One of the primary signifiers that sets the tone in the
story are the facial expressions of the characters. Also, the background
illustrations create a positive or negative tone. When the mood is positive and
the little girl and her grandpa spend time together, the background is full of
colour. This also seems to relate to the story of that page, with the child and her granpa playing, visiting different places, suggesting that their relationship is open and there is space for exploration. The framing of the pages full of colour, with the picture bleeding across the pages, could possibly reflect the child's curiousity, her freedom to play and discover new things with her granpa. However, the use of white space suggests the mood is negative , for
example the page where the grandpa is unwell. The blank space surrounds him
which seems clinical and bare and empty, perhaps representing loss. The empty
armchair seems to be the primary signifier for creating a negative mood of the story.
The emptiness of the chair and the white space is reflected in the little girl’s
facial expression showing the emptiness she feels from losing her grandpa.
The hierarchy of the signifiers is clear that the characters
are the focus as they are always placed at the forefront and at the centre of
the picture. The characters come before the setting, as the images around them
are there to set the scene. The hierarchy of signifiers conveys that it is the
relationship and focus on the characters that is the aim of the story. The most
significant positionality of the illustrations is the grandpa’s direction of
sight as he is always looking towards the little girl. This highlights their
relationship and its importance to the story. The characters always appear on the left hand side of the pae which shows their importance as the main characters, as well as he postionality of the setting
and its objects vary from all around the two characters to the feet of the characters, with the two appearing much bigger than the objects around the.
This seems to link to the type of activity that the grandpa and little girl are
engaging in. When they are inside the house, the setting is minimalistic but
the outdoor scenes are full of illustration. Also, this could be another
message that the author and illustrator are trying to convey in that there is
much more fun and adventure to be had outside with nature rather than staying
inside. As I have analysed above, the use of white space seems to show that the characters are inside and the scenes outside are shown through two page illustrations with colour and detail. The writing is always set within the picture itself. There is no particular frame around the pictures with gives a sense of freedom, perhaps conveying the adventures between the two characters. Sometimes the white space is filled with small uncoloured illustrations which just add small detail but do not distract the reader from the main illustration and story.
Only one page uses bleeding which is the garden scene; this
is full of detail, colour and it represents fun with nature. The other pages of
the story (the pages opposite to each other) show different parts of that scene
either with writing, picture or both. The coloured pages show the activity of
the story, whereas the black and white illustrations just add small detail to
the setting of the story. This creates the whole scene with the main features
in colour and a story to show, whereas background details in black and white
are almost irrelevant. It seems they are just there for the sake of the child
to understand the concept of what is taking place on the page.
The scale and size of the illustrations of the grandpa and
the little girl on the first and second from last page are very large compared
to other pages. The grandpa and his armchair are very large in the two specific
pages, which creates the focus on him. Also, it could show the child’s
perspective of her grandpa as a significant figure in her life. The fact that
the grandpa is only large on these two pages shows us the start and end of the
story and how he is the main focus in the little girl’s adventures even when he
is gone, the chair is still there. The small details that are drawn could be for
the reader’s interest and curiosity to see what they can spot amongst the
detailed background. This could have been a predetermined activity for the children
who would read this book.
The title text on the front of the book is in bold capital
letters in a large size. This highlights that the ‘GRANPA’ is going to be a
main character to this story. Also, it is spelt incorrectly which suggests it
is a young child’s story about her grandpa. The colour of the title and the
front colour are bright, bold colours of yellow, blue and creams. This suggests
that the story is a happy tale about the two characters on the front page. The
yellow title ties in with the yellow sand for the beach scene. The style of the
text changes when the voice of the writing changes, e.g. when the little girl
is talking, the style of writing turns to italics. This gives a sense of
questioning and playfulness, which conveys the little girl’s nature. Whereas,
the straight normal font used for the grandpa’s voice suggests authority and
strictness. For the last page, there is no text. This sets the sad, empty tone
of the picture as the chair is empty and no words are needed to explain what is
happening. Also, as it is a child’s book, it would be unnecessary to write the words
death or grieving or anything upsetting.
The pictures are ever changing because the scene, activity
and setting always change as the story goes on. The characters are always
present in the pictures, however their clothing does change to show the different
activity e.g. they were coats and hats when they are ice skating and less
clothes when they are on the beach in the heat . There are certain
illustrations where signifiers are added or taken away to change the mood of
the story. The drawings of the medicine bottles that are added towards the end
of the story signify that is something is wrong, whereas the disappearance of
the drawing of the grandpa signify that he is no longer around, conveying
death. It seems the use of colour is just to convey the norms of what colour
different objects and places are. The children can recognise the pictures by
the colours, if not by the drawings. The illustrations themselves look
obviously hard drawn and messy which suggests the book is old, without the new
technology of computers.