‘Lines, shapes, and colours can alter the feel of a story’- A Reading of “The Heart and the Bottle” and “The Why-Why Girl”

Picturebooks are a powerful genre within children's literature, as they combine text and visuals, which deeply impact young readers. These books not only provide pleasure and aesthetic experiences but also help to expand children's imaginations. Molly Bang in her seminal text ‘Picture This: How Pictures Work’ (1991) delves into the intricacies of how we interpret visual elements like shape, colour, size, and composition, and the emotional impact they carry. This paper is a brief attempt to explore the application of Bang’s insights along with Moebius’s ideas in picturebooks like “The Why-Why Girl” (2003) by Mahasweta Devi (and illustrated by Kanyaka Kini) and “The Heart and the Bottle” (2010) by Oliver Jeffers.