Shepherding Your Young Reader into Rocky Picture Book Terrain: How to Use G.O.A.T.S. to Build Reader Connection and Resiliency
By Tori Leigh Kelley
“The reason I write is to explain my life to myself. I’ve also discovered that when I do, I’m explaining other people’s lives to them.”
Pat Conroy
Reading and writing fiction is healing. Why else would someone choose to pick up a book with sensitive issues inside? A reader will naturally pick them up, but what are the specific craft choices made by the writer to keep a reader from putting that book back down? This essay will be a determined hike through the rocky terrain of four picture books, Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner and illustrated by Peggy Rathmann, The Starkeeper by Faith Pray, The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Erik Blegvad, and Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Hudson Talbott.
These four books were chosen because of the clever way each author presents their subject’s sensitive material to a young audience. Most of us do not enjoy conversations about death, sickness, slavery, or any form of human suffering. Yet, there are numerous books that exist with these subjects as their content. They sell widely and win awards, which is proof that not only do they exist, but people are reading them. People need them.
The human condition guarantees suffering as part of our growth and existence. Even the feeling of hunger in a well-developed country is unpleasant enough to force us to get up and make a sandwich. The natural pain of hunger leads to an opportunity for building independence. Some suffering is experienced by all, like hunger, but other suffering like bullying or the death of a loved one, is extremely personal and unique in its details and effect. Some of us suffer more than others. Suffering creates a shared human experience, bringing people together. Conversely, our suffering can also drive us apart, with its potential to cause forms of mental instability, isolation, and illness. Here lies the need for fiction containing sensitive subject matter. Fiction is healing. Books that tackle powerful subjects are needed for the healing and nurturing of those who have suffered. Readers need these stories to validate their existence, to light the way.
This essay will discuss the five craft tools, G.O.A.T.S., observed in four picture books that are effective in connecting readers to the protagonist and the rocky terrain of their story.
The choice to examine fiction covering sensitive topics over nonfiction is the emotional component and deep connection a reader experiences while reading fiction versus nonfiction. Fiction enhances empathy and human connection. Nonfiction certainly is interesting and educational, but it lacks the emotional pizazz that stories possess. Interestingly, a 2018 study by Davidson and Weismer, showed that “…individuals with autism spectrum disorder prefer non-fiction books over fiction books” (1). Autistic individuals don’t always exhibit empathic or common social behaviors. While they might not prefer to read fiction, reading such may be helpful to expand their capacity for empathy and the experiences and suffering of others, just as it would for a mainstream audience.
But what if life held no undue suffering? Why then would someone pick up these books? The answer is to aid in the handling of tough subjects, to build resilience, and to build empathy for our fellow humans who have suffered or are suffering. In short, reading fiction makes us better people. Empathy is needed to read such stories. Conversely, reading builds empathy.
Encyclopædia Britannica defines empathy as “the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, ideas, and actions.” Readers who might not relate to a suffering protagonist, could still gain value from their story. According to Kucirkova, “The main motivation to read fiction comes from the desire to experience something the readers have not experienced themselves” (121). But how do we coax readers to keep reading through experiences that are painful? Experiences that, given a choice, we would not want to happen to us. How does a writer evoke interest beyond curiosity for the reader to keep reading? When it comes to difficult topics, such as dysfunctional relationships, abuse, and death, how does a writer encourage a reader to stay? Especially a young reader who may or may not have lived long enough to experience such turmoil. When considering picture book readers, one must also consider the views and feelings of the caregiver reading these books aloud. They might shy away from reading certain stories and even certain words. This author has personally substituted the word “stupid” with “silly” to spare my children’s innocence a bit longer.
But what could an author do to prevent such censoring or combat our reluctance to read specific material? Potter notes that “given the rigors of picture-book writing, emotional content may loom as one of the most elusive aspects of the form. Already there is much to consider when crafting this demanding genre: strong characters, compelling conflict, clean language, illustratable action. How does a writer ensure emotional resonance” (1)? Building an emotional connection keeps a reader engaged.
Here is an acrostic to remember them: “G.O.A.T.S..” The word “goats” was chosen because it goes along with the theme of shepherding your reader into rocky terrain and there are no better climbers than goats, which can traverse the steep rocky points of the Dolomites and survive the harsh winters of Tibet. G.O.A.T.S. are the shepherds of this essay. The five G.O.A.T.S./craft tools are Gifts (humor, beauty, food, etc), Objective correlative (objects or settings infused with emotion, metaphors), Allies (friends and family dynamics), Timing of story events, and Stance (psychic distance, point of view).
