Artist Analysis: Michael Rosen's Sad Book

My favourite children’s books are ones which have a meaning and a purpose; ones which tackle real issues such as death and mental health issues.

Michael Rosen’s ‘Sad Book’ is a very personal story in which Rosen writes about his sadness, how it affects him and some of the things he does to cope with it. He is most sad when he thinks about his second son Eddie, who died at 18 from meningitis on April 26 1999.

There is a specific part in the book which I think is very, very powerful. ‘’This last bit means that I don’t want to be here. I just want to disappear.’’ The illustration, by Quentin Blake, beside this shows Rosen sitting on his bed, looking very sad, and the colours are all monochrome, creating a very dull, depressed mood. Colour has a huge impact on an illustration, for example, if the illustration is about love and happiness, you would use colours such as red, which represents passion, love and lust, and yellow, which represents happiness and cheer. You wouldn't use these colours for an illustration which is about death and unhappiness. Colours associated with death and unhappiness would be very monochrome colours like blacks and greys.

This book is so strong and effective. The illustrations work so well and show what the words mean perfectly. It is going to be a big influence on my work.