And so we come to the last of my series of posts based on Jane Yolen’s list of “10 Words Every Picture Book Author Must Know.” Resolution… a fitting word to end the series with! Thank you, Jane, for providing us with such thought-provoking bounty (and two months worth of fodder for blog posts!)
Resolution shares its root with “resolve,” and in literary terms, it means the point within the story when the central conflict is worked out, or the problem is solved. Perhaps not exactly how the protagonist intended or hoped, but solved nonetheless, and in such a way that the hero has learned something and has changed or grown in the process.
The best resolutions satisfy a need created at the beginning of the book. This needn’t be happy – but it should feel both earned and inevitable, which is different from predictable. Rather than anticipating how the book will end, the reader should be pleasantly surprised, yet also feel “But of course it had to end that way!” And picture book endings must also be clear, as opposed to implied or left open; young readers may have difficulty choosing between possible outcomes.
Let’s look at an example. In the beginning of Where the Wild Things Are, Max’s mother is angry with him, and sends him to bed without any supper. The resolution occurs when Max decides, after a long ‘journey’ indulging in all his wild fantasies, to return home where “someone loves him best of all,” and discovers his dinner waiting for him. There’s that memorable last line: “And it was still hot.”
From this the reader understands that Max has been forgiven. The need established at the beginning of the book – for Max to know that he is still loved, and lovable – has been met. His problem – going to bed without supper – has been solved. But note that his Mother is not calling him to dinner at the family table. He has, after all, been naughty. Yet we worry for a child who goes to bed without any supper, so dinner in his room feels both earned and satisfying (at least, by the parenting standards of Maurice Sendak’s era!) And the fact that it’s still hot tells us that it wasn’t such a long journey after all. In fact, maybe just as short as a dream.