“G” for Gifts is employed in each sample text, creating a balance of light amidst the darkness, making the potentially undesirable subject matter more tolerable with the alleviation of powerful feelings through humor, visual beauty, or some yummy treat the character eats, thus lightening the mood and pulling the reader through.
“O” is for Objective correlative, which is when an author takes an object and uses it to convey an emotion implicitly. Objective correlatives can be used in powerful ways to subtly evoke a powerful emotion indirectly or subconsciously through setting, metaphor, or object.
“A” is for the Allies which bind the reader to the main character through their relationships with people in their friend/family dynamic. A reader connects based on who loves the character and whom the character loves. The use of allies can provide compare and contrast opportunities to more deeply understand the protagonist or provoke them into action. According to Perry, “Allies are essential to a character’s change from victim to survivor. When a character chooses to recognize an ally, a step in his or her journey toward becoming a survivor is taken” (3).
“T” is for Timing. The choices an author makes as to when they will reveal a specific event in the story has direct impact on the reader’s connection. Told too soon, before a connection is formed, a reader could close the book. Told too late and a reader gets impatient. But if told at the right pagination, the reader will experience satisfaction and gain deeper understanding and empathy for the story’s topic and protagonist.
“S” is the Stance of the narrator/protagonist, referring to the point of view from which an author chooses to tell a story. Deb Noyes details this craft tool very well in her 2021 lecture, Don’t Stand So Close to Me: Unpuzzling Psychic Distance. Deb explains how different POVs and tenses can change a reader’s experience of the story. When a reader understands why a character is doing or feeling something, the enmeshment of the reader into the story is successful. This understanding happens when an author uses an effective psychic distance according to Noyes. Much like sitting in the front row of a theatre, you get an up close view, even the smell of the actor’s sweat could be possible! Sit in the back, and you gain distance from the show, able to see more from way up high. A first person present narrative is a front row seat, right in the head of the character, or the goat enduring the rocky terrain; this can be the most intense for a reader to experience with little or no space in between. The emotional stakes are highest because it is felt in real time.
First person past point of view takes a small step back, it lets us know these events already happened, the reader survived, or they wouldn’t be around to tell the tale. Take yet another step back, and we have third person past tense. Omniscient point of view, the nosebleed section, is the most distant and serves to separate the reader as far as possible from the events in real time. Picture our goat way up at the top of the mountain looking down, able to survey all the land. This distance can give the reader a complete picture while tucking them safely away from the suffering as more of an observer rather than a participant. It’s a matter of comfort level. There isn’t just one “S” that is correct, but there are specific choices each author has to make for each specific book if they want to hook the reader and keep them reading to the very last page.
Each book has five G.O.A.T.S.. In Bootsie Barker Bites. Bottner delivers her “Gifts” by sending the bully’s mother, Mrs. Barker, into the story with “chocolate donuts, fresh strawberries, and Bootsie” (1). Two yummy things and one threat, but the reader doesn’t know this yet, which is part of “T,” Timing. At the opener, our young reader is excited to “taste” those treats. Paul’s article, Your Brain on Fiction, notes that the areas of the brain light when reading sensory words, like “cinnamon,” as they do when experiencing them in real life. If an author plants strawberries and chocolate donuts in a book, a reader’s mouth can salivate as if they were on the table before them. These Gifts, or “G”, keep a reader reading.
The Objective correlative or “O” is the girl’s salamander, Charlene. Note also, that everyone in the book is named, except the girl. This further shows her lack of self-importance and self-confidence as an object Bootsie literally kicks around. Charlene the salamander is as vulnerable as the girl, if not more. Seeing poor Charlene being bullied as well as the girl, makes the reader even more angry and sympathetic, because animals are innocents. When the reader sees illustrations of Charlene flying out of her terrarium when Bootsie kicks it, and Charlene transported out of the house on a stretcher by paramedics alongside the girl, the reader is righteously angry and roots for the girl to seek justice.
The girl’s mother is the “A” Ally in this book. “Bootsie Barker is a dinosaur!” I shout, “and she’s PLANNING TO EAT ME ALIVE” (11)! The mother advises the girl to say she doesn’t want to play that game. The mother doesn’t solve the girl’s problem for her; she suggests that she assert herself. The girl asking for help is the first step to her recovery.
