Theorising Oliver Jeffers’ Picturebooks by Dillon-Craig, Jade;

Short description:

Theorising Oliver Jeffers’ Picturebooks examines semiotic, affective, and metafictive storytelling in Oliver Jeffers’ postmodern picturebooks from a multi-theoretical approach. 

Long description:

Theorising Oliver Jeffers’ Picturebooks examines semiotic, affective, and metafictive storytelling in Oliver Jeffers’ postmodern picturebooks from a multi-theoretical approach. This volume provides fresh insight into Jeffers’ iconotextual narratives through textual and visual analysis, exploring how his multimodal texts construct childhood and evoke emotional resonances. The book deconstructs the postmodernity of these narratives, highlighting Jeffers' contemporary methods of storytelling through an exploration of the texts’ metafictive and self-reflective elements. From How to Catch a Star (2004) to Where to Hide a Star (2024), this book journeys through the mindscapes of Jeffers’ design and analyses the nuances of metafictive storytelling from a postmodern perspective.

"The book is an important contribution to the field of picturebook theory, bringing a carefully crafted analysis on Jeffers' authorship reflecting the deeper layers with a focus on visual literacy and a postmodern perspective. New insights and knowledge are provided. A must read for picturebook researchers and lovers of Jeffers’ work."

--Professor Hilde Tørnby, Oslo Metropolitan University

"Bringing together a multi-theoretical approach and a deep sensitivity to multimodality and the semiotics of childhood, this innovative monograph illuminates the metafictive and postmodern dimensions of Jeffers' storytelling. It makes a rich and timely contribution to the fields of youth-literature studies, Irish studies, childhood studies, and pedagogical approaches with picturebooks."

--Dr Patricia Kennon, Maynooth University

"Drawing excellently on existing research on picturebooks and modality, this timely monograph’s multi-theoretical approach brilliantly draws out the powerful emotional resonance and innovation of Oliver Jeffers’ under researched works. It will be useful for those learning how to read picturebooks, those interested in applying theory to picturebooks, and those interested in pedagogical approaches."

--Dr Jennifer Mooney, Dublin City University

"This engaging book takes a close look at one of the most beloved and widely translated contemporary ‘picturebook makers’: Oliver Jeffers. By carefully teasing out the complex relationship between the words and the images, Dillon-Craig reveals the layers of meaning in the rich poetic and affective semiotic patterns created by Jeffers."

--Professor Evelyn Arizpe, University of Glasgow

Table of Contents:

1. From How to Catch a Star to Now

The importance of Oliver Jeffers as an Irish author in the picturebook canon

Oliver Jeffers’ picturebook career… so far

A multi-theoretical approach to Oliver Jeffers’ picturebooks

2. Theorising Visual Aesthetics

What is a picturebook?

Reading the Visual

3. Exploring Semiotics and Curiosities

Semiotic curiosities in “The Boy” series

Semiotics of child cognition in Stuck

Curious semiotics in “The Hueys” series

4. Affective Spaces and Mindscapes

          Space, Place and Non-Place in The Heart and the Bottle

Affective (mis)Understandings and Cognitive Growth in This Moose Belongs to Me

Affective Semiotics in Jeffers’ Picturebooks

5. Embodied Metafiction

Blurring Textual Boundaries

Playfulness as Form

Intertextuality, Interpictoriality, and Self-Referentiality

Postmodern Picturebooks and Metafictional Synergy

6. Pedagogical Perspectives

Pedagogical Approaches for using Picturebooks in Primary School Contexts

Exploring Thematic Content and Deep-Dialogic Reading through Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth

Engaging with Multimodality and Aesthetic (Visual) Reading through The Great Paper Caper

Learning through Metafiction and Metacognition

Epilogue: Where to Next?