif-ferent styles of illustration represented in thisbook. Early typesetting techniques would not haveallowed the unusual type layouts or the mix offonts. One also has to acknowledge that the publi-cation of this unusual book and its subsequentrecognition with the Caldecott Medal represent achange in society’s views about picture books andtheir purpose, audience, and format.

Apart from the unusual formatting and represen-tational structures, the stories in Black and Whitecontain social commentaries, which reflect societalchanges at the time of publication. In particular,one of the stories focuses on the increasing phe-nomenon of both parents working and the impacton the parents and their children. Black and Whiteis therefore an excellent example of how changesin society and technology continue to challengeand change texts and their representational forms.

Teaching notes: Focus on (a) changes in societythat lead to changes in representational forms andacceptance of these forms and (b) changes intechnology that facilitate changes in text and rep-resentational forms.

Conduct a historical audit of picture books andcompare the form, layout, written and illustrativestyle, themes, topics, and perceived audience withthose of Black and White. Conduct a historicalsurvey of printing methods and consider the his-torical picture books in terms of the technologyavailable at the time. Consider how the technolo-gy of the times has influenced the representationalform of the books.

Identify the significant historical, economic, politi-cal, and social issues of the times in which the bookswere published and consider how these may haveinfluenced the books.

Identify the range of representational texts current-ly available (all media and modes) and examine howthese may have influenced or are represented inBlack and White. Consider current social issuesthat may have influenced or are explored in Blackand White.

Understanding 4

There may be more than one way of reading orviewing a text depending on a range of contextualand other factors.

The indeterminacy of Black and White as one ormany stories is a major factor in providing multi-ple readings of the book. The reader must makechoices about whether there is one story or multi-ple stories, and if there is more than one story thereader must consider the relationships amongthem. The reader has to look for clues and fill inthe gaps left by the author/illustrator in order toaccess the possible readings. Clues are providedthrough the formatting, illustrative text, and eachof the stories within the book.

First, different perspectives are providedthrough the different narrators of each writtentext. The fact that there are multiple narratorsleads the reader to consider that there might bemore than one story or reading of the book. Thefirst story (top left) is told by an external narrator,who tells the story through the eyes of a boy whois a passenger on a train. The second story (bot-tom left) is narrated by one of the characters, ateenage girl, who provides a retelling of a specificevent as an example of how difficult parents canbe (a teenager’s perspective on adults). The thirdstory (top right) is simply a series of announce-ments over a railway public address system, whichalternate with wordless text. However, the illustra-tive text provides another perspective through thereactions of the passengers to the announcements.The fourth story (bottom right) has an externalnarrator who provides a treatise on the character-istics and behaviour of Holstein cows, which alter-nates with wordless text.

The contesting discourses between illustrativeand written text in the fourth story also provideclues about different readings. In this story the il-lustrative text would seem to be telling a com-pletely different story from the written text aboutHolstein cows, although individual illustrations docoincidentally provide examples of the cow be-haviours described. The illustrative text provides astory about an escaped criminal who accidentallylands in a cow paddock, frightening the cows sothat they break out and end up on a railway line,stopping a train. However, the reader has to con-struct this story from the illustrative text by access-ing prior knowledge about story structure andsequencing. The reader may also need to accessprior knowledge about the stereotypes of featuresof escaped criminals (striped shirt and a mask) in



order to work out the main character’s actions inthe story.

Further clues about the possible number of sto-ries and relationships between them are providedif the reader uses prior knowledge about how sto-ry is constructed and how the format and layoutof a picture book aid the accessing of meaning(s)when reading Black and White. As the book isread it becomes apparent that there might besome common elements in the stories (settings,characters, and elements of plot). Most of theclues are in the illustrative text. In one story boul-ders on the railway line that hold up the train be-come cows (the cows from the fourth story?). Inanother story parents arrive home in newspaperclothes, while in another people reading newspa-pers at a railway station start folding the papers

into hats and clothes (were the parents in one sto-ry at the railway station in the other?). The cluesin the individual stories and their illustrationsgradually become augmented by clues in the over-all formatting of the book. Suddenly parts of onepicture begin to drift across the page into others;shapes are repeated across the four stories and il-lustrations (see Illustration 3).

