From The Confines Of A Square

National Poetry Month 2014 has come and gone but as far as I'm concerned poetry should be celebrated every month of the year.  With its multiple forms it can characterize a moment, a person, a thing or a place better than anything else.  Some of the most enjoyable poetry is written for children.  All you have to do is look at the shelves in a school library at any time of the year to realize the popularity of poetic works.

Poets who create for children of any age have a unique gift, the ability to get to the spirit of their subject.  They see the world through the eyes of their intended audience.  Outside the Box: A Book of Poems (Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division) written by Karma Wilson with illustrations by Diane Goode is a collection sure to appeal to any reader but especially to those who enjoy looking at life through the lens of laughter, thoughtfulness and absurdity.

Welcome!
Welcome to my humble book.
Turn a page and take a look.
I hope you choose to stay awhile,
read a poem, relax, and smile.

But if you find this book a bore,
can't stand to read it anymore,
and tell the world my book is lame,
do me a favor?  Forget my name.

With an introductory poem like that (pictured as a note taped to the first page), readers will be hard-pressed not to accept the invitational challenge of turning the next page.  On the following two pages a poem named for the title explains the premise for the book.  If you weren't hooked before, you will be now.

Although there are no titled chapter headings, two page illustrations provide eight divisions between the poems. Enlarging lies, being sick on the wrong day of the week, the perils of poetry writing, finding a too-cozy spot to hide and those pesky songs on re-run in your head make for unexpected endings.  A brother would exclude a sister in his winnings but a sister gets her revenge in a bubble blowing exhibition.

Who knew the boogie man likes to boogie?  If an imaginary friend speaks wrongly about you, does that make them your fantastical foe?  Are stolen kisses really yucky?  Will you look at the moon the same way tonight or the sun at the break of day?

Heed the Please Don't Feed the Bears words of wisdom.  Watch out for feisty insects.  Take lessons from the clever sheep.  Keep your eyes open for animals unknown...yet.

You'll burst out laughing at a birthday wish gone wrong and the last best gift of Christmas.  You'll shiver and shake the next time you go trick-or-treating, if you ever go again.  You'll knowingly nod at the tale told by the rider of The Great Gargantuan.  When all is read and done, at the close of the day and the book, you'll realize a grin has been growing.


These poems penned by Karma Wilson are a rocking and rolling riot of fun.  They reel you in with their rhythm and rhyme from the first line to the last.  In Wilson's hands words take on a life of their own, casting spells no matter the length of the poem.   She looks at both sides of her characters, animals and topics; the good and not so good are acknowledged with her wit and wisdom.  Here is a sample passage from the poem titled The Dream Weaver.

...  Embroidering visions, enriching our nights,
dreams full of magical, mythical sights.
Frightful, wistful, charming, and bleak...
each dream, like a snowflake, unique.  ...


Caldecott Honor medalist (When I Was Young in the Mountains) Diane Goode brings her considerable skills and signature artwork using brush and pen and ink to enhance and extend this poetic collection.  Done entirely in black and white in a variety of sizes and perspectives, an air of the fantastic permeates the pages.  Her lines, heavy or fine, solid or shaded, tell their own stories; a personality quirk, a mood, an emotion or a particular scene.

On several of her two-page illustrations she adheres to the theme of outside the box having elements from the poems gathered around an open box.  She might switch it up changing the type of box or leave the box out entirely as when she has an airplane in the clouds pulling two skiers, tow ropes extended from the wings.  There is a definite sense of humor underlying many of her pictures; the same sister is used in two separate poems and the playbill highlighting Shakespeare shows him with a "Pinocchio" nose.  Several poems become shaped or reader's need to turn the book sideways to read them vertically.

A favorite illustration is for the poem, The Problem with Baking Cookies.  Two older brothers are arguing, then fighting, about who is going to get to lick the spoon, baking implements in the air.  Calmly off to the side, sitting on the floor, is a toddler...licking the spoon.  There is no mention of the third child in the poem; it's artistic wonderfulness from Goode.

I can't imagine having a bookshelf without this title, Outside the Box: A Book of Poems written by Karma Wilson with illustrations by Diane Goode, being a part of the collection.  Karma Wilson dedicates this volume to wordsmith Shel S.  I know it will fly off the shelves into the hands of eager readers for years to come just as his books continue to do.  Plan on having extra copies on hand.

If you follow the links embedded in Karma Wilson's name and Diane Goode's names you will be able to access their websites.  The second link to Goode's website shows the process for illustrating this book.  It was an immense task but worth it for the truly wonderful results.

...From Sea To Shining Sea

Katharine Lee Bates taught English literature for forty years at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  As the story goes in 1893 after a trek by wagon, mule and foot to the top of Pike's Peak, she was so inspired by the landscape spread before her, she wrote a poem in her journal. Two years later it was first published and has since evolved into one of our nation's most cherished songs, America The Beautiful.

For eight years my two favorite books of this song were both published in 2004.  In his debut picture book illustrator Chris Gall depicts the poem in stunning visuals.  Here are two sentences from the review at Kirkus (March 1, 2004)

Gall, an actual descendant of Bates, illustrates the four verses of this country's other national anthem with bold, clean-lined, heroic American scenes, from a sturdy rural couple contemplating their "amber waves," to firefighters raising a flag over the ruins at Ground Zero.  This broadly idealistic art is infused with a spirit of inclusiveness, as blind Justice towers over a woman in judicial robes, a Tuskegee Airman poses heroically atop his fighter, and in the concluding spread, East meets West in more ways than one at Utah's Promontory Point.

