Covered With Life

When you stand on the shore of a large body of water, gazing across its expanse, something happens deep inside you.  Being in the presence of this greatness is humbling but soothing.  It helps you to realize as small as you may be, you are a part of something greater than your eyes can see.  This water spread before you is alive.  It sustains life on our planet.

We wade and swim in it.  We walk along its sandy or stony beaches looking for treasure.  If we are fortunate one of the creatures living in this water will reveal itself to us.  That's a memory to cherish.  Ocean! Waves For All (Henry Holt and Company, May 5, 2020) written by Stacy McAnulty with illustrations by David Litchfield is the latest entry in the Our Universe series.  Ocean has a lot to tell us, so let's listen and learn.

Dude, I am OCEAN.

You know my many names:
Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic,
Indian, Southern.
It's all excellent me.

Even though we've given Ocean many names, it is one large body of saltwater covering our entire planet.  Seventy-one percent of Earth is covered by Ocean.  Ocean represents no country but welcomes everyone.  Did you know Ocean is older than the air we breathe?  Ocean was here before any land masses.

First life, so tiny a human eye cannot see it, began in Ocean.  Today the largest animal on the planet lives in Ocean.  Do you know what it is?  Ocean is home to the largest landform found anywhere in the world.   Ocean is a super liquid highway, boasting ships numbering in the tens of thousands using it every day.

Like our atmosphere has layers, so does Ocean.  There's one named the Twilight Zone.  It is 656 to 3,281 feet deep.  The pull of the moon creates tides, high and low, on Ocean.

Ocean has several messages for us.  We need to get serious about exploring all Ocean has to offer.  Comparisons are made between how we've made more discoveries about Mars than we have about Ocean.  Ocean is disturbed about all the plastic pollution and the melting of glaciers.  Ocean's closing words are a hopeful request, and a reminder.


Readers will find themselves smiling at the first word, Dude.  Throughout the narrative, author Stacy McAnulty uses words from the 1980s heightening the entertaining delivery of the information Ocean tells us.  Each placement of these words is as natural as the voice using them.  The facts shared by Ocean (Stacy McAnulty) are exactly what we need to know, but they also invite us to further educate ourselves.  We learn history, world records, basic facts, the role of the ocean in our lives, the wonders to be found and a plea for protection.  This is all done in a highly engaging conversational style.  Here is a passage.

And more humans have visited
outer space than my deepest spots.
Awesome for outer space. Bummer for me.
Ninety percent of my waters are
completely dark, cold, and yet totally rad.

Come explore my secrets.


The beautiful underwater world seen on the front of the dust jacket continues on the other side of the spine when it is opened.  There the fish, and plants are darker and more pronounced than on the front.  On the back on the surface of the ocean, a cargo ship heads toward the left edge.  When we met Ocean on the front, he seems eager to see us.  His eyes and mouth indicate he can hardly wait to speak.  His hands beckon to us.

The image on the book case is a reverse of the introductory image when the narrative begins.  It's done in hues of blue, pink, and purple.  Ocean is waving to us with one hand and pointing to himself with the other hand.  Among the ocean plants is a turtle, a shark, several jellyfish, and schools of smaller fish.  Around Ocean's face the colors are lighter, but on the edges, they are darker, richer.

On the opening and closing endpapers we are treated to two different dazzling displays of the multitude of life to be found in the ocean.  On the closing endpapers we are much deeper in the ocean.  Divers are exploring the depths and the unusual creatures.

Artist, David Litchfield,

created with pencils, ink, watercolor paints, and digital art tools

the illustrations for this book.  They are a stunning array of double-page pictures, vertical panels, a book super-imposed on Ocean, and single-page images framed in white.  In all of them we see Ocean's eyes and mouth and usually his hands.  One time he is holding a magnifying glass.  The size of his face varies according to the illustrative interpretation of the text.  Readers will find themselves pausing at every page to savor the included details. It's fun to see which residents can be identified.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when Ocean is reminding us of his importance.  He mentions his role in climate and his vital importance to all life.  In this double-page picture Ocean is spread across most of the two pages.  His face is on the left along with one of his hands.  Here icebergs are featured along the top with two whales.  On the bottom is a sandy beach with people enjoying the water.  As our eyes cross the gutter a thunderstorm rages on a portion of the top and a moon rises among stars on the far right.  Ocean's second hand seems to be holding up the thunder clouds with lightning zigzagging down and rain falling.  Along the shore here is a woodland scene with a male and female deer standing on the water's edge.


