You Can Never Read Too Much, Part 3

Moon Rabbit

Written and Illus. by Natalie Russell

Viking, a Division of Penguin Young readers group, copyright 2009

32 pages, counting the endpapers, with pp. 1 & 32 pasted down

Typeface—Perpetua

468 words of text

This is a very whimsical story with gorgeous illustrations in a muted palette of oranges, blues, grays, browns, and greens. The illustrations carry the story, which is slight, but engaging. A little rabbit enjoys her life in the city, but wishes to meet a friend. One day she meets another little rabbit in a park far from the city. They bond, but the little rabbit misses her life in the city and returns home, knowing that there is someone out there to be her friend and that he is coming to visit.

I think I would have loved this story as a teenager. Not sure how engaging it is for a child—is it reassuring to know there is someone to be your friend? The leave-taking is bittersweet—why must they part? But the other little rabbit will come visit.

Just what is this story about? Friendship? Loving your life? What does it tell us? I don’t know, but I love the visuals enough to stay with it and to study it. Publishers Weekly says, in a starred review, “Children (and adults) will appreciate this gentle take on the often-perplexing conflict between satisfied independence and the joys of companionship.”

Brown Rabbit in the City

Written and Illus. by Natalie Russell

Viking, an Imprint of Penguin group (USA), Inc., copyright 2010

32 pages, counting the endpapers, with pp. 1 & 32 pasted down

Typeface—Perpetua

A retelling of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse, this story feels a bit more satisfying than Moon Rabbit and the illustrations are at least as charming, in the same soft pallet. Brown Rabbit rides the bus to visit his new friend, Little Rabbit. Little Rabbit is so eager to show him the city that she rushes him everywhere, barely taking time to speak. She wears him out and when he slips away from the party without telling her she is sad and realizes how she has been neglecting him. She finds him at her favorite café. He tells her he didn’t come to see the city, he came to see her. The next day she takes him to a quiet garden where she has a present for him, a guitar. His bus comes and goes but he stays, playing with Little Rabbit because, “After all, they had all the time in the world.”

This story is about friendship, what it means to be a friend. And, unlike the fable, these rabbits are able to enjoy each other’s environments and styles of living.

The two books are produced in identical formats, trim size, typeface, palettes, style of illustration. And the rabbits are drawn in the simplest way, yet convey a lot of emotion. They are adorable. Would these stories be published if they were not accompanied by this great art? Not sure, especially the first one.

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus

Written by Barbara Park, Illus. by Denise Brunkus

A First stepping Stone Book, Random House, copyright 1992

69 pages

The first in a series of Junie B. Jones books. Junie B. has a very believable kindergarten voice in this book. Somewhat like Clementine, she has a knack for getting in trouble as she acts on every whim. Full of action and humor, this lightly illustrated first chapter book, with a reading level of 2.0 should appeal to most kids. Although Junie B. is a girl, with shiny shoes and skirst like velvet, she gets in enough trouble that boys will enjoy her pranks, although they might be reluctant to be seen checking this book out of the library. I think part of the appeal and humor for the reader will be that he/she is older than Junie B. and will know things that Junie B. doesn’t know.

Moon Theater

Written and Illus. by Etienne Delessert

Creative Editions, an imprint of the Creative Company, copyright 2009

32 pages not counting plain endpapers

122 words of text, one line per page.

This is a book carried by its illustrations, which are intriguing. The Swiss-American artist is the illustrator of numerous books. I’m not sure if he’s written many other books. He has an edgy, European feel to the dark paintings.

It is books like this, which, fanciful as it is, perpetuate the misunderstanding that the moon “starts anew every night.” I have a hard time seeing beyond this aspect of the text. I think the story lacks any real story arc—it is about preparing to send the moon out into the evening, setting the stage of the night. Would I have liked this as a child? Probably yes as a teenager. The illustrations are intriguing to me. But now the text bothers me because of the fallacies inherent in it. Am I ruined forever?

Market Day

A graphic novel written and inked by James Sturm

Drawn & Quarterly, Montreal, copyright 2010

Dark earth-toned, very limited palette of many shades of brown and tan, tells a dark story of the demise of hand-made goods in Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20^th century.

If I hadn’t read the back cover I wouldn’t have had a clue what the story is about beyond a tale of grave disappointment. I feel I am still learning how to read a graphic novel. The artwork of this is quite fine.

