Considering Questions

Curious children question . . . everything.  This is the very act which makes them so amazing. Being near their inquiry is invigorating.  It's wonderful to see curious children continue to be curious teens, curious young adults and curious adults.  I can still recall, as I have mentioned previously, sitting in church thirty years ago, listening to the first female minister in any church I attended utter the words, "When you're through learning, you're through."

There will never come a time when our fascinating minds are filled to capacity; there is simply too much wonder in the world.  Two publications in the final third of the year address this compelling need to know; this lively speculation about all sorts of things.  Just Because (Candlewick Press, September 10, 2019) written by Mac Barnett with illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault follows a bedtime conversation between a child and their father.

Why is the ocean blue?

Surprisingly enough, the father elaborates with story instead of science.  According to him, the fish play guitars and sing sad songs once the child is asleep.  They then sob tears of blue.

Now accelerating the inquiries, the child asks about rain.  The father replies with a mixture of fact and fantasy.  His explanation as to why leaves change color makes perfect sense if you forget about the dryness of leaves and trees in general.  He attaches the next answer to the previous answer with astute cleverness.

When the child asks about the disappearance of dinosaurs and goes on to ask about black holes, her father gives two of my favorite interpretations tying them together.  When a barrage of questions fills the bedtime conversation, the father has a kindly request.  This, as you might expect, prompts another query.  With the special gift fathers are known to have, his response is loving, wise and truthful.


In the manner storytellers have of inviting listeners into their tale, Mac Barnett starts with one of the classic questions children are known to ask.  With the father's reply to this first question and the subsequent ones, he gives readers a gift every single time, the gift of thinking outside what is expected or accepted.  The cadence we have come to appreciate and respect in picture books of excellence is supplied when the answers to questions one and two, three and four and five and six become splendid pairs.  Here is a part of one of Mac Barnett's father's answers.

Millions of years ago,
thousands of asteroids
fell on the earth.

But the dinosaurs
had planned for this.
They fastened themselves . . .


In looking at the open dust jacket you initially notice a blend of geometric with whimsical.  This look is a pictorial representation of the verbal approach taken by the father in answering his child's questions.  The dots on the child's bedding are enlarged to hold text.  The text is placed within circles throughout the book.  The colors shown in the artwork above the text are depicted in question and answer sets.

To the left, on the back, the first question, is placed in a large circle.  Three smaller circles hold leaves, a seashell and an automobile.  In a fourth circle, white, is the ISBN.  The book case is a stunning contrast to the jacket.  On matte-finished paper is a light cream shade.  A pattern is fashioned from leaves and flowers found on land and below in the sea, and there are sea creatures.  Lavender, hues of blue and green, purple and a reddish orange are given to these elements.  It's a depiction of all the wonder waiting to be found.

On the black opening and closing endpapers are dots of various colors and sizes.  Isabelle Arsenault rendered these illustrations

in gouache, pencil, and watercolor and assembled digitally.

On the title page is the nightstand in the child's room with their jar of marbles and some of them scattered on the floor.  A two-page picture is devoted to the first question with the text in a large circle on the left and a picture of the child in her bed in her room with her father standing in the doorway on the right.  The colors are shades of black, gray, white, cream and blue for the circle.  For the answer we are taken under the sea, with a brighter focus in the play of light and shadow.  The blue is featured.  The father's answer is in white circles.

For each question and answer the father, child and the child's dog change their position and expressions.  Readers need to carefully watch.  Whatever color appears in the circle will become prevalent in the following image. For the illustration after the two pages depicting multiple questions in multiple circles, we see a larger perspective of the child's room.  Many of the items in the room are incorporated in the questions and answers.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for the answer as to why birds fly south in the winter.  For the background on the right showcasing two flying swallows, each carrying leaves in their beaks, Isabelle Arsenault selects a pale mint green.  On the left is a collage of greenery, leaves and stems in all shapes and sizes in shades of black and gray with the same pale mint green.  It's a breathtaking array.  Tucked among this collection is a small insect with two arms raised in praise.

Just Because written by Mac Barnett with art by Isabelle Arsenault is a conversational masterpiece.  It allows us to see inside the bond between a loving parent and an inquisitive child.  This book was recently selected at one of The 2019 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books.  I can't imagine a professional or personal collection without this title on the shelves.