This book, Ocean! Waves For All written by Stacy McAnulty with illustrations by David Litchfield, is wonderful for the facts, the words used to inform readers and the images.  This book, like Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years, Sun! One In A Billion and Moon! Earth's Best Friend, is upbeat, captivating, and inspiring.  At the close of the book Stacy McAnulty chats with readers, offers more items of information, challenges us, and provides sources.  You will want to add this title to your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Stacy McAnulty and David Litchfield and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites. David has interior images on his website.  Stacy McAnulty has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. David Litchfield has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter.  This series has its own website.  Here is a link to activity kits from the publisher.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  You will really enjoy this conversation between the two creators.



Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week for the 2020 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Sharing A Melody, Sharing A Memory

When you think of music, you associate specific emotional responses with certain melodies and lyrics.  Did you know 1972 was the first time the word playlist was used?  Now there are playlists for any number of things.  We have songs, lists of songs, which inspire us and bind us together as a nation, a community or best friends.  

In The Bear and the Piano readers met an extraordinary animal and the music he learned to create on a discovered instrument.  A companion title, The Bear, the Piano, the Dog, and the Fiddle (Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 5, 2019) written and illustrated by David Litchfield takes us down a path on another harmonious journey.  We are reminded there is more than one direction available to realize our deepest desire.

Hector and Hugo were best friends.  Hector was a fiddle player, and Hugo was one of his biggest fans.

Over the years the man and the dog were inseparable regardless of their fortune.  Now, though, it seemed as if no one, except for Hugo, wanted to listen to Hector.  Hector was so discouraged he quit playing the fiddle.  He was letting his dream of playing in a concert hall fade.

Nothing interested the elder man.  Day after day he engaged in sedentary activities.  Hugo, on the other paw, resurrected the fiddle and practiced and played and practiced and played.  One night Hector followed a sound and found Hugo entertaining a crowd from the roof of their apartment building.  Hugo was magnificent! (Hector was a tad bit jealous.)

Knowing how much Hugo loved making music on that fiddle, Hector shared his expertise with his friend.  As you can imagine crowds now gathered in the streets, day after day to hear Hugo.  This attracted the attention of one very special piano-playing bear.  Bear wanted Hugo to be a member of his animal band of musicians.

Hugo was very excited at this prospect.  At first, reluctantly, so was Hector but then he was mean to his friend as he left to go on tour.  Around the world Hugo, the star of the show, went with Bear's Big Band. Everyone could watch them on television or on their computers . . . even Hector.  When Bear's Big Band arrived back at Hector's city, choices were made.  On a remarkable evening bravery, disbelief, compassion and the sound of two fiddles represented the strength of friendship.


As readers we are very clear as to the relationship between Hector and Hugo early in the story.  David Litchfield gives us through his words the power of playing the fiddle on both the man and the dog.  We understand how a career of achievements is still short of a goal.  We understand the deep need to begin making a dream come true.

Through a careful blend of narrative, woofs and body movements, and dialogue we know exactly what Hector and Hugo are thinking. This knowledge brings us deeper into their story.  Here are several passages.

As Hugo looked up at Hector, his tail wagging,
Hector's tummy started to hurt again.  He was jealous.
"I guess you should go," he said, trying to smile.
"It's the opportunity of a lifetime."

Hugo's tail wagged
even more as he packed
to go away with Bear's
Big Band, making 
sure the fiddle was
safely stowed.

But Hector began to have second thoughts.
"Don't go and join that silly group, Hugo,"
he said.  "We don't need them."


The elegant, flowing blue curtain framing the dog and the fiddle with Bear playing the piano hints of events to come.  The radiant cityscape in the background gives us a stronger sense of place and time. (Note the crumpled flyer at the bottom of the piano.) To the left, on the back, the blue of the curtain moves over the spine to the far edge.  In the center of this blue canvas is a circular image.  Bear is seated at another piano looking out at the crowd.  Dog is standing on top of this grand piano, bow and fiddle lifted in either paw.  He too is looking out at the audience (readers).

