“Picture books are an emotional medium. They need to make us feel something.”- Marla Frazee

Born and raised in California, Marla Frazee wrote her first book in 3rd grade, called The Friendship Circle. But it wasn’t until 1990 that she illustrated her first published book, World-Famous Muriel and the Magic Mystery. Frazee wrote and illustrated the book, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, in which she received the Caldecott medal. She also won the Caldecott for All the World.

The Farmer and the Clown, by Marla Frazee, is a wordless picture book that was published in 2014. The pictures tell the story of a small clown who is bumped off of a train, much to a farmer’s surprise. The farmer welcomes the small clown into his home until the train returns looking for their lost passenger. It is a heartwarming, feel-good story. 

The illustrations in this book are an integral part of this story- they ARE the story since there are no words! In this book, “Each illustration appears and works on its own, but is also a part of a chronological sequence,” (Tunnel et al, 2016, p.37). There are a few activities that I think would work well with this book, that would also support active learning among students. It would lend itself nicely to narrative writing where students are to create the words or the story that go along with the pictures. This could be done across grade levels. I think this book could also be used to practice sequencing. Make copies of the pages and distribute it to small groups to put in order. Lastly, I think this book could be used in a team-building activity. Each student is given a picture from the book and they need to work together organize themselves in chronological order.

Again, the use of color is what catches my attention. The illustrations are done mostly with tans, grays, blacks and white which lend themselves nicely to the isolated, farm setting. The use of red is also seen throughout the pages with the little clown’s clothes, the picnic blanket, the tablecloth and end-papers. When I think of clowns-which I do NOT like-I think of the color red and I wonder if that is intentional of clowns, decided upon years ago. These colors also give me a sort of melancholy feeling as I turned the pages. I think because of the kindness the farmer, who appears to be alone, shows to the clown.

The lines used appear soft to me and give off a peaceful feeling. They, “suggest order or tranquility, such as the prairie horizon and straight fence,” (Tunnel et al, 2016, p. 41). The lines around each picture also appear to be smudged which gives off a sketchbook look.

Not only are the illustrations used to convey the setting of the book, they are also used to develop the characters, through their facial expressions and actions. In an interview published on the Zulkey website, when asked about her character inspiration, Frazee states, “More often than not, the characters come to me first, and it is through the characters that I figure out their story. This definitely happened with The Farmer and the Clown.” Each time I flipped through the pages, I noticed something new and different, that gave me more information about the two characters. For example. at the end, when the farmer gives the clown his hat and vice versa. Or when the farmer washes his face and the clown does the same, then realizing that he had washed off all of his makeup!