Voices in the Park

I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked it because of the multiple points of view. In the story, you were able to read four different points of view on the same event. This gives readers four very different perspectives because the characters are each so different from one another. For

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example, the mother in the story appears to be very stuck-up and judgmental, while the daughter is portrayed as accepting and open. It is interesting to see how these four characters view the same day in the park. I did not like the illustrations because they were abstract and strange. For example, there was a page where an elephant was in the background and another page where the two dogs were morphed together as one. Although some of these illustrations had meaning behind them, I felt that they were hard to decipher. For example, I did not understand that the hats that appeared in the son's section represented his mother's overbearing nature until someone explained it to me. At times, I felt like I was focusing more energy on understanding the illustrations than i did on understanding the meaning of the story. The message of this book is that our personal values and attitudes influence how we see the world and that it is best to have an open mind.

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This was my favorite book that I have read so far in this class. I really enjoyed the book and the format that it was written in.One reason I really loved this book was because the fonts changed according to which character was telling their story. The personality of the character matched the

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fonts. For example, the mother's font was Times New Roman which is normally used for academic papers because it is a formal looking text. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Smudge's font was disorderly and playful, which matched her childlike personality. The changing texts helped to show each character's personality and their different points of view. Another reason I liked "Voices in the Park," was the illustrations of the trees. The trees in the park changed according to the mood of the character. For the mother, the trees resembled those that one who see during fall. The leaves were bright red, a color associated with anger. This matched the mother's feelings because she became angry with Charles for running off with a strange girl. For the father's point of view, the trees resemble those in the winter with darkness and bare branches. The father is sad throughout his retelling of what happened, and the dark, winter trees match his emotions of hopelessness. For Charles, the trees have flowers and are blooming like they do in spring. Charles is happy and starting to grow out of his shell during his narration. Finally, Smudge's section has summer trees with bright sunshine and a lot of color. She is a vibrant, outgoing girl who feels happy to be able to play in the park with a new friend. I loved that there were differences in the seasons that occur for each narration because it strengthens the different points of view and shows that everyone is different. The main idea of the story is to not judge a book by its cover. There is more to people than meets the eye and everyone has a different viewpoint. If we judge someone based on appearance and first impressions, we may miss out on the opportunity to meet a new friend. Everyone has a different perspective based on prior experiences, mood, or family upbringing and it is important to acknowledge differences while still giving everyone a fair chance.

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I loved that this book is so sophisticated. I've never seen different POVs done with a children's picture book done before. It was so wonderfully excited. Even the font face for each person's point of view is different. And the contrast of what each person saw - how they perceived the world

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communicated through the way Browne illustrated the pictures. I loved that this book did something new for me and i love that it did it well. This would be a wonderful tool to use when teaching students about POV as a literary term.

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This book is about two different families. One family is middle class with a dog. The other is not as wealthy, but also has a dog. One family has a mother and son and the other has a father and daughter. This book shows you that people are happy because of love. One family is happy because they

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spend time together the other the little boy is sad because his mother leaves him alone often and he is lonely. Then the little girl and boy meet in the park and become friends. The book shows the story from the different peoples perspectives to see how they see te situation.

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Anthony Browne's Voices in the Park tells us a story from the perspective of four different gorillas. Though the four characters share the experience of a trip to the park, the reader has the opportunity to see how they interpret and respond to the events in very different ways.

Anthony Browne's

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detailed illustrations and language choice tell us a lot about the four characters. In fact, each character's perspective is written using a different font, further emphasizing the differences in personality. In addition, the illustrations that go along with each character's individual story provide the reader with the way that each character views the world. Upon re-reading Voices in the Park, a reader will continue to see the humor in Browne's illustrations, picking up on new details that were not as apparent upon the first reading of the book.

