Core Skills Analysis
English: Literature and Visual Literacy
The child engaged with *The Rabbits*, a picture book written by John Marsden and illustrated by Shaun Tan. The activity brought together written language and illustrations, offering a way to explore how a story communicates through both words and images. The child could consider how the book’s narrative and visual choices shaped its meaning. This supported literary engagement and interpretation of a multimodal text.
History
The child engaged with a story that invites consideration of historical events and their effects on people and place. The activity provided an opportunity to think about how a narrative represents encounters between different groups and the changes that follow. By attending to the story, the child could develop historical thinking about perspective and consequence. These ideas support discussion of how stories can represent interpretations of the past.
Visual Arts
The child encountered Shaun Tan’s illustrations as an important part of the book’s storytelling. Looking closely at the artwork offered opportunities to notice how images can establish mood, communicate ideas, and guide a reader’s interpretation. The child could connect visual details with the narrative and consider how an illustrator contributes to a book’s meaning. This supported visual observation and interpretation.
Tips
Tips Revisit a selected spread and invite the child to describe what the words say and what the illustration adds, then compare the two. Create a simple timeline of events from the story and discuss how each event changes the place or the lives of its characters. Try a perspective activity: retell one moment from a different character’s viewpoint, explaining how that changes the reader’s understanding. Finally, make a two-page illustrated response using a short caption and deliberate colour or composition choices to communicate a mood or idea.
Book Recommendations
- The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan: A richly illustrated picture book that supports discussion of storytelling, visual meaning, perspective, and historical interpretation.
- Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker: A wordless picture book that invites close reading of images and reflection on place and change.
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan: A wordless graphic narrative that encourages readers to interpret visual storytelling, unfamiliar settings, and changing perspectives.
Learning Standards
- Australian Curriculum English — AC9E4LE01: Connects with discussing literary texts and how ideas and viewpoints are represented; the activity supports interpretation of the story and its perspectives.
- Australian Curriculum English — AC9E4LE03: Connects with describing how visual features contribute to meaning in literary texts; the book’s illustrations are central to its storytelling.
- Australian Curriculum Visual Arts — AC9AVA4E01: Connects with exploring how visual conventions communicate ideas and meaning; close attention to Shaun Tan’s illustrations supports this learning.
- Australian Curriculum History — Year 4, Historical Knowledge and Understanding: The story offers a basis for discussing representations of encounters between groups and their effects. This is a thematic connection rather than a claim that the child completed a particular historical inquiry.
Try This Next
- Illustration detective: choose one spread and list three visual details that shape its mood or meaning.
- Perspective prompt: write a short retelling of one story moment from a different character’s viewpoint.
- Story timeline: draw four key moments and add a caption explaining what changes in each.
- Visual response: create a new illustrated page with a short caption and colours chosen to convey a specific mood.