Tanglewood

Author Margaret Wild
 Illustrator Vivienne Goodman

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Do you glance at the picture books that some Junior School children bring home from the OLRC and dismiss them as “just for the little ones”? Yes, I know that there are trivial and repetitious stories, poor or unimaginative illustrations, and endless repetition of the same plot outline. However one of my favourite episodes of Black Books was the one where Bernard and Manny decide to write a children’s book, for after all “how hard can it be?” A night of soul searching and a stack of jotter pads later and they were no closer to a good idea than at the start. 

Tanglewood is a complex, thought provoking story told mainly in pictures. A twisted, gnarled tree stands alone on a small atoll, asking passing seals and birds for company. Without understanding why, it feels its grip on life slipping away, until one day during a violent storm a gull is battered unconscious and drops into the middle of the tree. 

This beautifully illustrated story does indeed discuss living and dying, loneliness, time and family, bravery and commitment, hope and determination… and by now in the review I have used more words than are in the book. Rather than a single approach to page layout the illustrator uses aspects of layout to convey aspects of meaning. As an example a page talking about the passing of much time has a double spread full of small “days” with all sorts of weather and events. 

The pictures that held me most, however, are the pictures of the roots of the tree. These are possibly metaphors for what holds us embedded in life, but even without that they are beautifully complex and I can imagine some children (and adults) following individual roots as they wrap around each other and twist into the ground. 

Suitable for young children but full of reverberations for adults. I would make reading this a parent/child activity given the sombre notes at times, though there is a joyfull outcome. Teachers may be glad of this book as it allows much discussion of visual literacy matters such as framing, colour, texture, naturalism and aspect ratio. Given its reliance on the visual, there is much in the book that must be intuited or figured out. 

Andrew Lack
Head of the Odell Learning Resources Centre