Lewis, E. B. Coming On Home Soon. Written by Jacqueline Woodson. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004.

E.B. Lewis's Coming On Home Soon uses position, size, and scale to present the strength of the parent-child relationship between two of the book's central characters, Mama and Ada Ruth. The illustration of the mother and daughter's embrace is centered on the page, bleeds on all four sides, and depicts the figures larger than they appear elsewhere in the book.

Jacqueline Woodson's story centers on the wistful feelings Ada Ruth experiences when her mama leaves home to accept work during World War II. The image above depicts Mama and Ada Ruth as they say good-bye. As Bang writes, "[t]he center of the page is the most effective 'center of attention,' ... the point of greatest attraction" (76), and, here, positioning mother and daughter at the center of the page, Lewis draws the reader's focus to the emotion of the moment captured in the picture. Most poignantly, the embrace is so close, so tight, that nearly every part of Mama is in contact with Ada Ruth, and every inch of Ada Ruth is touching Mama. Their love for each other and the strength of their relationship is clearly the focus of the picture.

As Doonan writes, "pictures may elaborate, amplify, extend, and complement the words" in a picturebook (18). The text on the page accompanying the illustration reads:

Ada Ruth, Mama said. Do you know I love you more than anything in the world?

Yes, ma'am, I whispered. More than rain.

More than snow, Mama whispered back, the way we'd done a hundred times before.

Or maybe a hundred thousand.

The loving, nurturing hug from Mama, coupled with the sense of history evoked through the text, prepares Ada Ruth to endure her absence.

According to Moebius, an unframed illustration creates "a total experience'" (141), and, as Shulevitz writes, a picture that bleeds implies "expansion beyond the size of the page" (104). Here, Lewis's use of the entirety of the page to showcase the farewell allows the reader to feel as though they are a part of the scene, a design decision Moebius suggests creates a "view from 'within'" (141). Shulevitz points out, bleeding an illustration "may be done to increase the scale of the picture" (103). If scale is "the appearance, the illusion, of size" (Shulevitz 92), then, Mama and Ada Ruth, as depicted here–larger than they appear anywhere else in the book–further give meaning to what lies ahead. Finally, while Ada Ruth's arms, signifying her love for and reliance on her mama, are fully captured in the picture, Mama's arms bleed off the page, suggesting there are no bounds to her devotion to her child.

Works Cited

Bang, Molly. Picture This: How Pictures Work. 25th Anniversary ed. Chronicle, 2016.

Lewis, E. B. Coming On Home Soon. Written by Jacqueline Woodson. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004.

Moebius, William. “Introduction to Picturebook Codes.” Children’s Literature: The Development of Its Criticism, edited by Peter Hunt. Routledge, 1990, pp. 131-147.

Shulevitz, Uri. Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books. Watson Guptill, 1985.