WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

l  Author: Maurice Sendak

l  Analysis:

Characters- Protagonist: The little boy, Max
             - Antagonist: The monsters
             - The little boy is a round character. The monsters are flat characters.

Setting- Backdrop setting

Plot:

Conflict- The boy Max, who was too mischievous, was sent to bed by his mother without eating anything.

Major events- His bedroom started to become a forest. Then, he sailed the boat across the ocean. He arrived at the place where the wild things were. Max used his power and became the king of them.

Climax- Max thought he was lonely after being with the monsters. He wanted to come back and gave up being the king of them.

Denouement- Max came back to the place where someone loved him best of all. He found his dinner waiting for him.

Theme- No matter how far the distance is, do not forget to come back to the warmest place. The house is always there, welcoming your back.

Narrative Point of View- Omniscient Narrator

Style- Words are easy. Some words often repeats.
      - Most of the sentences are long.
      - It has few dialogues because most of the texts are told by the narrator.

Tone- Adventurous

l  Reflection:

The style of this book attracted my attention because of the monsters the author made. They were so delicate and so creative that I could hardly find in other picture books. Besides, the other reason I loved the book was its plot. Max went to have an adventure in which the wild things were. He even became a king among the monsters. However, he missed his room, his dinner, and his mother. Eventually, he came back and knew to cherish and to satisfy. This made me think of myself. I left my hometown and came to Kaohsiung. Sometimes I felt the same as Max. Although I lived happily here, I truly missed my hometown. The distance also made me realize the importance of family and cherish the time we spend together. To sum up, this book was both interesting and meaningful. It made me relax and reflect at the same time!

VOICES IN THE PARK

l  Author: Anthony Browne

l  Analysis:

Characters- Protagonist: The rich woman, her son (Charles), the poor man, his daughter (Smudge)

                   - Foil characters: Their dogs (Victoria and Albert)

                   - They are flat characters.

Setting- Backdrop setting

Plot:

Conflict- Four different voices came from the four characters.

Major events- The characters went to the park. The rich woman did not like her son and her dog to play with the poor. She even looked impatient and rude. However, the poor did not care that much. They just had lots of fun in the park.

Denouement- The rich children came home with a bad mood while the poor children took home a flower and used it to make her father a cup of tea.

Theme- Money does not represent everything. Happiness comes from feelings instead of materials.

Narrative Point of View- Internal Narrator

Style- Words are easy.
 - Sentences are long in order to describe the settings and the feelings of the characters.
  - It has few dialogues because most of the texts are the thoughts of the characters.

Tone- Didactic

l  Reflection:

This picture book had extremely profound meanings. When seeing the title, I just thought it might be an interesting book. Maybe it was about animals. However, I was surprised after I read through it. It contained several important meanings that both children and adults could learn. I listed two of them below. First, it told us that money does not represent happiness. We could see the rich kid in the story. He was so rich, but all the things he wanted to do were limited by his mother. He was not as happy as the poor kid in the story. What’s worse, his mother did not notice it. She just kept being impatient and rude to others. The second meaningful concept was that do not judge people by their appearances. We could learn this from the rich boy. He did not care so much as his mother. He became friends with the poor kid without teasing her dirty clothes. This is really important, especially among children. In sum, the book truly gave me a new thought about children’s books. Profound meanings could also be found in them. When reading them, we could learn the deep meanings and enjoy the delicate pictures at the same time.

GRANPA

l  Author: John Burningham

l  Analysis:

Characters- Protagonist: The grandpa
             - Antagonist: His granddaughter
             - They are flat characters.

Setting- Backdrop setting

Plot:

Major events- The adorable grandpa accompanied with his granddaughter. They did various things together, such as playing nursing game, going travels, having desserts, and so on. They looked happy when being together with each other.

Climax- One day, the grandpa could not go out to play with the little girl because he was sick.

Denouement- The grandpa passed away, leaving the little girl alone. She looked sorrowful because her grandpa could not accompany with her anymore.

Theme- Remind the importance of family. Tell the readers to cherish the people who accompany with you.

Narrative Point of View- Internal Narrator

Style- Words are easy to understand.
      - Sentences are short.
      - The whole book is full of dialogues.

Tone- Sentimental

l  Reflection:

This story talked about family and death. At first, we could see the grandpa played with the little girl. He accompanied her no matter what she wanted to do. The grandpa and the girl talked in totally different ways. We could easily realize the meaning the author wanted us to know. The grandpa talked in a soft and gentle way. He sometimes recalled the things that happened in his past. Then, he related it to the present. On the other hand, the girl’s words were pure and cute. The little girl might ask her grandpa some questions just like normal children. Although they talked in different ways, both of them always talked in the same topic. I thought the author wanted to show the real reactions between grandpas and granddaughters. Maybe the author also wanted us to recall our memory of being with our own grandpa. He did successfully. Many pictures in this book made me think of my grandpa. Because the relationship between them was so close to my grandpa and me, I indulged myself easily in the plot whenever I read them. I was deeply touched by the simple words and the meaningful pictures.

THE MISSING PIECE MEETS THE BIG O

l  Author: Shel Silverstein

l  Analysis:

Characters- Protagonist: The missing piece
             - Antagonist: The big O

                    - Foil characters: Other shapes
                    - The missing piece is a round character. The big O is a flat character.

Setting- Backdrop setting

Plot:

Conflict- The missing piece missed a piece. Because of it, it could not roll by itself.

Major events- Many shapes came, but they could not fit it well. The missing piece tried hard to decorate itself in order to attract others, but all in vain.

Climax- The missing piece met the big O.

Denouement- The big O taught the missing piece to change itself by making efforts to become a circle so that it could roll by itself. Finally, the missing piece succeeded.

Theme- Never give up no matter what difficulties you encounter. Do not just sit and wait for others’ help.

Narrative Point of View- Limited Narrator

Style- Words are easy.
  - Sentences are short.
  - It has few dialogues.

Tone- Encouraging

l  Reflection:
          In our lives, we often rely on other people’s help. We do not think or try what we can do on our own first. Sometimes we even do not believe that we can accomplish things by ourselves. We may act like a coward and be too afraid to do or to decide what to do. However, we cannot always just sit and wait for help. We need to find our advantages or use our strength to solve problems and difficulties. We need to make every effort to conquer them. Just like the missing piece at the end of the story. What’s more, we should learn experiences from failures. Also, we should be courageous when getting through the challenges. Being independent is also one of the important things that we must learn. Last but not least, we should remind ourselves that do not devalue our abilities. Always be confident when dealing with challenges.