Pictures at Play: Metafiction in Art Eric Carle Museum

 

Image from Julie Morstad It Began with a Page

Pictures at Play: Metafiction in Art

Metafictive books: those that tell stories about stories and about the art of storytelling itself. Artists experiment with styles, typography, and page design to delightfully disrupt the rules of how books usually work. 

Metafiction is not a new concept. Also on display are such classic titles as Peter Newell’s The Hole Book (1908), Dorothy Kunhardt’s Pat the Bunny (1940), and Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955).

The exhibition at the Eric Carle Museum is from May 4 - November 3, 2024 and it will feature the work of 29 illustrators. Wish I lived there so I could go! Read more here. [There is a bonus surprise at the bottom of this post]

I have added links to the illustrators webpages:

Aaron Becker, Richard Byrne, Lauren Child, Jason Chin, Raúl Colón, Lulu Delacre, Tony DiTerlizzi, Deborah Freedman, E.B. Goodale, Ekua Holmes, Oliver Jeffers, Barbara Lehman, Brian Lies, David Macaulay, Barbara McClintock, Oge Mora, Yuyi Morales, Julie Morstad, Christopher Myers, Kathryn Otoshi, Brian Pinkney, Jerome Pumphrey, Jarrett Pumphrey, Peggy Rathmann, Adam Rex, Dan Santat, Lane Smith, Melissa Sweet, Don Tate, Corey Tabor, Chris Van Allsburg, David Wiesner, Mo Willems, Pamela Zagarenski. 

My posts:

• Aaron Becker
• Deborah Freedman
• EB Goodale (she did the cover for the US edition of We are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad).
• Oliver Jeffers
• Brian Lies
• Oge Mora
• Melissa Sweet
• Chris van Allsburg
• David Wiesner

The exhibition has three thematic sections:

Speaking Out. While characters typically speak to each other in picture books, sometimes they break the fourth wall to speak directly to the reader.

Pictures within Pictures. Metafiction creators love the idea of infinity—infinite ways of reading and infinite meanings of a book.

Books about Books. Metafiction plays with the physical parts of a book. Characters can misbehave or battle each other across the pages, they can disappear into the gutter, or readers can even see themselves holding the same book they just opened.

You're finally here!

Here are a few books that match the topic of this exhibition:

Wordless books by Barbara Lehman

This is a Dog

Bear Hunt

Zoom

Press Here

The Wall in the Middle of the Book

Open this Little Book

Do not open this book!

This might be a bit of a stretch but our 2024 CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) slogan is Reading is Magic and I think you could add in some books from this post.  My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything (see below) has been exploring this theme in a variety of very creative ways but perhaps another idea might be look at books that 'break the fourth wall' - they certainly are examples of book magic!

KINDERBOOKSWITHEVERYTHING - explore these links - they are fabulous:

Reading is Magic: Magic: Everyday Items

Reading is Magic: Magical Creatures: Genies

Reading is Magic: Vocabulary

Reading is Magic: Potions, Spells, Charms and Curses

Reading is Magic: Magical Creatures: Magicians vs Wizards

Reading is Magic: Magical Creatures: Fairies

Untitled by Timothy Young

Heaps of schools and children talk about this book - The Book with No Pictures. Yes, it is funny but I cannot grasp how children can ask for this to be read over and over again. Surely the joke is a "one hit wonder". Anyway, I guess I am wrong because this book appears on so many lists and seems to be constantly recommended. 

Can I now suggest this book - Untitled - could be your next go to funny book for young and slightly older students.

Who are the characters?

• Carlos - a coatimundi
• Ignatz - a porcupine who transforms into a capybara
• The author - he is also a character albeit a silent one

The title page has a joke which sets up the tone of the story:

"Hey, Ignatz, what time is it?' 'I don't know, Carlos. He didn't draw me with a watch."

And so we turn the page and see the two characters waiting for the story to begin. Their dialogue on the next page is shown with different fonts.

"I wish he'd send us on some kind of adventure to battle dragons or monsters or aliens or something."

And yes, the page now has a huge fierce dragon, a monster and an alien - the omniscient author/illustrator has been listening. Then the friends wonder if the story could be set in the wild west - and yes it can! Or perhaps it could be set under the sea. Then turn the page for a shock - it's a Dr Seuss scene.

"He'll probably throw us into a scene from somebody else's book. .... Yeah, you're right. He's a bit of a show-off that way."

And now we come to my most favourite page. Ignatz and Carlos are in a library surrounded by books from other authors - but no no no - look closely. The titles are so funny. Corduroy is now called Carlos, The travels of Babar is The travels of Capybara, Captain Underpants is Capybara Underpants, and The Day the crayons quit is now The day the Capybara and Coatimundi quit.

Image source: Schiffer Publishing

"You know what, we're almost at the end of the book and I don't think anything interesting is going to happen."

I'm not sure these two realise the author/illustrator is listening. Be careful what you wish for ... something big is about to happen!

Untitled is packed with so much subtle and ingenious humour. Helen Ishmurzin

Now for the bad news. This book was published in 2019 and while it is still available (thanks to my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything for purchasing this book for her library) it is expensive here in Australia but if your budget can stretch I do recommend you try to find this book. 

Companion books:

You're Finally here!

Now go back to the beginning of this post - surely you are curious?

What is a coatimundi?

They look like a combination of a lemur, raccoon, and monkey with possibly a bit of piglet thrown in, coatimundis are officially part of the raccoon family. These furry creatures mainly inhabit parts of South and Central America but can also be found in Arizona and New Mexico. They hang out in trees and have brown-colored fur and a long snout that helps them forage for insects and fruit.

The name coatimundi is believed to come from the Tupian languages indigenous to South America. Their word, kua’ti, is a combination of “cua” meaning “belt” and “tim” meaning “nose,” describing the way the coati sleeps with its nose tucked into its belly. 

Read more:

Treehugger 11 Interesting Coatimundi Facts

San Deigo Zoo

National Geographic kids (photos)

The cat, the dog, Little Red, the exploding eggs, the wolf and Grandma's wardrobe by Diane and Christyan Fox

Warning this is a seriously FUNNY book!  Start on the first page - the end papers :

Dog - "What's this page for?" 
Cat -  "It's called the end paper, but it always comes at the beginning."

The cat, the dog, little Red, the exploding eggs, the wolf and Grandma's wardrobe - all sounds a bit complicated to me.  Actually it is not all that complicated for an intrepid reader who is well versed in the story of Little Red Riding Hood and this is the essence of the humour here.  Dog has no knowledge of this famous story and so he interrupts cat at every turn.

Cat "It's a story about a little girl who always wears a red cloak with a hood."
Dog "COOL I love stories about superheroes.  What's her special power?"

The book becomes a conversation between cat and dog.  Cat grows increasingly frustrated by dog as he jumps into to ask questions such as 'What is a dainty"  The handwritten text and simple dog and cat line drawings add to the fun.

My favourite line comes near the end as dog attempts to summarize the story of Red Riding Hood.  "It's not a very nice story, is it?  Are you absolutely sure this is a children's book?"

Here is a trailer from Scholastic.  Here is a review worth reading.  Kirkus call this metafiction I would perhaps put it into the postmodern category too.  It is part of my "Picture books with a difference" Pinterest collection.  Christyan Fox has a terrific web site.

One last thing make sure you turn to the back cover - this is the real end to the story.