Stitches, a memoir…

A graphic novel by David Small

W. W. Norton & Company, New York, copyright 2009

329 pages

Drawn in scratchy line with soft sepia/gray washes, this book tells a bleak tale of the author as a child and his dysfunctional family. It is a tale of survival and ends with a happier prospect—we know (and he acknowledges) that the David of this story survives cancer and his non-loving parents. He grows up to marry and to become an award-winning illustrator. His art is the survival tool that helps him through the bleakest, darkest of times.

I read this book in one sitting, again feeling as if I don’t know how to read a graphic novel. There must be a balance between studying the art and pouring over the words to move the story along. It was a satisfying reading experience, as was Maus. Market Day was perhaps too bleak for my taste and the character never appealed to me. I lacked empathy or connection with him and his life.

You Can Never Read Too Much, Part 2

All You Need for a Snowman

By Alice Schertle

Illus. by Barbara Lavallee

Silver Whistle, Harcourt, Inc. copyright 2007

Illus.—wc and gouache on wc paper

Type—Berling

32 pp + plain gray endpapers

Clever rhyming text, good meter, good rhymes. Repeated phrasing, “and that’s all you need for a snowman, except….” I think the story follows the rule of three, but I’m not sure.

This is the 3d snow/winter book I’ve read from Harcourt.

Skippyjon Jones

Written and illus. by Judy Schachner

Dutton Children’s Bks, New York, copyright 2003

Lengthy text—good read-aloud qualities include song to clap to, wordplay, and Spanish words. Also invites using Spanish accent to read certain parts of the story. Humorous characters, a cat who thinks he’s something else, and his long-suffering mother.

Winter: An Alphabet Acrostic

By Steven Schnur

Illust. By Leslie Evans

Clarion Books, (Hourghton Mifflin),New York, copyright 2002

Illus. hand colored linoleum block prints

Text—19pt Galliard

Interesting concept: the Theme is Winter. The poems are acrostics of words in alphabetical order, each illuminating the season and overall, creating a story arc or moving through the season. The poems themselves are quite beautiful. Here are a few of the first words which create the acrostic poems: Awake; Bake; Cold; Deer; Ears; Flurry.

Here are two of my favorite poems:

Flakes so

Light they drift

Upward

Rise like smoke before coming to

Rest in the

Yard.

Midnight falls, and

Over rooftops and bare

Oak trees a

Narrow crescent rises.

The Moon Came Down On Milk Street

Written and illus. by Jean Gralley

Henry Holt & Co., New York, copyright 2004

32 pp + plain blue end papers

gouache and mixed media on Arches paper

Minimal rhyming text and many pages of pictures only, based on a quote from Mr. Rogers’ mother, “Look for the helpers,” (at the scene of an accident.) about 86 words. Despite the very important lesson contained in this book, it does not feel didactic. It is immensely reassuring. I think it was written at least in part in response to 9-11.

The pictures look like my sister’s Kindergarten class at play—building, helping, constructing, cooperating.

A good book for troubled times.

Cesar: Si, Se puede! Yes, We Can!

Text by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

Illustrated by David Diaz

Marshall Cavendish, New York, copyright 2004

48 pp not counting plain purple (grape-colored) endpapers

Illustrations were rendered in Photoshop

Text—Goudy; book design by Patrice Sheridan

A detailed biography of Cesar Chavez, told in free verse poems, one to a spread, with Spanish language intermixed into the basically English text.

By using free verse the author was able to reduce the number of words, relying on phrases and descriptive passages and direct quotes. There is a wealth of back matter, including Notes referencing all quotes, a glossary of Spanish terms and phrases, a biographical synopsis, a chronology, and a list of sources including web sources, publications, and interviews. And finally the last page contains a series of extended quotes from Cesar Chavez.

The poems convey the emotional impact of the facts of Cesar’s life and times, emphasizing his childhood and family, although the story of the grape/lettuce boycott is told as is his death. The back matter gives a fuller picture of his life and the political context for his work.

The illustrations are rendered in Photoshop. They look like folk art created with stencils, in soft pastel colors that suggest the colors of the vineyards and farm fields where Cesar labored.

The text is filled with Spanish phrases and words, most of which can be understood in context, some of which are translated in context, and all of which are contained in the glossary at the back of the book.

This is a powerful non-fiction biography, filled with direct quotes from the subject.

You Can Never Read Too Much

May 3, 2011

I pulled out a bunch of Cynthia Rylant books. Although they were published over a fairly wide number of years, they all struck me as having a similar structure, being extended poems, some free verse, some rhyming, with little plot or story. Instead they comment on some aspect of the world which Rylant has warm feelings about. I definitely found some of these books more appealing than others. They are all related to her first book, When I Was Young In the Mountains, which also fits this form.

