Review of the Day: Scribble (Part Two)
(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE)
I found myself thinking about a couple things from Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics when I read this book. McCloud states that people who read comics identify more readily with cartoonish characters than the ones who look more realistic. In this book, Lucie and her sister are relatively realistic with the princess and Scribble appearing as simplified cartoons. So it wouldn’t be too surprising if a kid reading this book ended up identifying with Scribble more than the girls, if we are to take McCloud’s theory to heart. McCloud also discusses the importance of "line" in a comic. At the end of "Scribble", Lucie has successfully gathered up the line of the scribble she placed on her sister’s picture. The last we see of it, her cat is playing with it as it dribbles off-screen. In many ways, this is a book about the very basics of cartooning, but in a way that’s fun for very young children.
The obvious equivalent to this book right off the top of my head would have to be something like The Three Pigs by David Wiesner. Other similarities include books like Bad Day at Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg. I wouldn’t say that it was common for a character in a book to be aware of their status on a page, but at the very least it’s not viewed as too complex for children to understand. The real lure of "Scribble" is that even as the realistic main character starts interacting with her drawn cat scribble, we totally believe in her journey. It’s easy to interpret this story as the way in which Lucie deals with her guilt over scribbling over her sister’s picture and concocts this complex narrative of rescue and marriage as a kind of therapeutic release. Either that or it just a fun book for fun kids. No reason why it can’t be both, to my mind. It’s a remarkable package hiding within the most deceptively simple premise I’ve run across this year. It’s a book that’s smart enough for adults and kid-centric enough for its intended audience. A sleeper hit that I seriously hope you will not miss.
MISC:
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See Deborah Freedman’s Scribble page.
Filed under: Reviews
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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