To The Trees #2

In a movie about a legendary hero and his band of merry men, when under enemy attack one of the patriotic thieves shouts, To the trees!  The trees were a refuge for them and a more strategic vantage point from which to defend themselves. Around the world for centuries, trees equal life for what they supply humans and an array of plants and animals.  I wonder how often throughout time those same three words were uttered by other humans or in the language of birds taking a sudden turn in flight to roost in treetops or of squirrels racing over grass and scampering up tree trunks?

Small or tall, the size is of no importance.  Standing next to a tree offers, for those open to embracing it, a true sense of solitude and strength.  For most of us, they've always been there and hopefully, they always will be.  Two recent publications highlight this almost immortal quality of trees.  In Maple & Rosemary (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, February 28, 2023) written by Alison James with illustrations by Jennifer K. Mann readers are witness to a remarkable friendship.  In the best, truest friendships, you are never apart, but entwined forever.

Once there was a tree who was very lonely.

She was a sugar maple, so she was sweet and lovely.

The evergreens around the sugar maple didn't talk to her because she was different.  One day, something out of the ordinary happened.  This something climbed into her branches, echoing the maple's feelings of loneliness.  The tree spoke, wanting to know who this was and if they would be her friend.  Maple the tree met Rosemary the girl.

As the days passed, Rosemary visited her every day after school.  They taught each other what they knew about their worlds.  As Maple's seeds spun down from her branches, Rosemary planted them.  When Rosemary left, they exchanged the same words.

One day Rosemary didn't come.  Many seasons passed and Maple was lonely in her absence.  Tiny maples sprouted around Maple, but the familiar creatures walked and flew by her without speaking.

Then, in the autumn one year, a young woman came to Maple.  It was Rosemary.  She was a teacher now at the nearby school.  First, she hung a swing from Maple's branches.  When Rosemary returned, she brought a group of happy children.  She showed them all the wonders around the tree and they laughed and swung on the swing.

Maple grew bigger and taller.  Rosemary grew older and shorter.  She still visited Maple but now she came alone with her book, reading aloud to the tree.  During one of the last times, we see Rosemary visit Maple, she tells Maple something.  At first Maple is puzzled, then she realizes the meaning of those words and the power of friendship.

Author Alison James builds her story on what we know of trees, their endurance and their necessity in the continuance of this planet.  She establishes a parallel between a tree and a human, both experiencing their own forms of aloneness.  Using a careful blend of narrative and dialogue, we see a lasting friendship evolve.  The repetition of similar phrases each time they part, strengthens their bond.  What also strengthens their bond is the passage of seasons and the tree's growth.  Regardless of their time apart, as it is chronicled, their affection is as strong as ever.  Here is a passage.

Maple felt the tug on her branch when Rosemary swung back

and forth.  Rosemary laughed and laughed.  Maple's leaves

fluttered with delight.

"You will always have friends when you have a swing,"

Rosemary said.

"But it is a good friend who makes me a swing," said Maple.

Rendered 

with pencil, monotype printmaking, collage, and digital paint, 

all combined in Photoshop

the heartwarming, eloquent artwork for this title by Jennifer K. Mann radiates those qualities when we first see them on the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  In full color we see Rosemary reading aloud to Maple on the front, right side.  Here the title text is varnished in a cheery red.

The trunk and tree branches continue flawlessly over the spine and to the left, on the back.  The seasons have changed from spring to winter.  Rosemary is now an elder, leaning on the trunk of Maple, her white hair in a bun.  She is holding a stick Maple dropped from her branches.  It helps her walk.  Readers will see a red fox watching in the meadow as an owl takes flight.  

The opening and closing endpapers are autumn orange.  On the initial title page, rows of evergreens stretch across the top.  The field is filled with snow.  Maple stands in the foreground.  Between her branches, the fox walks through the snow to the right.  On the formal title page, we are brought close to the fox amid the snow and dried out Queen Anne's Lace stems.  In the distance the owl flies through a wintery sky hanging over a nearby pond.

