Picturebooks and Mental Illness: Discussions in a Post-COVID Context

This article analyses Gro Dahle and Kaia Dahle Nyhus’s picturebook Dagen, focusing on fourcrucial double pages. Addressing themes of depression, it provides a unique child’s perspectiveand describes various coping mechanisms, delivering a hopeful message. Utilizing social semioticsand multimodality, it examines verbal and visual elements, aligning with Kress and VanLeeuwen’s metafunctions. Beyond literature, it intersects with post-COVID depression research,revealing connections between the two. Dagen portrays Po’s struggle to connect with theirDay, meticulously exploring visual, interpersonal, and textual dimensions. The study extendsto post-COVID depression, highlighting its prevalence and contributing factors. In conclusion,the analysis emphasizes the synergy between literature, psychology, and medicine in understandingand addressing contemporary challenges.