On the book case, on the front, the blue curtain is removed.  As our eyes move left on the open case the buildings cast in a glowing light stand tall.  The flyer is easier to read as it lays on the ground.  In the distance, ever so faintly, we can see members of Bear's Big Band.

On the opening and closing endpapers our view is of the rooftop of Hector's and Hugo's apartment with other rooftops nearby.  A somewhat darker color palette with more prominent shades of red in the cityscape is stretched behind the rooftops. No one is visible on the opening endpaper.  On the closing endpaper it is night.  Everything is cloaked in hues of blue.  Hector and Hugo are playing a fiddle duet on their rooftop.  A light, directed at them, comes from the top left to their nearly center right position.

Rendered in mixed media the illustrations, varying in size from double-page, to full-page to partial page, are highly animated.  It's as if we expect everyone and everything to come to life in an instant.  At one point David Litchfield groups three smaller images on a single page to accentuate pacing and the passage of time.  Hugo is seen honing his fiddle-playing skills in several different seasons.  This same technique of three on one page is used again to supply suspense.  The intricate details in each picture ask readers to pause.  The expressions on the characters' faces ask readers to feel.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  In the background are buildings along a city street.  In the foreground on the left and somewhat on the right is a crowd of peoples' faces, from all backgrounds, watching Hector and Hugo.  On the right Hector is instructing and conducting Hugo.  The dog is standing on a small, green, three-legged stool.  One foot is raised as he waits to move the bow over the strings.  The use of light and shadow here (and throughout the book) is marvelous.


It's not hard to imagine hearing the strains of a fiddle playing and the notes from a piano ringing when you read The Bear, the Piano, the Dog, and the Fiddle written and illustrated by David Litchfield.  The threads of friendship and music are distinct and compelling. As a stand-alone title it's wonderful.  As a companion to The Bear and the Piano, it's simply splendid.  You will want a copy in your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about David Litchfield and his other work, please follow the links attached to his names to access his sites.  You will enjoy the interior images from this book at his website.  David Litchfield has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  David is interviewed at The Children's Writer's Guild.

Bound By The Beat

It is a mild evening in October of 2003.  Crowds of people, expectations elevated, are streaming from the parking lots to The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  It is their first major concert tour since 1983.  It is (it was) going to be a night of nights, a lasting memory.  Two old friends, two best friends, are reunited.

This friendship begins decades earlier in the Jewish suburbs of Queens.  When Paul Met Artie: The Story of Simon & Garfunkel (Candlewick Press, March 20, 2018) written by G. Neri with illustrations by David Litchfield chronicles the relationship of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel from the time of their first meeting until 1966 with a highlight in 1981.  It is a tribute to this musical duo; a duo who sang of what collective souls were feeling then and still feel now.

Old Friends September 19, 1981
At dawn,
people hit the streets
all over New York City,
making their way
into the heart
of the weary metropolis---
Central Park.
Despite the gray skies
and morning drizzle,
the city comes to life---
horns blaring,
drivers shouting,
subway trains rumbling
underfoot---
a symphony
of noise.

This is the introductory paragraph to the piece on the neighborhood concert in Central Park where more than 500,000 people were in attendance.  People came to hear the well-loved voices and the words they sang.  It had been far too long a wait.

The year is now 1951. Two boys who have never met live a few blocks from each other in Kew Garden Hills. They are nothing alike in stature.  They are nothing alike in their dreams of a future.  One prefers singing.  He is called The Voice by the neighborhood mothers.  His name is Artie.  The other has dreams of becoming a star on the baseball diamond.  His brother calls him Slugger.  His name is Paul.

A school talent show when they are in the fourth grade changes Paul's dreams.  When he listens to Artie sing, he wonders and he hopes he can capture an audience's attention like Artie does.  Two more years pass before Paul and Artie, both with parts in Alice in Wonderland, truly connect.

Listening to the radio and hearing Elvis and other rock and roll hit singers like the Everly Brothers inspires the duo.  The gift of a guitar on his thirteenth birthday is exactly what Paul and Artie need to further fuel the fire burning in their souls for rock and roll.  Bravely they debut at a school dance.  They try doo-wop writing and recording The Girl for Me.  Music is firmly running in their veins. 