The Timing, “T”, in this story uses the rule of three to present the story’s problem. Bootise commits three acts of torture on the girl. These three acts serve to rile up the reader enough to root for the protagonist. Following each of the three tortures are three illustrations where the girl dreams Bootsie is sent far away; the dreams slow the pacing and give the reader a chance to draw breath after witnessing such explicit mistreatment. On the thirteenth page turn, the girl stands up to Bootsie. “I am not a worm. I am a PALEONTOLOGIST! Do you know what they do? They hunt for DINOSAUR bones. Would you like to play” (13)? The ending is satisfying because the author presented the problem in the right order, with the right “T” Timing. When the protagonist holds up her shovel to Bootsie, and Bootsie runs out of the girl’s house, leaving her hat behind, it’s clear that Bootsie has received her comeuppance and our protagonist has grown a backbone. It might have been a nice authorly choice, to present her name here to fully acknowledge her status as a powerful person. Charlene appears in the run-away scene, biting the ribbon of Bootsie’s left-behind hat, which is a nice presentation of triumph for Charlene. The illustrations further serve to create reader connection among the G.O.A.T.S., deepening the story experience, but due to limited essay page space, we will stick to the G.O.A.T.S. observations only for building reader connection. Bottner employs the first person present tense for her “S” Stance, which worked very well to keep us in the girl’s point of view and endear her as a sympathetic character to readers.
Bottner successfully employed the five G.O.A.T.S., skillfully endearing her character to readers. There were enough Gifts to pull the reader through the hardships, the story was felt deeply thanks to the use of the Objective correlative, Charlene, her Ally was supportive but not intrusive, the story had urgency and the protagonist’s solution developed in a satisfying Timing of events and the Stance of the protagonist felt close enough for a reader to bind with her, but not feel too overwhelmed by Bootsie’s torture due to the well-placed dreams that slowed the pacing. While these choices were right for Bootsie Barker Bites, they’d likely be all wrong for another story, like our second example, The Starkeeper, which still employs the five G.O.A.T.S., but differently.
The Starkeeper was created by author-illustrator Faith Pray. For this reason, the words and pictures among the notations of G.O.A.T.S. will be included. It begins, “The world had been dark for a long time. Rainy. Lonely. Dark” (2). The “S” Stance shows us an omniscient narrator and an unnamed protagonist, because this is a story about coming from darkness, cleverly unnamed so it can stand in for each young reader’s experience. For me, it stood for the loneliness of my personal childhood abuse, but it could reflect many different mirrors to each reader, which makes it a very powerful book. It is a “G” Gift to make one’s own meaning. In this visually dark book, painted in deep blues and grays, there are “G’s” Gifts amid the perpetual downpour of rain. The “G’s” are imparted in the visually pleasing illustrations of the animals (cat, dogs, fish), the girl’s bright purple sweater, red dress, and yellow rainboots.
The Objective correlative “O” is the setting in this case and the star. There is rain on every page except the last one. The star in the setting is discovered, much like our own talents and powers can become known to us throughout our lives. The star initially burns bright and the girl tries to show it to others in her community, but they aren’t interested in what she has to offer. She considers giving up near a bridge, another setting piece serving as an “O” as bridges symbolize decision, crossing from one place to another. The bridge occurs on the seventh page turn. “She found a perfect spot for giving up” (16).
Pray paints the girl as lonely. “She made an enormous wish. She wished the lonely dark away” (3). The use of no “A’s” Allies (besides a silent cat) is effective because at the end, we see the community come together because of the girl’s acts of kindness, which spread through the village and make her wish come true much more than just finding a star. She now has a community. She isn’t lonely anymore. “But in tiny sparks that warmed and flamed and joined stars upon stars upon stars that chased away the lonely dark. And the world was different” (27-32).
Pray also uses the rule of three in her “T” timing, when the girl tries to show her star to three different uninterested members of her community. By the time she reaches the bridge for giving up, readers can sense her frustration and helplessness. Her “O” Objective correlative star feels it, too, and has grown dull. The author manipulates us into wondering what she could do, since doors are literally and figuratively closed to her. Here is the magic G.O.A.T.S. of “T” timing. The girl finds two lonely children hunched underneath the bridge and she decides to share pieces of her cherished star with them and her purple sweater. This act of kindness sets off a chain reaction of kindness throughout the whole village, bringing each member closer together until the town is united.
The “S” Stance used had to be omniscient because that is the only POV that gives a reader a clear view of everything, which includes everyone in this village. It is distant, but it works for the voice in the story, which is unflinching at the darkness. “But the girl could tell that the star didn’t want to be kept hidden. It needed the girl to help it shine” (5). This is a universal story. Don’t hide your secrets or your treasures. Share them with others, it seems to say.
