Skip to main content

Me and You

Image from amazon.co.uk

In a double narrative, Me and You is a transformation of the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In wordless sepia toned illustrations, Browne depicts Goldilocks’ origin story set in an inner city where she lives in a single-parent home and is raised by her mother. Feeling the want of Baby Bear’s idyllic suburban life, this character has no voice of her own and no color in her existence. Having wandered out of her world and into his, Goldilocks roams through his home, sees how the other half live, and revels in the colorful idealized world. However when the homeowners return and express their disapproval, Goldilocks flees—escaping their world and returning to hers where she is greeted by the open arms of her mother. Browne’s juxtaposition of sepia and color, voicelessness and voicing, and realism and idealism masterfully convey a little girl’s struggle to accept her imperfect existence and find emotional peace. Such intense symbolism lends itself to a study of character development that explores the concepts of flat, round, dynamic, and static characters; antithesis; and juxtaposition. Moreover, Browne’s parallel perspectives will make an excellent pairing for John Cheever’s “The Opportunity.”

  • Me and You by Anthony Browne; illus. by author
  • Primary
  • Farrar, Straus and Giroux
  • 32 pp.
  • 2010
  • 978-0-3743-4908-0
  • $16.99

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Becoming a Comics Librarian and the Importance of Joining a Community of Practice

  Originally published April 5, 2023 Library Developments Blog |  Library Development and Networking Division Texas State Library and Archives Commission ***** As a freshly-minted librarian, I was hired to serve at THE high school bearing my district’s name alongside an amazingly zany, veteran librarian who knew the current collection inside and out as she’d been the one to revitalize it with bond money just prior to my arrival. To say that I was intimidated about what I could possibly have to contribute is more than an understatement. So when the moment of truth arrived and I was handed a “small” purchase order to get my feet wet, I. Was. Stymied! Her  fingerprints were all throughout that collection, and what  she  didn’t read our assistant  did . How would I ever fit into this team?! What could I possibly contribute?! To be honest… after teaching a core, tested subject for fifteen years, I was just beginning to read young adult literature regularly...

ARSL 2024 Conference Recap

  Originally published October 25, 2024 Library Developments Blog  |  Library Development and Networking Division Texas State Library and Archives Commission Waiting outside Gate 21 where the scent of pizza from the nearby Eastside Pies booth filled the air, I excitedly chatted about the transitional weather with my new teammate – to quote James Hurst “summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born” – the logistics of traveling for work, and our preparedness to attend the 2024 Association for Small and Rural Libraries (ARSL) conference . Neither of us truly knew what to expect, but we had been told that ARSL is THE conference for rural and small libraries, with conference organizers who not only understand the constraints of these libraries but also the unique opportunities for their being chrysalises of change. The conference theme “Libraries are (r)Evolutionary” proclaimed the event aimed to provide an opportunity for exploring the transformative power of rural and sm...

Staff Highlight: Christina Taylor

Originally published July 28, 2021 Library Developments Blog | Library Development and Networking Division Texas State Library and Archives Commission **** As part of our effort to make sure you know who the staff here at the Texas State Library are, we would like to periodically highlight staff members that you may at some point come in contact with! For our next staff highlight of 2021, I interviewed Christina Taylor, Library Development and Networking (LDN)’s new Youth Services Consultant on the Continuing Education and Consulting (CEC) team)! What are your job responsibilities at TSLAC? As the Youth Services Consultant, I will work towards ensuring Texas libraries are knowledgeable about and have the resources to implement youth services that meet the needs of their communities. To that end, I will lead projects for internal, statewide, and national initiatives relating to youth services. What projects are you excited to get started with? As a fervent advocate for comics and graph...