Book Talk

Beejal Parekh
October 17, 2015
Title: The Heart and the Bottle
Author and Illustrator: Oliver Jeffers was born in Australia, and brought up
in Northern Ireland. He lives and work in Brooklyn New York as a writer,
illustrator and artist. His picture books have been translated into over 30
different languages
Date of publication: HarperCollins Childrens Books in 2010
Topics/Issues: Themes of love and loss through vulnerability and new
experiences by meeting different people. There is a connection to the girls
identity through her curiosity and love of knowledge and the need to be
protective of your heart but still open to new experiences. The narrator
revolves the book around a few basic elements of a girl, a chair, a heart, and
a bottle. Jeffers does not have any dialogue in the book therefore allowing
the reader to interpret the events to their liking. Each of these elements
metaphorically hold a different meaning to each reader, leaving this raw
emotional story wide open for interpretation. The limberness of the girls
imagination is artistically conveyed through simplistic photos and short
poetic phrases of text.
Characters: The story focused on a little girl who is curious and questioning
about the world however this changes when she finds an empty chair.
Feeling confused and lost because of the emptiness she stores her heart

away for safe keeping. The chair and the girls heart both draw parallels
towards the themes of loss, love and grief.
Plot Line: Prior to finding the empty chair the little girl has an older adult
man in her life whom she shares her imaginative stories and thoughts with.
However after she finds the overstuffed red chair without the man her
curiosity dissolves along with her happiness. Her world perspective changes
to no longer wonder about the stars and the sea leading to feelings of
uncertainty and grief.

Title: Fortunately, The Milk

Author: Neil Gaiman was born in Portchester, England on November 10
1960. He known for writing short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels,
audio theatre and films. His other works include comic series: The Sandman
and novels - Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He
was the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for
the same work, The Graveyard Book (2008). Gaiman was able to read the
young age of four and continued his love of books by becoming a writing.
Gaiman now lives close to Menomonie, Wisconsin, with his wife and three
children.
Illustrator: Skottie Young was born in Bristol, United Kingdom on March 3
1978. He is best known for his work for Marvel Comics and his novel series
with Neil Gaiman. Young currently lives in Dunlap, Illinois with his wife and
son.
Date of Publication: September 17 2013
Characters/Topics/Issues: The story focuses on time and space travel for a
father who will do whatever it takes to arrive safety back to his children with
milk for their breakfast cereal. The dedication of this father to arrive back to
the present time and keeping his promise to his children keeps a strong
theme throughout the book. Both author and illustrator dedicate the book to
their father hence playing further into said theme of family and trust
between parental figures.

Plot Line: While on the way back from picking up milk for his two children, a
father is taken through the adventures of time and space by being abducted
by aliens, faced with pirates and battling dinosaurs and vampires his
whimsical tale taking him back 150 million years into the past.