To learn more about Mac Barnett and Isabelle Arsenault and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Mac Barnett has an account on Instagram.  Isabelle Arsenault has accounts on Facebook and Instagram. At the publisher's website and at Penguin Random House you can view interior images.  At Art Of The Picture Book both Mac Barnett and Isabelle Arsenault are interviewed about this title.  At author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast this book and the artwork of Isabelle Arsenault are highlighted.  Enjoy the book trailer.





If you could take a few moments thinking extraordinary things about what we accept as true, you might find yourself reflecting as the children in this second title do.  I Wonder (Random House, October 1, 2019) with words by K. A. Holt and pictures by Kenard Pak is an exploration of the art and craft of questioning.  It's like having a list of inquiries you could spend a lifetime searching for answers.  Speculation has rarely been this . . . wonderful.

What if the sun is really a kite?

This first of a combination of twenty-six wondering and questioning phrases is the spark that ignites a fire of possibilities.  It also generates another series of questions.  If the sun is a kite, what are the planets?  Are they kites, too?  If they are all kites, who is holding the string? 

Children from all ethnic backgrounds ponder.  Our next focus is on food.  How does it feel to be consumed?  When you think of water bottles, how big can you go?  What realm could be found inside a bottle?

We are asked to wonder if inanimate objects get tired, lonely or sad?  Insects find a place in these musings. 

Does a grasshopper take hopping lessons?

If you believe in unicorns, it stands to reason you need to know where they are now.

Clocks and a question of time makes sense, but belly buttons and galaxies are a completely new pair.  Thoughts turn to how a form of air is created.  Have you ever studied your shadow and its expressions?  As one child of many is tucked into bed, one final thought is offered.  For this one, and this one alone, there is a reply.  And it is the truth!

In reading over this collection of contemplations, you become aware it might be difficult to definitively reply to most of them.  K. A. Holt inspires us to go beyond what is known and to brainstorm the potential for stories.  Each one of these twenty-six is the ticket to a new adventure.  Here are two more for you to celebrate and pour into your imagination.

Do bubbles tickle everything they touch?

I wonder if books read us, too.


One look at the open dust jacket and you know this book is no ordinary book.  Oh . . . no.  This book showcasing a whale carrying a house with a unicorn coming from the back with fish swimming nearby and a blue car floating along with a kite flying is the stuff of fantastic.  The subtle, muted shades of the main image stand in sharp contrast to the sun and the bright colors of the title text.  This initial image urges you in the best possible way to open this book. 

To the left, on the back, five colorful kites fly upward from the darker shades of green along the bottom.  A lone smaller kite of blue stretches from the center edge on the left.  These kites frame the words in a pastel setting.  The words read:

What do you wonder about
when you look at the world?

On the book case of pristine white three children from diverse backgrounds run beneath the title text.  On the back, to the left, a home in pencil with gray shading above it is beneath a full moon and a cluster of stars.  On the opening and closing endpapers is a repeating pattern of a tiny red car, a teddy bear, a sun, a kite, a ladybug, a faint blue planet and a bubble.  The title page is like a dream.  The text is in lower case, partially in pencil and partially erased from a pencil rubbing.  The pastoral scene beneath it is very faint, mystical.

On the jacket flap it states Kenard Pak

uses watercolor, pencil, collage, ink, and digital media

to create his art.  For this book he alternates between double-page pictures and full-page pictures.  Each one is a unique perspective.  We are outside looking inside, looking upward, up-close, from a bird's point of view or shown a combination of two on a single illustration.  By looking at the light and sky in the images, it appears as if Kenard Pak is taking us from sunrise to bedtime except for the final picture. 

He begins and ends with a form of the sun bringing his visuals full circle.  Careful readers will see items in one picture appear again.  Readers will also want to see if the same children are shown in more than one image.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for the words

I wonder if books read us, too.

The floor and walls of the room are etched and lighter as is the staircase in the background, mostly in shadow.  In the center and filling more than half the space is a light tan rug.  Seated on the rug in her pajamas is a little girl.  With her a dog is calmly sitting and a kitten is seated next to her.  In front of this trio is an open book with the words

STORY TIME

on the front.  A talking yellow bird separates the two words.  Is the book reading the little girl and her furry friends?


Lighthearted, soulful and compassionate, I Wonder written by K. A. Holt with illustrations by Kenard Pak is a reflective selection of why we love what children think and have to say.  They are the reason as adults we strive to make the world better for them; so they can continue to wonder.  I highly recommend this title for your collections, professional and personal.