Snow

by Cynthia Rylant

illustrated by Lauren Stinger (author/illus. of Winter Is The Warmest Season)

Harcourt, Inc. copyright 2008

Text type—Perpetua; Display type—Monica Dengo

OK. I love snow. Would I have loved this book? Nothing happens. It’s like a longer free verse poem about snow—“The best snow / is the snow that / comes softly in the night, / like a shy friend / afraid to knock, / so she thinks she’ll / just wait in the yard / until you see her….” Or—“And the snow, / while it is here, / reminds us of this: / that nothing lasts forever / except memories.”

The illustrations are beautiful acrylic paintings on 140 Arches with crystal snow flakes and wonderful colors—a controlled palette, but broad.

Cynthia Rylant seems to be able to make picture books out of poems or compose poetic pb’s. Is she a poet and not a storyteller?

Long Night Moon

by Cynthia Rylant

illustrated by Mark Siegel (illustrator of Lisa Wheeler’s Seadogs)

Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, copyright 2004

Illustrations in charcoal, pencil, pastel on Arches paper and digital color

Typeface—Wendy

Disappointing text for C.R. 12 moons described sweetly. There are 12 ½ lunar months a year. This book perpetuates the myth of nighttime moons and moons fitting calendar months. Too simplified for my taste.

The Stars Will Still Shine

By Cynthia Rylant

Illus. by Tiphanie Beeke

Harper Collins Publishers, copyright 2005

32 pages plus 2 printed pages of end papers—or 40 pp counting end papers.

Simple rhyming poem of reassurance. Warm, colorful, multi-cultural illus. About 1 line of text per page. Could this be published now, in this tight market?

All In A Day

By Cynthia Rylant

Illus. by Nikki McClure

Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York, copyright 2009

Illustrations are cut paper with computer color

Rhyming poem turned into picture book. It is the illustrator’s first book, I believe. She may be a friend of Rylant’s. A disappointingly slight poem about living in the now. I prefer Philip Larkin’s, “Days Are Where We Live.”

From these 4 books I see a pattern in some of Cynthia Rylant’s work, of creating a single poem and stretching it over a picture book length. Of these four books, two work for me and two do not. Snow and The Stars Will Shine have more depth to them and I’m probably just not objective enough to really judge her Long Night Moon.

The OK Book

By Amy Kraus Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

Harper Collins, copyright 2007

Using the letters O & K to create a stick figure, OK, this simple text lists many things that “OK” can do, though not well. It ends, “One day, I’ll grow up to be really excellent at something. I don’t know what it is yet… but I sure am having fun figuring it out.”

Text seems a bit didactic to me. The illus. play on the stick-figure shape of OK and are quite expressive. A very limited, muted palette of black, white, pale blue, mustard yellow, and spring green is pleasing.

I am not grabbed by this book (D.T. says “The OK Book is just OK.”), but it is quite clever and I wonder if certain kids will become enamored with the game of personifying OK.

The Island-below-the-Star

Written & illus. by James Rumford

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1998

Type—Monotype Bulmer

Illust. Are wc on Arches (with some colored pencil lines)

Beautifully written folk tale of 5 brothers who sail from the Marquesas to Hawaii, using their knowledge of the stars, the waves, the clouds, the wind, and the birds to navigate these uncharted waters.

The story is suspenseful, playful, exciting, and satisfying. The interaction is between Manu, the youngest brother and the 4 older ones, who are portrayed almost as a unit. Without contradicting anything that is known of the discovery of Hawaii, Rumford creates a legend that could be true and attributes the discovery more to adventuresome spirit than to duress—in other words, these explorers seek the unknown for the same reasons Bird and Amundson explored Antarctic.

The wc illustrations are spectacular and highly appropriate for the subject—the sea and sky come alive. I see homage to Homer and Gauguin and maybe Turner in these wonderful paintings. The format is small, but the paintings are monumental.

The text seems long for a picture book, but holds the reader’s attention with it’s strong prose.

Diagonal lines give a sense of rocking sea waves. An afterward describes what is known about these first explorers of the Pacific.

Oscar and the Mooncats

By Lynda Gene Rymond

Illust. By Nicoletta Ceccoli

Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 2007

32 pp + endpapers

text—ITC Golden Cockerel

illust.—mixed media, plasticine, acrylics, and collage and computer graphics

Oscar the cat has a wild night and runs away to the moon. The cow there warns him that he’ll forget his boy if he drinks the cream from the crater. He’ll become a mooncat. Essentially a retelling of Where The Wild Things are, this story doesn’t quite work for me. Computerized graphics are also a bit jarring to the eyes and sometimes clash with the overlaid text.