In A Beam Of Light...Possibilities

It seems, perhaps due to the influence of the Great Lakes, there are more cloudy nights in Michigan than those graced by the glow of moon and stars.  As the days get shorter and the nights get longer, those last walks of the day with your dog can be challenging.  No matter how familiar the path, when darkness descends everything changes.

Even with your companion's acute senses at work, it is more comforting once you've clicked the switch on your flashlight.  As you move it around to your left and right and then back to the front, the well-known is illuminated.  In Flashlight Night (Boyd Mills Press, an imprint of Highlights, September 19, 2017) written by Matt Forrest Esenwine with illustrations by Fred Koehler three children discover the opposite to be true.

FLASHLIGHT . . .
. . . opens up the night.

In the gleam the ordinary shifts to glimpses of rare and exciting places grown in one's imagination.  A row of posts along a fence sends out an invitation to follow a trail leading to parts unknown.  A hose streaming water becomes a raging river fed by towering waterfalls.  A cat roars with the ferocity of the tiger it becomes.

The adventurers crawl through a hole into an ancient past.  Here among stonework and carvings a door beckons.  It opens on a sandy beach with a wild wind, waves, a pirate ship and a treasure to be claimed.  As a battle rages, the light reveals legendary danger rising from the sea.

What is lost is reclaimed but past dangers gather.  The trio is in trouble.  Held in the beam a beloved companion is a fierce defender and champion.

The safety of a sanctuary offers protection but what the flashlight reveals still remains.  A request, not to be denied, is made.  It is good and right as darkness reclaims the night.


With the first uttered truth, Matt Forrest Esenwine gives the narrator permission to unleash the power of "what-if".  Each of the succeeding rhyming couplets discloses the threads our imagination can use to weave a story.  A poetic cadence leads us to the source of the nighttime adventures taken in the safety of a beam of light.  Here are two couplets.

Finds a vessel, tightly moored,
helps you slyly sneak aboard.

Brightens deck and mizzenmast,
exposes what you're sailing past.


Even in darkness there is rich warmth to the color palette selected by artist Fred Koehler.  What is shown on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case is immediately captivating for readers.  You find yourself asking about the magic held within this flashlight.  Or is the magic coming from another source.  You also want to know what brings these three children together at night.  The texture here and throughout the book asks you to reach out and join in the adventures.

To the left, on the back, set within a canvas like old parchment is a smaller image from the interior of the book.  Looking through an arch we see a ship rocking in waves.  Two of the children are battling a pirate.  Arms of an even greater danger are reaching from the sea.  The opening and closing endpapers are a silky, smooth black.

On the title page Fred Koehler begins the visual story with the children making their way to the tree house for a sleepover.  On the first page a close-up of the children huddled in the tree house shows the older boy holding the flashlight upward illuminating his face as the first single word appears in the light.  You find yourself holding your breath knowing something wonderful is about to take place.

Each of the following page turns displays exquisite double-page pictures, supplying readers with the reality in muted darkness and the imaginary realms within the flashlight beam.  Fascinating contrasts request you to pause, marveling at the extensions from the everyday to wild jungles, ancient tombs, and stormy seas.  One thing you can't help but notice is the camaraderie between the children.  This night is one they will always remember.

One of my many favorite illustrations is (without disclosing too much) when the children are experiencing a particularly harrowing encounter.  On the left the danger is looming close to them as a crescent moon hangs in the sky.  On the right one of them has become ensnared.  She reaches her hand to her friend who is reaching also.  The smallest of the group knows exactly what to do.  He holds out his teddy bear.  (I could hardly wait to turn the page.)


Readers you must share Flashlight Night by Matt Forrest Esenwine with illustrations by Fred Koehler as often as you can.  It showcases how words can kindle the spark of creativity causing it to cast a flame of wonder.  As a read aloud it will promote questions and answers.  It will prompt listeners to think what other worlds can be portrayed within the light.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal bookshelves.

To learn more about Matt Forrest Esenwine and Fred Koehler and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Matt has another site here.  Matt is interviewed at Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb.  At Jama Rattigan's site Jama's Alphabet Soup Matt speaks with her about this book.  Matt and Fred chat about the book at the Nerdy Book Club.  You must watch this video with Fred Koehler talking with Rocco Staino at KidLit TV.  The research into the art for this book is engaging.

