The Many Hues Of . . .

It has been so cold the past few mornings, breath frosts hair and the collar on coats when early morning walks are taken.  The air is clear and still.  Snow crunches under the weight of boots.  The color of the sky, cloudless, asks you to stop and stare at its breathtaking beauty.  Even though you've seen it before, you ask yourself if there has ever been a blue so brilliant.

For now, as the snows of winter cover nearly everything, the only natural blue is that found in the waters of the surrounding lakes, not frozen, and the sky.  Soon as birds return from their annual migrations, blue will filt and glide from place to place.  As flowers push from the earth and buds blossom, even more blue will appear.  Blue: A History Of The Color As Deep As The Sea And As Wide As The Sky (Alfred A. Knopf, February 15, 2022) written by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond with illustrations by Daniel Minter is a gorgeous portrait of the history of this color.  You will be transported through time and place.  

The color blue is all around us.

Have you ever wondered where it comes from?

It's in the sky, but you can't touch it.

It's in the sea, but when you cup it,

it disappears.

While attempts were made the color blue, sometimes captured, faded.  Then, it was found in the strangest place.  Did you know that sometime around 4500 BC rocks, blue rocks, were mined deep underground in what is today Afghanistan?  They were used in jewelry until people, as time passed, found other ways to use them, eye makeup and as a paint on multiple surfaces.

It was expensive to make, so others sought another source of the color blue.  It was found near water around the world in snails.  Yes, snails!  Each dyer extracted the blue in their own manner, but it was labor intensive.  Only a few drops came from each snail.  This rarity of being able to produce the color blue elevated it to sacredness in many cultures.

Later, it was discovered blue could be made from plants

called Indigofera.

Around the world, as with the snails, dyers used their own techniques to produce the blue they desired.  This blue was highly valued and much easier to develop.  The plant was even used like money.  It's worth in the world market caused greedy growers and merchants to abuse people for its growth.  

Despite finding blue in rock, snails, and indigo, scientists were seeking a way to make it chemically.  It took Adolf von Baeyer forty years to accomplish this task.  It earned him a Nobel Prize.  Now, regardless of your economic status you could afford blue.

In the final pages of this narrative, readers come to understand blue as more than a color.  It is a feeling.  It contributed to a music known as 

the blues.

It represents the unexpected.  It is shown as first place in prizes.  It is hope.

From beginning to end, author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond brings readers into the fascinating history of the color blue.  She explores all facets of the color through her meticulous research, weaving the production of the color, associated myths, legends, and religious symbolism, the use of poor and enslaved people for its growth, and its implications in tradition, culture, and language together to fashion a captivating and powerful whole.  Her inclusion of dates, places, and descriptive explanations adds to the appeal of this narrative.  Her technique of using the same words from the opening phrases in the closing phrases is marvelous.  Here are two entwined passages on a single page.

Perhaps because blue was

the color of the heavens,

yet so rare and hard to create

on earth,

people around the world

considered the color holy.

In an old Liberian folktale,

blue is explained as a gift

that connects God to humans.

When you think of blue, you might consider it a cool color.  But, in looking at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, you are drawn to the warmth emanating from the image.  The play of light and shadow on the dyer's face is wonderful.  The pattern in her clothing reflects her culture.  Surrounding her is the sky and beneath her are ripples of water.  Directly behind her are iris with their glowing centers.  Iris are mentioned as a flower used in making blue dye.  

On the other side of the spine, the sky, ripples of water, and iris continue.  Above them the words, in white, read:

EMBARK ON A VIBRANT JOURNEY

THROUGH THIS HISTORY OF

THE COLOR BLUE.

On the opening and closing endpapers, on the left side is a silhouette of a figure in a rich, dark blue, hand outstretched.  They are reaching toward two varied patterns of fabric in hues of blue and white.  With a page turn, the verso and dedication pages are on the left.  On the title page, between the text, is a shell with a single drop of blue falling from the interior.  

These luminescent illustrations by Daniel Minter were rendered

using layers of acrylic wash on heavy watercolor paper.

You find yourself gasping in appreciation with each page turn.  These double-page images present themselves as a single, two-page picture or two or more separate images in one illustration.  Sometimes, elements from one will blend into another.

