Two recently released books ask readers to enjoy each and every moment pausing to consider our place in an infinite whole. Here and Now (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 3, 2019) written by Julia Denos with illustrations by E. B. Goodale (Windows Candlewick Press, October 10, 2017) explores finding the marvelous in minutes. It asks us to think of what others are doing in those same minutes.Right here,
right now,
you are reading this book.
Where exactly is this book you are reading? You might be holding it. Another person might be holding it. You might be sitting, standing or snuggled into a cozy spot. If you are seated, what is under you or what is above you? Go all the way down and go all the way up.
You and everyone on this Earth are moving through the stars and among other planets, and orbiting the sun in a vast universe. As you are reading this book, what else can you see? (I see fog blanketing grass, leaves, tree branches and rolling hills.)
Somewhere, a telephone is ringing.
Extend your vision. Extend your thinking. There is more to be seen. There is a future to be dreamed and lived. There are creatures, wild and domestic, everywhere. All kinds of things are growing and mending. Can you name things growing? (I have a big bruise and a bump that doesn't hurt as much.) There is much we cannot see, but that doesn't mean it isn't expanding, improving and evolving to be its best. Extraordinary.
There are many things we fail to think about, important things, but author Julia Denos reminds us of those items, circumstances and possibilities and invites us through her words to participate. Beginning with this very book, she asks us to center ourselves and then reach out to other surroundings and people. This is how she connects us to each other. In her sentences, this is how we find the marvelous in the everyday items, circumstances and possibilities. Here is a sentence.
A friend you haven't met yet is sitting down to dinner.
Rendered in
ink, watercolor, monoprinting, and digital collage
the artwork by E. B. Goodale begins on the open dust jacket stretching from left to right, back to front. The golden grass and flowers start in the upper left-hand corner extending over the spine to make a gentle curve on the front. The sky on the back is darker and scattered with stars unlike the front. Beneath the grass on the back is a cross-section of what is underground. We see a chipmunk's home, bones, rocks and a box marked secret. This ground stops at the spine to become the pond on the front. The use of white on the front of the jacket is brilliant. The child seeing her reflection is also noticing how ripples spread like we do when we walk through life. Everyone has an impact.
Lifting the dust jacket to the book case, we are shown a hand on the far left and a hand on the far right, holding the book. The canvas is in hues of blue, brushed in parallel and even strokes like floorboards. On the opening and closing endpapers the fabric from a quilt on an interior image is used to cover them both. Characters from the illustrations are shown gathered beneath the text on the title page. One of them is holding this book. Ants and an airplane figure in the picture.
Each illustration, spanning two pages or a single page with text on an opposite page or woven into the picture, is a poetic presentation of the text. Children from different racial backgrounds explore and appreciate what is offered to them. Readers will see themselves in their activities and the expressions shown on their faces. A sense of calm permeates with every page turn. Easter eggs are there to be found by careful readers.
One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages. A walkers' bridge crosses over a small river from left to right. A cityscape can be seen shadowed in the distance behind it. A flock of birds flies over the bridge on the right. The four characters featured are shown on the left; two are standing on the bridge. The oldest is seated on the ground with the youngest near a tree. A butterfly is landing on their dog's nose. Another two people are relaxing on a blanket near the riverbank, their dog curled up and sleeping. This element begins on the left, moves over the gutter and completes on the right. Ducks, Canadian geese, squirrels, pigeons, rabbits, more butterflies, a bee, a mouse, ants and a spider web are depicted among the humans.
Peace, mindfulness and respect for each other and those things around us are guaranteed when reading Here and Now written by Julia Denos with illustrations by E. B. Goodall. Julia Denos includes an author's note at the end. One of her sentences reads:
Meditation is just another way of noticing, and noticing is a little bit like magic.
I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.
To learn more about Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites. Julia Denos has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. E. B. Goodale has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Author, reviewer, and blogger, Julie Danielson hosts several illustrators including E. B. Goodale on her blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. You will enjoy the showcased illustrations. In this video Julia Denos and E. B. Goodale speak about the process for creating this book.
Author Holly M. McGhee and illustrator Pascal Lemaitre who earlier collaborated in Come with me (G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, September 5, 2017) work together again. Listen (Roaring Brook Press, September 3, 2019) welcomes us into the art of finding connections. Each one of us is a vital link in the chain of life.Listen
to the sound of your feet---
the sound of
all of us
and the sound of me.
We should next pause and take a peek at the sun which shines all around the world on all of us. When the sun sets, stars sparkle all around the world above all of us. Inhale the air which is necessary for all of us. Savor your food. When was the last time, you put your hands into the dirt, feeling its richness and how it gives life to many?
As we use our senses for these experiences, we are asked to do so through the filter of our hearts . . . our wonderful hearts. Our hearts are powerful, performing feats for us. They are our guardians and our storytellers. They allow us to see what is alike between everything rather than focusing on the differences. They take us back to the beginning.
Repetition throughout the narrative by author Holly M. McGhee supplies a beckoning cadence. We find ourselves immediately engaged in the sensory suggestions. Each time we are prompted to focus on others and on all of us. In a wonderful technique, we close the narrative with the same words but with an altered rhythm. Here is a passage.
Dig
in the earth.
Your roots are mine,
my roots are yours,
the roots of all of us
are the same.
Yet you are you and I am me and we are we.
Us . . .
On the open and matching dust jacket and book case a small child quietly observes a tiny red bird among the flowers and overhanging branches. (This tiny red bird is shown throughout the book.) The rising sun shines on them both. To the left, on the back, on a canvas of white, the same child is leaning their head against the trunk of a tree, arms to either side of the smooth bark. Their eyes are closed. A washed, loose, blue circle frames most of this picture with the sun low in the sky. Each scene is as if a collective breath is being held.
A washed spring green covers the opening and closing endpapers. Loose, fine lines by artist Pascal Lemaitre present pastoral scenes during daylight and nighttime. Changing background colors reflect these varitions. We feel the gentle breeze blowing leaves as a deer leaps away. We feel the warmth of the sun. We see stars reflected in the water as we float on a pond.
Each image requests readers to stop. We need to notice the tiny details. Can you see the ants, snail and rabbit? Do you see all the bees buzzing over the sunflowers? (Are the sunflowers there because of the Van Gogh quote at the book's beginning?) What word is fashioned from the tree roots underground?
One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages. (They are all double-page pictures.) It is night and purple shades are used to color everything starting with a lighter color at the top and darkening near the horizon and into the water. Stars shine in the sky and in the water as reflections. The landscape, flowers, grass and trees, the dock and boat are etched in black. A lily pad and shadows of fish are shown. The child is leaning over the edge of the boat looking in the water. The tiny red bird is singing, perched on the tip of the bow of the boat. The child and bird have a glow about them as does one of the stars.
Peace and admiration for yourself and all others envelops you when reading Listen written by Holly M. McGhee with illustrations by Pascal Lemaitre. Each page turn is like walking into open arms and being embraced by all that is good. Wonderful as a read aloud or read silently to yourself, this book is highly recommended for your personal and professional collections.
To discover more about Holly M. McGhee and Pascal Lemaitre and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names. Holly M. McGhee has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Pascal Lemaitre has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The publishers have created a special site for Listen which includes an activity kit and interior images. John Schumacher, Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, hosts the book trailer premiere on his blog, Watch. Connect. Read. It includes a chat with both the author and the illustrator. At Kathy Temean's site, Writing and Illustrating, Holly M. McGhee talks about this book, her career and her friendship with Pascal Lemaitre.
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