At fifteen they are singing Hey Schoolgirl on American Bandstand.  Within three years, their dreams dwindle.  They go their separate ways, each pursuing a different career but neither can forget the music.  It's now the early sixties and folk songs speak of social injustice and civil rights issues.  While in Europe Paul writes He Was My Brother after learning of the death of a Freedom Rider.

A chance meeting reunites the two old friends, best friends, in 1963.  Another American tragedy prompts Paul to write a song which does not initially become a hit but fifteen months later, it's climbed to the top of the charts.  It's the beginning and a continuation of a historic musical partnership resulting in a Lifetime Achievement Award and the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.


Each of the nineteen portions of this narrative is headed with a title song by Simon & Garfunkel.  Carefully chosen by G. Neri they are a reflection of the contents he discloses in his informative but poetic writing.  The meticulous research employed by G. Neri is evident in every single line.  His paragraphs have a cadence to them; each one linked to the other like verses in a song.  With each reading the words resonate in a richer and more meaningful manner.  Here are several passages from the beginning of The Only Living Boy in New York.

Paul has seen Artie
around the neighborhood,
wearing a red Phillies cap
or shaking boxes of Good & Plenty
in the candy store.
But until he sees Artie
standing nervously onstage
at the fourth-grade talent show,
Paul hasn't given him
a second thought.
But then again,
neither has anyone else
at school.

That is, until
Artie opens his mouth
and out pours
The Voice:
smooth,
hypnotic,
and sounding

just like the unforgettable
Nat King Cole himself.
Paul can't believe
what he's hearing.
He's spent plenty of time
down at the Roseland Ballroom,
listening to his dad,
a bass player and leader
of a big-time band,
so he knows talent
when he sees it.
This kid Artie is like
a human jukebox,
his voice casting a spell
over the entire school auditorium.
When he hits the final note,
it hangs in the air,
sucking the breath
out of everyone in attendance.
There is a moment of silence---
then the crowd of grade-schoolers
erupts with cheers. 


Readers will find themselves pausing as soon as they see the front of the dust jacket.  Notice the intricate details in the cityscape, the trees, and the blowing leaves of the background.  It is a wonderful backdrop for the older Simon and Garfunkel staring into their future and with them as teenagers in the foreground.  David Litchfield includes elements from their earlier musical endeavors on the wooden stage.  Each one has significance.

To the left, on the back, a rustic red supplies a canvas for oval portraits of the boys facing each other.  Between them are the words:

How two best friends
from Queens
became teen rock
sensations,
lost it all,
and grew up
to become
Voices of their generation.

The book case shows Artie on the left and Paul on the right.  They are placed in scenes during one of their separations.  These full page illustrations are larger enhancements of interior images for the portion titled Homeward Bound. Artie is strolling down a sidewalk in the city at night with a few stars sparkling in streams of light and Paul is walking through a village in Europe as the sun shines behind him in hues of pink and yellow.  This book case, like all the illustrations, in a word is gorgeous.

The blue used in the title text on the dust jacket covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the title page the recorder the boys used in Artie's basement is featured.  Rendered digitally each illustration looks like an exquisite painting.  The size and shapes of the pictures enhance the text superbly.

The single page for the concert in Central Park is an invitation for you to join the crowd.  As the boys are introduced a horizontal image, nearly half the height of the pages, stretching from page edge to page edge, gives readers an idea of their neighborhood and their place in it. David Litchfield extends his visuals across the gutter, many are on single pages, others have pictures within pictures, or panels like a graphic novel.  Great care is given to each element including the architecture and clothing for each of the time periods.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when Artie and Paul bravely play at their last dance in junior high.  Behind them at the top of the page is the cityscape in black with a few lights.  A crowd of classmates in muted tones of black, white, gray and brown surround the duo.  A spotlight shines on them as Artie sings and Paul joins him.  Paul's guitar is their only accompaniment.  The wonder of this evening is perfectly captured.  You can feel the excitement.


Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were indeed the Voices of their generation but their music and their friendship has endured and will continue to endure.  This title, When Paul Met Artie: The Story of Simon & Garfunkel written by G. Neri with illustrations by David Litchfield, serves as an incentive for a new generation to raise your voice in song or to pursue another creative endeavor which serves the souls of many.  At the conclusion of the title is an afterword by the author, a discography, a bibliography and musical connections in chronological order for Simon's and Garfunkel's careers.  You will want to add this book to your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about G. Neri and David Litchfield and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  David Litchfield also has another site linked here.  At the publisher's website you can view the beautiful interior image for Bookends.  They also have an article where G. Neri chats about the inspiration behind this book.  Other interior illustrations are shown at Penguin Random House.  Author Cynthia Leitich Smith interviews G. Neri on her blog, Cynsations.  Author, illustrator, teacher and speaker Elizabeth Dulemba interviews David Litchfield on her site.  At The Children's Book Review we get a peek inside David Litchfield's studio.  If you go to Twitter and search using When Paul Met Artie you can see even more artwork.


Please be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by those participating in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

This Blue Planet

Every time you witness a sunrise or a sunset you are reminded of the wonders waiting to be seen on this Blue Planet.  The rustle of dried, crumpled oak leaves clinging to a branch, the crunch of snow beneath your boots on a bitter, cold afternoon, the notes of birdsong, the chattering of local squirrels, the gentle rippling of water as you wade across a stream and the smell of blooming lavender on a summer's evening as fireflies blink off and on are cherished memories of treasures offered by our Earth.  This place we humans and a host of creatures call home is remarkable.

No one can extol the virtues of our home more than Earth.  Earth!: My First 4.54 Billion Years (Henry Holt and Company, October 24, 2017) by Earth (with Stacy McAnulty) and illustrated by Earth (and David Litchfield) is a humorous, lighthearted and informative look at the third planet from the sun.  Let's join Earth now for fun and facts.

Hi!  My name is 
Earth.
Some people call me
Gaia,
the blue marble,
the world,
or the third planet from the sun.
You can call me
Planet Awesome.

Earth quickly acquaints us with a favorite activity, spinning.  Some spins take a day.  Other spins take a whole year.  Moon is Earth's best buddy.  They go everywhere together.  Earth has the time needed for Moon to spin around Earth down to the second.

When you're 4.54 billion years old, it's tough to remember babyhood but Earth says:

But I've been told I was a hot mess.

After that it rained and rained and rained.  It rained for thousands of years.  Earth was in for even more surprises, islands.  These islands connected and then divided into what we now call continents.  We have seven.

Earth shows us a timeline, a huge ruler, designating the arrival of air, plants, bugs, dinosaurs, mammals, birds, flowers and finally humans.  Another secret is shared.  Earth loved the time of the dinosaurs; all 175 million years.

Earth tells us about all the disasters like eruptions of volcanoes, ice ages and asteroids.  On the upside Earth has stayed the same under the surface.  There's still a crust, mantle, outer core and inner core.  Earth shares a final confidence.  Humans are captivating.  There's never a dull moment with humans.  We do tend to be careless with Earth sometimes but Earth believes in us.  Let's honor this respect!


As soon as Earth begins to chat with readers through the words written by Stacy McAnulty, it's as if we are gathered together enjoying a picnic in a grassy meadow under a spreading Sycamore tree.  Earth's pride is evident in the statements made about its position in the solar system and the galaxy, the daily and yearly spinning accomplishments and the beauty of flowers.  Humor is found in asides made about Pluto and comments about other animals' interest in Earth as opposed to human fascination with Earth.  Here is a passage.

Some used to say I have eight siblings,
but Pluto is more like the family pet. 


Rendered in pencils, ink, watercolor paints, and digital art tools the illustrations starting with the opened dust jacket shout out a big hello to readers.  Earth is slowly spinning among the stars, smiling and waiting to talk with us.  To the left, on the back, she is peeking up from the lower, left-hand corner.  She's reading:

Read this book about Earth,
written by Earth, while you float through
space on---you guessed it---Earth!

To readers enjoyment David Litchfield has given us a different book case.  The background is a blend of green and golden hues sprinkled with stars.  Earth, on the back and to the left, is again looking at the same words as on the dust jacket.  But on the front she is much larger spanning from edge to edge looking upward, grinning and her hands are near her mouth as if she just can't believe how fortunate she is.

The opening and closing endpapers are a blended blue, green and golden array replete with stars.  On the title page Earth looks as if she can hardly wait to share her secrets with us.  Earth is a constant character on every page turn but two.  Her size is in keeping with the narrative and other elements David Litchfield uses in his design.  She may be extending a hand to point out important features, joining her siblings (and the Sun), having fun with the Moon, or taking a journey through time in a photo album.