In this artwork, perspectives will be mixed.  You might see something as if you are far away and next to it, we are brought directly into a scene.  We move from observer to participant.  The intricate, at times delicate, details ask you to pause and wonder about the people in each setting.  Like the author's words in the opening and closing phrases, Daniel Minter incorporates portions of the opening elements in his closing picture.

One of my many favorite illustrations has a background wash of many shades of blue with hints of purple and pink.  (This picture is for the discussion about iris petals being used as a blue dye.)  On the left are two exquisite fairy-like people.  They look like the flowers have come to life as people.  Around them are petals.  Moving to the right of them and across the gutter are a group of iris.  Lower, on the left side of the gutter, white lines outline and overlap shapes of iris.  These move across the gutter and to the right.  On the right side two hands and portions of arms come from the blue along the bottom and side.  In one hand, a shallow bowl holds the petals being crushed.  In the other hand, a wide wooden pestle is gripped as it pushes into the petals.  On that hand are a stack of bracelets around the wrist.

Readers will be enthralled with the information and its presentation in Blue: A History Of The Color As Deep As The Sea And As Wide As The Sky written by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond with artwork by Daniel Minter.  At the close of the book is an author's note, a section titled Want To Explore More, A Few Blue Facts, and a Selected Bibliography.  I believe you will want to have a copy of this outstanding title in both your personal and professional collections. 

To discover more about Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Daniel Minter and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Daniel Minter has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior illustrations.  

Remembered Reunion

How we define the word family is highly personal.  It's as if there is a meaning found in dictionaries and an entirely different one with respect to our lives.  For some family does not always consist of those related to us biologically.  People whose love and support are unconditional can be thought of as family, whether there is a genetic connection or not.

For others, family is comprised of deep-seated traditions going back generations.  The voices of ancestors, their wisdom, still speaks with clarity in the collective hearts and minds of brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, uncles and aunts and lots of cousins.  Going Down Home With Daddy (Peachtree Publishers, April 1, 2019) written by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Daniel Minter takes us to one family's special commemoration.  

On reunion morning, we rise before

the sun.  Daddy hums as he packs

our car with suitcases and a cooler full of snacks.  He says there's nothing like going down home. 

From city to open highway, Lil Alan, Sis, Momma and Daddy travel.  Sis quickly falls back asleep, but Lil Alan is too excited and too worried.  He longs to see Granny, his great-grandmother.  What can he do for the anniversary festivities? 

Both Sis and Lil Alan are wide awake when they spy Granny near her wood-frame house feeding her chickens.  Her open-arm welcoming hug is the beginning of a day filled with relatives' arrivals and good-natured fellowship.  The cousins gather and chat about what each one will do for the celebration.  Lil Alan is stumped.  What can he do?

Daddy drives cousins around the farm, pulling them in a wagon behind the tractor.  Lil Alan's soul is filled with pride at his family's accomplishments in owning their land.  At dinner, joining hands before the meal, members are brimming with gratitude.  The next day, Sunday, Daddy reminisces in church with Lil Alan.  The child is still concerned about his role in the gathering at dusk.

After the Sunday service, a comment by Momma sends jubilation through Lil Alan.  Moments and memories align in his mind.  When his turn in the evening comes, his hands hold objects representing dreams fulfilled and his words sing of familial achievements.  On Monday morning Lil Alan, Sis, Momma and Daddy leave Granny and her wood-frame house, but everyone's thinking of the past, present, future and family.

The words written by author Kelly Starling Lyons wrap around readers like a hug from Granny, inviting and bathed in warmth.  Her descriptions of place transform our surroundings and transport us to down home.  The affection depicted in the conversations between family members is soothing and born of mutual respect.  Here is another passage from this book.

I doze off in a cloud of worry and wake to

sunbeams tickling my face.  I squint and see a

familiar John Deere tractor store and a gray silo

standing at attention.  We're almost there.

One look, your initial glance, at the front of the matching dust jacket and book case, leaves you wanting to know about these children.  Fully animated, they all seem to have something to say except for one.  Like the words in the narrative, the color palette, hues of blue, brown, red, orange, green and golden yellow, envelopes you in calm and comfort. 

