Withstanding The Worst

Early this morning a band of thunderstorms raced along the western side of the tip of the Mitt.  The daily early morning walk with my canine companion was shorter than usual as thunder rumbled and lightning split the eerie darkening sky.  A trip to the shore revealed layers of black and gray hovering over Lake Michigan as wind started to whip tree branches.

Sometimes storms are predicted, and we can prepare.  Other times, they appear as if conjured by the hand of an unseen sorcerer.  Truthfully, even with science and preparations, we are at their mercy.  During days of confinement, The Longest Storm (mineditionUS, August 31, 2021) written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino views the unexpected through family dynamics.  Like life, it is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

A storm came to our town.

It was unlike any storm

we'd ever seen.

Going outside was not an option.  We were stuck inside for a-yet-to-be-determined amount of time.  All those tasks we never had time to do; they disappeared from our minds.  

We were not used to being together, hour after hour, day after day.  As a family, we forgot how to talk with each other.  We forgot how to relate to each other.  It was weird.  It became terrible.  Tempers flared. 

Being alone was the chosen method of avoiding hard truths, until one horrible night the storm rocked the house's and our family's foundations.  (Sometimes in the very worst possible situation, a shift sends out a single shaft of light.  It helps to guide us to where we need to be.)

In the light of a new day, much was the same, except for us.  The weirdness wanned.  In a good way, our attitudes toward each other were transformed.  Over time, the clouds vanished, the sun shone, and we left the house to begin fresh.

With each meticulously created sentence, Dan Yaccarino writes a story with multiple meanings.  It is indeed about a storm, a meteorological event, but a storm by its very definition is applicable in many situations.  Each thought revealed in the narrative is universally understood.  We have experienced surprise, uncertainty, the disconnections, the frustrations, and the sudden knowledge of needing to rely on each other.

The declarations are simple, but profound.  They disclose what makes humans united, more alike than different. Here are two sentences placed at particular points in the story.

There was nothing to do,

and too much time to do it.

Is it possible for a family to run out of nice things to say?

The open and matching dust jacket and book case are a preview of circumstances to come.  On the back, left side, the family canine is outside their home, eyeing the black cloud moving across a blue sky.  Three rows of squares, etched in black, represent a window in the red brick home.  The ISBN is cleverly placed within three squares on the bottom row.

On the right side, the front, the family, arm in arm, watch the approaching storm.  They are unaware of what awaits them.  The dog looking directly at the reader asks us to join the family and their story.  On both the jacket and case, the family and text are varnished.  The color palette is suggestive of shifts.

On the opening endpapers, in black, red, and cream clouds extend from the upper, right-hand corner to the lower, left-hand corner.  Wind and leaves swirl.  The closing endpapers present another scenario, after the storm has passed.

Across the verso and title pages, a double-page picture depicts the beginning of the storm.  Black and gray clouds roll in from left to right, blocking out the blue of the sky.  Wind blows autumn leaves past the house.  Two of the children are still outside, one in a tire swing and the other playing with their dog.  Their father watches from inside the house.

Each image, rendered in Dan Yaccarino's signature style, mirrors the pacing and mood of the story.  Picture sizes are double-page visuals, edge to edge, groups of smaller illustrations to place emphasis on the narrative, and single-page pictures, edge to edge.  Backgrounds reflect the emotional state of the family and accentuate pictorial portraits of the text.  Time is most notably depicted in the state of the father's beard.  Several page turns, five, are striking in their representation of dramtic moments.  Of the five, only two have words.  

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page, wordless picture.  It is after the big kaboom made during the storm.  The colors are dark purple, sky blue, black and a spot of golden yellow.  Two perspectives are shown in this single image.  To the left of the gutter, we see the oldest child standing outside their father's open bedroom door in the hallway.  We see feet, legs, and the lower body.  They are close to us. Inside the bedroom are the father, the two smaller children nestled on either side of him, and the family dog, now on the dad's bed.  A candle glows on the nightstand.  The two smaller children and the father look expectantly at the older child.  Rain falls in sheets outside the rows of panes in the bedroom window.

