I Get Loud
By David Ouimet
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is an American artist, author and musician.
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Canongate Books 2021
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4-8 as stated on the web. I would say, it’s 6-14 due to the complexity of illustrations and the topic itself.
I Get Loud is a tale of a special friendship and the strength and courage found within it. Through imagination, love and embracing each other’s beautiful, individual weirdness, two friends overcome obstacles and hardships they could not have faced alone. The first book is called I Go Quiet and I have already written about it. Hope you will like it.
Compare the two book covers. The second one is very similar to the first one but girl has an uncovered face. She braved it into the unknown and now her mask is like a badge of honour. It’s like a symbol on an old-fashioned boat. This little Viking is a true warrior and a fighter who defeated her fears. There’s another girl following her. Is she a new friend? Where are they going together? Is she from the school? How are they connected?
My students all say that they like this book more. Mostly, that’s because it’s more lighthearted. I though think that it’s impossible to appreciate one without the other. If you don’t read the grim one, you miss out on her development. I believe the true beauty of the story is in comparing the two parts.
Sometimes, I get loud.
As soon as you open the book, the brightness jumps out at you.
The girl is sitting on the wall and the building seem to be surrounding it, crowding up around her. Some children say it looks like watching through the magnifying glass, some lens. We have a chance to see her better and closer. Others say that it looks like a Colosseum. Everyone is watching her and she is in the spotlight.
The story starts again with us not being able to see her face. But the tension is gone because of how her head is tilted up. She is no longer looking down at her feet, her chin is up. Her kite is also up. It’s so red on the blue sky that I want to say that it’s a symbol. What can a kite symbolise? It might mean freedom and individuality. And the girl had a strong desire to break free, to fly and to go up over the world beneath her. Kites symbolise dreams and ambitions. We can see all of that in the story as well. Kites evoke memories both good and bad. She might be thinking of her sadness back then.
Red is another symbol. It means passion, energy, bravery and determination. It is a celebration of achievement and leadership. These are the things the girl wanted to have.
There’s a little dove, the symbol of friendship sitting on the other side of the page. I am not sure, but it looks like it’s beak is tied up. Why? Is it just what we could see when reading about the girl feeling like a mouse? Is it another way to say that you are too shy that it feels like your beak is tied up? The pigeon is sitting with the girl and at the same time there’s a whole world between them.
The kite goes up. So does her heart. It lifts up. Our voice goes up when we are brave. In this sense of feeling joy or happiness we can use a few words or phrases that also have the meaning of going up or the word itself means movement upwards. For example, cheer up, elate, exhilarate, uplift and etc.
A few people are sitting between them, they are far apart. But their hearts are close together now. Those two girls have what another one needs. Our mouse-girl loves trees and sitting in the branches, Her new friend’s kite has branches for a tale. The new friend I think is the dove. And it had a red ribbon over its mouth. Now the kite with a red ribbon is joyfully playing in the sky.
They found each other and can be free and loud together. If my students don’t agree with me that the colour of the kites is important, I then show them the next illustration where the new friends are fishing. Just behind them there are some flowers of the same colour as their kites. And the kites are gone.
We can’t see their faces now but we are not worried at all because of the way how David positioned them. They are sitting so close to each other, it’s a very intimate and friendly scene. They clearly trust each other.
We speak and sing;
we laugh and stutter.
This is an example of alliteration. For emphasis the |s| is repeated a few times in one sentence.
It’s nice how he also makes this sentence be so bouncy and snappy. It even feels like the verbs are opposites. They are not really, but I want them to be.
Doesn’t this page remind us of the one in the book I Go Quiet when the girl was riding a creature? Now she is not alone and someone is there with her to share those dreams. They enjoy the day together. Together. The word is skilfully put on the side of the page where they are together. But it starts raining.
Sometimes
the wind breaks
what was bound.
I love how the word ‘breaks’ breaks. I also know that I will need those three lines a little bit later so I talk about them more. The children will remember the lines if we discuss the meaning of the words.
One more example of the text interacting with illustrations comes with flood and the new page.
We know how colours can fade
This time again we can see people going along in a neat row. They are surrounded by lines, blocked off and unable to change direction. As they are unable to change the weather that is going to destroy their reality. Their lives are fading away.
and
light
can
drown
The sentence is being stretched and broken into pieces. One sentence is three pages long and it intensifies suspense. Something drastic is ahead.It’s like rain that won’t stop. The words drown going down.
when our roots are pulled
from our broken ground.
I talk with my class about the meaning of the word ‘roots’. Where are your roots? Where do you belong? We talk about the two meanings of the word ‘uproot’. It means to pull a tree out of the ground and to move someone from their home or familiar location. And it’s never their choice.
This spread reminds me of historical pictures of some pioneers or explorers. It has a vibe of a newspaper. We are here to witness the drama, feel sorry and remember the courage of everyone involved. The pictures below are like chronicles, this is due to the sudden change in to black and white. The wind and the choppy waters break what was bound. The girls are desperate but nothing can be done. The new friend is taken away by the sea, the image her blurs into the horizon.
Sometimes, the wind
binds what was broken.
This is the sentence we need. We talk about the repetition of the pattern and using opposites for emphasis. David Ouimet positioned the girl at the bottom of the page but she heads up. We can see that she is in the left-hand ‘safe’ corner. And there’s only the beautiful and calm sea between her and her destination. There are no obstacles ahead and she is going to be safe.
And when the girls reunite we again can’t see their faces but we are sure they are alright standing in their warm embrace in the middle of the forest that looks so much like the cage from the first book. Do her dreams come true? Can she really build with her words?
We are bound by endless stories.
In these pictures we can see the binding and being bound. The lines of telegraph wires, washing lines and the bunting for celebration criss-cross and tie together the buildings like the girls endless friendship, and the people bound together by the tragedy. The bridge ties together two separate lands like new connections between strangers pushed to be together. On these pictures we see plenty of lines that support, steps to walk and sit on, floors to stand on together and more wires, this time supporting the birds.
Our hearts are our home shimmering.
Do you remember how we discussed the word shimmering when reading the last book?
