Jeff Mack started
illustrating for others in second grade. He started his adult career in the children’s
book market as an illustrator too. However it didn’t
take him long to create his own stories as an author-illustrator. His books are wonderful mentor texts to study the finesse of visual storytelling and low word count. “Saying something important in a short and
simple way is a great challenge,” he said.
Mack has clearly won
this challenge over and over. But how low did he go?
There are four words, good, news,
bad, and very in his book, GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS. Good news! Rabbit walks toward Mouse under a blue sky holding a picnic basket. Bad news! Mouse is under a dark cloud and it starts to rain. Good news!
Rabbit has an umbrella. Each scene unfolds showing the difference between an optimistic Rabbit
who finds positive solutions, and a pessimistic Mouse who doesn't while both experience the same situations. After Mouse has a temper
tantrum that hurts Rabbit’s feelings, Mouse finds something positive to do for his
friend.
When discussing his plan for this book, Mack said, “I wanted to reduce the story to just the essentials, so that the words didn’t repeat anything you already saw in the pictures, they only help you understand what you were looking at in the pictures.”
When discussing his plan for this book, Mack said, “I wanted to reduce the story to just the essentials, so that the words didn’t repeat anything you already saw in the pictures, they only help you understand what you were looking at in the pictures.”
Then he challenged himself, “How can I write one even simpler? I wanted to focus just on emotions
of the characters.”
His book AH HA! achieved that goal. A frog just wants
to have a peaceful day on the pond. When he feels safe and relaxed he says, “AAHH”,
but when he is disturbed and endangered, his predators exclaim, “AH HA!” I
won’t give away the end, but it’s the only time Mack turned those same letters
into, “HA HA.” The entire book used just two letters!
Jeff Mack books are great mentor texts to study story elements like character, goal, and problem.
In LOOK! Mack used only two words. What other word do
you think he added to create the story problem? PLAYTIME is a bedtime story. What other word do you think he added to create that story problem? In MINE!
he used one word, one rock, and two little mice to create one big problem.
The characters
he creates are hilarious. His stories deal with feelings and situations young
children encounter in their daily lives. In WHO WANTS A HUG? and WHO NEEDS A BATH?, Mack introduces us to a very friendly bear and a grumpy skunk.
Find
all of Jeff Mack’s books and chapter books on his website. Writers who
use his picture books as mentor texts will find they are excellent examples of how less is
more.
Thank you, Keila, for sharing the genius of Jeff Mack.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Charlotte. Genius is definitely a great descriptor!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Simple is better, but it is difficult for many times we want to add in words what the illustrator will say in art.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it? Like Jeff said, writing simply is such a challenge.
DeleteThank you for highlighting Jeff Mack's books and his extremely low word count!
ReplyDeleteWelcome Tina. Thanks for stopping by. :)
DeleteLess is more. A lesson I need to learn. I haven't read any of Mack's books. I think it's time. Thank you, Keila!
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