These visuals span two pages, full pages, square-like shapes in groups of four, six, and sixteen on a page and two and three vertical pictures on a page.  The sizes of these illustrations and their varying perspectives enhance the text and the pacing.  They fashion an inescapable emotional mood within the passage of a lifetime.  They capture the beauty of each season.  The fine details in each scene are not fragile but as strong as this relationship.  Readers will be looking in each setting for the fox, owl, and robin.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  It is winter.  Rosemary and her students are under the bare branches of Maple, looking up.  They are waving goodbye to her.  Maple's trunk is on the left and the branches, dark gray and snowy, spread to and along the top, left and right sides, and to the bottom of the left side.  

One of the things we need to remember as humans is to maintain a connection to the living things outside our homes, especially trees.  Maple & Rosemary written by Alison James with artwork by Jennifer K. Mann is a wonderful observation on the natural world and how to establish respect and affection for it.  This story defines friendship in a way you will remember long after the covers of this book are closed.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Alison James and Jennifer K. Mann and their other work, please visit their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Alison James has artwork for you to view from this title on her website.  Alison James has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  Jennifer K. Mann has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.   You can view the title pages at Penguin Random House.

In his newest, expansive wordless endeavor, author illustrator Aaron Becker presents possibilities.  He asks us to examine our beliefs on the relationship between the natural world and humans' place in it.  In this gorgeous, highly detailed presentation of the passage of time, The Tree and the River (Candlewick Press, March 14, 2023), we take a journey unlike any other.

In the beginning, there is the river, winding through tree and shrub studded meadows.  Our attention is drawn to one particular tree, situated on land as the river wraps around it.  With a page turn, our view of that area widens.  A large farm is being constructed of wood on the shore opposite the tree.  We can see the river wind behind this farm and curve to a large ridge of mountains.

We are next brought in closer as the agricultural buildings are expanding and growing in size.  A mill has harnessed the water of the river for its use.  There are more people, adults and children.

Two distinct societies seem to be forming on either side of the river.  On the original side the structures are sturdier and more industrial.  Across the river, this community seems to adhere to the more natural materials and farming.  As pages are turned, there are more and more people, and the modes of transportation are changing.  The buildings are crowding out the land. Walls are built. The two societies are preparing for war.

When we next turn the page, an entire new civilization is before us, perhaps a blend of the two previous peoples and their societies.  The river has been redirected.  Then, we see airships and motor vehicles.  Animals are no longer used for transportation. Lights shine from windows at night. (The landscape scenes are becoming more like steampunk.)  Then, there appear motor vehicles more like automobiles on streets with tree-lined avenues and more individual homes.  

With each page turn now, there are drastic differences.  We go from a space-like scenario to one of flooding and devastation with people only moving about in boats.  The tree is a skeleton of its former self.  Soon, there is no sign of human life.  It is now that Aaron Becker shifts our view of his narrative.  He takes us very close to the tree.  Something remarkable is occurring.

Rendered 

in pencil, gouache, and digital paint

the luminescent, intricate artwork begins on the open dust jacket and open book case.  On the first, we see a pastoral setting with the tree and the river.  Take note though of the reflections in the water.  They foreshadow a possible future.  The title text is varnished on the jacket.  To the left of the spine on a deep cornflower blue canvas is just the tree.  Beneath its branches, a single musician sits and strums an instrument.

On the book case, the image is the same on the left side, the back.  The background is now a deep purple.  This corresponds to what we see on the right side, the front. It is a close up of the tree and the river with a highly advanced society in the background.  The color palette is in shades of purple with glowing lights in the buildings.  This is set against a red, orange, and yellow sky.  An airship floats above a bridge.  This image seems to portray yet another possibility.

The opening and closing endpapers are in two shades of purple.  They show a bird's eye view of the river winding through the natural, untouched landscape, like the rendering of a landscape architect. For the title page, the tree and river are depicted on a single page, close to readers.  With the next page turn, we begin.  Tucked in the lower, left-hand corner is the publication information.  There is also something tucked into the scenery on the far-left side.  What is Aaron Becker trying to tell us?

Readers need to pause at each page turn to study the landscape, the architecture, and the people.  How are they changing their natural surroundings?  What advances in their lives have they made?  Are these beneficial to the land?  Watch how the air becomes different.  How does the color palette shift with the altering landscape?

