Taking The Lead With Heart

There are books you hold in your hands and the story within their pages somehow reaches out to you immediately.  In this instance you are not abiding by the age-old proverb.  The cover is an open invitation and you accept it eagerly.

Is it the image on the dust jacket which holds your attention?  Does the author's name trigger a memory of another well-loved book they wrote?  Are you fond of the artwork of the illustrator?  With respect to this way, Charlie: Inspired by a real animal friendship (Abrams Books for Young Readers, April 21, 2020) written by Carol Levis with illustrations by Charles Santoso, it is a beautiful blend of all three.  This title is guaranteed to find a place, a forever place, in your reader's heart.

Jack watched the new animals scamper, hop, flap,
and trot their way into Open Bud Ranch.

Jack, a resident goat, knew some of the new arrivals would linger longer than others.  Some, like him, would spend the remainder of their lives on Open Bud Ranch.  Regardless of the outcome of any of these animals, Jack would keep his distance.  That was his way.  Charlie, a horse and a new arrival, did not keep himself separate from Jack.  This angered Jack.

Antonia, a human caretaker, on the ranch explained what Jack noticed.  Charlie was blind in one eye.  She could not heal his blindness.  Jack decided to watch Charlie.  One thing about Charlie caused him to wonder.  And one morning, Jack did an un-Jack like thing.  He said

"This way, Charlie."

One goat dweller leads another horse dweller to his favorite field, sharing the delicious goodness and the warmth of the sun.  The next day Jack led Charlie to another favorite part of the ranch.  One day changed into another day, until Jack was guiding Charlie every day.  The new friends would exchange questions and answers.  The new friends cared for each other, helping them to overcome fears, some deeply hidden in their minds and hearts.

One morning, Jack became upset with Charlie's happy-go-lucky outlook and well-used phrase.  They were both so shocked at his outburst, they didn't see an approaching storm.  Frightening danger quickly turned into a disaster.  Jack knew there was something he had to do for his Charlie.  That's what friends do.  The result of Jack's actions is nothing anyone could have predicted after his first meeting with Charlie.  It is better, much better, actually better than the best.


Several times during the reading of this narrative penned by Caron Levis, readers will pause, overwhelmed by waves of emotion. The poetic portrayals of specific moments are breathtaking.  The repetition of key phrases by Jack and Charlie not only connect them as friends but link them to readers through the rhythm of their story.  With her words, Caron Levis discovers the extraordinary in the everyday.  Here is a passage.

Jack noticed Charlie's eye had a soft glow---
                  like the moon,
which often guided Jack when he felt lost in the dark.

He wondered what Charlie used for a moon.


You know as soon as you see the open dust jacket, revealing the front and the back, this is an exceptional book.  The color palette used for the pastoral landscape and the brush strokes in the sky, trees, grass and flowers fashion a soft Monet-like texture.  On the front Jack, Charlie and the larger title text are varnished.

To the left, on the back, the scene from the front continues over the spine to the far left.  Branches from a large tree stretch from the left edge, leafy boughs bleeding off the top.  A smaller barn is placed in the upper, right portion of this back image.  As on the front sunlight casts a golden glow.

On the front of the book case a lost-looking Charlie stands in an evening without stars.  He is looking to the left.  On the left, coming from the spine, in a bit brighter light, Jack is looking back at an emerging Charlie, encouraging him forward.  Charlie is hesitant.  In a second image toward a brighter light Charlie is following Jack as they both look ahead. 

The opening and closing endpapers are a robin's egg blue.  On the title page two green leaves drift between clouds in a sunny sky.  On the verso and dedication pages readers are given a double-page picture of a truck bringing Charlie to the ranch.  It is a calm scene full of hope and promise.  The two leaves float over the entrance to the ranch.  On the verso page this sentence says much about Charles Santoso and his work for this book.

The illustrations for this book were made with digital brushes and love.

To enhance the text the size of the illustrations vary from double-page visuals, with larger perspectives and much closer points of view, to single-page pictures, clusters of smaller illustrations, loosely-framed horizontal pictures on a double-page picture, and vertical panels across two pages.  Each page turn represents Charles Santoso's skill in accentuating the magic found in certain moments.  To focus on drama in one portion of the book, circle illustrations are inserted in larger pictures.  The details in each picture are striking and captivating.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations spans two pages including three different images.  On the left a smaller Jack watches a smaller Charlie as he walks around trying to navigate an area with one good eye.  He staggers a bit and circles around and around.  On either side of the gutter is a portion of Charlie's face close to us.  On the left is his face with his good eye.  On the right is his face with his blind eye.  This part of his face is placed on a night setting.  To the right, Jack is standing in a field backed by trees and shrubs.  He is looking at the full moon overhead.  This is the picture for the text already noted. 


In a word, this book, this way, Charlie: Inspired by a real animal friendship written by Caron Levis with illustrations by Charles Santoso, is love.  It's about an affection between two animals, each with something broken in them, who heal through their friendship.  In an Author's Note Caron Levis talks about the real Jack and Charlie, her research and other animal friendships and human and animal relationships she knows.  I highly recommend this title for both your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Caron Levis and Charles Santoso and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Caron Levis has additional resources for this title on her website.  Caron Levis has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Charles Santoso has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  This title and Caron Levis and Charles Santoso are featured on KidLit TV for the cover reveal and for a read aloud by Caron Levis.  There is also another video, StoryMakers, where Caron Levis talks with Rocco Staino about this book.  It is featured on the read aloud page.

