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Complex dynamics: counterpoint and contradiction

Read from Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott about the stranger kinds of word-picture interactions in picturebooks.

“The closer words and images come to filling each other’s gaps, the more passive is the reader’s role since there is little left to the imagination.

This is also true when there are few gaps, or if the gaps in words and images are very similar. However, as soon as words and images provide alternative information or contradict each other in some way, we have a variety of readings and interpretations.”

Nikolajeva, Maria, and Carole Scott. “The dynamics of picturebook communication.” Children’s Literature in Education 31.4 (2000): 225-239.