The Starkeeper provides a wonderful example of powerful reader connection by employing the five G.O.A.T.S.. The girl has Gifts to sharewhich dries up the rain, serving as the Objective correlative, deepening our felt sense of the story. The girl begins alone with just a cat as an Ally and ends with the whole village. The Timing is effective to let the story’s message of community breathe and expand, coming from an effective “S” Stance of omniscient past tense all-knowing narrator.
The next example of an emotionally resonant story about the loss of a pet is The Tenth Good Thing About Barney because it follows the G.O.A.T.S. For “G” Gifts, there are cookies, songs, and a lovely garden element. The “O” Objective correlative is the seeds they plant that change from lumps to a vibrant living thing which parallels the boy processing his feelings about his dead cat. The “A” Allies are his friend Annie and his loving parents. The “T” Timing of events is as follows. The story opens with “My cat Barney died last Friday. I was very sad” (3). His mother suggests that he “think of ten good things about Barney” (5). He comes up with nine things right away, but the tenth takes some time. He recites the nine things at the funeral and the family sings a song on page eight. He and Annie eat cookies on page ten. On pages eleven through fifteen, the children ponder where Barney went. The father is an “A” Ally acknowledging their opposing viewpoints of “Heaven” (11) by Annie and “in the ground” by the boy (12). I like that they’re given the space and permission to come to their own conclusions. Then the boy plants seeds with his father, who says, “In the ground, everything changes” (18). The boy asks if Barney will change and the father says, “He’ll help grow the flowers, and he’ll help grow that tree and some grass. You know, he said, that’s a pretty nice job for a cat” (19). That night, as the mother is tucking the boy into bed, he tells her he thought of the tenth good thing about Barney. He tells her that he’s “in the ground and he’s helping grow flowers” (24). I love the last line where he echoes his father. “You know, I said, that’s a pretty nice job for a cat” (24). The “S” Stance used is first person past tense and it works for stories of resilience, showing that the character reached the other side, keeping readers close to the boy and the memory of his cat. This story is sad, but through G.O.A.T.S., it’s also very touching and sweet, proving that with these tools, one can broach difficult subjects, even for young readers.
In Show Way, Woodson presents a work of fiction based her family’s experience of slavery and sewing Show Way quilts that hid secret paths to freedom. The story spans eight generations and is beautifully rendered. The “G” Gifts are the gorgeous illustrations of colorful quilts and the loving repetitive language chosen, “Loved that baby up so. Yes, she loved that baby up” (11, 22, 27, 29, 35, 40).
Quilts serve as the “O” Objective corelative, symbolizing hope, power, independence, and resilience. The “A” Allies are the caretakers in this multigenerational story. The parents, especially mothers, Big Mama, and the freedom marchers all show an enormous capacity for love in the midst of cruelty and pain. The family love balances the darkness of slavery.
“T” Timing is presented in a beautiful storyteller’s way, moving through each generation and the next girl who was born, sewed, and carried on the legacy as a woman, until we finally see the author, Jacqueline Woodson, writing her stories and loving her own “baby up so” (40). The “S” Stance is third person past, which works really well considering all the history that this story covers. There is a close-feeling psychic distance. The mothers’ love for their baby girls leaps off the page. Readers feel the determination and persistence against fierce odds.
My favorite line, “And when I was seven, I didn’t have to work in a field or walk in any Freedom lines. […] I sewed stars and moons and roads into quilts […] because Mama said, All the stuff that happened before you were born is your own kind of Show Way” (36). This quote is so powerful because it beautifully encompasses Woodson’s own history and the history of African slaves throughout the ages. In addition, it transcends the book’s specific topic of slavery and stitches itself into the heart of every reader coming from their own personal experiences. The emotional resonance of this story cannot be denied. It serves as a candle in the darkness.
Reading these story candles makes humanity more resilient. Ziegler states, “The paradox is that when we lean into the sorrow and hurt we eventually experience hope, fully acknowledging and embracing our pain so that we can begin to feel hopeful again (5). The task for the writer is to employ the G.O.A.T.S. in their stories. Gifts, Objective corelative, Allies, Timing, and Stance to foster a strong reader connection. Doing this effectively is what connects the reader to stay throughout the entire book and creates the desire to return for multiple reads. Paul says, “Reading great literature […] enlarges and improves us as human beings.” Readers need beautifully crafted fiction in order to lead beautifully resilient lives.
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