Disagreement by Nani Brunini is a thought-provoking visual portrayal of the evolution, consequences and resolution of a disagreement. Originally published in Portugal as Discórdia, Brunini uses a limited color palette to visually convey the way a disagreement began with a thought exchange between two individuals, but eventually sucks in and escalates to involve a whole group of people shouting at each other, and becoming consumed with the disagreement.
Brunini starts and ends the story on the end pages, using double-page spreads throughout the book. The story begins with a young woman offering a thought bubble about something, represented by a small blue nest of squiggly lines. On the following spread her male companion offers a response, represented with orange blurry lines and smudges. On the next spread the blue nest and orange smudge become bigger as the characters put hands on hips and stand firm. Two characters watch from the side at first, but on the following spread they join in with their own thoughts which have become even bigger as the characters ball their fists and point fingers. On the next spread the disagreement with now six individuals spills across half of the image, the orange and blue weaving in and out and on top of each other. Each following spread adds characters contributing to the disagreement until the disagreement becomes personified as an enormous cat-like monster that chases and consumes the individuals.
Inside the monster the images are rendered in black with white lines, representing the characters now regretting the disagreement, and wondering how to get out of the blackness. One individual offers a solution, shaped like a horse. As he rides through the blackness, others follow his lead, helping each other along the path. Eventually they come to a shaft of dim light. Collectively, under the baton direction of the young rider, the group begins to offer thoughts with many different patterns which shape themselves into a hot air balloon, allowing them all to escape the darkness inside the monster. Once outside, the hot air balloon becomes colorful, shaped with alternating blue and orange sections, suggesting that the characters listen and offer alternating thoughts. The story concludes as each individual climbs out of the hot air balloon basket and walks off, engaging in dialogue with companions. The final spread shows the characters walking on top of a mixture of blue and orange disagreement, offering thoughts that are either all orange, blue or a mixture of both. This book brilliantly demonstrates that dialogue can include a sharing of an opinion, but also a change of perspective as characters offered thoughts that had both blue and orange shapes in the thought bubble.
Sometimes a book comes along that brilliantly helps readers understand social dynamics. Through the use of color and shapes, this book demonstrates how far a disagreement can escalate unless we work at carefully listening along with sharing thoughts.
Other books that avoid didacticism and communicate via story, colors and shapes stand out and would pair well with Disagreement. These outstanding titles that are virtually wordless or use images to add immeasurably to the social-emotional message are Small Things (Mel Tregonning, 2018), Meh (Deborah Malcolm, 2015), The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions (Anna Llenas, 2018), and Me and My Fear (Francesca Sanna, 2018).–Recommended by Susan Corapi, Associate Professor, Trinity International University
Title: Disagreement
Author & Illustrator: Nani Brunini
ISBN: 978-1734783971
Pub. Date: July 11, 2023
Publisher: Tapioca Stories
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- Themes: Disagreement, Nani Brunini, Susan Corapi
- Descriptors: WOW Recommends