Raschka, Chris. A Ball for Daisy. Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011.

In A Ball for Daisy, Chris Raschka employs simultaneous succession, or sequence of images of moments perceived as belonging together (Nikolajeva & Scott 140), to display the experience of losing something you love. In this double-page spread, the black and white playful pup has just "lost" her most beloved toy: a big, bouncy red ball. Although it remains in her possession, the ball popped during play and can no longer be used. The images in simulaneous succession reveal Daisy's evolving emotional states as she grieves the loss of her toy.

As Moebius suggests, "[t]he more frequently the same character is depicted on the same page, the less likely that character is to be in control of a situation” (140). Daisy appears four times on each page, eight times overall in the spread, and has no control as she experiences loss. The images are intended to be read left to right, beginning from the top left corner of the verso, crossing the gutter to the top right corner of the recto, to the bottom left corner to the verso, crossing the gutter to the bottom right corner of the recto. Raschka's use of color guides the reader across the gutter. In the first images, surrounded by a warm yellow, Daisy peers at her ruined ball as she tilts her head to right, then to the left, as she wonders, is our fun really over? In denial that the ball as she knew it is gone, she moves closer to it and gives it a proper sniff, to truly confirm its deflated state. As hints of violet appear in the fourth image, Daisy sheepishly picks up the ball's remains and tries to bargain. Maybe she can make it work. Next, violet takes over the fifth image as Daisy explodes in anger, shaking the good for nothing broken toy so fast it might fly right out of her mouth. Then, she howls. When light gray seeps into the penultimate image, Daisy bows her head in a sad, depressed state. In the final image, Daisy turns her back as she is engulfed in charcoal gray. She may not be happy, but she has accepted her loss.

Works Cited

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

Nikolajeva, Maria, and Carole Scott. How Picturebooks Work. Routledge, 2001.

Raschka, Chris. A Ball for Daisy. Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011.