Ever-Present Pal

To be faced with something different and untried is a challenge.  Depending on the task at hand, past endeavors, and previous successes, what is before us can be easy, hard, or somewhere in the middle.  We assess the situation, prepare for possible outcomes, and then proceed with caution or sometimes complete abandon. 

As we approach this undertaking, we are usually unaware of an unseen partner at our side.  The Magical Yet (Disney Hyperion, April 14, 2020) written by Angela DiTerlizzi with art by Lorena Alvarez discloses to all the true nature of this presence.  It never wavers from its dedication to us.

There are days when your dreams haven't come true,
or you're upset by the things you can't do.

The protagonist has attempted and failed to ride her new bike.  She has wavered, wobbled, taken a tumble, and bent her front wheel.  Trudging home, she vows to never ride a bike again.  Walking is far safer.  In the midst of her despair, she meets

The Magical Yet!

She discovers this being has been with her since birth.  She realizes it has offered encouragement.  Yet shows her up when she's down.  Yet dares her to do what she has never done.  Yet promotes thinking beyond ordinary, aiming for extraordinary.

Yet points the girl toward a plan.  Yet helps to fix that which is broken.  Yet knows practice is necessary.  Yet knows there will be errors, but there will also be successes.

If you are a hopeful melodic musician, stunning sports star, wizard wordsmith, marvelous muralist, or dazzling dancer, Yet strengthens your resolve to never give up, regardless of the time it takes.  You, wonderful you, can do what you desire to do.  There is another secret about Yet; one you can hold in your heart.  First to recognize it, you must start.


There is an undercurrent of hope on every page of this narrative.  Angela DiTerlizzi uses a lilting, lyrical series of couplets to fashion a flowing narrative.  Woven into the story of the young character who does not at first succeed in riding her new bike, are examples of other young people pursuing their dreams.  Another wondrous component in this book is making Yet a character, an individual.  Each person's Yet is seen as a positive power in their lives.  Here is a passage.

Tongue twisters twisted
your tongue in a knot?
Yet says, "Keep trying and practice
---a lot!"


If you are in need of happiness, looking at the open dust jacket is certain to bring some to your soul.  On the front, the right, the bicycle rider, wide-eyed and smiling has benefited from the optimism supplied by her Yet.  The Yet, hitching a ride on her helmet, is enjoying the results of its wisdom.  This scene continues on the other side of the spine.  Two children are running over the rolling hills.  One is playing a lute.  The other is holding a high-flying kite shaped like a bird.  The kite, the title text and the Yet are decorated in glitter.  Our main character is varnished.  Yet elements on both flaps are adorned in glitter.

A fantastical image spreads across the book case on either side of the spine.  Within a series of intricate insets and abstract shapes we are introduced to four Yets.  Each one is a different brightly colored hue and performing a feat desired by their human.  This is enchanting!

Using a two-color palette on the opening and closing endpapers illustrator Lorena Alvarez portrays seven diverse young people beginning and continuing their most passionate endeavors.  They, except for the child on the bike on the sidewalk, are shown in windows of various shapes.  A series of exquisite designs are part of this wall of possibilities.  It is pleasing to see them again at the end, older and more proficient in their pursuits.

Each illustration rendered using Procreate extends over two pages, edge to edge, on a single page with a white frame, in a smaller circle, or as a small group on a single page. These choices of size contribute to the pacing and the pictorial interpretations of the narrative by Lorena Alvarez.  Readers will enjoy seeing the delicate Yets among the vibrant colors in the landscapes and settings.  (Mulan likes that the main character's pup grows up and stays with them.)  Each image is highly animated, but the wonder of the first encounter with the Yet is stunning.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  In this scene the girl with her broken bike is facing left as she watches other children at work in a room.  Each one is accompanied by their Yet.  In the lower left-hand corner, a girl is making a doghouse following a blueprint she made that is hanging on the wall.  Between her and our protagonist is a child on a ladder making geometric art designs.  There is a scholar, a musician, a knitter, and a kite flyer.  The tools of their trades are shown in separate shelves.  The kite is huge and floating across the top of the right side.  This is a place where goals are met.  This is a place where children from all cultures engage in their heart's desire.


When you hold The Magical Yet words by Angela DiTerlizzi with art by Lorena Alvarez, you hold hope in your hands.  You feel as though anything at any age is possible if you remember to value the existence of your Yet.  This title will be valuable in a range of thematic storytimes.  Be sure to read it as a bedtime story so dreamers will know, as they fall asleep, dreams do come true.  I highly recommend this title.