This book, The Longest Storm written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino, falls with excellence in the timeless and timely class of titles.  It rings out truth, solidly and soothingly.  It is one to read often and to share widely.  I highly recommend it for your personal and professional collections.  It will make a superb gift.

To learn more about Dan Yaccarino and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Dan Yaccarino has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.  At the publisher's website you can view the opening endpapers.  Dan Yaccarino wrote a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club, Weathering The Storm Together. Here is a link to some activity pages.   Dan Yaccarino is interviewed at Max's Boat about this book.

Oh...The Splendid Strength Of Story

Image taken from the
 Wingspread Collector's Guide
Santa Fe Taos
1994

In the tradition of Pueblo pottery artisans Helen Cordero made a doll in 1964.  This first storyteller featured a man inspired by her grandfather with five children on his shoulders and lap.  He had an open mouth; the words of a story ringing out toward his eager listeners.  In subsequent storyteller figures there might be a woman instead of a man with even more children and her eyes might be closed to bring the memory of her story to life.

If you've ever read stories aloud or told them to listeners, whether they are initially interested or not, you witness the transformation as the story wraps itself around those individuals.  They lean and move toward you until sometimes there is no room between you and them.  Their eyes widen.  They gasp, cry, laugh and sigh.  This is the strength of story.

Stories have the potential to soothe a frightful beast.  Dragon Was Terrible (Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, August 23, 2016) written by Kelly DiPucchio with pictures by Greg Pizzoli is about a particular dragon in need of an attitude adjustment.  He's downright despicable.

Dragon was terrible.  Naturally, dragons have a bit of terrible in them because they're dragons after all.

This dragon was not a normal kind of terrible but terrible times ten.  In the castle community he wrecked the gardens, was nasty to the palace sentries and it's unmentionable how the pastries were treated.  Wherever he went his manners were totally disgusting.

At long last the king knew something needed to be done.  He sent out a decree asking for the services of brave knights promising them a

nice gift.

If you think this was a success, think again.  Dragon grew worse.

The townspeople decided to send out a more emphatic message asking for assistance from everyone else.  As you may surmise, it was an utter failure.  And you-know-who was increasingly intolerable.

Finally a single boy had a plan.  (Marshmallows did play an important role.)  The ultimate success of the boy's endeavors relied on a single factor.  Do you want to know what that was?  It's a secret known since words were spoken.


An unseen narrator speaks in a knowing voice as if readers are confidants.  Kelly DiPucchio supplies extra comments sure to evoke grins and giggles from us.  The described actions of Dragon while vile will have readers laughing out loud.  It's the word choices and the sentences in which they are placed which lead us happily along to more than one wonderful conclusion.  Here is a sample passage.

That's not all.  He scribbled in books.
He threw sand.
And he took candy from baby unicorns.
Honestly, that's terrible.


Extending from left to right across the matching dust jacket and book case Greg Pizzoli creates for readers two sides of an identical castle wall.  On the back, to the left, three posters ask for help in ridding the kingdom of the menace.  Flowers are growing along the wall.  On the front sits the one and only BIG problem with mischief on his mind.  Obviously he can't wait to spread his own special brand of graffiti along the blank slate of the wall.  The opening and closing endpapers are in the same shade as the dragon's body.

Image size and framing perfect the pacing of the narrative.  Some of the illustrations span two or single pages edge to edge and other pictures are placed two on one page, covering a single page or double pages with edges framed in a single line with indented corners.  Most of the backgrounds are white; some containing the faint outline of a castle wall in varying shades.

The facial expressions on Dragon and the other characters are downright hilarious regardless of the mood.  Pizzoli interjects his own brand of comedy into the visuals with his interpretations of the text.  For the words

He chased fuzzy yellow ducklings around the moat, 

Dragon is running after the baby ducks spaying them with a garden hose.

One of my favorite of many illustrations is of Dragon drawing faces on the drawbridge.  Using his trusty can of spray paint he's made a charming picture of himself and written DRAGON RULES.  He also has made a likeness of the king with the words

KING IS A BABY.  

