In Appreciation Of Printed Pages

Today hours roll by as books are sorted and added to the collection.  Near the end it's clear, there are many more books than spaces on the shelves.  The process begins anew with decisions on friends needing to find new homes.  By the very definition of friend, readers find themselves bonding with distinct titles based on understanding found through words on the pages.  An appreciation for the work of an author and an illustrator develops.  How many times have you said you love a book?

Affection for a book knows no boundaries.  There is no discrimination based on anything to deter a fondness shared by many.  Each individual has memories of books stored in their hearts (or on their bookshelves) for a lifetime, some are classics and others are contemporary.  A new collaboration by a highly respected team, their first since The Quiet Place (Farrar Straus Giroux) in 2012, is set to be released on August 27, 2019.  This Book of Mine (Farrar Straus Giroux) written by Sarah Stewart with pictures by her husband, David Small, champions and cheers for books and the reading they inspire.

I take this book . . .

When you take a book, read it and read it and then read it again, it becomes a trusted companion.  It does not judge but illuminates.  It flings doors wide open with encouragement.

As babies, a book satisfies a hunger, figuratively and literally.  As we grow, it's there when needed in the dark of night.  It inspires artistic endeavors.  We allow it to gladly consume our full attention.

When we select to possess a book, we can find ourselves within those pages.  Through exploration in books, discoveries necessary for our souls and our minds are made, triggering our imaginations and thirst for knowledge.  All these riches are our reward for as long as we breathe.


There is a soothing rhythm to the words written by Sarah Stewart.  She begins and ends the narrative referencing a book as a friend.  Between these two thoughts are rhyming sentences and phrases.  These connect to our actions as infants, young children, and adults indulging in the bliss books can bring.  In her words there is equality regardless of age.  Here is a passage.

To think about what I
just saw---
then close the book
and try to draw.


The hues of purple seen on the open and matching dust jacket and book case elevate the calm found in the text.  (I always link purple to royalty which is appropriate when discussing the importance of books.) This is also the first time we see a contrasting color used in the books read by the people featured.  Illustrator David Small does this throughout the book, alternating between shades of green, orange, bright yellow, light blue, red, very light purple, golden yellow, darker blue, pale golden yellow and pink.  To the left, on the back, the tail of a cat, its back to us, rests in the gutter of an open book, marking a place.  A mug on the right is next to the book and cat.

On the opening and closing endpapers is a delicate pattern in green and purple; a blend of hexagons and stars within them.  On the right of the opening endpapers is a book plate reading:

This book belongs to

with a book beneath it.  This book appears later in the interior.

The cat is showcased again on the double-page picture for the title page.  It is resting on top of a stack of books.  Each page turn reveals a series of double-page images displaying a diverse group of people in age, race or ethnicity, and occupations, hobbies or passionate pursuits. Each one is sincerely and contentedly engaged in reading or energized by the act of reading a book.  David Small's signature lines enhance the pleasing and calm pacing.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations takes place in an empty elegant theater.  The room is darkened except for a single lamp shining in the center of the stage.  Around the darkened room we can see rows of cushioned seating on two levels.  Curtains are drawn back on box seating on both levels.  A large chandelier hangs from the ceiling.  On the stage standing in the light is a woman dressed for work.  She is holding a yellow book shouting aloud the words to the empty room.  At her feet are a bucket, mop and cleaning spray bottle.


This title, This Book of Mine written by Sarah Stewart with pictures by David Small, is indeed a tribute to books and reading but it is more.  It's an opportunity to speak with others about favorite books, old and new.  It's an opportunity to share where our favorite reading spots are.  It's a chance to connect with other readers and invite others to join the community of book lovers.  I highly recommend this book for your professional and personal collections.

To read more about David Small (and Sarah Stewart, too) and their other work, please follow the link attached to David's name.  At the publisher's website you can view several interior images.  Many of my favorite ones are shown.

They're Getting Away Again...

When learning a story yourself or teaching storytelling to others, the key is not in recalling it word for word but finding the essence of the narrative.  To me this is what knowing it by heart means.  If the bare bones of the tale are timeless, if it has appeal across cultures to people regardless of their age, it will remain as long as there is memory.

