Is no one else troubled about this? Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown (pictures by Clement Hurd), the classic going-to-bed book (yada yada), opens with the presentation of various objects in the great green room. These include “a picture of the cow jumping over the moon,” and “there were three little bears sitting on chairs.” Now, the venerable Mr. Hurd depicts both of these as elaborately framed paintings. But Ms. Brown was more vague on the matter; it doesn’t say “pictures of the cow jumping over the moon and three little bears sitting on chairs” or “and there was a picture of three little bears sitting on chairs.”
To my mind’s eye, I see three bears hanging out in the green room with baby bunny. Awkward? Sure. Unclear what the bears do when the lights go off, the cats curl up, and bunny goes to sleep? Definitely. But nonetheless, a literal image of the text.
Which raises several questions, including did some text need to be cut to improve the pacing? Did Mr. Hurd put the bears into a picture in order to obviate the need for lengthy plot expositions to deal with three (possibly hungry) bears in a room with cats and rabbits? Was there an author/illustrator spat, of which this is the surviving manifestation?
The world may never know. (Actually, if I did some research perhaps the world would know, but I can’t be bothered right now.)
October 16, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Siena,
When you get older than you are now, and are able to go back and read your blog entries from your dad, PLEASE, ask him “Dad, didn’t you have anything better to do this day than to analyze pictures in a children’s book?” And Mo has to wonder, ‘Didn’t i ever read Goldilocks and the Three Bears to John?’ Perhaps these are the 3 bears waiting before going to bed in their beds that didn’t suit Goldilocks. Or maybe Goldilocks is Already in the smallest bed and the bears are scared to go in the room for fear of waking her. The bears could just be waiting for Poo bear to return from his adventures so they can all share in some honey. The bears though could be hungry and are just sitting in wait (sort of like ‘lying in wait, to pounce, etc.)for the cow, cats and rabbits to to fall asleep. But then isn’t the cow just a picture, and since when did rabbits and cats get along. Three bears sitting – maybe they just like to sit (Granddad does this alot!)
October 17, 2007 at 7:15 am
nerd alert
October 18, 2007 at 9:09 pm
My major problem with the bears is the way they’re sitting, and the chairs they’re sitting in. They kind of look like bears in a doctor-bear’s waiting room, two of them with their arms kind of awkwardly folded. And the chairs look like they would be very uncomfortable.
These are the kinds of things you notice when you read a children’s book 800,000 times. And the fact that this bunny has an unbelievably large room (if this is the baby’s room, what must the rest of the house look like?), it’s decorated in colors that would make your head ache if you actually lived there (kelly green walls, fire-engine-red carpet), and there’s a fire left burning in the fireplace after the bunny goes to sleep (safety?).
Yeah, I know, poetic license. Read the book 800,000 times and see what *you* notice.