One of my many favorite illustrations of these double-page pictures is the one between the steampunk setting and the too bright, too busy nearly space-like community.  For this image Aaron Becker uses hues of purple and rust and pink.  Behind the river is a collection of buildings featuring advanced but not too industrial buildings.  There are aqueducts and bridges over bends in the river, which is flowing freely, now.  Vehicles similar to cars move on those aqueducts and bridges.  A boat floats down the river.  There are bicycle riders and a person walking their dog.  Neighbors chat in front of single-family homes.  There is an effort to landscape with trees and shrubs.  In the rosy-skied distance, a plane is either landing or taking off.

This book, The Tree and the River written and illustrated by Aaron Becker, is a marvelous glimpse into the past, present, and future.  It is filled with opportunities for us to question what we believe and to discuss this with others.  Every time I read it; I find something new.  This title will be read over and over.  You will want at least one copy on your personal bookshelves and multiple copies in your professional collections.

To discover more about Aaron Becker and his other work, please access his website by following the link attached to his name.  On his website is the book trailer and a process video.  Aaron Becker has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, and Twitter.  Aaron Becker has written a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club reflecting on visual learners.  You can view an interior image at the publisher's website.  At Penguin Random House, you can view the title page and the first few page turns.  At The Children's Book Review, The Growing Readers Podcast, you can listen to Aaron Becker chat about this book.

Breathe The Open Air

There are bugs that bite.  There are butterflies. There are stinky-spraying skunks.  There are sun-dappled does.  There is an itchy poisonous ivy.  There are trillium, lady's slippers, violets, daisies, maidenhair ferns and water lilies.  There is the odor of smoke that clings to your hair and clothes.  There is the sweet smell of pine trees.  There is sand that is not sand, and you sink.  There are minnows, crabs, clams, and rocks to see in the shimmering water.  There is the sharp crack of twigs in the middle of the night. Bear?  There is the calming chorus of crickets.  There is the humid foggy morning.  There is the crystal-clear, star-strewn sky at night.  There are the bumps in the ground suddenly felt through your slowly flattening air mattress.  There is the snuggly warmth of your sleeping bag.  There is the tent which defies your every effort to stay erected.  There is the tent which envelops you, providing shelter from the elements.

When we venture into the outdoors, whether at a national or state park or designated forest, we are temporarily residents with the wild.  There are detriments to this adventure but the advantages, even brief moments, can last a lifetime.  The Camping Trip (Candlewick Press, April 14, 2020) written and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann shadows Ernestine as she goes camping for the first time. It's an experience she and readers will long remember.

MY AUNT JACKIE invited me to go camping with her and my cousin Samantha this weekend, and my dad said yes!

A new sleeping bag and flashlight are only two of the many items Ernestine and her dad gather for this excursion.  Aunt Jackie wants her niece to be prepared.  It's not easy but Ernestine gets everything into her duffel bag.  She's ready and waiting.

When her Aunt Jackie and Samantha arrive, she's excited, but also worried about her dad getting lonely.  The two girls enjoy various activities, including simply staring out the window, on the long ride to Cedar Tree Campground.  The first thing Ernestine realizes when they stand on the shore of the lake is Cedar Tree Campground is huge and . . . silent.

It's hard work, hot and sweaty work, for Ernestine and Samantha to set up the tent.  Swimming is an option, but Ernestine is slightly scared about the fish she sees in the water.  Waiting on the shore is much safer.  After lunch, Ernestine's anticipation grows when they plan a hike, but she is amazed at how strenuous it is.  There is a lot to explore and discover until they come down the hill after hiking.  The best part of dinner that night is dessert.  Ernestine tastes her first s'mores.

Soon the trio are cozy and comfortable in their sleeping bags inside the tent until reading is over and the lantern is turned off.  Samantha and Aunt Jackie are snoozing in seconds.  Ernestine tosses and turns and tosses and turns.  Homesickness descends.  Wisely, Aunt Jackie makes a suggestion.  Wishing on a falling star can change everything.