This is done on a chocolate brown background.


Dragon Was Terrible written by Kelly DiPucchio with pictures by Greg Pizzoli is a comical tale of terrible meeting its match through story.  It's hard to resist a tale well told, especially if the character connects with the listener.  To learn more about Kelly DiPucchio and Greg Pizzoli and their other work please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  They both maintain blogs here and here respectively.  To view interior images please follow this link to the publisher's website.   Kelly DiPucchio and Greg Pizzoli are guests at All The Wonders, Episode 281 with teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner.

Stories have the potential to endure thousands and thousands of years.  They mirror people, places, and cultures in exquisite detail if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.  I Am A Story (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, September 6, 2016) written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino flows through the ages following humans in their quest to be remembered, understood and valued as individuals and collectively as a whole.

I am a story.
I was told around a campfire,
then painted on cave walls.

Under a darkened sky an oral tradition is born.  In order to never forget people begin to create tangible, tactile records of what they hear and experience.  Through time their methods and materials change but the spirit of their intent remains the same.

On walls large sweeping pictures become smaller images representing not moments but single words.  Tablets of clay make their recollections more portable.  Papyrus, paper and fabric hold stories.  Hands around the world work to preserve stories through printmaking and elaborately illustrated manuscripts.  The invention of the printing press changes everything.

Books are shelved in private libraries, then gathered in collections for everyone to use.  They appear in small spaces and travel to far-off places.  Technology expands, bringing stories to us first from radio then from computers.

Stories have stood the test of time surviving those who would remove them from our midst.  They create champions working for the good of all.  Wherever we go stories go also; even with a family on a camping trip, faces aglow from a fire, seated under the ever-present constellations.  Story is...always.

Personifying story is a marvelous choice by Dan Yaccarino.  Traveling through time seeing how the preservation of story has evolved through story's own simple sentences gives story power. The other technique employed by Yaccarino to end where we begin is an excellent example of the beauty of circle stories.


Beginning with his dust jacket Dan Yaccarino enhances his text adding another layer of wonder to his book.  The deep shades of blue in the sky and stars extend from right to left, front to back.  The use of complementary colors, the purple and hues of orange and yellow, illuminates his illustration.  All of the added elements on the front are varnished.  The bird in flight on the front is standing in the lower left-hand corner on the back under a crescent moon.  On the book case only the red bird appears in the starry sky, flying up toward the right-hand corner on the front.  The opening and closing endpapers are a series of fifteen panels signifying the delivery of story through time.

Using India ink on vellum for the images Yaccarino begins this story on the verso and title pages with two early people sitting beneath the moon and stars as the red bird flies under the title text.  Alternating between single page visuals and double-page pictures we are not only given a tour of the timelessness of story but we are given a history of storytelling, bookmaking, literature and mankind. We travel from caves to rooms with women using woodblock printing in ancient Asia and then to medieval walls in castles and on to monasteries and to a Shakespearean stage and to a little free library.

With each page turn one thing remain constant...story.  In some form the bird is always there.  Yaccarino's signature style creates scenes we can walk into by joining a group or working with an individual.  His people, their attire and architecture are fabulously appropriate.  His details bring us laughter and light.  In the two page picture of the king walking past tapestries with four knights at attention, one of the knight's eyes shifts toward the boy holding the king's cape.

One of my many favorite illustrations is of the monk, alone, painting a manuscript at a desk.  Behind him in shades of brown, green, yellow, orange and red are shelves lined with books.  He is wearing a robe in a darker hue of blue as he paints using a lighter blue.  In an open cupboard a cat is curled at rest.  A tiny mouse peeks from beneath his desk.  Crescent moons, stars and the bird can be seen in the room.


 I Am A Story written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino is a joyous celebration of a truly timeless constant in humankind...story.  For the colorful, meaningful images, simple text and powerful message this book comes with my highest recommendation.  To learn more about Dan Yaccarino please visit his website and blog by following the links attached to his name.  Please enjoy the book trailer which is premiered at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.