To discover more about K. A. Holt and Kenard Pak and their other work, please access their websites by following the links attached to their names.  K. A. Holt has an account on Twitter.  Kenard Pak has accounts on Instagram and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can view interior illustrations.  At author Cynthia Leitich Smith's website, Cynsations,  K. A. Holt is interviewed.

An Extraordinary Walk Through Ordinary

When a dog has chosen to make their home with you, it affords you marvelous opportunities.  You find yourself outside in the early hours of the morning and at the very late hours of night.  As you walk through your neighborhood at these times, when more people are inside rather than outside, sights otherwise concealed during daylight are revealed.

The windows of a home are much like the eyes of an individual, a way to see the everyday essence which makes it uniquely unlike any other space.   Windows (Candlewick Press, October 10, 2017) written by Julia Denos with illustrations by E. B. Goodale pays homage to the calm felt when strolling through a neighborhood as evening falls.  It's like walking through a library filled with stories.

At the end of the day, before the town goes to sleep, you can look out your window . . .

As the lights turn on inside the houses, they signal a familiar accepted pattern, like fireflies calling to other fireflies.  They convey a feeling of security.  Sometimes you will see other creatures, domestic and wild venturing out into the half-light turning into night.  Are they watching the lights in windows begin to glow, too?

The size of the windows, curtains open and curtains closed, are a reflection of the inhabitants.  You might be privy to conversations, parental affection and learning.  Some people may be sitting down to eat their supper.  Some people may be relaxing in their living rooms.

Not every house will have windows warm with light.  There is usually one residence completely dark.  No one lives there but you can pretend, letting your imagination create occupants.

Of all the windows you see as you wander along well-known paths, there is one which welcomes you with more warmth than the others.  You find comfort in the knowledge of who is inside.  You are home.


As one phrase connects to the next in this story it's like listening to melodic lines in a lullaby.  As soon as you read the first sentence written by Julia Denos you are aware of a certain peace of mind arriving, dictated by a particular sameness as darkness descends.  It's Julia's ability to take the ordinary, enhancing it to extraordinary, that gives this story its beauty.  She singles out specific moments, taking nothing for granted but exhibiting gratitude for all.  Here is another sentence.

You might pass a cat
or an early raccoon
taking a bath
in squares of yellow light.


As you look at the opened dust jacket, the multilayered, setting sun sky is in perfect harmony with the light glowing in the windows.  These windows are varnished on the street scene extending over the spine to the left edge, the back, of the jacket.  The tree branches are like black lace.  The darkened blue in varying shades of the buildings, sidewalk and street complement the natural and artifical light.  The spot of red on the boy's jacket and the white dog fur and white text of the title blend with the surrounding color but also announce the beginning of something wonderful.

On the book case from edge to edge is the multilayered, setting sun sky, singular in its beauty.  On the opening and closing endpapers it's as if we are standing on one of the rooftops looking across the landscape created by the other roofs.  The sun is low in the sky, barely above the treetops on the opening endpapers.  Men are working on one of the roofs.  There are a few lights on already.  A group of pigeons are flying in from the right.  On the closing endpapers night has fallen.  A full moon is in the sky.  The pigeons are roosting on one of the roofs.  Lights are glowing in all the buildings.

Rendered in ink, watercolor, letterpress, and digital collage by debut picture book illustrator E. B. Goodale all images except for those on four pages span from page edge to page edge across two pages.  All of the elements, the details, are intentional.  They tell stories; the Brazilian soccer ball in the boy's home, the heart-patterned blanket hanging on a clothes line, the raccoon snacking on an apple core, the air-conditioner running in a window, and the three bird cages seen in a single room.

As the boy walks the colors of the sky behind the buildings deepen indicating the passage of time.  E. B. Goodale shifts her perspective several times, bringing us closer to a particular scene before giving us a more expansive view again.  White space is used to great effect twice to emphasize the text and to ask us to pause.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  On the left and on the right are single family homes with fenced-in yards.  Their designs are very different; one is more traditional with flower-filled window boxes.  The other is more contemporary with a circular window and a flat roof.  In the center of the picture the boy and his dog have stopped at a stone-paved area, marked by several low pillars with chains between them.  Two trees have been planted behind them like an entrance.  A dog park shows dogs running with their humans nearby.  Behind this is a silhouette of homes and then the red, orange and yellow sky.


