A Four-Legged Forever Friend

There are times before a book is even in your possession; you know you have to read it.  It's one thing when contemporaries recommend a book to you, but when one of your students tells you to read a book you read it with no questions asked.  If they know you well enough to believe you will love a book, then the best connections have been made.  It means you and your students have established a mutual love of reading.  A bridge named trust has been built.

. @Loveofxena after we read Tony, Alan said, "We need to show Ms. Culver this book. She'll love it. I know she will." pic.twitter.com/VCkUOnHcAJ

— Mr. ©olby Sharp (@colbysharp) December 6, 2016

Winter camp for the upper grade in the middle school where I was the librarian was always a long-anticipated event.  One year instead of heading north for these days, we headed to a well-established camp for all seasons in southern Michigan.  One of the activities for the students was horseback riding.

Each group was informed about all the special qualities of horses while gathered around this magnificent animal.  Up-close-and-personal they are big.  Not all the students were eager to ride one so I decided to show them how easy and enjoyable it could be.  When I was finally in the saddle, this horse seemed HUGE and the distance to the ground seemed FAR.  It would be safe to say, I will never forget that day.  My respect for horses, those who ride and love them grew.

When I first read Tony (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, February 7, 2017) written by the late Ed Galing with illustrations by Erin E. Stead I was mesmerized.  Rich in language and artwork, it transports you to another time and place.  Once again my respect for horses continues to grow.

Tony

that was his name

This horse is beloved by the narrator as he recalls seeing Tony in the mornings.  Tony pulls a wagon, the milk truck, for a young man who goes by the name of Tom.  When the rest of the neighborhood is sleeping Tom loads his wagon with dairy products and eggs.

Tony is a beautiful animal.  His coat is completely white.  His eyes look straight into your soul.  They are filled with compassion.  As Tom stops and makes his deliveries to each home, Tony silently stands.

The narrator goes on to tell us how he goes out to Tony and gives him a loving embrace.  In return, the gentle horse gives him a bow of acceptance and affection.  Tom makes sure to tell him Tony looks for him every day just like he looks for Tony.

After the exchange of words Tom and Tony slowly make their way to the next house.  The narrator follows them with his eyes, watching.  What he sees will make all readers' hearts sing.


This quiet story told in soothing refrains with words penned by Ed Galing will resonate with readers inviting them to look at the everyday with fresh eyes.  Although the time period described has come and gone, the ability to appreciate the wonder of a beautiful creature is timeless.  Simple but profound descriptions reveal a deep and abiding connection between Tony and Tom and Tony and the narrator.  Here are the words on the front jacket flap and from an interior portion of the poem.

Tony was all white,
large, sturdy,
with wide gentle eyes
and a ton of love,


Using a limited color palette, variations on golden yellow and mint green, Erin E. Stead creates images of calm, steadfastness and affection.  On the front of the dust jacket Tony is waiting for Tom as he makes an early morning delivery.  The light from the open doorway directs our attention to the ordinary but somehow extraordinary horse.  To the left, on the back, surrounded by green is the barn with an overhead lamp lighting the doorway and front yard.  I know this probably makes no sense but you can hear the silence or perhaps feel the silence in these two pictures.

On the book case, charcoal gray in color, is the one word title in white in the lower, right-hand corner.  It is embossed as the title text is on the dust jacket.  A dark teal covers the opening and closing endpapers.  A sheet of vellum with the publisher, author and illustrator names has been placed over the title and a portrait of Tony bowing his head which is also the first word of the poem.  Even if you never read another word, you have to stop and marvel at the sensory perceptions the dust jacket and title page awaken.

Rendered using Gomuban monoprinting and pencil each two-page picture is a study in grace.  Tony standing neck stretched toward the barn door, Tom leading Tony, milk bottles, butter, eggs and a sweet treat, and the companions quietly moving beneath a street light in the pre-dawn hours call out to readers to slow and enjoy the smallest moments.  Many times Erin E. Stead will give us a larger view but when she brings us close to Tony we want to reach out, as the narrator does, and give him a hug.

One of my many (I adore every single one.) favorite illustrations is when Tom is leading Tony toward the open barn door.  The light from the overhead lamp spills across the page like a pathway.  You wonder if they are walking together in the silence of loving partners or if Tom is whispering plans for the morning to Tony.  The golden yellow is the only color.  Everything else is delicately drawn in pencil; the details on the barn door, the shrubs off to the right side and the bridle on Tony being loosely held by Tom.


No bookshelf, professional or personal, should be without a copy of Tony written by Ed Galing with illustrations by Erin E. Stead.  Every time you hold it, even before opening the cover, you can feel the essence of the words and pictures flow around you.  It is utterly breathtaking.