Points Of View

The first noise heard is the glee-filled yells of the children.  Then the familiar scents of fried foods, the sweetness of cotton candy and the tartness of home-made lemonade drift toward you on the sultry summer air.  You will pick up the calls of the barkers tempting you to try whatever challenge or oddity their booth offers. In the distance the roar of racing cars resonates.  Depending where you wander the faint whiff of barnyard odors and the soft sounds of animal conversations might float to your nose and ears.

For one hundred sixty-one years the Ingham County Fair in Mason, Michigan has welcomed visitors.  Having attended numerous times as a child and later as a chaperone for children, the excitement has never faded.  County fairs and their larger counterpart, state fairs (Michigan State Fair) celebrate the end of the summer and the accomplishments of many individuals.  In Billy and Goat At The State Fair (Alfred A. Knopf, June 30, 2015) written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino a friendship is challenged.

Billy and Goat were
the best of friends.

They were not best friends because they shared the same interests.  In fact if the phrase opposites attract were illustrated in a dictionary, portraits of Billy and Goat would be featured.

Billy liked to fix the tractor,
and Goat like to ride it.

It's safe to say, Billy's idea of fun was to read about it but Goat would rather be doing it.  In a search for excitement Goat found exactly what he wanted.  He made sure Billy knew about it too.  A huge billboard was being hung announcing the state fair.

Part of the sign announced a Best-Goat Competition.  Billy was thrilled.  Goat could hardly wait to attend.  When they arrived at the fair Billy could not believe how enormous it was.  It was intimidating.  Goat wanted the truck to stop immediately.

When the livestock tent was located Billy felt relief.  Goat decided to get free and see the sights.  It seemed like wherever Billy looked Goat was one step ahead.  Nearly in a panic Billy finally found his friend....on a gigantic float in the parade.  Truth be told, Billy was enjoying this as much as Goat was.  The rest of the day and into the night the two friends were inseparable.  Did someone say roller coaster?


Dan Yaccarino announces with his first sentence about the strength of the relationship between Billy and Goat.  He then proceeds to tell us more about their likes and dislikes defining their personality types.  Ever so slightly Yaccarino begins to set us up for the fairground chase when we realize each one is excited to attend the fair for entirely different reasons.  Billy wants calm and the competition and Goat wants wild exploration.  Here are two sample sentences.

They shared corn dogs.
(Goat thought the sticks
were delicious.)


On the matching dust jacket and book case Dan Yaccarino, in a back to front, edge to edge, illustration introduces us to Billy and Goat against the backdrop of the state fair.  We can already see how their relationship works.  Billy is looking straight at the reader, proud as punch with his ice cream cone.  He seems to have forgotten Goat will tend to do the opposite of what Billy expects.  Notice how the use of limited color in the background makes Billy and Goat stand out from the general hubbub.

An idyllic pastoral scene with the barn, farmhouse and Billy carrying a book with Goat following behind spans the entire opening and closing endpapers.  When we turn to the title page, an open- mouthed Billy is chasing that scamp Goat running away with Billy's book.  In the first part of the narrative, when Yaccarino wants us to pause we are greeted with a two-page image for emphasis.  As he makes a comparison or wants to show the passage of time, smaller illustrations will be grouped together.  During the chase he shifts to single page illustrations and two pictures to a page to create more tension.

With curved lines and dots, Yaccarino has the adept ability to convey on their faces the exact moods of Billy and Goat.  Rendered in brush and ink on vellum and Adobe Photoshop, simple elements work in combination to depict more intimate moments in contrast to larger expanses at the fair.  Yaccarino works humor into his story best during the chase.

One of my favorite illustrations spans two pages on a background of white.  Silhouettes in purple of Billy and Goat begin to wind their way on a dotted path through the fairgrounds past the merry-go-round, the Ferris wheel, floral and vegetable exhibits, a pie-eating contest, games, a maze and other rides until they find the livestock tent.  It gives an overview of the state fair but also offers sneak peeks at places figuring into the tale later.


