blood and gore to have that emotional impact.”
The emotional impact of the grief was something that resonated with young people shadowing the awards, as Jess, a shadower from High-Fivers, related in her response: “Long Way Down manages to convey such vast emotion and feeling that even in the opening pages it feels as though your own world crumbles with Will’s. The illustrations are so shocking and so detailed: both colour scheme and artistic medium are used exceptionally and skilfully to not only compliment but brilliantly give depth to what is already such magnificent writing. The art is so impactful and thought- provoking.”
Illustrations from Long Way Down. © Danica Novgororodoff Autumn-Winter 2022
For their own choice this year, Shadowers chose Mariachiara di Giorgio’s book The Midnight Fair, an impressive wordless picturebook, sometimes called silent stories, which depicts the surprising world of a fairground outside its opening hours. The Kate Greenaway Medal winner and Shadowers’ choice selection serve to highlight the rich and varied means that illustrated narratives can take. Shaun Tan, winner of the 2020 Kate Greenaway medal with Tales from the Inner City and author and illustrator of the nearly wordless graphic novel, The Arrival talks about some of the challenges he faced when experimenting with the form. “An important aspect of creating the book was having permission from editors who are willing to be adventurous and who are willing to be convinced. I would do a few experiments to prove a point, a few complete pages of The Arrival. I wanted to check for myself if they worked, particularly because it’s a big commitment to make a book, and I have to believe in a style and technique before taking that on.” Trialling methods for visual storytelling can involve a number of false starts, as Shaun explains: “I know when it works, when it feels logical or intuitively right and it doesn’t feel like I’m forcing anything. The analogy that comes to mind is a puppet; you start by pulling the strings, building and controlling, and if it then begins moving by itself you can cut those manipulative strings. Often these experiments don’t work, it feels like you are endlessly pulling strings, masking some falseness, and you start again with something else. The Arrival was very much like that, the final pencilled form is very different from an original, cartoony version. It was very difficult, and I almost gave up on it, but was glad
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