The next morning, a hearty breakfast bolsters courage.  Packing up and loading the car seem harder.  The ride home is much quieter.  A welcoming hug opens the door to conversing about happy tasty recollections.


Told in first person Jennifer K. Mann allows readers to feel the thrills and the misgivings of this first-time camper.  Through a combination of thoughts, lists, instructions, observations, and conversations we become participants in this narrative.  The use of language by Jennifer K. Mann is marvelous in portraying sincerity.  Here is a passage.

First you roast your marshmallow over a campfire.

Mine is perfect.
Mine's on fire!

Then you make a sandwich.
---graham cracker
---marshmallow
---chocolate
---graham cracker

And then you eat it.  S'mores are scrumptious!


In looking at the open dust jacket, readers are given their first hint of the illustrative technique employed by Jennifer K. Mann for this book.  It's a delightful mix of picture book and graphic novel.  Many times, a group of smaller visuals will convey portions of a single event.  For the front we are given snapshots of the entire weekend.  To the left, still on a canvas of sky blue, is a larger image of Aunt Jackie, Samantha and Ernestine climbing up a steep hill.  Ernestine is looking less than happy.

For the book case a stunning, wordless interior spread is used.  It's nighttime at Cedar Tree Campground.  Done in deep midnight blue, black and white, it's a portrait of the trio, holding hands and standing on the shore of the lake.  Above them is a starry sky with a crescent moon.  The lake is so smooth, stars shine in its water, too.

On the opening and closing endpapers are black ink drawings of items needed when you go camping.  They are placed on a rusty brown background.  They are all labeled.  With a page turn we see along the bottom of two pages a cityscape on the left which blends into a wooded scene on the right.  We can see a tent among the trees.  This is the illustration for the verso and title pages.

Rendered in pencil on tracing paper, then digitally collaged and painted, these illustrations vary in size to accentuate pacing and enhance the story. We enjoy a double-page picture, a series of three square images in a vertical column opposite a gathering of items to be packed, six panels of varying sizes on two pages and then a wonderful panoramic setting with four insets.  Some of the illustrations coincide with text and dialogue.  Others tell their own story without words.  In this way Jennifer K. Mann is able to convey a range of emotions and moods. When Ernestine is flashing back, the pictures are shown in shades of blue.

Readers will enjoy the detailed, fine line work.  Characters' expressions will promote empathy and laughter.  The clothing worn by Ernestine, Samantha and Aunt Jackie provide a pleasing contrast to the great outdoors.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a two-page picture after the trio first come to the campground.  Spread before them is the lake, rolling hills on the opposite shore and clouds spanning the pale blue sky.  Jennifer K. Mann has pieced together what appears to be pages from a specific book to form the hills.  On the lake a bright red canoe is guided by two people.  On either side of Ernestine, Samantha and Aunt Jackie are tall evergreens, lowers shrubs and ferns with some water plants along the lake.  In the foreground is the grassy campsite and their loaded and parked car.  The color of the car is a hue of orange.


You can expect to hear frequent requests to go on your own outing after reading the heartwarming and splendid The Camping Trip written and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann.  The voice of the protagonist rings with truth, touching our minds and hearts.  The images take us exactly where we need to go.  I hope everyone will place a copy of this book in both their personal and professional collections.  This is happiness you can hold in your hands.

To learn more about Jennifer K. Mann and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her personal website.  Jennifer K. Mann has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  You can view interior images at the publisher's website and at Penguin Random House.  Jennifer K. Mann and this book are featured at author Kirby Larson's Friend Friday. If you would like to see the stunning book case, it's revealed at Let's Talk Picture Books on the Vimeo shown below.

The Camping Trip by Jennifer K Mann from Let's Talk Picture Books on Vimeo.


Update:  Today, June 23, 2020, this title is featured by author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Jaws Of Fate

People will never stop debating the subject of destiny.  There are those who fervently believe it is predetermined; everything happens according to a plan.  For many it is thought to be controlled by each individual.  Each choice made serves to direct us down a particular path.  If obstacles block the way, additional decisions may or may not alter the original course.