Hand this book, Billy And Goat At The State Fair written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino, to those looking for a way to open a conversation about events during the summer, to those wanting to see how opposite personalities can work to benefit a friendship and to those who enjoy laughing.  Readers can appreciate the use of a conjunction to separate a term but connect two characters in companionship.  How can you look at the front dust jacket and book case and not smile?

To learn more about Dan Yaccarino please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  At the publisher's page for this title you can see interior views.  This book is reviewed by teacher librarian Travis Jonker on his blog, 100 Scope Notes.

Soothing Slumber

If we trust our instincts, follow a hunch, the results are frequently surprising in the best possible way.  It's almost as if some unseen hand is guiding our way.  Untold treasures await us.

Twenty years ago, Amy Gary, editor of the Margaret Wise Brown Estate, on a whim asked Brown's sister, Roberta Rauch, if she knew of any unpublished works.  Can you imagine hearing an affirmative reply? Stacked in a trunk kept in the attic of the barn on her Vermont farm were pages and pages of poems, stories and musical scores.  Last week some of those gems were released into the world, collected in a title, Goodnight Songs: Illustrated by Twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists (Sterling Children's Books, March 4, 2014).  The words of Margaret Wise Brown have been visualized by Jonathan Bean, Carin Berger, Sophie Blackall, Linda Bleck, Renata Liwska, Christopher Silas Neal, Zachariah OHora, Eric Puybaret, Sean Qualls, Isabel Roxas, Melissa Sweet and Dan Yaccarino.

Appealing to the inherent musical nature of children these twelve lyrical poems cast a gossamer net pulsing with a gentle cadence around all who read them.  They encourage dreams of playful fantasy uninterrupted by nothing until the morning dawns.  Any cares of the daytime will float away as evening falls through the text and pictures.  Margaret Wise Brown's simple repetitive phrases float and dance off the pages.

Readers find themselves traveling by balloon in the company of a bear, baboon, monkey, troll and mole.  They are lulled to sleep by a very particular melody or in following the nighttime rituals of a goat, or a rabbit and a bear.  I'll wager most readers are unaware of the man in the moon's youth.

Safety on the seas is found in the arms of another.  They learn of those who see what others do not.  Roads travel vertically through an abandoned town constructed entirely of wood.  One by one a donkey, a monkey, a sheep, a pig, birds, a black cat and a child are asked to close their eyes.

What do you see when you close your eyes?  What do you hear in the night?  What might a mouse ask for in a prayer?  Blissful peace is assured.

Two pages are dedicated to each song; illustrations extending edge to edge on heavy matte finished paper.  While the color of the font may vary the same is used in all the text.  The text is tucked within each picture, noticeable but not a distraction.  Tiny white stars seen on the dust jacket and matching book case pattern the opening and closing endpapers.

Renata Liwska captures the soft slumbering characters of The Noon Balloon nestled in fluffy clouds suspended in a pale blue sky.  Intricate lines, exquisite architectural details and a boat riding the waves beneath a full moon ease a child into dreamland drawn by Sophie Blackall in Mambian Melody.  Goats with teddy bears and stuffed toy rabbits and drinking from large pink tea cups populate mountains and hills where skunks carry lanterns and hedgehogs huddle in Goat on the Mountain visualized by Linda Bleck.

Sleep like a Rabbit illustrated by Isabel Roxas pictures a pig-tailed girl in a red dress sleeping near a bear and a rabbit adrift in a sea of stars.  This is also the jacket and case illustration.  Unique, painted, collage-like clouds and stars float around a mustached man in the moon as his younger self runs across his surface when Sean Qualls pictures When the Man in the Moon Was a Little Boy. As if surrounded in a wispy fog Song to Estyn, illustrated by Eric Puybaret, shows a man in a long golden all-weather coat, captain's hat on his head holding a child in a sailor suit on board a ship.