Not Here But Still Here

Body language and eyes convey the news even if a parent, staff member or student has not already spoken with you.  Sometime between the last time you saw this student and now, they have suffered a loss.  It happens to all of us no matter our ages, usually without warning.  Even if we know it's coming the hole in our hearts is huge.

When love is shared between two, day in and day out during the course of their lives, filled with ordinary and extraordinary events, the absence of one is keenly felt.  Ida, Always (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, February 23 2016) written by Caron Levis with illustrations by Charles Santoso is first a look at the strength of a bond formed by two animals in captivity.  It further cements the belief that all animals can suffer the loneliness of losing the one loved.

Gus lived in a big park in the middle of an even bigger city.  Buildings grew around him and shifted the shape of the sky.

As sure as an alarm on a clock, each morning when the keeper Sonya brings food to Gus and Ida, two polar bears, they each leave the comfort of their respective caves to spend their day together.  They play with Ida's cherished yellow ball, frolic in their pool and rest on their favorite rock.  They have thoughtful conversations.

When Gus wonders, Ida answers.

"You don't have to see it to feel it," said Ida.
"Listen."

She reminds Gus what the noises they can hear mean.  Each day closes in the comfort of this constant cadence of their lives.

Upon waking one morning Gus is puzzled to hear all those city and park sounds without the presence of Ida.  He knows Ida is in her cave; her breathing reaches his ears.  Sonya explains to Gus about Ida being so ill her body will eventually sleep without waking.

Gus immediately runs to Ida angry and afraid.  She responds in kind, angry and afraid.  Eventually they sleep next to each other, quiet in their closeness.  Peace.

Days are brimming with ups and downs, silence and not silence.  Each evening ends the same, a mantra of longing.  Then Gus is alone.  BUT remembered words warm a soul like the sun brings heat to the fur of a polar bear sitting on a favorite rock.


When Caron Levis describes the Central Park Zoo, the habitat of Gus and Ida and the city surrounding them, she does so from personal experience creating a vision for readers.  Her use of short, informative sentences, the repetition of key phrases and a blend of dialogue and narrative supplies an invitation for us.  The sounds of the city are integral to the story.  Single words and near poetic sentences bring them from the page into our respective reading spaces. She compels us to become a part of Gus's and Ida's world.  We follow with pleasure and fall in love with these two magnificent creatures.  Here are two sample passages.

They heard buses groan; trucks rumble;
police whistle; taxis honk; pigeons coo;
people say Hey, Wait Yo, Hello;
and children laugh.

Two bears sniffled, two bear breaths panted, 
two bear hearts echoed each other's beat.


Even if you know absolutely nothing about this story, looking at the illustration on the opened matching dust jacket and book case portrays the affection felt by the two bears in their space within the confines of a city.  Charles Santoso's attention to the sky and skyline in this initial image, in the entire book, is spectacular extending from left to right, back to front.  Of particular notice is the color selected for the opening and closing endpapers; a lighter shade of purple followed by a darker hue.  I have always thought of purple as signifying royalty.  Surely by all accounts this is how these two bears were to all who visited them.

On the initial title page we are gazing at a pale blue sky filled with clouds in the faint shapes of polar bears. (Santoso does use shapes several more times within the body of the book.)  In small text we read the words

ida,

ALWAYS 

centered to the right edge.  The more formal title page, verso and dedication pages are a panoramic view of New York City and Central Park.  

Rendered digitally but looking like finely detailed paintings Santoso brings warmth of emotion to each picture.  Wide-angle views of the park from a bird's perspective and closer encounters with the two bears balance in a pleasing portrayal.  Visual size enhances the pacing; sometimes odd shaped or more traditional panels are used or a circular image framed in a liberal amount of white space.  These ask us to pause.

Santoso skillfully combines an interior look at the bears' homes while including the city in the background.  It is obvious he has studied his subjects conveying them realistically.  Can you see the small animal (s) he places in many pictures?  I see this as a constant and of life moving forward even in sadness.

One of my favorite illustrations, of several, spreads across two pages.  On the left in a circular display as the sun sets is the skyline of New York City with colored clouds and birds gathering for the evening in the trees.  It is framed in vegetation and rocks as if seen from a bear cave.  To the right inside the cave Gus and Ida are together, eyes closed and at rest.

Ida, Always written by Caron Levis with illustrations by Charles Santoso is a truly moving account of an enduring love and the loss of one part of a very special whole.  Thoughtfully written and illustrated, based upon a true story, it sends a beautiful message to everyone about grief.  It helps us to remember that what we cannot see can still be visible in our hearts.  An author's note is included on the last page.

To learn more about Caron Levis and Charles Santoso please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  They both have updated blogs linked at their websites. There is an excerpt from a developing activity guide on Caron Levis' blog. (Update:  April 18, 2016 The guide is now complete.) Charles Santoso has a Tumblr site. There are ten interior images at the publisher's website.  I think you will enjoy this radio interview. 

Here are some links to newspaper articles about Gus and Ida found at The Daily News, The New York Times, Huffpost Green and Gothamist.

Update:  March 17, 2016  I really enjoy when illustrators share portions of their process.  Here is a new tweet sent out by Charles Santoso.

Found these scribbles in my sketchbook. These were the start of many options for #idaalways cover. Time flies.. pic.twitter.com/67w9GTj0ur

— Charles Santoso (@minitreehouse) March 17, 2016