To the left, on the back, a similar use of color fashions a canvas of swirls of orange and golden yellow and marbleized blue and white.  Stretching through this is the outline of a blue/green tree.  Two hens are placed in the lower, left-hand corner.  They are patterned in traditional prints.  These hens, the children and title text are varnished on the dust jacket.  

On the opening endpapers two shades of blue form enlarged brush strokes of a symbolic image.  This continues until the verso and title pages.  Here the illustration from the back of the jacket and case becomes the background for the text.  This is continued on the closing page and closing endpapers.

Rendered in acrylic wash the artwork of Daniel Minter is a lush blend of ancient African symbols and present-day realism.  Readers will pause to notice the exquisite details on the family's building, their clothing, on the chickens and clothing worn by the extended family members.  White etchings overlay some scenes with intentional purpose.  Each image is an eloquent double-page portrait of generations rooted in dreams and triumphs.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when Lil Alan and Daddy are talking.  Daddy tells him to 

think with your heart.

The two of them are in that position which is between sitting and kneeling but still close to the earth.  The background is a larger version of the pattern seen on the closing endpapers.  We have stepped back and can see the symbolic shapes, fully formed, among the trees.  In the foreground on the left is Lil Alan and on the right is Daddy.  The boy, eyes closed, reaches for some gathered pecans.  His daddy looking at him is speaking.

Going Down Home With Daddy written by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Daniel Minter is a marvelous, heart-warming two-day ode to family.  Through expressive words and illuminating illustrations we can witness this reunion's power and value.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Kelly Starling Lyons and Daniel Minter and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Kelly Starling Lyons maintains accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  Daniel Minter has an account on Instagram.  There is a post at The Children's Book Council with Daniel Minter speaking about the symbolism in this book.  At author, reviewer, and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast you can view interior illustrations. At the publisher's website there are links to multiple resources including an Author Q & A.  You can also view several of the initial images in the book.

A Man And A Horse Show The World

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

                                                             Aesop

The other day driving home in the early afternoon from a trip to the veterinarian either a very old or ill raccoon was starting to cross the road on my right.  Slowing to a crawl I was able to give him a wide berth, hoping to eliminate any fear the creature may have felt.  Looking in my rearview mirror and up ahead in the opposite lane I could see cars coming from both directions.  I put on my brake lights again to warn the driver behind me and flashed my lights at the driver ahead of me.  Almost afraid to look but wanting to know, I watched with a huge sense of relief and overwhelming gratitude to see the two drivers create a corridor of safety for the raccoon.

The more often more of us realize we need to be champions for those who need us the most, the better the entire world will be but most importantly our animal companions will and should be the benefactors.  Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness (Lee & Low Books Inc., October 15, 2016) debut title by Donna Janell Bowman with illustrations by Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award winner Daniel Minter presents the unique story of a man's kindness and the remarkable acts it inspired.  This is a rare book unlike any you may have encountered before or are likely to encounter in the future.

Spring 1889 stretched a blanket of wildflowers over Shelbyville, Tennessee, but William "Doc" Key barely noticed.

On this day a beloved horse Lauretta, a true Arabian saved from a cruel life in a circus, gave birth to a colt.  It was clear the colt was not quite right but Doc Key was not one to ever give up on a life that needed his help.  This gift of Doc Key's began when he was a child.

He grew up as a slave owned by John and Martha Key but they allowed him to be educated with their sons.  His affinity for healing and kindness toward creatures gave him the freedom to visit other farms and assist with their animals.  He learned how to combine natural remedies from his mother.  After the Civil War Doc's skills grew affording him the opportunity to marry, build a home, a hospital for horses and produce Doc's Keystone Liniment.  His continued success as a businessman created the circumstances for him to expand his holdings.  He eventually began to travel selling his medicines and providing entertainment.  This is how he came to own Lauretta.

Doc loved the colt giving it his utmost care.  Not only was the colt curious but it was clever.  It soon could do everything a dog could do.  As a yearling the colt did not want to leave Doc especially after Lauretta died, so Doc invited the horse into his home.  He watched everything Doc did, trying to imitate him.  Eventually he grew into a large stallion, no longer the size to be inside a house.  When he needed to go back to the stable Jim was so upset Doc moved in with him, setting up his office and a cot there.

