The Ballad of the Wingèd Canine
2023 | picture book work in progress
Title: The Ballad of the Wingèd CanineFormat: Vertical, full color, 32 pages (or more).
Literary Genre: Fiction/Fantasy, Fable/Fairytale, Ballad/Poem. The story is written in rhyming iambic verses following the tradition of English poetry, suitable for older readers. Alternatively, the story can be rewritten into prose for ease of reading.
Pictorial Genre: Illuminated-manuscripts-inspired, traditional medium, detail-oriented. If in verse: Text will be hand calligraphed, images will narrate the text, younger readers may simply read the pictures. If in prose: Text will be typed and contained within textboxes to float on images. Flat colors in this palette:
Plot: Two strangers in town made friends in adversity and went onwards together to find home, as told to a group of children by a piper.
Setting: Reads like an “Once upon a time…” storybook, with visual references to mediaeval Italy.
Theme: The quest for home, or the search for a sense of belonging; the importance of imagination and dreams
Educational Potential: Iambic verse, vocabulary, features sheet music
Relevant Books: A Visit to William Blake’s Inn (Provensens); Simon’s Gift (Spirin); The Pied Piper of Hamelin (Greenaway); The Griffin and the Minor Canon (Sendak), Jeanne d’Arc (de Monvel)
Full text of the original ballad as a broadside, with music and the story fully illustrated:
Retold in prose:
Character sketches:
