ＯＢＷの挿絵について

投稿としては長すぎたかなあ・・・
古川さんのところに送って、別にページを作ってもらうべきだったか？

えい、ままよ、行ってしまえ！！

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Personal Awards from Kanon-san
The most scary illustration --- A Pair of Ghostly Hands, OB3, p.45
The most humorous illustration --- The Canterbury Ghost, p.9, OB2
The illustrations in this book are my most favourite.
The most helpful illustrations --- Pocahontas, OB1
The picture of a gun on p.16 helped me to see what guns were like then. Artists must have a hard time finding about facts in old days.

Comments by Miya-san

I showed OBW, CER, and MGR to a friend of mine who has never read a graded reader.
He said that he liked illustrations in CER best because
1. Less dark parts in CER
2. ‘Edging’ sometimes bothers him.
I for one like to colour black and white illustrations I like, but I don’t usually feel like colouring OBW books, though I do love reading them more than PGR, for instance.

My friend also said that the illustrations in Sherlock Holmes, OPS1, p.2 and 3 are crude. But he said nothing about those in The Elephant Man, though the same technique is used there as well. .

Comments by Enne-san

OBW illustrations are dark in general. I like Mr Nick Harris’s illustrations, especially
those in The Elephant Man.

Comments by Peggy F

I am not particularly put off by OBW illustrations.
( I hate the weird Japanese people in The Big Picture, CER1.)

I’d say it’s the cover illustrations that bother me.
Most are very good, but some are scary and don’t match the
content. For instance, The Piano, which is a nice and heart-warming
tale with a frightening cover picture that shows someone rushing toward
you in the dark. No such scene in the text! Why didn’t they use one of
the illustrations inside?

Return to Earth: I thought my heart was going to stop beating when I
saw the cover. Is the child being abused and screaming? I don’t remember
reading a scene like that in the text? Why didn’t they use a spacecraft?

Death in the Freezer: The hero is in a glass case and just on the verge of
death! Too scary by half!

The Year of Sharing: Skeleton of some outlandish creature, and a half face
of a boy totally devoid of expression. Scary again.

Grace Darling: A storm scene for a tale of a storm sounds matter of course,
but the face of a strong-willed girl might have been more appropriate.

On the Edge: The boy’s scared face, half of it and sideways, just too much.

Comments by Ange

It’s the cover, not the illustrations. Wouldn’t it be better if the covers were done by
the same artist as the illustrations inside? In any case the artists’ techniques may
not be quite up to the mark.

Comments by Pupu

I have long left The Piano untouched because I thought it was a horror story.
I cringe from those, you know. But someone recommended reading it and
I finally tried. The cover and its content are a world apart! Could you ask,
Sakai-san, if the editors at OUP find the covers scary?

Another comment by Ange

I have just read The Thirty-nine Steps today. The cover and the illustrations are
so incongruous. I couldn’t make up mind which is the hero. The seems to suggest
the hero is an ordinary office worker, but the illustrations inside shows him as a
tough-looking military man with a beard!

Comments by banana

Say thank you to Ms Bassett for her books I enjoyed reading.
The Omega Files
The President’s Murderer
One Way Ticket
The Wind in the Willows
William Shakespeare
The Phantom of the Opera

All of them helped me keep going.

I like the illustrations in:
* Three Men in a Boat --- Both the cover and the illustrations (easy and relaxed as
in Japanese Manga) are my favourite.
* The Wind in the Willows --- I like the illustrations very much. The style reminds me of sumi-e, or ink-brush painting. It is perfect for the flavour of the story.

I also liked the illustrations in Who, Sir? Me, Sir, Little Women, and Silas Marner.
ink-brush pictures.

Comments by Sue-san

I suppose the style in Death in the Freezer might not be welcomed by Japanese readers.
The faces are somewhat too real, maybe. There seems to be too many dark parts in the
illustrations. I agree with Peggy F. when he says the cover might be putting people off.

Comments by Hisako-san

Covers and illustrations don’t put me off really, because I choose books that are recommended in the review section of the SSS website. I can’t see the cover or the illustrations before I buy them.

Comments by Spy-cat

I rather like those black covers. They are cool.

Actually, I’d like to know why OBW’s at and above Stage 4 become suddenly difficult to read. Could you ask them why, Sakai-san?