Finally the reader/viewer is confronted by adouble spread entirely in black and white and inwhich some of the stories have changed positionon the pages (see Illustration 4). The impact ofcolour and format on this double spread maycause the reader or viewer to pause and reflectand reconsider the relationships between the sto-ries. Finally, it becomes apparent that the storiesare all part of one event. A train was late, held up


ILLUSTRATION 3




by cows on the track. The cows escaped when anescaped criminal frightened them (fourth story). Aboy was on that train (first story) who observedthe cows on the track. Commuters waiting for thetrain became bored and made newspaper hats(third story). Two of those commuters were theparents in the second story.

As can be seen from the discussion in relationto Understanding 4, Black and White is an excel-lent site for demonstrating how there can be morethan one way of reading text. It also contains anumber of different examples of ways in whichthese multiple readings can be provided and ac-cessed, through multiple stories within a story, dif-ferent narrators, contesting discourses, use of thereader’s own prior knowledge and experience,and unusual format and layout.

Teaching notes: Focus on (a) the concept of textcontaining multiple reading and meanings and (b)the ways in which these multiple meanings mightbe provided: narrator, contesting discourses, for-mat, layout and structure, one’s own prior knowl-edge, and experience with text.

Having examined how Black and White pro-vides multiple readings and thus developed begin-ning concepts about narrators’ roles, contestingdiscourses, format, layout and structure, and inter-textuality, further develop these concepts and thepractice of looking for and accessing multiplereadings by examining other texts. For example,find different versions of the Cinderella story andconsider whether different readings are providedby any of these devices, or find different versionsof an event in different newspapers and consider

ILLUSTRATION 4



how these different versions or readings havebeen provided.

Understanding 5

There is a need to consider the possible meaningsof a text, how they are constructing the reader andthe world around him or her in particular ways,and why this construction is being made.

Understandings 4 and 5 both focus on multiplemeanings and readings and draw upon the samegroup of associated features of postmodern pic-ture books. In discussion of Understanding 4 thefocus was on accessing the possible meanings andreadings of text. Understanding 5 focuses on whythese possible readings or meanings might be pre-sent and how they affect the reader. One mustthus focus on the author’s or illustrator’s purposein writing the book and the concept of intendedaudience(s). Having discussed some of the multi-ple readings of Black and White in the previoussection, it is possible to consider potential audi-ence(s) and the author/illustrator’s intent.

The complexity of Black and White—its format,structure, and indeterminacy—imply that it is pro-jected at multiple audiences. These audiencescould range from the traditional picture book audi-ence of beginning readers to sophisticated readersand adults. The book should not be dismissed asunsuitable for young readers, nor should it be as-sumed that young readers will not be aware ofsome of the more sophisticated interpretationsavailable. Watson and Styles (1996) reported thatyoung children, even before they can read, canunderstand the “humour and profundity” (p. 27) inthe illustrative texts of Anthony Browne. They alsoreport that 5- and 6-year-old children can under-stand the metaphor in the representations of rec-onciliation in The Tunnel (Browne, 1989). Watsonand Styles concluded that young children are oftengood at the sort of reading where there are manypossibilities and different voices in the versions ofthe story that are available in postmodern picturebooks. Lewis (1992) concurred, suggesting thatyoung children have the ability to “play” in thepostmodern picture book.

The concept that young readers can cope withmultiple readings is an important one when con-

sidering Understanding 4. It can be inferred fromthis that ideas about why multiple readings areconstructed and how they have an impact uponthe reader may also be able to be understood byyoung readers and that Understanding 4 is not forsophisticated readers only.

There are many possible themes in Black andWhite that provide clues about the author’s intent.The different narrators provide discourse on parent-child relationships and the ritualisation of life andwork cycles. The idea of stories within storiesemerging from essentially one event (cows on the


ILLUSTRATION 5

From the book Black and White. Copyright © 1990 by DavidMacauley. Reprinted by permission of Clarion Books, an imprint ofHoughton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


train tracks) could be interpreted as a statementabout the interconnectedness of life. The final il-lustration, which may not even be seen as part ofthe story(ies), also provides a series of themes(see Illustration 5).