Melissa Sweet's signature style, of pastel collage with splashes of red, pieces together The Secret Song.  White block-like houses, one on top of the other, are strung together by a ribbon road of red among green tulips on a midnight blue background by Christoper Silas Neal for Wooden Town.  An orange, blue, black and white palette feature creatures looking upon and living in a town as a child gazes out his window in Little Donkey Close Your Eyes portrayed by Zachariah OHora.

Blue and white striped curtains billow around the stage set with green birds, blue clouds and rows of cut-out houses in Carin Berger's interpretation of When I Close My Eyes. Bold, bright orange-yellow, orange, green, purple and shades of dark blue mesh perfectly to create the quiet found in Sounds in the Night pictured by Dan Yaccarino.  It's a windy, winter night, leaves and snow swirling about under a full moon as a child sleeps beneath a large leaf and a mouse stands in the doorway of his cozy home in The Mouse's Prayer depicted by Jonathan Bean.

Stunning pictures lift the words of Margaret Wise Brown toward dreamland in Goodnight Songs: Illustrated by Twelve Award-Winning Picture Book Artists.  As if the text and visuals are not enough to hold readers spellbound, a CD with the words set to music by Tom Proutt and Emily Gary is included.  I have listened to it twice as of this writing.  It is truly lovely.  You could not ask for a better book for closing out your day or bringing a small measure of calm into an afternoon.

Two pages at the book's conclusion include thumbnails of the illustrations along with comments about or by the illustrators.  A note from the musicians and credits are inserted on the closing endpapers.  An introduction by Amy Gary begins this title.

I hope you enjoy these videos.  I was made aware of some of them through tweets by the illustrators.



Goodnight Songs: Chris Neal, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Sean Qualls, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Sophie Blackall, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Carin Berger, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Isabel Roxas, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.


Goodnight Songs: DanYacarino, contributing illustrator from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.



Goodnight Songs: Amy Gary, editor of Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown from Sterling Publishing on Vimeo.

To Data Or Not To Data

Earlier this week one of my virtual colleagues, Cynthia Alaniz, wrote on her blog, Teaching in Cute Shoes, about a main character in a book who decides to give up all forms of technology, living like her grandmother did in 1962.  At the end of her post she spoke about the value of virtual connections for her and asked us readers which technology we could live without.  As for myself, I agree wholeheartedly with the value of the connections technology provides but it is definitely challenging to find a balance.  After all when you've grown up with the first televisions being black and white only, phones having party lines and the first transistor radios being cause for celebration, it's fascinating to see the swiftness in which technological advances are rapidly changing nearly every facet of our lives.

I find myself pausing more and more, thinking about time saved due to technology versus time lost in those very connections, personal and professional, which consume minutes and hours previously spent on other endeavors.  In the midst of these musing a book arrived by mail, the newest title written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino, Doug Unplugged (Alfred A. Knopf).  This robot wonders and then walks...well actually, he flies.

This is Doug. He's a robot.

Doug's loving parents (robots themselves) want the very best for their son, plugging him in every morning to fill his robotic self with loads of information.  As they head off to work, he is told learning about the city will be his factual food for the day.  Bits in bytes, trivia treasures, about the people population, trash cans, manholes, fountains, fire engines, skyscrapers, subways, fire hydrants, taxis and pigeons, transfer.

All goes as normal until a flash of feather catches Doug's eye.  It's a pigeon outside the window cooing.  He had not learned about the sound they make in his newly acquired data.

Wondering what else he might not have downloaded, he dares to unplug!  Whooshing out the window his new learning by living begins immediately; pigeons scatter when you fly into a flock. Each perspective based on previous knowledge is altered by Doug's personal experience; a very good teacher itself.

Not only is our eager adventurer storing up sights and sounds but he discovers something unique, something unexpected.  He discovers play in all its many forms when a simple question is asked and answered.  When trouble threatens Doug is the hero of the day learning one last truth which his parents think makes him the smartest robot ever.


There's something special in the presentation of Doug's story by Dan Yaccarino. It's like a young boy is telling us about his best friend who leaps from the known into the unknown; loving the city sights more and more as the hours pass.  His observations are uncluttered with past experiences, fresh in their newness.  The narrative is a cheerful, constant comparison between virtual and reality.  Here is a single passage.