In his portrayal of Earth David Litchfield endears readers to their residence.  Her mannerisms, facial expressions and hands are spirited and inviting.  On the final three two-page pictures Earth extends from page edge to page edge.  Superimposed on her enlarged eyes, mouth and continents are smaller elements relative to the text.  These are wonderful, emotional portraits.

One of my many favorite images is of Earth as an infant.  On the photo album page which is tilted and extends across the gutter to the left, the caption at the top reads:

Explosive.  Gassy!  Very cranky.

Earth is shown as red hot, frowny-eyed and with crossed arms.  A pacifier is stuck in her mouth.  Under one of the corner tabs it reads:

BABY EARTH

On the far left present-day Earth is shown smiling and holding and looking at the album.


For any readers, even your youngest readers, Earth!:  My First 4.54 Billion Years written by Stacy McAnulty with illustrations by David Litchfield is a must for all your collections.  With comedy, captivating conversation and interesting information Earth tells us a lot about Earth.  At the close of the book Stacy McAnulty speaks to alien visitors about Earth.  She further includes items about the continents, Earth's location and life.  There is also a list of sources.

To discover more about Stacy McAnulty and David Litchfield and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Stacy has activity pages associated with this title at her site.  You can see illustrations at David's site different from those found at the publisher's website.  Stacy McAnulty is a guest at author Tara Lazar's Writing for Kids (While Raising Them).  Stacy is interviewed at WeGrowMedia.  David maintains accounts on Tumblr and Instagram.  I hope you enjoy the videos.





Please be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher to enjoy the books selected this week by other participants in the 2018 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

Making A Melody, Making A Memory

Music is the shorthand of emotion.

Leo Tolstoy

Regardless of our varied moods there will be music to match them.  Specific compositions or songs are used to inspire, calm, energize and replace one feeling with another.  These same melodies may be connected to vivid memories.  

In the early part of the eighteenth century a new musical instrument was introduced.  Today eighty-eight keys, some white, some black, arranged on a board, when pressed, cause hammers to strike strings.  These vibrating strings produce a range of sounds as varied as the person playing the piano.  The Bear and the Piano (Clarion Books, April 5, 2016) written and illustrated by David Litchfield is a marvelous exploration of music and friendship.

One day in the forest, a young bear cub found something he'd never seen before.

What could this be? he thought.

Shyly, he touched it with his stubby paws.

The sound coming from this new thing was dreadful.  The cub walked away that day but on the next day he returned.  He kept coming back day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year.  The harmonies now coming from this object were not dreadful, but utterly exquisite. 

When the bear played he was able to travel to places from his dreams; he was no longer in the woods.  Soon other bears congregated to listen in the evenings; enchanted by what they were hearing.  It was not long before someone else, two children, heard his music.  Their proposition changed the bear's life.

He knew the other bears would miss his nightly concerts, but the desire to venture out of the forest was stronger.  Within the clamor of the city the piano-playing bear made headlines.  Now his nightly concerts were performed before large crowds in huge halls.  He received awards for his record albums; every one gold. 

As his fame and fortune grew so did a longing to return home.  Home is where his heart was.  Home is where his friends were.  Home is where the piano in the woods was.  But sometimes when you go back things are different.  They might be even better.

When you read the first two pages of this book written by David Litchfield you are immediately intrigued.  You can hardly wait to turn the page, wondering where this story will go.  Your mind is filled with questions; some will be answered, others will remain a mystery.  

Word choices, sentence placement and spacing and punctuation provide impeccable pacing.  If it were possible to express the playing of a piano melody through story, it would be as Litchfield has written this book.  Here is a sample passage.

It wasn't long before the other bears

in the forest were drawn to the clearing.

Every night, a crowd gathered to listen

to the magical melodies coming from

the bear and the strange thing.

The red theater curtains pulled back to reveal the cub at the piano in the woods, shown on the matching dust jacket and book case, is a prelude of things to come.  Readers can sense the contrast between the two worlds, theater and forest supplied by the texture of the elements in the image.  The rich ruby red is carried across the spine to the left on the back of the jacket and case.  In a circular illustration placed on this background it is autumn.  Leaves fall from trees in the wooded clearing as the bear plays his piano.

