Pham, LeUyen. Outside, Inside. Roaring Book Press, 2021.

In Outside, Inside, LeUyen Pham suggests a universal experiences of patience, perseverance, fear, and hope during the COVID-19 pandemic. Central to this double-page spread is the idea that no matter our differences, we are all connected. The spread's image-text relationship allows for the understanding of the values portrayed in this spread.

According to Stephens, "[p]icturebooks express the ideology of a society both verbally and visually" (138). In this spread, Pham uses vignettes and short phrases to present the stories of incredibly different homes. Diverse families occupy each one. The reader sees urban and more rural environments from the occupants' windows. Multi-generational, nuclear, and single parent families live inside, each family associated with a distinct color scheme. Different races, ages, and sizes are represented. The scattered placement of the vignettes suggest that they are moving up and down the pages, implying the spread is a mere snapshot in time. Without such a pause, additional stories would be told.

Like the vignettes, the words are scattered on the pages. No phrase or sentence is associated with a specific image. Most relate to more than one ("we waited," "we worried," "we tried to breathe"), and some relate to all ("[w]e were all changing a tiny bit inside."). Without the text, each image would feel unique, each family isolated, instead of connected to every other family experiencing the same emotions, activities, and growth. Without the images, the "we" of the text would seem to apply to a single unit instead of a more universal "we," or everyone. Not to be ignored, the black cat depicted low on the recto looks up from their walk and seemingly takes in each family they see. The ultimate connection on the spread, then, is drawn by the cat's presumed walk by and observance of each home.

Works Cited

Pham, LeUyen. Outside, Inside. Roaring Book Press, 2021.

Stephens, John. “Picturebooks and Ideology.” The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks, edited by Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, Routledge, 2018, pp. 137-146.