A hand picks up the railway station from one ofthe stories’ illustrations, and a dog’s nose andmouth can be seen picking up pieces of newspa-per. There are many interpretations of the author/illustrator’s intent here. Was the whole story just agame? Are we being shown the power of theauthor/illustrator in manipulating reader percep-tions, or is a higher being’s hand a treatise on themanipulation of life and lives? Is life itself a game?All of these questions indicate possible interpreta-tions and construct the world and people’s lives inparticular ways. The reader has to consider themand his or her own beliefs about life and theworld in general and make an informed decisionabout how he or she will interpret the text. Theway in which Black and White provides the op-portunity to engage in such a process demon-strates how suitable it is as a site for investigatingunderstandings about how text constructs thereader and his or her world and why this con-struction is being made.

Teaching notes: Focus on (a) the concept of textcontaining multiple readings and meanings, (b)how these multiple readings construct the worldand the reader, and (c) why the author or illustra-tor might be constructing these readings.

Discuss the final page of Black and White interms of the author/illustrator’s intent in writingthis book and his view of the world or of parents,children, and work. Identify any other possiblethemes and interpretations.

Go back to the multiple versions of theCinderella story and the newspaper articles usedin the teaching notes on Understanding 4 andconsider the audiences at which each of these dif-ferent texts was aimed. Then consider the pictureof the world that is constructed in this text andwhy it might be constructed that way. For exam-ple, does it have anything to do with the per-ceived audience? How does it fit with the pictureof the world and its values and attitudes held byyou as reader?

A challenge for readersThe purpose of this article was to relate my jour-ney, demonstrating that the postmodern picturebook has much to offer as a site for developingnew literacies. The example of Black and Whitehas shown that postmodern picture books containmany of the features of texts that have emerged asa result of changes in society and technology.These books require the reader to actively processvarious representational forms, cope with the un-expected in both format and text structure, andconsider multiple meanings, readings, and intents.In addition they provide new and challenging dis-course on society’s values and attitudes and chal-lenge the reader to engage in a critical analysis ofthese discourses. My students admitted thatthough they found Black and White challenging atfirst they are glad they explored it, as it openedup new ways of looking at reading and at chil-dren’s literature. I quote one student:

I can’t go into a bookstore and look at kids’ booksthe same way any more, and it’s really frustratingbecause now I don’t like some of the books Ithought were really good. They’re just too simpleand obvious, you know…you read them and that’sit…you don’t have to think about them!

IAnstey teaches at the University of SouthernQueensland (Faculty of Education, Toowoomba,QLD 4350, Australia). E-mail: [email protected].

REFERENCESAllen, p. (1996). Who sank the boat? New York: Paperstar.Anstey, M., & Bull, G. (2000). Reading the visual: Written and

illustrated children’s literature. Sydney: Harcourt. Bradford, C. (1993). The picture book: Some postmodern ten-

sions. Papers, 4(4), 10–14.Browne, A. (1989). The tunnel. London: Julia MacRae.Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (1995). Productive diversity:

Organisational life in the age of civic pluralism and totalglobalisation. Sydney: HarperCollins.

Durrant, C., & Green, B. (2000). Literacy and the new tech-nologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy chal-lenge? Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 17(2),89–108.

Grieve, A. (1993). Postmodernism in picture books. Papers,4(3), 15–25.

Lewis, D. (1990). The constructedness of texts: Picture booksand the metafictive. Signal, 62, 130–146.



Lewis, D. (1992). What do picture book makers know aboutreading that we don’t? The post-modern picture book andcritical literacy. In H. Dombey (Ed.), Literacy for thetwenty-first century (pp. 79–86). Brighton, England:University of Brighton Press.

Macaulay, D. (1990). Black and white. Boston: HoughtonMifflin.

New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies:Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review,66(1), 16–92.

Watson, V., & Styles, M. (1996). Talking pictures: Pictorialtexts and young readers. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Waugh, P. (1984). Metafiction: The theory and practice of self-conscious fiction. London: Methuen.


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