The Selfish Crocodile • ‘The ‘Selfish Crocodile’ is a children’s book which follows the story of a crocodile that has an uncaring and fairly violent

demeanor, particularly towards other animals who are fearful of the crocodile. The writer(s) have managed to convey the attitude of the crocodile (which is the central character) primarily through use of emotive language (e.g. “Stay away from my river. It’s MY river! If you come in my river, I’ll eat you all!”). The use of repetition in this manner (the word ‘river’) is effective because it enforces not only the desire of the character to occupy a certain place, but also the story’s setting. As the story progresses, the crocodile begins to see the error of his ways. Therefore, his personality begins to change for the better. This shows that the story has an interesting moral behind it; children might learn from the events that take place in the book i.e. they would be more likely to understand the consequences of their actions i.e. if they keep on misbehaving, other people (such as friends and even family) will grow tired of them eventually and no longer trust them. The visual style of the book is quite bright, with a wide range of psychologically positive colours (e.g. green, yellow and blue acting as the predominant elements on the pages. The use of colours in this way allows the writers to convey a strong sense of nature and well-being. A ‘Serif’ Font has been used for each segment of text with the possible purpose of adding dramatic effect, and only small amount of text appears per page. This makes the book a lot easier to read and also does well to suggest the passage of time. The use of bright colours also has the potential to intrigue young children who might be entertained by the amount of colour shown on the pages. For example, the colour green creates a positive connotation as it represents things like nature and wellbeing. These are also core themes in this book. The utilization of bright colours on the front cover of this book could potentially attract the eye of the audience, encouraging them to read it. The text on the pages has been positioned in various places on each page e.g. at the top or bottom. Black, bold lettering has clearly been used with the purpose of making the text easy to read and each one of the images are fairly large i.e. they encompass the entirety of two pages. The possible reason for the size of the images is so that the writers can convey the immense size of the character and even the level of severity regarding the situation the animals are in. The text has been positioned in a specific way so that it attracts the eye of the reader before any other aspect on the pages e.g. at the top of each page. The tone of the book is quite ‘busy’ in regard to the number of characters that appear; these characters also contrast greatly due to being a different type of animal e.g. a tiger or a deer. Effectively, there is a lot for the reader to interact with and this could increase the chances that the book will be entertaining for young audiences. The primary audience for this title is clearly young children aged 5-10 years; the presence of cartoon images illustrating talking animals, as well as text that is easy to read, has the potential to intrigue those who belong to this age group, who should also find that the content of the book is suitable for them i.e. it is not violent or disturbing in any way. ‘The Selfish Crocodile’ was written by Faustin Charles and illustrated by Michael Terry. It was originally published in the year 1998 (on the 1st June) by Bloomsbury Paperbacks, which is a leading independent publishing house established in the year 1986. This company provides academic journals, digital content and online resources. The number of pages is 32 and the dimensions of the product are: 27.3 x 0.6 x 19.1cm.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar • The context of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, which is a children’s picture book written, designed and illustrated by Eric Carle and published on June 3, 1969,

differs quite significantly from ‘The Selfish Crocodile’. The latter book revolves around an aggressive reptile which considers itself to be superior to other animals that live in the same region, whereas ‘the Very Hungry Caterpillar’ focuses primarily on an insect as it naturally progresses through its own short lifespan (which is usually 12 months in real life). Unlike ‘the Selfish Crocodile, this book revolves around one sole character (a caterpillar) as opposed to a primary character surrounded by other animals. Therefore, there are less aspects in this book for young readers to interact with; this could potentially make ‘the Very Hungry Caterpillar’ feel less entertaining compared to ‘the Selfish Crocodile’. However, ‘the Very Hungry Caterpillar’ can be considered a more simple read, mainly because of the content found within the pages of the book. There are no vivid narrative environments shown; only simple illustrations depict the caterpillar as well as the different types of food it eats. The story focuses on the birth of a caterpillar ‘who eats its way through a variety of foodstuffs before pupating and emerging as a butterfly’. Effectively, this story is very likely to be suitable for children of any age because of the positive atmosphere it conveys throughout, as well as the fact that no dark or aggressive themes are present. The visual style of the book (most notably its cover and pages) is very likely to intrigue young children, convincing them to read it. Although collage illustrations have been employed by the writer to tell the story, it is made clear regarding what is going on within the story and the areas of text shown on each page do well to support these illustrations. The areas of text are shown in black, bold lettering against the white backgrounds of the pages, thus ensuring that they stand out and are easy for children to read. On the front cover, the title of the book has been positioned to the right hand side in a similar type of lettering which stands out strongly against the white background. The most likely reason behind the decision to place the book’s title to the right is so that the customer can focus solely on the illustration of the caterpillar which takes up the entirety of the front cover, even though the title has been made to stand out and attract the eye of the customer before any other feature. There is no additional content on the cover whatsoever; the title of the book, along with the name of the author and the image of the caterpillar, are the only aspects shown against a blank background. Effectively, the customer is invited to focus only on the illustration, as well as the title. In regard to the visual appearance, each page features a variety of colours, all of which do well to provide a positive connotation as well as suggest the core themes of the book. For example, the colour green symbolizes growth and harmony; these themes strongly relate to the positive tone and atmosphere within the story. They also relate to the caterpillar because the insect is shown progressing through a specific stage of life (metamorphosis) which involves the sudden change in the natural appearance of an animal due to a process known as cell growth and differentiation. In this particular case, the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly after remaining in a cocoon. Therefore, this book accurately represents nature; the repeated appearance of the colour green supports this because the colour is directly related to nature. Different variations of green are present on the image of the caterpillar. As well as the colour green, a wide range of different colours are also present e.g. blue, red and yellow; there are many illustrations of multiple types of food, most notably fruits. The caterpillar is shown to crave these foods as it eats through increasing amounts of each, eventually becoming nauseated towards the end of the story. All of the colours shown do well to communicate a positive tone which would most likely result in an overall pleasant and entertaining read. The primary audience for this book could be children of any age e.g. 4 – 8 years based on the fact that children will be required to learn to read, and will also eventually find that picture books of this type no longer intrigue them. There are no aggressive themes within the book whatsoever. The book should be attract both males and females in an equal manner, mainly due to the positive atmosphere conveyed and the presence of bright colours. Only short and simple sentences are depicted on each page; therefore children shouldn’t find it complicated to understand the phrases which are used during the story e.g. the opening quote ‘one Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and – pop! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar’. Another reason why the book would appeal to this age group is due to the additional presence of things like a smiley face on the sun which could attract the reader’s attention, as well as suggest joy and illumination. The book was published by the World Publishing Company and its primary language is English. The dimensions of the product are 20.7 x 0.3 x 5.6cm and the number of pages is 28.