To learn more about Ed Galing I have linked a blog dedicated to him to his name.  To learn more about Erin E. Stead and her other work, please follow the link to her website attached to her name.  She has a blog here.  You can read more about this book here.  Please visit this special page inviting you to join in the efforts to help animals.  If you raise the most money for a local animal shelter you will win a visit from the Steads.  At the publisher's website you can view four interior images.

UPDATE:  Thanks to the reference from author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast on March 28, 2017 about an article in The New Yorker by Sarah Larson about this book.

A Courier Of Kindness

When walking along the sandy shores of Lake Michigan you will find roughly-textured black stones, flat stones perfect for skipping along the water's surface, and heart-shaped stones to add to your collection.  Your water-loving dog will dive beneath the waves bringing back the perfect rock for burying in a hole dug with sprays of sand flying behind her.  On rainy days you will find those stones only found in Michigan, Petoskey stones.

If you are fortunate you will discover shoreline jewels, pieces of glass, edges worn smooth by waves and sand.  Finding a bottle intact would be a wondrous first for me.  The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles (Dial Books For Young Readers, August 23, 2016) by debut picture book author Michelle Cuevas and Caldecott Medal winning illustrator Erin E. Stead is a quiet, heartwarming story of a man devoted to finding gifts for others.

THE UNCORKER OF OCEAN BOTTLES lived alone on a high spot with only one tree for shade.

Day after day he gazed across the expanse looking for a bobbing bottle.  His job upon finding this precious prize was to open it and give the message inside to the proper person.  He never knew the extent of his journey to complete his task.

Sometimes the distance was short.  Other times it took him weeks and months to make a delivery.  The emotion embedded in the words varied as well as the age of the messages.  These small letters were as different as the individuals who wrote and received them.

Over the years the Uncorker of Ocean Bottles wondered if there would ever be a letter for him.  (Sometimes it's this kind of wish, however unlikely it is to come true, which gives an extra lightness to any kind of day.)  Our courier found a strange kind of note one morning; unusual because there was no name to be found on it.

Inquiries were made to an assortment of individuals in the nearby town but no one knew anything about the note.  That evening the Uncorker of Ocean Bottles felt sad he had been unable to present the letter to someone.  He made a vow as he fell asleep.  The next day and into the next night, the promise was kept.  Some messages are of the most extraordinary kind imaginable.


When read aloud the words written by Michelle Cuevas are like a lullaby for life.  Her comparisons, the use of similes and metaphors, are sensory and vividly descriptive.  Her use of dialogue within the narrative draws us further into the life of this lonely, dedicated man.  Her pacing is impeccable asking us to move or muse along with the Uncorker of Ocean Bottles.  Here are two passages.

Sometimes the messages were very old, crunchy like leaves in the fall.

But most of the time they made people quite happy, for a letter can hold the treasure of a clam-hugged pearl. 


There is a technique, a style, entirely unique to artist Erin E. Stead.  All of the images for this title are rendered in

woodblock prints, oil pastels, and pencil.

The texture they create makes you want to embrace the book and the story within its pages.

Her attention to detail and her delicate line work is first seen on the dust jacket; the series of steps leading to the home, the cat perched on the roof, the seagull next to the Uncorker, the bright red on the door, the puffs of smoke coming from the chimney and the cow in the meadow below.  To the left, on the back of the jacket, the sea green is extended over the spine to create a background.  Within a circle of white, Stead has placed the Uncorker riding his bike with his back to readers.  Items in his hand suggest the outcome of the story.

The same sea green is the canvas for the book case.  Embossed on the front is the Uncorker looking out his window with his cat next to him.  Both of them have their backs to us.  The opening and closing endpapers are a darker shade of the sea green.

Erin Stead begins her visual interpretation of the story on the title, verso and dedication pages.  First we see a bottle on the waves with a fish swimming beneath it. Then we are inside the Uncorker's home with him and his cat.  Most of the illustrations span two pages with the same hue of green in various shades visible in all of them either as water, sky or the darkness inside the Uncorker's home. For those pictures on single pages Stead places them within circles on a white background.  White is used throughout this title as a striking element of design.

One of my favorite illustrations (I love them all.) is for the second phrase noted above.  In this one the entire background is variations on golden sunlight for the interior of a woman's home.  On the left she is seated in a chair with a look of pure bliss on her face.  Her eyes are closed as she holds the letter.  Next to her is the bottle on one side and on the other side sits a gramophone on a table.  On the right through a circular window, mirroring the shape on those single-page pictures, we see the Uncorker walking away looking down or perhaps speaking to his cat. His pants are a darker shade of green.