Voices in the Park is a must-have for all language arts classrooms. Although the story, itself, will appeal most to students in elementary school, Voices in the Park can be used in any classroom to emphasize the way that different people see the world. It is important for students to understand this before engaging in classroom discussion. In fact, this book provides an opportunity for students to reflect on this concept, recognizing that we can grow from sharing our own perspectives as well as listening to the perspectives of others. This book is also a wonderful resource for teaching writing. Voices in the Park reminds student writers that the characters they create may have different perspectives than those of the author. This picture book can certainly serve as a model. In the spirit of Voices in the Park, students can describe an event from the perspective of a variety of characters, practicing this skill that is so important in fiction writing.

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Great book for teaching point of view or the use of voice in writing. Although it is a picture book it can easily be used to teach writing traits with upper grades.

This is an amazing story, each character giving voice to their perception of the trip to the park. Check out how the font changes with each character and how we gain insight into each person as each character gets to tell their side of the story. Very beautiful.

This children’s story involves a walk in the park told by four different perspectives. Within each description text and pictures vary as the children who don’t exactly know each other play together in the park, while the parent of each child who are each portrayed as being from different social

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classes do not interact with each other at all. The book works to illustrate the social issue that social classes can determine who one should or shouldn’t associate with. Moreover, the fact that the children who are also from different social classes do not care about that and instead just want to have fun in the park with each other says a lot. Specifically, the story illustrates these social issues that are a current which would allow students to relate to it.

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This is a great book by Anthony Browne and it gives the same story but in the eyes of four different people throughout the story. It tells the story of two families who went to the park with their dogs and their opinion on how their day at the park went. There is a first voice as a mom, second

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voice as a dad of another family, third voice of the son of the mother and than lastly the daughter of the dad. It really can open your own eyes as well as the eyes of students on how people can see things in many different ways and views. It is a great story to read for children and very colorful.

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A unique telling of four different perspectives about a day in the park. A mother and son and a father and daughter spend the day at the park, and almost like chapters, their thoughts about the day are conveyed in different sections in different fonts and accompanied by wonderful illustrations. A

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great read for young children.

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Great premise for the storytelling but it just fell short for me.

This book is about two different families meeting in the park. It shows how in this one world we are all connected. The park hears and sees all the new relationships formed and we the people dont even realize we are one.

Four different voices on the same experieince provides a unique opportunity to teach perspective and the Voice writing trait.

I really enjoyed reading "Voices in the Park" by: Anthony Browne. This is my favorite children's book that I have read thus far. I love how Browne was able to show the differing perspectives of his characters. For example, in the story, Mom is very shrewd and stern. She looks down upon Smudge and

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her father. I was able to draw this conclusion from the text because she does not let her son, Charles play with Smudge because she feels that Smudge is dirty. Also, I found a great appreciation for the way Browne was able to paint the children's perspective's on life. Charles is from a wealthier community than Smudge and lives in his mother's shadow. Smudge is from the inner city and the park is shown as an escape from reality. Charles is very sheltered and his time spent in the park is his way of understanding the world outside of his own. For Smudge, the park is an enjoyable escape from the city. As her and her father are heading towards the park, the illustrations show a very dark and gloomy street. However, when they return home from the park, this same street is shown with vivid colors and is lively. The colors in the background and bright and the shapes in the windows are heart-warming. Overall, I feel that teachers can use this book to show children that we all have different outlooks on life and that we should embrace the world around us regardless of where we come from.

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This is a great book that I bought and reread this term. It is about four gorillas and their dogs who meet in a park. Four versions of the events in the park are told by each gorilla's perspective. This is a good mentor text for teaching perspective as well as teaching voice in writing.

Given to Emma by Jeff Jackson. A book the kids both loved, especially when read with voices.

This is a thoroughly thought-provoking little book that should impress anyone looking for a good story or a fantastic way to tell one. Quiet and musing, this tells the events of an afternoon at the park via four perspectives. The voice and font changes for each character, leaving the reader

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spellbound with the poignancy of the story. The illustrations are fantastic. Definitely a keeper.

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Great for looking at Point of view. Interesting illustrations with hidden things.

For those people who aren't familiar with Anthony Browne's work he is probably best known for his inclusion of gorillas instead of people in his books, but going about their normal day-to-day activities as people would do in towns and cities. Like a more peaceful planet of the apes in modern day

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Britain. I'd seen his books recommended a few times when my son was still at the picture book stage, had glanced at one or two, but they hadn't appealed and I'd put them back on the shelf. So I was suprised to find that I loved this book.