When reading any of the earlier versions of The Gingerbread Man (which as far as I can tell is strictly an American adaptation on the runaway food motif from folklore)  he was made by a little old woman and a little old man who had no children of their own.  Since that time authors and illustrators have delighted readers with their individual interpretations and enhancements on the original.  Catch That Cookie! (Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, August 14, 2014) written by Hallie Durand with pictures by David Small is an extraordinarily tasty tale mixing all the necessary ingredients for a recipe readers will remember.

It was December, and Marshall's class had 
heard stories about runaway gingerbread
men all week long.

Marshall is far too sensible to believe a single word in any of these stories.  Anyone knows gingerbread men can't run.  They are cookies, plain and simple.  Cookies are to be eaten.

Today is the day his class is making their own gingerbread men.  Marshall is eager to begin, acting as the chief mixer of dough.  After the cookies are cut, the decorating begins in earnest.  Marshall adds extra raisins so his man has six eyes and a nifty silver ball belt.  Mrs. Gray checks and re-checks the oven door to make sure no cookies can escape.

The students minus Marshall are delirious with glee when the timer chimes and the opened oven reveals the cookies have vanished.  To make it even more exciting the gingerbread men have left not one but four clues.  The chase is on!  They are led up high, down low, and from the classroom into the gym and back again.

Marshall is sure there is a logical explanation.  Gingerbread men can't leave clues.  Certainly there is a reason the writing is so sloppy on the notes.  Certainly there is a reason he spies a single silver ball on the floor.    Certainly there is a reason he discovers hundreds of gingerbread footprints.  Could the answer be magic?  Marshall takes a leap of faith.  Will you?


The blend of unseen narrator with dialogue by Marshall, his classmates and Mrs. Gray, their teacher, along with the gingerbread clues are skillfully composed by Hallie Durand.  She understands the atmosphere in school classrooms and the conversations to be heard on a daily basis.  Disbelief, excitement, positive support, mutual respect, curiosity, teamwork and riddles resolved are so lively you expect to hear someone speaking at any moment.  The beat of the G-men hints heightens the story's cadence.  Here is a sample.

If you can find us, we'll be your snack,
But if you can't, we're never coming back.
We ran from the oven, we were bored and hot,
Now we're hiding in a big, black___.


Caldecott Medalist and two-time Caldecott Honor winner, David Small's illustrations are smile-inducing from dust jacket and book case to the closing endpapers.  Animated typography on the front jacket and case with Marshall jumping through the "O" to capture his runaway cookie announces the spirited story to follow.  On the back Small has a wanted poster for the missing G-man looking somewhat like a recipe card.  His descriptions, height, weight, eyes, taste, last seen and warning, are hilarious.  The opening and closing endpapers are created in shades of a cool wintry blue with abstract snowflakes scattered from edge to edge.  The only difference between the two is a small circular image on the left at the end.  It's of Marshall and that's all I am going to say.

No space is wasted by Small as he begins the story on the two-page illustration for the title.  Marshall and his classmates are seated on the story circle rug as Mrs. Gray reads a gingerbread man book aloud.  The verso and the first page visual zooms in on a perplexed Marshall.  Rendered in pen and ink, ink wash, watercolor and colored pencil each page is a blend of varied illustration sizes and text.  The design and layout flow flawlessly.

The care given to detail is exquisite; the snowflake pattern on the endpapers is duplicated on Mrs. Gray's smock which in turn matches the snowflakes hanging from the classroom ceiling, in each setting fine lines outline objects placed within different colored washes allowing for the characters' and the action to draw our attention.  The facial expressions, the shift in perspective and red lines used to focus on specific elements are pure perfection.

One of my favorite illustrations (in addition to the last two pages and the closing endpapers) is when Mrs. Gray opens the oven to find it empty.  She is wearing a completely shocked look.  Marshall's nine classmates are jumping for joy.  He is standing in stunned suspicious silence.  Small has used a light gingerbread-colored wash to emphasize the classroom area but then has it frame his characters. This is definitely a picture packed with emotion.