This book, The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles written by Michelle Cuevas with illustrations by Erin E. Stead, is a gem glowing with charm.  As soon as you read the title and see the dust jacket image, you know this book is going to be rich and rare.  The words and illustrations lift you up and transport you to a realm of wonderful possibilities.  This book must be shared...often.

To learn more about Michelle Cuevas and Erin E. Stead and their other work please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites. Erin E. Stead is featured at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's blog Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and at Brightly. 

Guardians Of The Wood

Take it from one who knows, moving is mentally and physically exhausting.  The stress from the mess of packing, assignment of duties to willing helpers, phone calls to utilities, banks, mortgage companies, title companies, realtors and moving company personnel seem to be never ending.  Getting boxes, shaping boxes, taping boxes, loading boxes, bubble wrapping anything and everything, lifting and carrying are enough of a work-out to earn extra points on the daily exercise chart.  Then when you arrive at your destination it all happens again, only in reverse.  For children and pets it must be overwhelming.

Each home has good qualities.  Each location has reasons for being selected.  When the change is made it's hard not to compare.  The newness is a mix of excitement and apprehension.  The wife and husband team of Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead present Lenny & Lucy (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, October 6, 2015), a look at imagination and the magic it invites.

WINDING ALONG A BUMPY ROAD,
through the dark unfriendly woods, Peter said,
"I think this is a terrible idea."

Peter, Harold, his faithful furry dog, and his Dad are moving.  The road to their new home takes them through old woods filled with tall trees and little light.  After crossing a bridge, they arrive.  To Peter the bridge is a gate; the woods on one side, his new home on the other.

That first night, Peter and Harold did not get a wink of sleep, worrying about the things not seen in the woods.  The next morning the companions haul piles of pillows from the house along with the necessary blankets.  Peter molds them into a friendly shape; a large bundled up man he calls

Lenny, Guardian of the Bridge.

On this night no one sleeps again, all three of them are awake.  Two are worried about the other being alone.  Lenny sits silently, a single brave soul making sure Peter and Harold are safe.

During the day, after much jumping by Harold and Peter, the piles of leaves are shaped as were the pillows with the necessary blankets from the house.  Lenny will not be lonely any longer.  He now has Lucy for a friend.  All is quiet this night. Everyone is sleeping.

The next day is off to a pleasant start with soup for lunch outside after a rousing game of marbles by the foursome. (You won't believe who wins.) A voice asks if anyone has ever seen an owl.  A binocular-carrying girl, Millie, from next door joins the group.  Five sit in a row looking at the wood.  As evening falls a crescent moon hangs in the sky with everyone and everything exactly where they should be.

When Philip C. Stead writes, the stories unfold in quiet and contemplation.  His first sentence on the opening page leaves us wondering.  Even if we have never moved, we immediately connect with Peter.  Everyone knows the disquiet change brings.

We understand Peter's unease but we are never afraid.  The repetition of Peter's actions and the phrases describing them supply a comforting cadence as the tale unfolds.  When Peter and Harold play with the pillows and leaves Stead adds the number of times they do this to his sentence.  It's one extra word but it is significant.  Our kinship with them grows.

The fourth sentence lets us know about Harold's place in this family; he's a beloved member.  Even though he never speaks, his presence is necessary and part of the narrative.  It brings a sense of normalcy so the wonder is even more surprising.


You probably can't tell but the title is embossed in a copper-like foil on the dust jacket.  This illustration is seen again, slightly more close-up in the interior.  To the left, on the back, we read a single sentence on a ribbon of cream over the large floral pattern, the wallpaper in Peter's bedroom.  The cloth book case is a dusky blue, the color of Peter's hat and mittens and his dad's hooded sweater.  The only image is in the lower right-hand corner, again in the copper foil, a foreshadowing of the fun ahead for Peter and Harold.  A shade of burnt orange covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Before the title page an owl is perched on a bare tree branch except for a single golden leaf still hanging.

Erin E. Stead's illustrations, rendered with carbon transfer printing, egg tempera and charcoal, tell a story of their own extending the text.  A limited color palette defines the pictures placed opposite a shaded charcoal page, or extending edge to edge across two pages.  The hues of black and gray make the added color a striking contrast.  Stead's use of the cream color, sometimes large amounts, is exceedingly skillful.  (I really want to know where the idea for the wallpaper in Peter's room originated.)