Two Halves Of A Happy Whole

Children are attracted to puppies.  Puppies gravitate toward children.  You simply can't keep them apart.  Once they have been introduced to one another, they are inseparable.  After visiting an elementary school classroom several times, my sixth month old puppy instantly perks up at the sound of children's voices.  These younger humans and their canine counterparts share much in common.

Yesterday was National Puppy Day, a celebration started in 2006 to recognize how human lives are changed when puppies enter them.  (It also helps to bring awareness to the many orphan puppies needing forever homes.)  One of the most delightful new titles to express this irrepressible joy is Puppy, Puppy, Puppy (Boyd Mills Press, an imprint of Highlights, April 4, 2017) written by Julie Sternberg with illustrations by Fred Koehler.

As the sun rises,
Baby enjoys breakfast,
and Puppy enjoys breakfast.
And Baby says,
"Puppy."

As the morning progresses Baby and Puppy get dressed or is it make a mess?  Gardening takes on a whole new meaning.  Mom and Dad are carefully turning the soil among the flowering masses.  The youngest duo are enjoying the benefits of a hose, plucking a bunch of flowers and wearing dirt is the new attire of the day.

Bath time is a mix of suds and mud; footprints and pawprints patterned on the bathroom floor and wall.  Whew!  After all this morning excitement it is time for a snooze.  Baby is tucked away in one place and Puppy is gated in another space.  Two tuckered-out parents slump side by side in sleep.

Puppy spies Baby's toy.  No gate is going to stop this puppy from spending time with a pal.  No crib is going to stop this baby from being with a best buddy.  While parents rest and later as the afternoon passes, Baby and Puppy are stuck together by friendship glue.

As the night sky darkens Puppy and Baby prepare for bedtime.  They must be exhausted by now, but not too tired to raise a chorus at the moon.  How long will they slumber?  Only the sun knows.


Author Julie Sternberg starts with a trio of paragraphs sharing the same rhythmic sentences only altering the activity for each.  This firmly establishes the reader's presence within the story.  Bathtime and naptime break this pace but create new ones.  The original beat begins anew as Sternberg reinforces the bond formed between the baby and the puppy as the afternoon continues and the day closes.  Here is the naptime passage.

Baby wails,
"Puppy!
Puppy!
Puppy!"

Puppy cries.
Baby cries.

Mommy and Daddy say,
"Shh, Puppy.  Puppy, shh.
Shh, shh, shh."


I don't know how you can look at the matching dust jacket and book case without smiling or laughing out loud.  Those pawprints and handprints all over the title text and the puppy enjoying the baby's spilled food speak volumes.  The pale yellow background superbly accents the other elements on the front.  To the left, on the back, is a scene from nighttime slumber of Baby curled on the floor and Puppy using the child as a pillow.  The opening and closing endpapers are the same bright, sky blue as the title text.

Fred Koehler does not waste any space beginning the pictorial story on the title page.  Surprised parents are standing with gift-giving grandparents as Baby opens a box with Puppy leaning out.  The happiness on Puppy's and Baby's faces express an instant bond.  Opposite the verso page on the dedication page Baby and Puppy are eye-to-eye, each one clasping their treasured toys.

Rendered digitally Koehler extends the text with humor in his pictures which will have you giggling throughout the narrative.  It's the expressions on the parent's faces amid the chaos created by Puppy and Baby which tell another tale.  Most of the visuals extend page edge to page edge across two pages.

His backgrounds are usually the pale yellow, a pale blue or a dark purplish brown.  These backgrounds hold the setting done in line drawings and varied hues of the background color.  The main elements are done in full color.  It's a wonderful effect.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is the garden scene.  It is a pale yellow background with lighter yellow clouds.  Across a portion of the lower half is a garden full of red flowers.  On the left, at the top of the garden, Mommy and Daddy are working.  Mommy is bent over either digging or hoeing.  Daddy has stopped and is leaning with one hand on his shovel.  His other hand is pointed toward Mommy's shoulder.  You can almost hear him saying, "Ah dear, you might want to look at Baby and Puppy."  The toys, the bone and blue monster, are sticking out of the mud.  The puppy is spraying the hose at Baby.  Baby is pulling out flowers.  They are both literally coated in mud.


Puppy, Puppy, Puppy written by Julie Sternberg with illustrations by Fred Koehler is absolutely perfect for National Puppy Day or any day of the year when you want to share the delight of a baby and puppy together.  This blend of story and illustrations is guaranteed to generate laughter.  These two, an author and an illustrator, certainly know how to present the essence of puppies and babies within the pages of a book.