Doug knew that skyscrapers had strong steel frames so they could be many stories high.
But he was amazed by the view from the top of one!  He could see everything!



Opening the matching jacket and cover readers are greeted by a roundish robot boy, shy smile and wide-eyed, holding and walking away from the plug.  Unlike the front the back background is a shade of plum patterned with a gray computer board.  Both sets of endpapers continue with the computer board pattern in shades of blue with Doug animated in seven different discoveries.

Using brush and ink on vellum and Photoshop Yaccarino begins with a pale dusty blue background for the first five double-page spreads until---Doug unplugged!  Then readers see liberal use of white space, green for the park and a hue of sky blue when needed as illustration sizes shift with the storyline   A bright, bold color palette illuminates the actions and emotions of Doug and the other characters.  Lively, simple and loaded with warmth these visuals are the perfect partner for the text.  My favorite illustration is a single page from play in the park; Doug sliding, swinging and sniffing a flower with his friend.


Doug Unplugged written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino proposes and shows the value in using all your senses to truly discover and experience the smallest details and the largest vistas as much as you can whenever you can.  I, for one, am glad Doug tugged the plug.  I highly recommend this as a read aloud; bedtime or storytime.

I would also suggest pairing this with Matthew Cordell's innovative hello! hello! reviewed here.  Be sure to check out Dan Yaccarino's website with the link embedded in his name above.  There is an additional two page spread well worth seeing.

Performance Criteria Rated High...Affirmative

Back in 2001 I discovered a poster by Rick Ruggles titled Love is where you find it...  From that time forward I have tried to slow down to notice heart shapes appearing everywhere, especially when Xena and I take our walks; discovering those special stones on the beach is like finding a priceless possession.  But sometimes you don't find the heart, the love, unexpectedly, it finds you.

First time author, Ame Dyckman, teams with illustrator, Dan Yaccarino, to bring readers, Boy + Bot (Alfred A. Knopf), an endearing story of a normal day turned extraordinary.  Remarkable use of text and visuals, make this book a stunning example of the beauty to be found in simplicity.  You never know what a day spent gathering will reveal.

A boy was collecting pinecones in his wagon when he met a robot.

Can you imagine the wonder of having a big red robot appear behind you ?  Trusting in spirit, quick to see a potential playmate, the boy asks him to play.  The robot's reply is, of course, in the affirmative.

Finding fun in the great outdoors, their adventures are cut short when a rock and the robot meet.  With no power supply, to the boy, the robot is in need of help; believing him to be ill. Packing him up in his wagon they set off for the boy's home.

Doing what he knows should make the silent Bot better, the two finally settle in for the night.  Peeping in to check on Boy, his parents, not knowing Bot is behind the door, trigger his switch to on.  Now it's Bot's turn to deduce that Boy, sleeping soundly, is malfunctioning.

Carrying Boy back to his home Bot is likewise seeking to fix the problem.  In the nick of time the Inventor steps in, startles Boy into wakefulness and makes an important phone call.  The two fast friends make plans for the next day to play and...they do so with great joy.

Ame Dyckman has discovered a very special place were readers' affections wish to reside.  Her narrative guides us down the beloved path of finding friendship with those unlike ourselves; of caring despite differences.  With clarity, using short sentences, Dyckman depicts in both Boy and Bot the characteristics found in best buddies.

On watercolor paper with gouache Dan Yaccarino fashions illustrations from a primary color palette with added greens and purples; bold and radiant, eliciting a smile from readers.  Endpapers picture both the Boy's and Bot's typical "toys".  The title page begins the story with Boy pulling his red wagon past an evergreen with Bot peering from behind.

Freckles sprinkled across Boy's nose and cheeks, smiles playing about Boy's and Bot's mouths, bright-eyed admiration, the one for the other, and a one-eyed light bulb figure walking about on legs in Bot's home, are little extra details readers will notice and appreciate.  Yaccarino has chosen to vary his image sizes; double page, single page or several on one page all framed by the appearance of a casual brush stroke.  But the way he depicts Dyckman's final sentence,

And the friends did.

is masterful; over the final three pages a series of images clearly showing the cementing of a bond not to be broken.