Every time I read this book I begin and end with a smile.  In fact I never stop page after page.  Catch That Cookie! written by Hallie Durand with pictures by David Small will have you sniffing the air for a whiff of spice and molasses.  You might want to have cookies handy when reading this aloud or even silently to yourself.  Get ready for a chorus of read it again when you close the cover.

To explore the other works of Hallie Durand and David Small please follow the links to their websites embedded in their names.  Here is a link to an interesting article,  The History of Gingerbread, which includes a recipe.  I have created a Padlet of other books for you to use. (The link is here.) If you know of more, please leave the titles in the comments.

Created with Padlet

El Lugar Tranquilo

Up until college I never had to make new friends or be in unfamiliar surroundings.  After graduation seeking a position lead to moving more than once; four new school districts, communities, neighborhoods, colleagues and friends.  As an adult I had to abandon my shyness letting my passion for what I do take over.  Knowing this I can understand how hard it must be for someone coming into a new country, a strange culture and learning another language when they are young.

How a child adjusts to new circumstances is dependent on support of family, their new school environment, teachers and classmates and, in some instances, the power of imagination.  At times they (we) may dream of a more comfortable spot.  In the newest collaboration by Sarah Stewart and David Small, The Quiet Place (Farrar Straus Giroux, September 18, 2012), a little girl creates her own kind of beauty in her new home.

It is mid-spring in the year 1957.  Isabel, her older brother, Chavo, with her mother and father have left Mexico for the United States to live in a city near Lake Michigan.  In a series of letters, so she can practice her English, she writes back home to her Aunt Lupita, a school teacher.

She recounts the landscape in her journey, of making snow angels in a late winter snow and how speaking and reading Spanish makes her feel safe. Understandably, she is shy at school and although her teacher does not speak her language, she welcomes Isabel with a smile.  Something wonderful happens, too.

Her father buys a refrigerator and gives Isabel the box; her own sanctuary for writing letters and keeping her books.  Even a sudden rainstorm cannot discourage her quest for boxes. Every time her mother cooks for children's birthday parties is a new opportunity to bring home one of those cozy cubbies.

Her supportive family helps and allows her creativity to flower; a single room grows to many.  Each celebration leads to another until it is Isabel's special day.  Gifts of words, the practice of writing, paint, paper, pencil and perseverance are reflected in Isabel's joyful one-of-a-kind quiet place.


Twelve letters sent to Mexico, concise, conversational thoughts filled with emotion, convey to readers the true ups and downs felt by a child trying to fit into one life while longing for her old one.  We journey with her, seeing a blending of the two worlds, past with the present.  Sarah Stewart writes as if her heart is the heart of this young girl.

Words are carefully chosen, as if done by a person learning to think, write and read in another language. A single sentence tells us Chavo has a way with words, Father is thinking how to help his daughter adapt and Mother is understanding in so many ways.  We readers feel compassion and admiration for Isabel because of Stewart's ability to say much with little.

Here are a couple of her sentences from this story.

Chavo said, "We left a sea of blue at our feet and entered an ocean of blue over our heads."

Writing to you is easier than speaking to all the new people in my life. That is because I know you love me.


David Small begins and ends this story on the book's endpapers.  His impressive ink drawings are further brought to life with watercolor and pastel chalk wonderfully evoking a captured moment.  His altered perspectives are a ready invitation; the green landscape of the Mexican village nestled beneath the mountains with a close-up looking into the back of the retreating car, Isabel squatting, elbows to knees, and gazing at the snow angel or looking into the newly acquired refrigerator box with the house, delivery men and truck in the background.

His attention to those tiny, poignant details adds much to his two page spreads throughout the book.  At the Mexican border we see Isabel extending her arm out the car window, teddy bear in hand so he can see what everyone else is seeing, or at the diner counter (1950s Formica pattern) Chavo is reading an edition of Life magazine or when we see the created quiet place, a doll is wearing the same dress as Auntie Lupita in the farewell scene.  Isabel's teddy bear can be found in nearly every illustration.

