Going 'Into the Forest'

This is Anthony Browne's picture book Into the Forest.

I came across this book whilst doing some research for an essay, and I was instantly intrigued by its illustrations. I starts in colour, and then as the boy enters the forest his world desaturates and we are left to navigate a monotone tangle of spiky trees and hidden fairy tale references. The obvious fairytale link in this story is Little Red Riding Hood, but there are also references to Jack and the Beanstalk, and Hansel and Gretel too, amongst others. I looked at this book quite a bit during my research, but since then hadn't really given it a second thought, until this week.

My Dad had just purchased a bit of woodland and I'd gone up to visit him and take a look! In my head this woodland was deciduous, a green and mossy landscape, friendly and inviting. Instead, this woodland was pine, thick, dense and dark. I stood in the absolute silence, looking at the monumental trees around me, and found myself transported to the pages of Anthony Browne's book.

The likeness was incredible! Well, to me anyway! The short pointy branches jutting out of each trunk, the desaturated colours, the paths cut through the trees; I felt like I was standing in a fairytale.

 

I kept expecting to look around and see the leg of a giant rather than a tree-trunk, a little figure scuttling off into hiding, or a set of eyes watching me. Anthony Browne is amazing at hiding little things like these in his images, quirks that you never see the first time you look, but make you smile the second. I was half expecting to see magical things in these photos!

It just goes to show that books play a huge part in the way we perceive the world. Have you ever found yourself somewhere you feel you know, only to realise that's because you've read it? Or imagined a place in a book as somewhere you already know? The wonderful thing about reading is that our memories keep little snippets of the information we've read, imagined or seen, hidden away ready to inform our experiences when we least expect it. Having stood in Anthony Browne's forest I can testify that that is a magical thing! 

Thanks for reading, L x