I Want a Friend • ‘I Want a Friend’ is a children’s book written and illustrated by Tony Ross, who is best known for illustrating the

‘Horrid Henry’ series by Francesca Simon. The book was published on February 5, 2007 by Harper Collins Children’s Books. It has 32 pages and the dimensions of the book are 22 x 0.4 x 26.3cm. Tony Ross has worked as a cartoonist, art director and graphic designer during his career and he has also won a variety of awards for the illustrations he has made. As of recent times, these illustrations have become internationally recognized and therefore, Ross could be a well-known individual because of his work. ‘I Want a Friend’ revolves around a character called ‘the Little Princess’ whose attempts to socialize with other children do not succeed, however she later encounters other children who have found themselves in the same situations (not being able to make friends) and she ends up becoming good friends with them. At the story’s opening, the Little Princess is shown to have become bored of playing with her younger brother and desires to make new friends the following day; the day in which she will be starting school. ‘ I Want a Friend’ is likely to appeal to children who are aged 5 – 10 years due to the presence of cartoon illustrations of young children which give the book the potential to intrigue those at a similar age. The reason for this is because children could easily relate to the story’s characters, as well as the problems they have to overcome. The concept of starting school and making new friends could also appeal to children who would commonly find things like this quite difficult and may even become anxious when it comes to interacting with others for the first time. This story could also have the potential to offer a certain degree of comfort to young children who are nervous to start school, and the fact that the story has been written from the perspective of a child ensures that it attracts young children who are encouraged to keep reading. The secondary audience for the book would be adults whose jobs are to purchase the title and read it to their children; adults are the secondary audience because it would be highly unusual for the book’s content to appeal to them. The book could also appeal to female audiences, primarily because the main character is a ‘princess’ who is determined to make friends. The presence of a female protagonist could potentially intrigue female audiences who would be able to relate to the central character. Another reason why the book would appeal to females is because of the manner of the story and its characters; females could be intrigued solely by the name of the central character (the Little Princess) which is a common name that is found in fairytales. Fairytales tend to focus primarily on romance, which, speaking stereotypically, females tend to be intrigued by.

I Want a Friend (CONT.)• The visual style of the book mirrors professional standards; for example, the book’s cover combines text

and images, which have been positioned against a yellow-coloured background. An illustration of ‘the Little Princess’ is clearly visible and takes up much of the front cover; it depicts the character peering anxiously over her left shoulder. It is implied that something or someone has caught her attention, however this is not visible to the customer and an illustration of this kind could almost convince the customer to read through the book to find out what occurs during the story and how the character overcomes her ordeals. It looks almost as if the character is focusing on the left side of the front cover, where the book opens. A certain level of sophistication is implied within the illustrator; the character appears as a living individual rather than simply a cartoon illustration on the page; there is focus on specific facial features such as her eyes, nose and mouth. There is also a slight presence of a flushed complexion on the character’s cheeks; this represents the natural physical response to embarrassment and/or stress which suggests that the character is nervous; sure enough, the character is depicted as starting school during the opening of the story. This natural physical response could enable the reader to relate to the character and the story, and therefore her ordeal due to her almost life-like appearance. A close-up shot of the cartoon character has been used to ensure that the customer can focus on the emotions of the character. The yellow coloured background adds to the visual appearance of the book and produces a warming effect; the colour yellow is associated with things like energy and intellect (and also jealousy because it is a dull colour of yellow; this relates to the feelings of the main character as she is trying to make new friends). It has also been clinically proven that the colour yellow can have a disturbing effect, especially on babies who have been observed crying when placed in rooms with yellow walls. Therefore, the disturbing tone created by the colour yellow, along with the implied anxiety of the main character, does well to create an intriguing effect. In addition to this, the colour yellow has clearly been overused (the paper crown worn by the character as well as the symbol positioned at the top-left of the page are coloured yellow).