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The Graveyard Book, The Wolves In The Walls, And The Sandman

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A picture is worth a thousand words, and each piece of artwork has its own unique story to tell. The smallest change in style can lead to the picture setting a completely different tone, which is true whether the painting hangs in a museum or illustrates a children’s book. Illustrations in books draw the attention of younger readers. However, illustrations are not limited to the bright and lighthearted picture books such as the Dr. Seuss creations. Pictures in young adult novels enhance the meaning behind words, allowing the reader to have a better understanding of the story. In the works The Graveyard Book, The Wolves in the Walls, and The Sandman: Dream Country, Neil Gaiman utilizes different styles of illustrations to further express story, …show more content…

The illustrations show these tones in each story. The Graveyard Book begins with an ominous tone through the first image of Jack’s knife, which gleams white on a completely black background (Graveyard 2). This image is shockingly dark and ominous, setting the tone for the chapter as the man named Jack kills Nobody Owens’ family. The tone for The Wolves in the Walls is set through the position and size of the words. For example, when Lucy first describes the noises as “sneaking creeping crumpling noises,” the words are getting larger to put more emphasize on the sounds she was hearing (Wolves). The tone is also shown through the way the that wolves are drawn with sharp black lines, making the images jarring in comparison to the soft warm colors of Lucy and her family. The contrast of the wolves and Lucy’s family show the tension from the fear that Lucy and her family have of the wolves (Wolves). There is also contrast of images that shift the tone in The Sandman, Dream Country, which can be seen in “Calliope.” When Oneiros confronts Richard, Richard Madoc visibly cracks as the Oneiros plagues him with ideas, marking the change in tone. This image of the panel cracking gives the reader a deeper understanding of the tone than words

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