To learn more about Angela DiTerlizzi and Lorena Alvarez and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Angela DiTerlizzi has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.  Lorena Alvarez has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, showcased this title and interviewed both creators on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.  The publisher has a PDF you can print and color of the Yet.

Finding Extraordinary In Errors

There are those days when no matter what you do, little or big, it simply does not turn out correctly.  The harder you try, the worse it gets.  You start looking over your shoulder to see if an evil goblin is following you, sending a dark aura in your direction.  Sometimes when you think it couldn't get any worse, it does but sometimes when you think it couldn't get any worse, something wonderful happens.

A shift takes place.  You start to find the marvel in the middle of your muddles. The Book of Mistakes (Dial Books for Young Readers, April 18, 2017) debut book for author illustrator Corinna Luyken is an exploration of turning blunders into beauty.

It started

with one mistake.

An eye is a little bit bigger than the other eye on a face.  Trying to make them match does not work but adding glasses is exactly what this girl needs.  Oh, oh!  Now her arms and neck are too, too long.  The collar and elbows receive a bit of embellishment.

A big bush is brilliant at concealing the odd being.  What is that creature?  It has parts of three animals.

The girl returns but is floating as she runs.  Ah...the addition of roller skates closes the gap between the bottom of her feet and the ground.  What is hidden behind the newly drawn rock? 

A longer than normal leg is perfect for tree climbing.  Smudges become soaring leaves.  And the girl running with roller skates is on a mission to make a delivery heading toward other like-minded children.  A magnificent scene greets her but readers there is much more.

Stepping back reveals a larger than imagined wonder.  Stepping back more alters your point-of-view with expectations growing until you gasp in understanding.  The power of the mind is a creative force.  Use it.

Those first five words written by Corinna Luyken immediately click with all readers.  We have all made mistakes.  With spare text the narrator talks to us about the process of making art.  We gently swing between mistakes and transformations supplying the story with a cadence. We explore the possibilities offered to us by our errors.  It's an optimistic and inventive outlook.  Here is a sample sentence.

Even the ink smudges

scattered across the sky

look as if 

they could be leaves---

like they'd always wanted

to be lifted up

and carried.

The remarkable use of white space throughout this title begins on the dust jacket.  The soft pastel palette and intricate lines create an atmosphere filled with a little bit of magic.  Already we are wondering about the girl with the yellow balloons and the other children with her.  To the left, on the back, a small boy in the lower, left-hand corner gazes up at smudges turned into leaves.  The text here reads

Set your imagination free

On the opened book case, on the right side, the front image shows the girl and the children flying away from us, higher in the sky.  On the left the boy is now riding a unicycle lifted by a large green balloon.  Three small birds follow the children.  On the opening endpapers all we see are two black ink blots.  The closing endpapers could be a continuation of part of the artwork.  What will you think when you see them?

Rendered in black ink, colored pencils, and watercolor the pictures appearing on the white canvas vary in size and perspective as we journey, contrasting the mistakes and the inspired new illustrations from them.  With each page turn the details increase, allowing us to see how pictures develop when we look with new eyes.  As we move from one subject to another, the original girl, the bush, the rock and the girl in the tree we get the sense something larger is being shaped.  

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages, without words (in fact five page turns have no words).  The girl is running with her skates toward the right edge.  In her left hand she is carrying a single yellow balloon.  In her right hand is a huge bunch of yellow balloons billowing out behind her and filling the left page. 

I think it would be fantastic if every child could have a copy of this book, The Book of Mistakes written and illustrated by Corinna Luyken, to remind them how we can turn the unexpected into a thing of wonder.  If we can't carry this book with us everywhere we should read it enough so the memory will help us to look at everything as a potential for goodness instead of a problem.  I highly recommend this title.

To learn more about Corinna Luyken and this book, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  There are little extras there for you.  Corinna maintains a blog here.  Be sure to read these interviews at author, teacher librarian and blogger Carter Higgins's Design Of The Picture Book and author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Out Of Confusion...A Job Well Done

On Fridays all kinds of trucks rumble through our neighborhood stopping and starting from home to home.  For one particular company there is a truck for recycling, a truck for garbage and a truck for yard waste; all arriving at different times during the day.  As you would expect the design and mechanics for each of them is different; each one has a very specific job to do.