As a whole the domesticated canine clan seems to be fairly certain about the course of each day regardless of their human companions.  They know what they enjoy.  They know what they need.  And they know how to get what they need and enjoy.  Percy Dog Of Destiny (Boyd Mills Press, March 28, 2017) written by Alison McGhee with illustrations by Jennifer K. Mann is a tale of one determined dog who adores his ball.

Dog park?
What ho!

At the sight of his leash, Percy knows fun with friends is in his near future.  Before he can even consider leaving he has to find his ball.  After checking all his favorite, familiar spots in the house, he locates it sitting in his personalized bowl.  Percy is ready!

Along the way to the dog park Percy meets Molly, a poodle, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, a dachshund, and Fluffy, a Great Dane.  Each one of them is carrying their prized possessions.  Four happy pooch pals race through the gate and along the fence.  Wait...where's Fluffy?  Oh, there he is.

They sniff and greet each other except for Fluffy.  The big guy would rather take a whiff of a nearby flower.  They enjoy other tail-wagging doggy diversions with Fluffy favoring a more individual approach to each one.

In the midst of their fun a squirrel taunts Percy, challenging him.  This squirrel wants his ball.  There is no way that squirrel is getting Percy's beloved ball.  When Percy summons his crew, the rotten rodent makes a move.  Woof! Woof!  What a fetch-tastic surprise!


When a dog love a ball, nothing else will do.  Wherever they go, the ball goes with them.  In this narrative author Alison McGhee displays her understanding of this canine characteristic perfectly.  Told in first pooch point of view, short sentences provide readers with the inside scoop on Percy's thoughts and actions.  Alison masterfully manipulates the plot toward the unexpected conclusion with a cadence created by Fluffy's signature deviations from the norm.  Percy's "pet-names" for his ball are guaranteed to bring on the giggles and grins.  Here are two sample passages.

Where's my special ball?
There you are,
my little porkie pie.

Time to pee on the tree.
Oh, Fluffy.


Percy is one perky pooch as clearly shown on the matching front of the dust jacket and book case.  That ball is going with him forever and always.  Look at the spine which extends to the left in the same width.  Those paw prints are moving forward with purpose.  To the left, on the back, the three friends, Molly, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and Fluffy, are walking away from us as Percy stands over the ISBN with his tail happily wagging.  The combination of the pale yellow with the red reaches out and grabs your attention.  The opening and closing endpapers are covered in the same rich, radiant red.

Beneath the text on the title page, Percy is looking forward at readers with his ball firmly held in his mouth.  Jennifer K. Mann uses white space as an element in her design and layout.  It frames the other elements on each page.  She might have a single major image on one or two pages or display several on a page as when Percy is looking for his ball in the beginning.  She has him checking inside a shoe, a dresser drawer, a toilet and a waste basket.

The perspective is always at a dog's level.  When Percy's human sets off to the dog park with him, all we see are legs and the leash coming from above Percy.  The pictures rendered in pencil and digital paint have a casual but realistic feel to them.  The lines are loose and flowing.  If the expressions on Percy and his friends don't have you laughing out loud, the squirrel is sure to do the trick.

One of my favorite illustrations is when the four friends are running through the gate into the dog park.  The sheer bliss they are feeling is evident is their stretched body postures.  Even though each one is holding their favorite toy, you can see them smiling.  This image spans two pages.  The outline of the fence is spare with flowers along the outside and flowers inside the park within enclosures.  We can see the trunks of several trees and birds and butterflies flying.  The squirrel makes a first appearance; a foreshadowing of his dastardly intentions.


This book, Percy Dog Of Destiny, written by Alison McGhee with illustrations by Jennifer K. Mann is fabulous!  With every reading it gets funnier and funnier.  The pacing supplied by the blend of text and images, as any dog lover can tell you, is superb.  Readers will be asking you to read this again and again.  For a delightful read aloud session I would pair this with award winning titles, A Ball For Daisy by Chris Raschka and Ball by Mary Sullivan.

To discover more about Alison McGhee and Jennifer K. Mann please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  You can view interior images at Jennifer's site.  I know you will enjoy reading the post at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast when she chats with Jennifer. There is a lot of artwork to enjoy.