The Family In Anthony Browne's Picture Books

Anthony Brown is a famous British contemporary picture books writer.He has won many children's literature awards such as the Hans Christian Andersen Award,the Kate Greenaway Medal.From 2009 to 2011,he was selected as “the UK Children's Laureate”.His works dare to reflect reality and often criticize the problems of modern families.Anthony Brown portrays the ideal,flawed images of the father and the mother in the picture books,and reveals the roots of family problems through the sharply contrasting images of the parents.Anthony Brown also shapes the image of the weak but empathetic children,sets up a strong and a weak identity in different situations and proposes the possibility of exchange,reflecting his care and trust of children.The theme of Anthony Brown's picture books covers many serious issues such as parent-child relationship,feminism,and mixed family.It reflects the complex family relationship in an artistic way and seeks ways to achieve family balance.Although the works are discussing such serious issues with doubts and complaints,but Anthony Brown skillfully uses surrealist paintings and rhetorical devices such as anthropomorphism and metaphor,parody and intertextuality,parodies animal imagery,the world classic paintings and traditional fairy tale images,plays shape games well.Anthony Brown's picture books are easy and interesting.And the style of pictures is delicate,guiding readers to discover fun in the twisted story,and to think rationally in fun.The family is the basic unit of society.Exploring the performance of “family” in Anthony Brown's picture books helps to understand Anthony Brown's family values and children's values in an all-round and multi-angle view.It also helps to think about our family relationship and the current social family situation,promote the development of family values,contribute to the healthy growth of children.In addition,the artistic expression of “family” in Anthony Brown's picture books can provide a reference for Chinese original picture books to express “family”.