Ima Sample Controversial Picture Book Rose Blanche Rose Blanche, written and illustrated by Roberto Innocenti, is a very powerful historical fiction book. The characters within the book are believable and the story is set within the realistic past. The events in this book could have actually happened. In this book, Rose lives in a small town in I believe the story focuses on three primary characters. The first, Rose, is a young girl who is unfamiliar with what is happening in her town (the war), and she is curious to find out and grasp an understanding of these events. The author continues to develop her character by following her curiosity, interest, and reactions of the war. The second characters, the soldiers, are represented as a being, a force from which change is occurring. The third character is the children and individuals in the concentration camps, from which Rose’s character is further developed in how she reacts to them. The author does a great job of trying to place Rose in almost every picture as you follow her journey. The plot of the story is about how Rose is slowly learning about the war and her reactions to what she sees around her. First, the soldiers invade her town. She then sees them taking a young boy away and she follows the truck to the concentration camp. Although the ending is a little unclear, unless you read into the plot, older students would be able to infer what actually happened (Rose was shot as she went out to visit the remains of the concentration camp, for the last time). The theme of this book is the development of Rose’s character through the development of the war and answering her curiosity. The style of language in this book is both understandable and somewhat related to the text that could have been used during this time period. The illustrations in this book are very powerful and full of color and meaning. The book does not inform the reader about the illustrations use of medium or technique, although most of the pictures look hand drawn and could have been used with colored pencil or acrylics. The artist clearly utilizes the concept of line in almost all of his drawings. In one picture, the girl is crossing a bridge with water underneath her (in which she refers to as a mirror). He grasps this concept by placing a white line across the upper third of the picture to represent where the water starts and how the picture is then a mirror image. The artist also draws the reader’s attention to a particular area by placing the lines or shapes in that direction. The texture displayed in this book gives the reader a sense of reality. You can really envision the bricks on the buildings and in the streets; you can feel the barbed wire separating the individuals in the concentration camp from everyone else. You can stand in the puddles of water and feel the coldness and fog around you. The artist is able to grasp his concept and meaning of the book through the use of color. The artist gives a cool color of dull greens, grays, and browns to the soldiers and to the concentration area and individuals. The artist gives Rose a bright red bow, a bright pink skirt, and a bright blue jacket, to represent warmth. I think I would use this book in my class if I was teaching forth grade or higher. I believe the reader needs a firm grasp about what the German Nazi’s did in order to understand the importance of the development of Rose’s character. The book is very sad and depressing as well. I can also see how the book was controversial in that it depicts a concentration camp, an invasion of the soldiers on this small German town, and in the end, Rose dies. With this concept in mind, I again think the student needs to be old enough to grasp the meaning of death and what really happened at the end of this book and why. |