Theorising Oliver Jeffers Picturebooks examines semiotic, affective, and metafictive storytelling in Oliver Jeffers postmodern picturebooks from a multi-theoretical approach. This volume provides fresh insight into Jeffers iconotextual narratives through textual and visual analysis, exploring how his multimodal texts construct childhood and evoke emotional resonances. The book deconstructs the postmodernity of these narratives, highlighting Jeffers' contemporary methods of storytelling through an exploration of the texts metafictive and self-reflective elements. From How to Catch a Star (2004) to Where to Hide a Star (2024), this book journeys through the mindscapes of Jeffers design and analyses the nuances of metafictive storytelling from a postmodern perspective.
Recenzijas
"The book is an important contribution to the field of picturebook theory, bringing a carefully crafted analysis on Jeffers' authorship reflecting the deeper layers with a focus on visual literacy and a postmodern perspective. New insights and knowledge are provided. A must read for picturebook researchers and lovers of Jeffers work."
--Professor Hilde Tųrnby, Oslo Metropolitan University
"Bringing together a multi-theoretical approach and a deep sensitivity to multimodality and the semiotics of childhood, this innovative monograph illuminates the metafictive and postmodern dimensions of Jeffers' storytelling. It makes a rich and timely contribution to the fields of youth-literature studies, Irish studies, childhood studies, and pedagogical approaches with picturebooks."
--Dr Patricia Kennon, Maynooth University
"Drawing excellently on existing research on picturebooks and modality, this timely monographs multi-theoretical approach brilliantly draws out the powerful emotional resonance and innovation of Oliver Jeffers under researched works. It will be useful for those learning how to read picturebooks, those interested in applying theory to picturebooks, and those interested in pedagogical approaches."
--Dr Jennifer Mooney, Dublin City University
"This engaging book takes a close look at one of the most beloved and widely translated contemporary picturebook makers: Oliver Jeffers. By carefully teasing out the complex relationship between the words and the images, Dillon-Craig reveals the layers of meaning in the rich poetic and affective semiotic patterns created by Jeffers."
--Professor Evelyn Arizpe, University of Glasgow
1. From How to Catch a Star to Now
The importance of Oliver Jeffers as an Irish author in the picturebook canon
Oliver Jeffers picturebook career so far
A multi-theoretical approach to Oliver Jeffers picturebooks
2. Theorising Visual Aesthetics
What is a picturebook?
Reading the Visual
3. Exploring Semiotics and Curiosities
Semiotic curiosities in The Boy series
Semiotics of child cognition in Stuck
Curious semiotics in The Hueys series
4. Affective Spaces and Mindscapes
Space, Place and Non-Place in The Heart and the Bottle
Affective (mis)Understandings and Cognitive Growth in This Moose Belongs to
Me
Affective Semiotics in Jeffers Picturebooks
5. Embodied Metafiction
Blurring Textual Boundaries
Playfulness as Form
Intertextuality, Interpictoriality, and Self-Referentiality
Postmodern Picturebooks and Metafictional Synergy
6. Pedagogical Perspectives
Pedagogical Approaches for using Picturebooks in Primary School Contexts
Exploring Thematic Content and Deep-Dialogic Reading through Here We Are:
Notes for Living on Planet Earth
Engaging with Multimodality and Aesthetic (Visual) Reading through The Great
Paper Caper
Learning through Metafiction and Metacognition
Epilogue: Where to Next?
Jade Dillon-Craig is Associate Professor of Childrens Literature and Young Learners at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. She is the co-editor of Family in Childrens and Young Adult Literature (Routledge, 2023) and has published several book chapters and articles related to childrens literature, Alice studies, fairy tales, and visual texts for young readers. She is editor of the Childrens Literature in English Language Education journal and a founding board member of the Association for Research on Childrens Literature in English in Norway. Originally from Co. Limerick in Ireland, Jade now resides in Trondheim, Norway with her husband, Marcus, and their ragdoll cat, Mona.
