Luke’s way of looking by Nadia Wheatley and Matt Ottley (1999, 2001, 2012)
This is a summary of a session with a group of 9 year olds and the book Luke's Way of Looking.
We started with
a conversation about what artists can do to bring a message to a book. I showed
them the endpapers from Rose meets Mr
Wintergarten by Bob Graham. We looked at how the artist used colour, light
and symbol to show different things about the characters and the plot.
Then we looked
at the cover for Luke’s way of looking. We
discussed the title and other clues or mysteries on the cover. The children
looked at what his way of looking might be, how the building looked and how he
saw it. The title page gave us a few more clues about the story with Luke shown
drawing. The title can be used as a thread throughout the reading as the group
considers how each page relates to Luke and his way of seeing the world (note
the 2012 version has a different cover from the earlier print runs and more of
a wondering is needed).
As we got into
the story the children discussed the shadows and how they looked like monsters.
They thought it looked like the shadow was going to grab Luke.
They pointed out
the artist’s use of colour over the next few pages and how it was only Luke’s
paintings that had any colour on the page. The world looked plain but he
painted it as bright and colourful. They noticed more colour coming on to Luke
and that he was most colourful when he was painting.
The use of
colour was also noted as the pages turn with a splash of colour on the steps of
the gallery inviting Luke to go in. Once in the gallery, the children noted the
similarities between the gallery paintings and Luke’s own paintings and this
links to the words, which say that Luke felt at home for the first time in his
life. They note the similarity between the painting and Mr Barraclough and how
it is squeezing the small bird. They saw how Luke’s pose mimicked the painting
except his hand was open, not squeezed shut.
Over the next
few pages that show Luke exploring the art gallery, the children looked
carefully for clues that would help us understand Luke. They could see that the
artist was colouring Luke more brightly with each page turn and that this
reflected Luke’s change in mood.
As Luke flies
out through the painting into the sunshine, the children note a shadow from
him, like he has wings and can fly. This contrasts with the monster like
shadows that dominated the earlier pages when Luke was at school. The idea of
Luke feeling free as a bird or like he could fly was suggested.
As Luke races
back into school, the children eagerly noted all the changes in colour and the
way the school now appears.
The colour
contrasts on the page with Luke skipping into class have the children inferring
that Mr. Barraclough is still grumpy because he is the only thing on the page
that isn’t in colour.
The children
note the similarity of Luke’s painting of the watermelon to one he had seen in
the gallery and that Luke looks as if he is enjoying painting.
On the final
page the children noted that Mr. B now looks small and coloured and not at all
scary. The shadow Mr. B casts is now like wings on Luke’s back and this started
a discussion about the changes in the characters through the story.
We discussed how
characters had changed over the book and how this had happened.
The artist, Matt
Ottley, writes about how he has used some of the symbols and what he was hoping
to portray at this link http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/luke/monotes401.htm
Link texts for
this book could include:
- Those that use colour to tell the story:
Hey Al
by Arthur Yorinks; Snow
Lambs by Debi Gliori; Once upon an ordinary school day by
Colin McNaughton and Satoshi Kitamuri
- Those that use symbol:
Rose meets Mr Wintergarten
by Bob Graham; all the
books by Anthony Browne; Shaun Tan
- Those that tell of a character changing or
facing a problem
Little Mouse’s Big Book of
fears by Emily
Gravett; The Hidden Forest by Jeannie Baker; Where the wild things are by
Maurice Sendak; My cat Maisie by Pamela Allen; Peter H. Reynolds books: The
Dot; Ish; So few of me