It would be easy to imagine this title, Windows written by Julia Denos with illustrations by E. B. Goodale, as one read every night to lull gals and guys to sleep.  It is a brilliant and stunning look at the close of day amid a single neighborhood.  There is a timeless quality to the words and illustrations.  It gives readers the marvelous sense of everything is right with the world.  We need this book.

By following the links attached to the names of Julia Denos and E. B. White you can learn more about them and their work.  At both Penguin Random House and Candlewick Press you can view interior illustrations.  At Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read., the cover is revealed.  You will enjoy the conversation there with both Julia and Emily.  Author, reviewer and blogger, Julie Danielson, highlights this title at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  It is one of the titles being discussed at Calling Caldecott.  Windows is also featured at School Library Journal, The Classroom Bookshelf.  Enjoy the videos.

Seeking Self

You see them coming into your classrooms year after year; testing the waters, doing what they enjoy the most and wondering if anyone will notice their best efforts.  You use your skills to help them discover and enhance their own. Knowing who they truly are, what their purpose might be or where their talents lie can be a pursuit needing perseverance and patience.

It can be somewhat unsettling to find yourself one among many whose gifts are already shining like stars in a moonless sky.  The Mermaid and the Shoe (Kids Can Press) written and illustrated by K. G. Campbell takes us down into the depths of an undersea kingdom.  One very small mermaid has a huge thirst for answers and a brave heart to match.

King Neptune had fifty daughters.  Some might call them mermaids.  They were his pride and joy.

Forty-nine of them had savvy; a green thumb, a flair with fish or words spoken in dulcet song.  Minnow did not; no glorious gardens, only frantic fish and when she sang sea creatures cringed.  One thing she did endlessly was ask questions.

A single sister in particular, Calypso, thought Minnow and her inquisitiveness worthless.  This unkindness caused Minnow, without a word, to seek solitude in a particular spot;

where the current was warm and pleasant.

It was here a beautiful thing floats down to her one day.

One sister thought it might be a hat.  Another offered that it might be a jewel box.  And a third, cold Calypso, said it was junk.  Minnow thought otherwise.  Returning to the warm and pleasant current, she had a plan.  She needed answers.

Swimming through and up, all those she encountered could not identify the splendid object she carried.  Remember those questions she was always asking?  One by one solutions were seen except for one.  Now at the surface she started to wonder if Calypso might have been right.

Then another strange being appeared.  As Minnow watched her excitement grew.  She could hardly wait to share her discoveries.  On this day, a storyteller was born.  It was absolutely remarkable.


Using elements found in the best stories from the land of fairy, the fifty princesses, the three sisters (one with a nasty personality), the three questions, mermaids and lots of happily ever after, K. G. Campbell weaves a spell with words.  A pleasing blend of narrative and dialogue envelope readers gently like we are lovely things drifting through enchanted waters.  What sets this apart is Minnow accomplishes her goals alone by believing in herself and using her strengths. Here is a passage from the book.

She had arrived at the edge of the kingdom, where bubbles burst and the above place began.
"What a wondrous world!" gasped Minnow, eyes wide as sand dollars.


 When you open the matching dust jacket and book case of this title, you are immediately struck by the luminosity of K. G. Campbell's sea scenery.  You get a very real sense of being in the warm current with Minnow and the other beings in the watery depths. The rich brilliant red of the shoe is carried over to the spine.

Rendered in watercolor and pencil crayon Campbell chooses to alter his illustration sizes, breathtaking two page spreads and gorgeous oval insets on white, framed in a variety of sea and tiny floral weeds found on land.  Fine lines, subtle shading and a carefully-selected color palette combine to create a stunning ethereal quality.  Everything about the mermaids, especially Minnow, is magically marvelous; their wide eyes, delicate facial features, porcelain skin, golden tails and flowing hair.

One of my favorite illustrations is of Minnow rising to the surface through the seaweed asking the octopus if he knows what the shoe is.  A small orange seahorse is her constant companion. Readers will wish they could be there swimming in the water with her.


When I first held this book after it was handed to me by a clerk in my favorite indie store, she said everyone there had fallen in love with it.  I understand completely.  The Mermaid and the Shoe written and illustrated by K. G. Campbell is a lovely story; a once-upon-a-time tale to be cherished and shared.

Please be sure to follow the link embedded in K. G. Campbell's name to access his official website.  Here is a link to an interview at John Schumacher's blog at Watch. Connect. Read.  Be sure to visit, enjoying the book trailer.  There is another wonderful interview at Idle Illustration by Caldecott Honor winner author illustrator Molly Idle.