In this picturebook, a woman returns home from her exciting life in the city to visit her grandmother, but finds that she is a giant compared to her, representing her sense of maturity and new-found independence. However, as she reconnects with her … [Read more...]
Tierenduin [Whose Zoo]
This look-and-search book challenges the reader to see things differently. The mouth of a tiger hides the face of a sloth; the teeth of a snake become the icebergs upon which a polar bear roams. The book asks us to reconsider what we expect to see … [Read more...]
Bon Voyage
The grim irony of this film’s title demonstrates its hard-hitting treatment of the difficult, important subject of forced migration. The film begins as a traditional animation, depicting a group of refugees styled as simple line-drawings as they flee … [Read more...]
Ant
This film is by Film Bilder, the studio who made Head Up. This film, part of the Animanimals series by Julie Ocker, depicts the systematic and collective life of an ant colony. The military precision of the ants is an apt catalyst to discuss the … [Read more...]
Alike
This father and son tale is about the apathy and low mood caused by overwork and isolation. A father is miserable at work while his son, still young, is optimistic about going to school. The son’s cheerful moods get more and more repressed as his … [Read more...]
Murs Murs [Walls Walls]
This highly ambiguous picturebook presents a sophisticated and atmospheric narrative about relocation and identity within time and space. A girl views a new home with her parents. While the parents are led by the estate agent, the girl wanders on her … [Read more...]
Waterloo & Trafalgar
War and violence are integral to the history of Europe as well as its present, but the explicit representation of these themes can be challenging in a classroom context. This picturebook by French artist Olivier Tallec gently raises these themes in a … [Read more...]
Meidän piti lähteä [We had to Leave]
This is another example of a wordless picturebook that deals with the topic of the migrant crisis. We Had to Leave is gentler and happier than the other examples in the corpus: Migrando [Migrating], Orizzonti [Horizons], and Mediterraneo [The … [Read more...]
Che Capolavoro! [What a Masterpiece!]
This picturebook takes canonical examples of classic and modern art to explore the universality of artwork in everyday life. The main character is surrounded by signifiers of art and culture - from Banksy to Salvador Dali, from Einstein to the Eiffel … [Read more...]