As you can probably surmise Jim began to accompany Doc when he traveled selling his medicines.  One day when they were at home, Doc's wife made a startling discovery.  This was what led to the education of Jim.  What this horse with this man mastered over the course of years is nothing short of marvelous.  At the Tennessee Centennial Exposition in 1897 the world was able to finally see what Doc and Jim already knew. 

From that day forward Doc and Jim shared Jim's talents with audience after audience.  There were those who did not believe but they could not disprove what kindness multiplied had brought forth in Beautiful Jim Key.  Their show caught the attention of humane societies who began to benefit from the proceeds.  Jim's mathematical skills were uncanny.  He won spelling bees competing with children around the country.  The two became so famous that Doc was able to insist that all people be allowed to sit where they desired in his shows regardless of their race.  Finally at ages seventy-three and seventeen the man and his horse went back to Shelbyville for a well-earned rest.

With her introductory sentence author Donna Janell Bowman takes us back in time to Tennessee.  We are there with Doc at the birth of Jim.  Her careful research is evident in the details included which invite us to know Doc and Jim on a more intimate level.  It's equally important actual quotes are inserted in her narrative.  Readers will be fascinated with the process used to "educate" Jim and the results as recounted by Bowman are nothing short of astounding.  Here are two sample passages.

"He was a knowing colt, I tell you," Doc said.  "He showed me he could fetch, and proceeded to try to do the other tricks the dog could do."  Jim learned to sit, play dead, act sick, and roll over on cue.

When Jim was about a year old, Lauretta died.  Doc was heartbroken, but he also worried about Jim.  The orphaned colt needed looking after night and day.  So Doc coaxed Jim up the porch steps and through the front door of his house.  The young horse made himself right at home.

Rendered masterfully as linoleum block prints painted with acrylic all of the artwork beginning with the matching dust jacket and book case is beautiful.  What is most appealing about the jacket and case illustration, in addition to the color palette, title text design and historical accuracy, is the apparent affection between Beautiful Jim Key and Doc Key.  Here, and throughout the body of the book, the intricate line work is exquisite.  The opening and closing endpapers are a rich rustic red.

On the title page Daniel Minter features the letters spelling  J I M tucked around an apple beneath the title text.  A peaceful pastoral scene across two pages of a barn and a fenced-in pasture with horses grazing provides space for the publication information and dedications.  Many of the pictures span two pages or are on single pages framed in small rich rustic red lines.  There are three single page visuals stretching page edge to page edge.

All of the illustrations glow with a golden light.  Readers will be first drawn to the eyes on the people, full of expression.  Readers will also notice each time Doc is shown his hands are poised in gentleness regardless of what he might be doing.  

One of my many favorite illustrations is a single page picture.  Doc is kneeling in a bed of straw cradling the new colt, Jim, in his arms.  The colt is very thing and weak.  Behind them both, resting but watchful, is Lauretta.  Doc's eyes are closed as he caresses the animal.  This illustration is like looking at a circle of love.

Step Right Up: How Doc and Jim Key Taught the World About Kindness written by Donna Janell Bowman with illustrations by Daniel Minter is one of the finest nonfiction books of 2016.  It was chosen as a recommended title by the National Council of Teachers of English Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children.  At the conclusion of the book there is a four page intriguing Afterward.  Following that is an extensive listing of quotation sources and author sources like books, newspapers, websites and other sources.

To learn more about author Donna Janell Bowman and illustrator Daniel Minter and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Author Cynthia Leitich Smith highlights this title on her blog, Cynsations, for the cover reveal and a new voice interview with Donna Janell Bowman.  At the publisher's website you can view a teacher's guide, an interview with Donna Janell Bowman and Step Right Up Kindness Pledge printouts are available for students.  Daniel Minter is featured in an earlier post at The Brown Bookshelf: United In Story.

I am thrilled to be participating in another year of reading excellent nonfiction for children.  I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Alyson Beecher, an outstanding educator who is hosting the 2017 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge on her blog, Kid Lit Frenzy.  Be sure you visit each Wednesday to enjoy the other titles selected by participating bloggers.