Practice-Based Research on the Use of Humor in Children's Picture Books

• Main Authors: Chen, Ching-An, 陳慶安
• Other Authors: Liu, Chien-Cheng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/989w5s

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 設計學系 === 105 === A sense of humor is an appealing personality trait which can be cultivated at a very young age. Picture books impress the children more than textbooks do because of the funny expression. The current researches related to humorous picture books are about parent-child book-reading interactions and then further exploring children's understanding of humor. Among those academic papers, there is a lack of research on the design practice and verification. Therefore, this thesis aims at empirically exploring the means of humor to create humorous picture books for children from three-year-olds to eight-year-olds. I first clarify the relevant discussion between humor and picture books, including the analysis of picture books' styles, the common features of humor used in different subjects, and children's recognition of humor in picture books, as the theoretical basis for my design. In case analysis, samples are the winning picture books within the recent ten years from three well-known international Picture Book Awards. Via the examination of their pictures and the expression of humor, I summarize that the humor techniques can be divided into four essential aspects: I. Pictures: nine means including absurd or imaginative things, antisocial behavior, embarrassments, pranks, anthropomorphism, bizarre dress-up, funny and exaggerated expressions, exaggeration of sizes and shapes, and pleasure hidden in details. II. Texts: two means including humorous narratives and puns. III. Links between Words and Images: three means including unexpected incongruity, repetitive humor between pages, and the inconsistency between texts and pictures. IV. Themes: subjects about daily life. I put the main points of the theory mentioned above and case analysis into practice. Based on the theme—Recognizing Self-worth—of humorous picture books, I design the work You Got Something I Need. I draw a conclusion from the interactive examination: First, the humor expression can be divided into pictures, texts, links between words and images, and themes. Second, the use of "absurd or imaginative things" is the most frequent means of humorous picture books. Third, the use of multiple humorous means in design is more effective in expression than one means. Fourth, the deliberate printing errors and uneven colors in design correspond with humorous techniques.