In Voices in the Park a father takes his young daughter and her dog for a walk in the park, and a mother takes her son and their dog to the same park. The children meet, they play, the dogs play and then everyone goes home - nothing much happens. But in four separate stories each participant views the events from their own very different viewpoint - the father is clearly unemployed and short of money - the mother is well off and concerned to see that her son plays with the 'right sort of children'. What really makes the book are the illustrations which echo the viewpoints of each participant. At first glance the pictures are quite simple but as you look at them more closely you can see more and more surreal images and notice lots of details which reflect the point of view of that particular story - for instance the father's newspaper has a picture of Munch's 'The Scream' on the front cover which seems to reflect his desperation that he can't find a job. With a child's favourite picture book a parent does have plenty of time to look at the pictures - as you read it again ... and again ... and again which does give time to notice all these details. In a very simple book Anthony Browne has said lots of quite profound things about class and social structure and what you need to be happy. My one reservation is that I think the target audience (probably 5 year olds?) wouldn't notice a lot of what the book seems to be about. Perhaps this is intentional - I looked at his website and he'd made the following comments about who his books were for:

'Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book.'

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This book offers a chance for children to practice both critical reading and imagining people complexly at an early age.

This would be a great tool for teaching the concept of voice. Voice is always so hard for children to comprehend, since it is an abstract concept. I feel like this could a great tool for that. Though, if you really think about it, all four voices were just Anthony Brown's writing a story from the

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varied perspectives of different characters. What really makes the voice his own would be the common elements of his personality that come through in all his work. That's probably over-thinking that concept though. I liked the book. It was well written and intricately illustrated. I truly appreciated the book from both angles, something I can't say for many books.

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I absolutely LOVE this book! The message is one that is very important an insightful. There are two different families portrayed in this story. One is well off, while one is struggling with money. However, in the end, it is the family who is having a hard time that is happy. The wealthy family has

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internal issues. My favorite part of this book is the illustrations. There are hidden images in the background of almost every page that symbolizes something else. Each narrator seems to have their own season portrayed through the pictures. That being said, I also love that each section of the book is told from a different perspective. It allows the reader to feel very connected with all of the characters and really understand the whole story. The best part of this was that every character had their own font which represented their personality. I give this book five stars!

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I think this book is a far from ordinary picture book. It is a multilevel book portraying a visit to a park in four distinct views. Some may view these different views as the 4 seasons; however like everything else in the book, the concepts are open to interpretation.

Voices in the Park begins with

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an upper class woman who goes to the park with her dog and son. She comes across other people in the park, frequently depicted as lower classes. She is very uppity and formal. The images certainly help display this. The second section continues with her son's perspective. He is depicted more in his mother's shadow for most of his voice. He slowly opens to his new friend, and his illustrations become less dark and more vivid.

The third voice is a father of a young girl. He's not as socially inclined as the boy's mother. He begins his voice in more of a depressed tone. The color increases in his scenes and voice as he becomes more comfortable. His daughter is the fourth and final voice of the picture book. She is a very happy, boisterous young girl. She is depicted in bright vivid colors.

I really liked this book. The overall theme is how nobody sees the same thing. I enjoyed the variety of layers in the book. There was so much going on in each picture that added to the text. The colors really enhanced the moods, and themes of each character. The text even helped portray themes and thoughts in a different manner. The language helped set the mood and develop the story as well. The characters are such a broad variety, and each are easy to relate to personally. A reader can also easily see friends, family, or co-workers portrayed in these characters as well.

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Anything can happen on a day in the park.
Four people enter a park, and through their eyes we see four different visions. There's the bossy woman, the sad man, the lonely boy and the young girl whose warmth touches those she meets. As the story moves from one voice to another, their perspectives

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are reflected in the shifting landscape and seasons. This is an intriguing, many-layered, enormously entertaining book that demands to be read again and again.

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