Regnværsdagen

A rainy day adventure

There are not a lot of silent books written by Norwegian authors/illustrators. "Regnværsdagen" by Max Estes is one of the few exceptions, even more rare because it is a book for the kindergarteners. Most other silent books by Norwegian authors are aimed at school children.

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The title translates to "The rainy day". "Nothing fun ever happens on a rainy day" says the text printed on the back cover, but the illustrations prove otherwise: We join a young boy and his dog as their red umbrella takes them on a very wet adventure: They meet crocodiles, sharks, storms, an octopus, a mountain monster, and a UFO before they make a safe landing back home.

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Because silent books are still quite new in Norway, I find it interesting to see how the Norwegian titles fit into the different silent book traditions. Readers of silent books will probably get an immediate reference to "Float" by Miyares, because of the boy in the yellow raincoat and the puddles. But unlike "Float", this story does not happen in the real world. Instead, Estes places himself in a very popular silent book tradition of books where the characters suddenly find themselves in unexpected worlds or on unexpected journeys, either by opening a door or by being whirled away by nature´s elements like wind or water. Some examples are "Journey" by Becker, "La Porta" by Ji-Hyeon Lee, "Verdade?" by Carvalho or Schubert´s "De paraplu". (The latter a very obvious example as it also features a dog and a red umbrella).

Estes uses a mixture of two-picture spreads and full spreads, which creates a nice rythm to the story. His touch of framing the illlustrations that takes place inside the house, gives the reader a feeling of looking through a window into a room. My favourite is the spread below - on the left we see the house with one lit window, on the right we look directly into the room, an elegant solution that is typical of Estes´s style of illustration. He works with sharp lines, bright colors and clear shapes, and his style is quite minimalistic, the emphasis seems to lie on moving the narrative forward rather than offering lots of details to explore. 

While this works wonderfully in portraying the realistic parts of the story, like the example above with the house and the room, it might not be ideal for portraying the journey through imagination. In my experience, it is easier to activate children´s imaginations and build a story of fantastical worlds together if the illustrations evoke a sense of wonder. To use a couple of the examples already mentioned: Aaron Becker does this by using lots of intricate details and surprising elements, Carvalho by creating very original and expressive, two-toned drawing that requires some "decoding" to figure out what is happening. I find Estes style of illustration very interesting, I´m just not sure it is the perfect match for this type of story.

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On the other hand, silent books are still new for most Norwegian parents, teachers and librarians, and some might still find them a little daunting to read and mediate. For them, I think Estes style might seem "safer" and more approachable than a lot of other silent books, and work as a fun and enjoyable gateway to the silent book world.