It is somewhat true that money can’t buy happiness. It is also true that a base amount of household income is vital for a base level of happiness. The misconception ‘that poor people are happier’ can be misappropriated by the wealthy and powerful to assuage any guilt they might otherwise feel around resource hoarding. “Don’t worry about them. They’re poor, sure, but poor people are happy.” NEW SITUATION Could you create your own story in which different people have different points of view about the same event? paint pictures of an everyday scene in the local park or playground but change a few objects into something else (a tree might become a face); Hats also denote socioeconomic status. In this case, the hats are ‘bowler’, and therefore stand for a particular social class. The boy is being trained by his mother to present a certain, repressed side of himself to the world. Instead of running around like his labrador, he sits sedately by his mother’s side. Eventually the repressive bowler hats disappear from his view as the girl, Smudge, brings out his ura. Since Voices In The Park was published, the fedora has garnered a reputation for being 1. a more fashionable update on the bowler and 2. a worrisome signal that the wearer may be a m*n’s r*ghts activist. Both are symbols of patriarchy, or aspirationally so. Men’s hat advertisement 1909 SETTING OF VOICES IN THE PARK student exemplars - modelled writing resources used for the “fifth voice” assessment task to guide students as to what their final product should look like.

Everyone in this story is each other’s opponent, except for the dogs, whose easy friendliness juxtaposes against the reserve of the human characters — each at a different point on the ‘reserved’ spectrum. The mother wants to retain her position as a privileged white woman. (Yes, animals can still be white women.) Her son is going the same way, but for now he wants to enjoy the freedom of being a kid without the heavy weight of responsibility. He wants a playmate. The father searches the classifieds looking for a job, which will allow him to provide for his family. But because economic power is so connected to being a man, the fact that he has no hope of conforming to society’s expectation of ‘Man’, this exclusion has ostensibly afforded him a different kind of freedom. He can sit in a park during the daytime and spend time with his daughter. The animal depictions also force readers to focus on other artistic elements that imply socioeconomic status and gender roles. The depiction of the mother character implies wealth, and stereotypical attitudes of wealthy women. The depiction of the father character implies poverty, and stereotypical (or perhaps not-so stereotypical) attitudes of poor men. The children seem to transcend gender stereotypes, as the boy takes on more of a female gender role. He is reluctant to play with the girl, and less outgoing. The girl wants to play with the boy, and is much more outgoing. She seems to convince the boy to play, which is not very characteristic of girls in most stories.Mrs Smythe intends to go to the park to give her dog and son some fresh air and exercise. Mr Smith seems to be at the park because it is a pleasant place to sit and read the classifieds, quite possibly nicer than his own kitchen. THE BIG STRUGGLE

Think about the hopes and dreams of the different voices who are speaking. Could you describe these to a friend? PLEASE NOTE: These resources were all genuinely created in real-time for my classes over the last two years. As a result, the units of work differ in content and structure. Please use the individual prices as an indication of the resources included (or simply look at the individual products). For example, Voices in the Park is a very comprehensive unit as we used this book for several weeks. It contains mini-lessons, literature circle task cards, printables, assessments and shared reading lessons. The "Piggybook" resource, on the other hand, is very simple because we only used this for shared reading without integrated resources. Voices in the Park is a very unique children's book. It tells the story from four separate perspectives about the same day in the park: a woman, her son, a man, and his daughter. The two children play together--creating a friendship--while the two adults keep to themselves. The woman, specifically, is upset by having to share the park bench with the man. The feelings of these characters can be seen in the illustrations. Depending on the perspective, the reader will notice the seasons changing. For example, the trees will appear bare for one character and in full bloom for another.

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Of course, books mean different things to different people. However, it is interesting to list the varying ideas the children have. One Y6 class I worked with recently listed the following ideas: happiness; relationships; money doesn’t make you happy; making friends; the dogs are the happiest; posh people and snobs; things are not what they seem. After the kids have made their predictions on what the book Voices in the Park is about, read the first voice. This is the voice of the stern women. After you read her story, stop reading and ask the kids this question:

Voices in the Park was an interesting piece of children's literature, however I felt like it is geared toward a slightly older reader only because it can be difficult to follow. I did enjoy the book but had to read it a few times to understand it as a whole. My seven year old, however, enjoyed the bright colors throughout the story, but got lost in its overlapping story lines. Did you learn more about each character as you read the book? How did your opinion of each character change? This book belongs into the Contemporary Realistic Fiction genre. This genre is defined by a vivid, realistic setting; multidimensional, credible characters; and believable problems that are understood by the intended age group. Voices in the Park, satisfies these criteria. This is a plausible story that could happen in today’s world. An upper-class mother and son could walk their dog to the park and meet other people who may not be of the same socioeconomic status as they are. There are other parts of the story that qualify this text in this type of genre. This is a realistic occurrence that can happen daily, with easily understood problems for the reader. The characters in the story make it easy for children to relate to through use of language and how they interact with each other. What was the author’s intent for writing this story? -or- why did the author tell the story in this way? Why do you think Anthony Browne chose a park as the setting? Would a different setting affect the attitude and behaviour of the characters?What I did like were the four voices, the four separate perspectives. Woman, man, boy, girl, all different in the (basically) identical setting. The story starts with an upper-class mother and son who walk their dog to the park and meet other people who are depicted as coming from a lower class status. What I found interesting within the story is that this can be a realistic occurrence that can happen daily. I consider the characters can also relate to the reader quite accessibly. In my opinion this is done through a good use of language and wonderful illustrations that pose extraordinary features. Although many may find these as unusual, I believe the use of these types of pictures as appealing. What is the reason for a parallactic plot structure? In literary parallax, the message is implicitly this: The truth does not exist. A person’s version of the truth depends on their perspective. This is a defining characteristic of the literary Impressionists. That said, I think Anthony Browne has used parallax to a different end in this instance. I believe he conveys an unambiguous message: Repression of children is bad; playing is good; friendship across socioeconomic boundaries is good. He uses parallax to avoid hitting readers over the head with this ‘message’. A strong message like that could easily seem didactic. When readers put pieces of a puzzle together for themselves, they are more likely to agree with the storyteller’s message, regarding it as self-evident. Anthony Browne has avoided making commentary on race by giving the humans the bodies of gorillas. This is one reason ( among many) why illustrators/storytellers utilise animal bodies when telling stories about humans. This illustration is from the eye-level of a child. Smudge sees the park as her personal carnivalesque playground, hence the fruit in the distance. Einari Wehmas (Finnish, 1898-1955) In The Park 1920-1. Note the similar palette of yellow and orange juxtaposed against green. MRS SMYTHE Surrealists put disparate objects together. In doing so, they help their audience to see objects we usually take for granted in a new way. The word for this is ‘ defamiliarisation‘.

Like Belgian surrealist artist, Rene Magritte, Browne uses the same symbol over and over to convey meaning. Fruit Shaped Trees. 10 June 2009. 17 Aug. 2010 < http://static.guim.co.uk/ sys-images/​arts/​arts_/​pictures/​2009/For Charles, the battle is against his oppressive mother and her expectations that he become a ‘real man’. how the characters are shown – what do the colours and images suggest to you about the characters – what do they make you feel?; This story appears to be set in England, though I’ve never seen a big English park as deserted as this one. This park is a representation of the characters’ inner states, in which no one is truly connected to the others. (See also: Loneliness in Art and Storytelling.)