On January 11, 2016 for a most distinguished beginning reader book, Supertruck (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, January 6, 2015) written and illustrated by Stephen Savage received a Theodore Seuss Geisel Award Honor designation.  In a companion title to be released on July 5, 2016 Stephen Savage gives readers The Mixed-Up Truck (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Book Press).  The new kid on the lot has much to learn but teaches too.

It was cement mixer's first day on the job.

When he arrived another trio of trucks was already working at the site.  One was using its crane to lift.  Hydraulics allowed the second to dump a load from its bed.  An extended scoop helped the third to dig.

Of course, the mixer wanted to help as quickly as possible asking what needed to be done.  They told him to do what he does best with some

powdery white cement.

Off the newbie went in search of the white powder.  He found some and mixed it with water.  It did not produce concrete.  He made a cake!  What was that stuff?!

Encouraged to try again, he found more white powder, put in some water and well...let's just say the cake was now wearing a new topping.  Whizzing away in search of cement, the mixer tried again.  This time, the third time, was, as is said, the charm.  As the sun sets his construction colleagues were more tired than joyful at his accomplishment.

The mixer, even though this was his first day, knew his work was not done.  As the trio rested, he sped away again.  This time the white powder he mixed with water lifted everyone's spirits.  Sweet dreams, good trucks.


Few words, carefully chosen, by Stephen Savage spin a narrative easily understood by the youngest of readers.  With single sentences we learn about the specific jobs of the other trucks. Together they tell the mixer what to do three times using the same phrase creating a cadence for readers.  In a single sentence the mixer completes the action required with the same final word each time.  It's a back and forth beat which invites reader participation.

The word But gives readers pause at the end.  This time the mixer is on his own.  He has learned from his day of work.  His final fill of white powder will have readers giggling with glee.  Repetition of the words mixer, mixed and mix is important throughout the story, too.


Stephen Savage's signature style is evident on the dust jacket (working with an F & G).  The wide red spine is the same as on Supertruck.  (Those not familiar with the Brooklyn, New York, skyline, should make note of the tribute Savage pays to the iconic Kentile Floor sign throughout the title.)  To the left on the back within a background of the mixer's body color, a bold blue, a smaller circular picture has been placed featuring the smiling mixer.  On the title page the smoke from the mixer's stack becomes the canvas for the title text in the same rich red as the stripes on our protagonist's body.

Most of the illustrations span two pages.  Savage has paler colors and elements in the background so readers' eyes go toward his characters and the mixer's creations.  Each time the mixer approaches a building to get the powdery white cement the perspective and the building's design change but the sign signifying what he is getting remains the same as the font styles and words differ.  The color of the text on all the signs stays red, just like the letters on the Kentile Floor sign.

The time of day is evident in the background colors moving from morning to noon to sunset and evening and nighttime.  There is warmth and happiness in all of the illustrations noticeable in the facial expressions specifically of the mixer.  Nothing is getting this guy discouraged.  That he has earned a spot in the garage at the end of the day is apparent on the four smiles we see in the next to last visual.  (I love that picture!)

One of my many favorite illustrations is when the mixer finally arrives at the right building to get the cement powder.  The center of the building, a tall tower, is strategically placed along the gutter.  Behind the building a closing-day sky is glowing.  On top of that are bright yellow rays of the setting sun stretching from left to right across two pages.  He is busy chugging away as smoke moves behind his truck.  He is looking right at the reader and smiling.  Readers can see, as we have all along, the correct word on the sign, CEMENT.


The Mixed-Up Truck written and illustrated by Stephen Savage is a true gem.  It's been read aloud to a group of kindergarten students who enjoyed it from beginning to end and wanted to read it again.  You could feel the anticipation in the air as the word on the sign at the building was read and they waited for the page turn to see what he would make with the incorrect powder.  This is an adorable tale about fulfilling your purpose, never giving up and going the distance even when your companions are too tired to offer suggestions.  Thank you Stephen Savage for another winner!

To learn more about Stephen Savage and his other books please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  You can view four interior images at the publisher's website.  This title is mentioned by Travis Jonker, teacher librarian, 2014 Caldecott committee member and blogger at 100 Scope Notes, in a list compiled by Reading Rockets, Summer Reading 2016, in a post/interview at Scholastic's Ambassador for School Libraries and 2014 Newbery committee member John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read. and at School Library Journal's SLJ's June 2016 Popular Picks.  Stephen Savage is interviewed at Where The Board Books Are.