Picture Book Analysisby: Jacqueline Cruz

The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses

By: Paul Goble

One Grain of Rice

By: Demi

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A story of an Indian girl who feels such a connection with the wild horses grazing near her village, that she eventually becomes one of them! Author Paul Goble brings a wonderful Native American myth to life with his wonderful illustrations that express the harmony and love of nature, which was such a part of the Native American culture.

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Cultural Perspective

Paul GoblePaul Goble had

always been fascinated by the Native Americans of the plains. He has always been drawn to their spirituality and culture. His illustrations accurately show the Native American clothing, customs and surroundings.

You can see the characters in the story dressed in traditional Indian garb. The drawings of animals on the teepees and within the story itself are common to the grasslands that the Native American Indians lived in. Throughout the book, Goble’s illustrations show the culture of the Native American people.

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Technical Perspective

In this first scene, Goble’s use of color and shape really help the oncoming storm come to life. You can see the black clouds begin to circle in, and the swirling shapes add to the feel of the wind blowing. The black color adds to the feeling of danger of the approaching storm.

In this next scene, we see the black clouds take more space in the page adding to how much the storm had grown. The upward angle of the horses adds to the feeling of a stampede. You can feel the electricity and fear in the air.

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Technical Perspective

In this illustration, we see Goble’s brilliant use of shape and colors to give the feeling of a happy ending. The never ending circles show that there is no beginning or end when it comes to the two horses. They are two parts of the whole circle and together forever. The colors draw your eye into the drawing and also adds to the feeling of infinity. The visual of “and they lived happily ever after”.

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A traditional folktale of India about a young woman named Rani who tricks the Raja of India into giving her more rice during a famine. With beautiful illustrations, a story of selfishness , as well as a lesson in multiplication unfolds as we see Rani teach the Raja about fairness and cleverness.

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Cultural Perspective

DemiDemi is known

for writing biographies of spiritual figures. She is also known for her folk tales and fairy tales. She has written about many different cultures, traditions and religions.

In One Grain of Rice, Demi’s story is set during the 16th and 17th century. Her illustrations reflect the garments that were worn during that time. We see Rani on the left wearing the typical garb of a village girl in the bright colors and flowing fabrics. The Raja on the right is seen in all his finery atop his horse that is dressed up as well in bright colors and rich fabrics. The gold leafing seen on the pages with the red borders demonstrate the type of illustrations that were produced during that time.

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Cultural Perspective

In the Indian culture, animals were seen as vehicles of the Gods. They were treated with reverence and in the story Demi illustrates this tradition in the culture with Rani sharing her rice with the animals during the famine.

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Technical PerspectiveDemi’s use of

the miniature illustration style helped her to tell her story and show how the rice multiplied each day for 30 days. Her use of the two pages in the book, also showed how much bigger each delivery became.

Again the rich colors and the gold leafing as a background adds to the feel of luxury that could be found during that time despite the fact that they were going through a famine.

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References

Symbaloo reference page

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