One of my favorite illustrations is of Lenny sitting on the ground a plate of toast and jam on the ground in front of his big self.  A glass of milk has been placed in his mittened-hand by Peter.  Harold is ready to pounce in the leaves.   Peter is carrying a huge bunch of leaves.  It's a scene so exquisitely normal and filled with loving companionship that you have to pause.


Readers move through the emotional changes in Peter along with his companions in Lenny & Lucy written by Philip C. Stead with illustrations by Erin E. Stead.  Peter has enough confidence to face his fears, secure in his beliefs, to create help. There is strength in numbers, a loyal dog and a watchful owl.  This title found a place on our final Mock Caldecott list.

To find out more about both Philip C. Stead and Erin E. Stead please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Here is the link to The Stead Collection site.  At the publisher's website you can view additional images.  Please read the blog posts for Lenny & Lucy at Watch. Connect. Read. hosted by John Schumacher, Scholastic Ambassador for School Libraries, at the Nerdy Book Club, The Art Room by Philip C. Stead and at sharpread where I Love Reading 3rd grade teacher, Colby Sharp interviews Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead.  You'll enjoy this interview at Publishers Weekly where the Steads interview each other.

Watch, Wait And Wonder

More than fifteen years ago at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago was the first and only time I've seen whales.  My group went on to other parts of the aquarium but I was mesmerized by the belugas; their size, color and grace in the water was a thing of true beauty.  Even understanding the care given to them at Shedd Aquarium (and other animals in zoos and aquariums throughout the world),  I long for a planet where all living creatures could live their lives safely, as they were meant to, in the wild.

To catch a glimpse of a whale while traveling by boat or even from the shore, would be one of those unforgettable moments you carry with you forever.  The collaborative team of author, Julie Fogliano, and Caldecott illustrator, Erin E. Stead, first brought readers And Then It's Spring (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, February 14, 2012); a quiet tribute to possibility and promise.  This month their newest work, If You Want To See A Whale (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, May 7, 2013), follows another little boy and his dog as they practice the fine art of patience.

if you want to see a whale you will need a window

Well, not just a window but an ocean and time for thinking about "whale-ish" shapes.  Maybe it is a whale and maybe it is not a whale.

You can't very well see a whale either from the snuggly comfort of your favorite spot at home.  You will have to ignore other distractions like roses, ships in the distance on the water and the people on those ships.  There is no time to be thinking of pirates.

Don't let pelicans, tiny creepy-crawlies or clouds lead you astray with their smiles, movements or fluffy forms.  No, you need to stay the course.  You need to keep both eyes open, watching the water, and waiting for the wonder of a whale.


When reading the words of Julie Fogliano you find yourself entering a special world; a world of the everyday transformed but her writing.  She makes a simple statement but builds upon it, layer by layer until you not only have an image in your mind but a sequence of events leading to that point.  In this story those things to be enjoyed when not whale watching, the chair and blanket, the roses, the ship, the pelican, inchworms and clouds, are described in such a way as to nearly become characters themselves.  Every single passage plays a quiet song in your mind when read.


There is a quality to the art of Erin E. Stead, her use of space and color, that is stunning in it's simplicity.  When opening the jacket, the image of a whale swimming upward on the back is replicated in an engraving on the blue cloth front cover.  Moving from page to page the shift of white, to a subtle blue or green and then back to white, the interplay of opposites, is design genius.  On her boy, his dog and other items in the illustrations on a given page the fine lines, the tiniest of details, are a delight to behold.

Using linoleum block printing and pencil Stead weaves a kind of magic drawing her reader's eyes into a day dedicated to whale watching; a day following a young boy, his dog and the smallest of birds she includes in every two page spread.  We silently observe their explorations and musings marveling at her interpretation of Fogliano's narrative.  The same shade of yellow in the comfy chair is found again in the dinghy the three companions row out onto the sea.  The hair coloring on the boy is a variation of the same hue in the dog's spots.  The sky highlighting the cloud patterns appears again in a series of three pages that will literally take your breath away.


If You Want To See A Whale written by Julie Fogliano with pictures by Erin E. Stead is picture book perfection.  Readers will wish they could join the curious boy, his faithful dog and the sweet bird as they wait and watch and wonder.  I can't stop reading this again and again.  It's one of those books to cherish and share.

To see more illustrations from this title visit the publisher website linked here.  For an outstanding visual display of the artistic process with supporting conversation from Erin E. Stead visit Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

A Bear...A Story...

I may have mentioned a time or two before but sometimes when I get a new book by an author and an illustrator whose work I appreciate and admire, I don't read it right away.  I keep it in view, anticipating the moment when I open it for the first time; like I do with a present.  I am careful when I do open it, looking at the jacket, cover, endpapers and title page before I even start the story.