The opening and closing endpapers both showcase the beauty of the bear's forest, trees and flowers with light streaming between the leaves and branches.  The two scenes are different though; extensions of the story.  Beneath the title text a portion of the bear is shown in his tuxedo.  

Rendered in mixed media the pictures shift in size to enhance emphasis in the narrative.  Double page spreads command our full attention, a group of vignettes shows a passing of time, and single pages ask us to pause.  The blend of the color palette and illustrative detail will have you looking at every single element in the images and then reaching out to touch the page.

One of my favorite illustrations of many is of the bear seated on a rooftop in the city.  He is wearing his theater attire, a tuxedo, with the collar and tie loosened.  Beneath the stars and full moon he gazes over the city, across the river and into the woods.  The chosen colors heighten the overall peace and thoughts of the bear. 

Playing from the Heart (Candlewick Press, April 12, 2016) brings our attention again to the allure of piano music.  This title, written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, gives readers insight, as did The Bear and the Piano, into the powerful personal connections made between a musician and their listeners.  Let's follow the lives of a father, his son and the piano.

The piano stood quietly

in the living room for years.

Little Raj finally sat down on the bench one day.  His legs were much too short to reach the pedals but he sent notes floating out into the room.  As he grew so did his ability to blend the sounds, making them longer, more melodious. 

His playing without benefit of a single lesson was so lovely, his father found him a teacher, a piano teacher.  Raj learned to read music from a printed page.  His playing was flawless.  In fact it's perfection exhausted the young man.  He stopped playing.

Raj grew up, left home and worked in the city.  His father grew older and felt the silence left by his son's absence.  Time passed until one night Raj got a call.  His father was sick.

The son hurried as quickly as he could to get home.  At his father's bedside Raj asked a question and received a reply.  A bond is reformed joining hearts together.

Like the title of this book, Peter H. Reynolds writes from the heart.  For many of the pages, a single, simple sentence conveys much meaning.  We are wrapped in his words, surrounded by the story. 

To place significance on a change in the narrative Reynolds adds more sentences.  We can feel the intensity of the moment when Raj's playing will change.  Here is a sample passage.

His father heard the dreamy music

floating through the house.  He was amazed

that his son was playing beautifully without

ever having taken a lesson.

The text on the dust jacket, book case and throughout the book is hand-lettered.  The illustrations are created using pen, ink, watercolor, gouache and tea.  As readers can see in looking at the front of the dust jacket, color is used sparingly and with purpose.  The brush strokes flow forming a distinct atmosphere.  On the back, to the left, Raj and his father, now ill and in bed, are conversing.  Peter H. Reynolds adds a very personal note beneath the image.

On the book case a swirl of colors covers the front and back.  The only other item is the title in black on the front.  The opening and closing endpapers are a dusty blue wash.  Between text on the title page we see the interior of the home; the living room with the piano after the boy has decided to stop playing and has graduated.

Most of the pictures are placed on single pages.  There are two double-page spreads, each of the father in the living room at different points in his life. The emotions they depict are at opposite ends.  The palette for all the illustrations is limited; browns, grays, blues, a little golden and a little purple.  Only the notes when the son is the happiest are more brightly depicted.  The loose delicate lines by Reynolds are distinctive, defining exactly what he wants us to see.

One of my favorite pictures is when Raj first sits on the bench to play the piano.  Childhood items, a baseball, a book, a paint brush and paper and toy fire truck are scattered on the floor behind him.  (His back is to us.)  Through the arch in the doorway a kitten watches.  Notes are placed on the wall above Raj and the piano.  He is dwarfed by the piano but he continues to play.  Reynolds outlines the piano and items on the top, leaving it and them mostly white.  The added color surrounds the key elements.

The Bear and the Piano written and illustrated by David Litchfield and Playing from the Heart written and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds are two expressive books inviting us to participate in the joy of shared music.  Music, piano music, brings people together.  It awakens creativity in some and creates an appreciation for the form in others.  I highly recommend both of these titles.  

To learn about David Litchfield and Peter H. Reynolds and enjoy more of their other work please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  There are a few interior illustrations from The Bear and the Piano at Litchfield's site.  By following this link to the publisher's website you can view additional images from Playing from the Heart.  Enjoy the videos.