Invite comments and ask open-ended questions. Without reading the text, examine the first spread.Īrtwork copyright Antje Damm for Gecko Press
What is it? How does it make you feel and behave? Is the same as being alone? Did you feel lonely during Lockdown? What made you feel better? How does this character feel? How can you tell? Who - or what – will come through the door when she opens it?Īsk children about their memories of being at home, unable to go out.ĭid you miss having visitors? Who used to visit before Lockdown? What did you do? Talk about loneliness. Show children the cover and explain that this story is about someone who never leaves her house. Lockdown confined many of us to our homes and stopped us visiting family and friends, so this story may have special resonance for many children and their families as a result. The Visitor is one of the few available in English, thanks to New Zealand-based Gecko Press which offers “a different way of seeing the world” by publishing international books for children in translation. The story-set after colour had been applied artwork copyright Antje Damm for Gecko Pressĭamm has published 25+ titles in Germany, many of which have been translated for readers worldwide. If the photos of one scene hadn’t worked, the entire book would have been ruined!” “The room changes through the course of the book, it absorbs colour…. “I only knew there had to be something in this grey, almost menacing room, and that something had to happen with colour,” she said, talking to reviewer Susanna Wengeler. Colour was applied directly to the model - it wasn’t generated digitally - and the story evolved as Damm worked on it, giving the book a fresh immediacy that really comes across. Cut-out characters were positioned for each scene and carefully lit before being photographed. To illustrate The Visitor, Damm created a mini theatre-set from white card decorated with black line details. There is real depth to this picturebook that will stay with children long after reading and give them much to think about – not least a way to reflect on their experiences of Lockdown.ĭamm’s artwork has a special luminosity and depth that makes it hugely inviting, and the gradual addition of colour says so much about Elise’s changing emotions. “I think we can, and ought, to confront children with the big questions of the world,” Antje Damm told blogger Mel Schuit, and The Visitor does a great job of making profound and complex themes like loneliness and anxiety accessible and meaningful to young audiences. Readers are quickly drawn into Elise and Emil’s world and care about the characters, but there’s more to this warm-hearted book than story-fun. Emil visiting Elise artwork copyright Antje Damm for Gecko Press
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