In the middle of October paper engineer, Robert Sabuda gave readers his interpretation.  In a starred review Kirkus (October 1, 2004) states:

The wizard of pop-ups has created a masterpiece---in design, in execution, in boldness of vision, and in artistic and historic integrity.  

In an effort to fill my book gap challenge, several days ago when participating in one of my favorite pastimes, browsing in a bookstore, my attention was completely captured by a new joyful cover of a book titled, America the Beautiful Together We Stand (Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.).  Ten notable illustrators, Bryan Collier, Raul Colon, Diane Goode, Mary GrandPre, John Hendrix, Yuyi Morales, Jon J Muth, LeUyen Pham, Sonia Lynn Sadler and Chris Soentpiet have each contributed in their unique illustrative styles to give a new vision to this poetic song.  The result is as varied and resplendent as the land in which we live.


Beginning with O beautiful for spacious skies, the luminous paintings of Chris Soentpiet display a group of happy, shouting, singing children from all ethnic backgrounds holding and waving small American flags with fireworks blossoming above them.  The play of light on each of the faces is a joy to behold.  The detail is nearly photographic.

The pastel painting of Mary GrandPre lights up For amber waves of grain, showing children at play.  A large tree branch in an open field has become their ship adorned in colored cloths for sails and flags birds flying in the sky around them.  They are joined by a happy barking dog.

Raul Colon's distinctive use of watercolor paper, watercolor washes, etching, colored pencils and litho pencils breathes beauty into For purple mountain majesties.  His representation of these words is one of the finest I have ever seen.   Mountains provide a backdrop for five children, (equal in size to the mountains) engaged in activities, basketball, paper airplane flying, skateboarding, baseball and jumping rope.

Sonia Lynn Sadler's usual medium is colored scratchboard.  Her depiction of Above the fruited plain! is a gathering of people from all walks of life of all ages gathered around a large quilt which they are stitching together.  The pieces of the quilt are pictures of Americana from East to West.  Everything is outlined in a fine white line accentuating this colorful array.

America! is shown in a powerful image by Bryan Collier in his technique of watercolor collage.  A faint dark sky blue image of our flag provides the background for tree branches showing faces.  Prominently displayed is a young child hands firmly grasped in front over the tree.

The second America! done in soft greens by Jon J Muth shows a forest glen.  His watercolor artwork focuses on two children tending to a newly sprouted tree.  One child is kneeling next to it as the other carries a watering can, a small turtle crawling away to the left.  A feeling of serenity permeates.

With shades of red overtone, Yuyi Morales renders her signature illustration in acrylics.  God shed His grace on thee is vividly visualized by a close-up of workers in a field of green taking a break in their labors, eating and drinking, small children with them.  As two hummingbirds flutter by, music drifts out from the portable radio in one of the worker's pockets.

Diane Goode's pen and ink drawings highlighting And crown thy good in pale teals, browns, a brighter green, red, white and blue intricately depict historic moments and accomplishments.  Towering over these is a young adult handing off a crown of laurel leaves to another four, hands linked.  All are balanced on stepping stones in water.

LeUyen Pham who in an interview stated she likes to keep people guessing about her medium, brush pens, watercolor, gouache, pencil or computer, has masterfully painted rows of children not only resembling the American flag but the shape of the United States.  Her illustration is on the front cover and interprets with brotherhood... .The playful pyramid nearly rings with laughter.

The final two pages, From sea to shining sea! drawn by John Hendrix are extraordinary.  On the left we see an old sea vessel floating above the clouds manned by children garbed in attire from various time periods.  As the clouds part on the right mountains turn in a landscape showcasing a geographical tableau replete with all manner of buildings and landmarks as his circular, starry, stylistic  fireworks are placed across the golden sky and page.  Every time I gaze at this illustration I see something new, something particular to our country.

When unfolding the jacket from the cover readers are treated to a vertical colorful portrait display of all forty-four presidents; a poster.  Rich, blue endpapers, front and back, display rows of white stars.  A turn of page lists each of the illustrators in alphabetical order alternating the color of their names in red and white on the same blue background.  After the simple title page the series of exquisite nearly two page illustrations begin, each interpreting a portion of the song.

Alternating first on the right side, then on the left, each pictorial representation leaves a small column in which a presidential quote appears.  Above each quote is a significant national landmark or symbol. At the close of the song these items are listed in the order they appeared with an explanation.  The final two pages include all four verses of the song, a small paragraph titled Our Democracy followed by a Thomas Jefferson quote and a small biographical paragraph about Katharine Lee Bates.


This is by far the longest review, assessment, of any book for which I have posted on this blog.  I wanted to focus on the artwork of each individual illustrator knowing how much time each invested in their depiction of their given words.  America the Beautiful Together We Stand is an absolutely gorgeous array of artwork; an exhibition of various mediums from masters in the field of children's book illustration.

I can see multiple uses for this title; a study of the poem becoming a beloved song, a study of various artistic styles and mediums or examining the representations for the words each illustrator chose.  I have embedded links to each illustrator's website or if they had none, the most recent discussion of their work.  This title comes highly recommended; it's stunning.