The Image of Children as Daydreamers in Marie-Louise Gay's Picture Books

The Image of Children as Daydreamers in Marie-Louise Gay' s Picture Books Young children naturally move between reality and fantasy, transforming neutral, mundane surroundings into magical, exciting places. Through make-believe play, young children act out their daydreams. According to Jerome L. Singer, daydreaming or conscious fantasy plays a significant role in helping children to develop autonomy (105) . Children are visual image makers, who, like Sendak' s Max, invent alternate worlds where they can act out their fantasies and be in control. Marie-Louise Gay, Canadian author-illustrator, fully realizes the interplay of reality and fantasy in the lives of young children. "My favorite ingredients for a story, " she states, "are bits of real life, wisps of daydreams and glimmers of fantasy" (Our Choice 25) . The following analysis explores how Marie-Louise Gay creates the image of the child as daydreamer and fantasizer in four of her recent picture books . In Moonbeam on a Cat's Ear, published in 1986, the first double-page spread sets the scene for fantasy. A cat dreams about a mouse while a new moon shines on the cat's ear (Gay 1-3) . While the cat actually sleeps on Rosie' s bed, its dream takes place outside under the light of the new moon and the stars. When Toby wakes up Rosie and takes her outside to play with him under the shadow of an apple tree. Gay implies that they enter into the cat's dream. A bird's-eye view shows Toby at the top of the apple tree reaching for the moon. Perry Nodelman states that "figures seen from above become part of an environment, either secure in it or constrained by it" (150) . Here the realistic environment constrains Toby and Rosie. As soon as Toby reaches up toward the moon, the story breaks with reality and moves into a fantasy where it is possible to pull the moon out of the sky and play with it. The moon becomes a sailboat on which Rosie and Toby, joined by the cat and mouse, sail to Rio and fly to Mars. The children completely control their daydream. As soon as it becomes frightening, with thunder and lightning impeding the joyful journey, Rosie and Toby tumble out of the moon and are soon asleep back in Rosie' s safe, comfortable bed. However, the last page of the book shows that the fantasy has not actually ended— cat and mouse perch on the curve of the moon as it hangs back up in the sky. Is this the cat's dream, or has Rosie and Toby's make-believe play continued on in their night dreams? In her illustrations Gay particularly uses broken frames, marginals, foreshadowing, and movement to enhance the story's fantastical qualities. To call attention to particular parts of a picture, the objects within the framed illustrations often 271 break through into the surrounding white space. For example, the moon in the second double-page spread breaks the upper frame and thus seems to move from the sky into Rosie' s bedroom. Also, as Rosie and Toby fly to Mar«s, the sail of the moon-boat breaks through the frame. Thus, we are more likely to notice that the sail serves double duty. It is also the cover on Rosie' s bed, reminding us that children naturally incorporate familiar surroundings into their make-believe play. The last page of the book is the only illustration where the frame remains unbroken. This has a calming effect as we close the book and think of the cat and mouse sleeping peacefully on the slice of moon. Gay's use of unique marginals adds yet another dimension to the story. In fact, as Joan Weiler claims, they "tease the reader to see and look for more in the illustrations and text" (19) . Early in the story as the cat dreams, the marginal provides the hint that it dreams of the sky and outer space. When Toby climbs the apple tree to reach for the moon, the marginal in eye-catching pink shows an airplane and kite, which help set the stage for a fantastical flight through the sky in the moon-boat...