To learn more about Julie Sternberg and Fred Koehler and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Julie Sternberg is featured at HenryHerz.com, and All The Wonders, Let's Get Busy, Episode 198 with teacher librarian Matthew Winner.  Fred Koehler is showcased at The Writers' Loop, The Picturebooking Podcast, and All The Wonders, Let's Get Busy, Episode 240 with Matthew Winner.

The Middle

On the first day when you begin working with a new group of students in a storytelling class, panic is heavy in the air.  Most of them, if not all, believe they have to learn a story word for word. Relief floods the room when they are informed this is not the case.  First there is reading, lots of reading to find a tale which speaks to them personally.  Stories choose you.

Then each selected piece is taken down to the bare bones.  You look for the skeleton, the beginning, the middle and the end. What you add makes it your telling of the story.  With this process comes the realization of the difference between memorization and learning by heart.  One Day The End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-than-Ever Stories (Boyds Mills Press, an imprint of Highlights, October 6, 2015) written by Rebecca Kai Dotlich with illustrations by Fred Koehler explores the creation of story.  Everyone has tales to tell.

For every STORY there is a BEGINNING and an END, but what happens IN BETWEEN makes ALL the DIFFERENCE.

Our young protagonist has nine beginnings and nine endings.  Each is marvelously realistic and ordinary.  To get from the identical One day to the final The End are a series of events filled with the delightful details of a day well-spent.

To school, at school and home again are made better with a delish treat.  A squirrel's teasing leads to a disaster averted by keen detective work.  Hours of hide-and-seek, a craft-fest mess and an adventure equal welcome rest, heartfelt hugs and a new feathered friend.

A mission impossible becomes possible.  Trampling away troubles triumphs.  Rub-dub-a-dub a duo in the tub makes for total merriment.  This little girl has a dream and it comes true story by story.


Leaving home and returning, losing and finding, making and giving, and wanting and doing, leave openings for a myriad of opportunities.  Rebecca Kai Dotlich with her simple sentences and carefully chosen words gives us a glimpse into the beauty of telling our stories.  She shows us how we need to tap into our experiences like her character does.


Upon opening the dust jacket and matching book case readers are greeted by a bold golden yellow background filled with the large block letters ONE DAY on the front and THE END to the left on the back.  The other portions of the title are written in smaller script.  The little girl uses the letters as if they are parts of a jungle gym.  On the front she and her dog are raised and glossy.  Her happiness is contagious.  The beginning endpapers are in a soft orange and the closing endpapers are covered in a light brown.

The illustrations, rendered digitally by Fred Koehler, start to extend and enhance the narrative on the title page.  The young girl, nibbling on a cookie, is looking at the reader from the open doorway of her home.  As she takes a variety of detours on her way to school, chasing after her cat with her dog chasing after a squirrel, her escapades begin in earnest.

The ingenuity of Koehler's technique incorporating the text within the images is brilliant.  Tiny items, individual elements and smaller images form a larger whole depicting this child, her brother, cat and dog in constant motion.  The color palette on a matte-finished paper adds to the spirit of the story line.  Everything...yes everything...flows perfectly.

One of my favorite two illustrations is for the text

One day...
I LOST MY DOG.
I found HIM! 
The end 

On the first two pages the little girl is sitting in a swing reading a book as her dog, nearby, is eyeing a squirrel.  A blue ball with yellow stars forms the "O" in One day.  Then the dog plays with the ball and swims in a kiddie pool.  The squirrel leads him on a race right out of the yard.  The pooch does have to dig a hole to continue pursuit.  With a page turn the girl follows the pawprints which form found.  Guess who's curled up and sound asleep inside the circle of the "d" in found?


One Day The End: Short, Very Short, Shorter-than-Ever Stories written by Rebecca Kai Dotlich with illustrations by Fred Koehler is a fantastic tribute to creativity.  It demonstrates how highlighting the little (and not so little) everyday things in our lives can be great fun for others.  There is something for every age in this book.  One day I read this book.  I read it over and over.  You should too. The End.

To find further information about Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Fred Koehler please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Rebecca Kai Dotlich was interviewed on The Picturebooking Podcast, Episode 028.   Fred Koehler was featured in an article in The Ledger.  John Schumacher, Scholastic's Ambassador for School Libraries, included this title as one of his best books of 2015 as early as May at Watch. Connect. Read.

UPDATE:  February 22, 2016 Rebecca Kai Dotlich is interviewed by author Dianne White at ReaderKidz.