Four illustrations, in addition to the endpapers and title spread are without text but they continue the story beautifully.  The four-page fold-out near the book's end is a stunner.  Isabel's quiet place is revealed in all it's colorful, imaginative glory.  It's a tribute to her Mexican culture, her resilience and joyful spirit.


The Quiet Place written by Sarah Stewart with illustrations by David Small is a gentle, graceful, story about coming to a new country and starting over surrounded by a loving family who embrace their heritage and their new community.  I love everything about this book; absolutely everything.

If you follow this link to Macmillan  there is a mini-slide show of illustrations.  This link  to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast shows the illustrative process David Small used for this title. There are some gorgeous drawings.

These are links to interviews given by Sarah Stewart and David Small prior to the release of this title.
To get to their main website follow the link embedded in David Small's name at the beginning of this post.

Like Father, Like Son

Since the 2002 publication of her first picture book, The Sea Chest illustrated by Mary GrandPre, I've been following author Toni Buzzeo.  Her titles about libraries and librarians have found spots on my personal shelves.
I can not imagine a library under my care nor the shelves in my home, for that matter, not being filled with titles illustrated by Caldecott Medalist, David Small, winning in 2001 with So You Want To Be President? by Judith St. George, and Caldecott Honoree for The Gardener written by Sarah Stewart, his wife, in 1998.  A huge poster of an illustration by Small from The Library written by Sarah Stewart will always have a place on the wall in my home.

To my delight Toni Buzzeo and David Small have collaborated on a title that was released January 10, 2012, One Cool Friend.  Readers will come to realize through the narrative and illustrations that more than one definition of cool is present in this book.

Elliot was a very proper young man.

In fact, unless daily circumstances dictate otherwise, he is most appropriately and usually attired in a tuxedo-like suit, bow tie firmly in place.  On a Saturday morning at his academic, professorial father's suggestion, Elliot reluctantly but politely agrees to attend Family Fun Day at the aquarium.  Relaxing on a bench National Geographic magazine at the ready his father urges Elliot to have fun.

Avoiding the mobs of kids, Elliot is drawn to the hall's end in the aquarium, home of the penguins; so much like Elliot in appearance.  About midday Elliot returns to ask his father if he may have a penguin.  Looking at a display of fuzzy toy penguins, Elliot's father replies handing him a twenty-dollar bill, "Sure".

Without further ado Elliot pops the smallest live penguin in his trusty backpack.  Dialing down the air conditioning in his bedroom to frigid, Elliot and the newly named Magellan begin to bond; skating on an ice rink in his room, visiting the public library, raiding the freezer for food and a swim for Magellan in the bathroom tub.  That watery dip ends in a huge exclamation and a most delightful surprise.

Toni Buzzeo's use of deliberately chosen language to convey the storyline engaging readers with hints of humor and word play is simply perfect.  Elliot will say one thing and his father will take away a completely different meaning.  In a review and interview Anna Boll: Book Review Wednesday:  One Cool Friend-One Cool Contest, Buzzeo talks about the writing process in general and the specifics of this book.  The interview also includes remarks about her collaboration with David Small.

After multiple readings all I can say is the use of pen and ink, ink wash, watercolor and colored pencil by David Small is brilliant.  Soft, warm black and white illustrations with splashes of color, chilly light blues, a lime plaid suit for the father, rosy cheeks for the two, a red backpack for Elliot, green garden hose, a marvelous skating outfit for Elliot, add to the nostalgic feel of this story as does the grand home and furnishings where the two reside.  His sense of humor, his extension of the text, is down right hilarious particularly evident in the characters' eyes.  Other touches such as a child running panic-stricken crab pinching her finger from the tide pool exhibit, the shark watching Elliot smuggle the penguin out in his pack, Elliot's bed filled with toy penguins, the penguin himself animated and happy-go-lucky, speech bubbles around the characters' conversations and thoughts and those oh, so, subtle hints at the unexpected conclusion contribute to the anticipated chorus of "read it again, please, please, please".

I cannot think of a better tale to introduce a unit on Caldecott Medalist David Small, the value of friendship, word play in narratives, or the study of penguins.  One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo with pictures by David Small is as we used to say "real cool"; it excels from beginning to end.