Robinson, Christian. Leo: A Ghost Story. Written by Mac Barnett. Chronicle Books, 2015.

Christian Robinson's use of black and blue hues and tone in Leo: A Ghost Story creates the illusion of depth in his two-dimensional illustrations and conveys the spirit of Mac Barnett's story, which grows from bleak to promising.

The story begins by introducing Leo, a solitary ghost, who "[f]or many years ... lived by himself in a house on the edge of the city." Doonan asks picturebook readers to consider “whether colour is being used naturalistically or for emotional effect” (19), and, throughout the story, blue hues especially reveal Leo's feelings and tug at the reader's heartstrings. Early in the story, the text informs, "[m]ost people cannot see" Leo, until he leaves the house and happens upon Jane, a girl who not only can see him, but also wants to be his friend. Before he meets Jane, Leo is portrayed as a blue outline–merely a contour of a boy–placed over a variety of blue tones that make up each picture's background. Like "most people," the reader cannot fully see Leo. While his outline is emphasized, its placement supports the idea that Leo is hidden or invisible. As soon as Leo and Jane find each other, Robinson shifts the placement of Leo's outline, as in the image above. Although the outline remains the same blue hue, it is painted solely over white space on the page. Now, like Jane, the reader can fully see Leo, too. This change in perspective mimics the mood of the book, which has moved from solemn to hopeful.

Robinson's use of cut paper lends to the two-dimensional feel of his illustrations, although he employs different elements to create an illusion of depth. According to Shulevitz, “[o]ne of the ways to create the illusion of space within a picture is by distinguishing between the foreground, middle ground, and background" (172). Here, layers of space are distinguished by tone and the blue hues that progress from dark to light in the illustration. A police officer speaks from the foreground, on the dark blue sidewalk or lawn in front of Jane's house, while Jane and her mother listen from the edge of the medium-blue stairs in the middle ground. Leo watches from the background, from the window of the light blue house. The black and blue tree at the center of the illustration adds to the depth of the picture because of its placement at a point where the middle ground and background meet. The variety of blue hues used to depict the skin tones of the figures and their apparel create further depth and dimension, for instance, where the light blue cap of the nosy neighbor on the right overlaps the dark blue hair and medium blue skin of the other. To complete the illusion of depth, the police car sits, and the neighbors stand, beyond the foreground on the white space below the illustration.

Works Cited

Doonan, Jane. Looking at Pictures in Picture Books. Thimble, 1993.

Robinson, Christian. Leo: A Ghost Story. Written by Mac Barnett. Chronicle Books, 2015.

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