AustLit

Matt Zurbo discusses contrasting styles of storytelling in picture books and refers to the work of Armin Greder, specifically An Ordinary Day and Shaun Tan's The Arrival, as examples of image-based stories that use minimal, or no verbal text as opposed to the 'real life' style Graeme Base re-introduced, or the popularity and longevity of 'rhyming books for young children' inspired by Dr Seuss. He tells of his communication with Armin Greder in regards to one of his own 'text-heavy stories': "My agent sent him the story . His reply was a very thorough, terse letter detailing his obvious passion for stories with minimal text...In short, he let rip at me." While Zurbo admires An Ordinary Day as 'a most beautiful book', he argues that this particular style is still 'just a trend' and stories will continue to be told '...some with barely ten words...others rich with language'. While some stories are 'art-driven' others are structured through rythym or language or a combination of both and it is 'these differences, not trends' that, according to Zarbo, 'make a culture' and 'let the best of what we all have to offer come forth'.