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Me and You

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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

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