Boy + Bot written by Ame Dyckman with illustrations by Dan Yaccarino is a clever story where caring + sharing = friendship.  When readers' hearts are warmed and laughter tugs at the corners of their mouths, a book will be read again and again; shared with as many as possible.  This is one of those books, a timeless classic.

Across The Generations, A Story To Tell

When climbing through their family tree most of those living in America find their roots are firmly cemented in a country other than the United States; we are immigrants one and all.  Individuals and families left their native countries, all that was familiar, to seek a new life.  A representative title paying homage to one such family is on the final four list of the 2012 Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature;  All The Way To America:  The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel (Alfred A. Knopf) written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino.

Michele Iaccarino left his poor farming family in Sorrento, Italy to come to America seeking new possibilities for his future.  As he boarded a boat he carried these words and items from his parents.

"Work hard," his father told him, handing him the little shovel.  "But remember to enjoy life."
"And never forget your family," his mother said.  She hugged him and gave him their few family photographs and her recipe for tomato sauce.

Ellis Island, New York City, gave him a new name, Michael Yaccarino.  Initially finding work with friends from home Michael used that shovel to scoop flour and sugar in a bakery.  Within time Michael had his own business serving up dried fruit and nuts to his customers with the little shovel.

Of the five children he and his wife Adeline had, the oldest son, Aniello, helped his father, from the age of twelve, to support the family.  Growing up Aniello, called Dan, married Helen and together they ran their own market measuring out beans, macaroni and olives with the little shovel.  The two were able to realize their dream of living in a country home hosting many a family gathering.

After school Dan's son Mike helped out in the kitchen of the restaurant Dan opened using his grandmother's tomato sauce on many of the speciality dishes.  Growing in numbers the family now celebrated in the expanse of the restaurant.  Mike grew up to marry Elaine, Dan Yaccarino's parents. 

Outside his barber shop, Mike used the shovel to spread rock salt on the snowy sidewalks.  Though he grew up in a large home near his grandparents, helping his father with his tomato plants, when the opportunity presented itself, Dan moved back to New York City where his great-grandfather Michael had begun his new life.  Today Dan, his wife Sue and two children, Michael and Lucy, continue the family values of working hard, enjoying life and loving their family.  And the little shovel....it's used to tend the zucchini, tomatoes and strawberries in their terrace garden.

The conversational language and tone conveyed by word choice in this narrative is identical to what one might overhear between a parent and child; conveying the story of a family history built on work, play and love.  That commonality of beliefs passed on from generation to generation is strengthened by the little shovel given from father to son again and again.

The little shovel also becomes a vehicle for the telling of these four family stories much as the story wreath of old used by the African storytellers.  From these wreaths were hung a variety of objects, each representative of a particular tale in the teller's repertoire.

Illustrations in this title were rendered using gouache on Arches watercolor paper; bright, warm colors enhancing the unity within each family and between each generation.    Yaccarino's great grandfather is walking across the cover, buildings of New York City in the background.  Front endpapers depict a map showing the route across the Atlantic from Sorrento to New York.  Family portraits of the four generations appear on the back endpapers.

From the title pages depicting young Michele little shovel in hand as he strolls through a row of vines holding ripened tomatoes, all pictures complimenting the text within this story are shown in two page spreads blending the lines of time, deepening the sense of flow.  Some of the spreads highlight a family at work, some show them at play, but all the illustrations display the love.  So realistic are the portrayal of the characters' lives you can almost hear the noise at the seaport, the clatter of hooves on a city street, the chatter among customers, the laughter between family members, the clash of dishes and always the sound of the little shovel digging, measuring, serving each father and each son.

All The Way To America:  The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino is thirty-two pages filled with heart simply told with grand effect.

I can see asking readers what object in their family history has special meaning; what story or stories surround that object.  Or does their father or mother have a phrase or thought frequently expressed in guidance; a family value.