There are those when the story is finished, where I sit in stunned silence wondering.  Then I read the story again...and again...and again.  The new title, Bear Has a Story to Tell (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, September 4, 2012) written by Philip C. Stead with illustrations by Erin E. Stead is one of those books.

It is almost winter and Bear was getting sleepy.

Before Bear will let himself go to sleep, he has a story he feels the need to tell.  He first goes to Mouse. But Mouse has seeds to gather. Bear helps him and watches him burrow into the ground to wait out winter.

Duck has no time for a story needing to fly south. Frog has to find somewhere to sleep out of the cold.  When Bear looks for Mole, he listens but Mole is already deep asleep, deep down in the earth.

As the snowflakes drift down, Bear, too, lets himself go to asleep, story untold.  Excitedly, Bear awakens to the warmth of spring eager to tell his tale.  As his friends slowly shake off the seasonal shift and slumber, Bear helps each one adjust to this season as he helped each one get ready for the last.

A moon rises in the darkening sky.  Bear sits upon a log with Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole around him ready to listen.  But Bear has a problem.  His friends speak up as friends do, everything coming full circle.


As the text written by Philip C. Stead is read you can't help but feel he has leaned over and whispered to you, "I have something to tell you.  Listen."  His words truthfully, gently, softly beckon you to follow Bear. And you do because of the way he writes.

As Bear progresses from one of his friends to the next we know he is getting sleepier and sleepier by the descriptive language and comparisons.  We can picture him and his friends in the woodsy surroundings through sensory phrases.  Every carefully told action Bear takes depicts his kindness, his patience.  Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole respond naturally, instinctively, to their world and to Bear.


It's the illustrations of Erin E. Stead created with crushed dry pastels and pencil (her favored medium) that illuminate the narrative further, evoking a sense of peace, a quiet presence.  Every feature of Bear, his face with expressive eyes, black nose, his large rounded stomach, arms and paws are very much bear but more.  The way he looks when he walks, his stance when he bends over to offer assistance to Mouse, how he holds his arm outstretched to check the wind's direction, how he gazes upward at the snowflakes, are all done with a reverent grace, a respect for the story.

Tiny details on Mouse, Duck, Frog and Mole offer insights into their personalities but do not stray from their natural appearances.  As readers turn the pages different backgrounds, sometimes mostly white with a few stray leaves and Bear's sitting log, distinctive tree branches awash in fall colors, or varying shades of blues and blue-greens signifying a change in seasons or time of day.  I have so many favorites but the one of Bear lying down, head on paws, with Mouse, Duck and Frog waiting with him for Mole to pop out of his hole in the evening is simply beautiful.


Authors Norma J. Livo and Sandra A. Rietz in Storytelling: Process & Practice, state:

"Story" is a mystery that has the power to reach within each of us, to command emotion, to compel involvement, and to transport us into timelessness.

Through the combined, award-winning talents of Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead readers enter the marvelous mystery of story in Bear Has a Story to Tell.  We are witness to its rhythm, its invitation and how everyone has a story to tell in their own time.

Follow this link to an interview of Erin E. Stead at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast where she discusses her work.  Here is an interview given by both Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead to Publishers Weekly, Life After The Caldecott: Erin and Philip Stead.

The Cream Rises to the Top-Caldecott 2011

It is not often that the art of woodblock printing draws so much attention in the world of children's literature.  Erin E. Stead as a first time illustrator of a book has certainly elevated this form using it to compliment her graceful, gentle pencil drawings.  Her tiny details of the mouse with an alarm clock under Amos' bed as he stretches wearing his bunny slippers endear readers to the elder man immediately.  Careful readers will notice the mouse following Amos throughout his days.  Stead's deliberate placement of additional small items add to the story's sheer sweetness.




Cover

  Her husband, Philip C. Stead, has written a timeless tale of the power of friendship.  Amos MGee is a zookeeper of extraordinary talents making time during his day to bond with his animal buddies; playing chess with the elephant, running races with the tortoise, sitting with the shy penguin in silent companionship, holding a hanky for the rhinoceros with allergy problems and at days end reading stories to the owl who is afraid of the dark.



Closing page



One day when Amos does not feel so well and decides to stay home from work, his friends at the zoo wait and wonder.  The next few pages are a wordless wonder showing them leaving the zoo, lining up at the bus stop and traveling to Amos' home.   Each in turn engages Amos in their favorite activities which are slightly altered due to his illness.  As this tale closes readers see Amos and his guests asleep curled around one another in affectionate repose.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead is a snugly book; one that readers will want to wrap around themselves for warmth, comfort and love.