To Wait

If you choose to think about it in this way our lives can be measured by the time we spend waiting.  When younger we can't wait until we are grown up; only to wish we could turn the clock back every so often.  We wait to hear our name called to make the walk in front of classmates, friends and family to receive our high school, then college diploma. We anxiously await news about our first job.

One of the most highly-charged times of waiting is for the return of loved ones.  A hole in the fabric of lives is plainly felt by their absence.  Coming Home (Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan, November 4, 2014) written and illustrated by Greg Ruth vividly portrays the arrival of soldiers.  

Waiting.

This word is the first of only eighteen words in this story.  Each illustration offers an explanation or an extension of the text.  The initial visual of fourteen double-page pictures accompanying this single word shows two rows of people waiting behind a roped-off area. 

Eight people and a dog are more prominently featured.  It is the boy in the red shirt off to the side that draws our attention.  He, the dog and another woman are intensely focused on a plane, steps lowered, which has landed.

A signal is given.  The boy and the dog on a leash held by the woman race out the doors onto the tarmac.  The dog jumps on a kneeling female soldier as the boy walks away.  He runs again searching and watching as others greet one another; hugs shared, kisses given and pictures taken. 

He wanders among all the people. He looks in every direction filled with hope.  A soldier stands alone with a duffel bag at their feet.  The boy stands alone perfectly still staring ahead.  He suddenly yells with hands upraised, joy spread across his face.  A hero has returned.

Until the final page only one or two words have been selected for use by Greg Ruth on some of the pages.  Each choice not only builds anticipation but offers the boy's response to observations made as he seeks his parent.  We can also sense his increased frustration making the eventual reunion all the more joyful.  Bracketing specific words with repeated words and phrases mirrors the pace of the boy walking and pausing.  

When opening the dust jacket Greg Ruth gives readers a before and after glimpse into the reality for those left at home with loved ones in the armed services.  A boy and a dog stand on the airstrip watching a plane fly overhead each waiting respectfully.  On the left or back the airstrip is extended with the landed plane across its surface.  Passengers are embarking.  The tiny figure of the boy and his parent can be seen.  On the book case Ruth has placed the image from the book's interior when the boy and his parent first see one another.  A pale yellow color apparent in all of the illustrations covers the opening and closing endpapers.  

Each page turn reveals gorgeous images brimming with motion and emotion.  Body postures and facial expressions express more than words could convey.  Each and every reader can connect to the feeling of meeting someone who has been absent; someone whose presence makes your life richer.  

Ruth's technique of having elements in the illustrations appear more faded in the background drawing your attention to those in full color is beautiful.  As you focus on the dog jumping on the soldier, the woman kissing the male soldier's nose, the man touching the pregnant woman's stomach, or the child wearing a male soldier's cap you understand completely the exchange taking place in those moments. One of my favorite images uses these techniques to great effect.

Greg Ruth shifts his perspective zooming in on the boy peering between two separate groups of people.  We still have the more faded people in the background.  In the foreground the people are much darker in shades of brown and black drawing our eyes immediately to the boy.  His look of inquiry might be tinged with increased hope.  You can't really know until you turn the page.

Coming Home written and illustrated by Greg Ruth needs to find a place on every bookshelf.  Its portrayal of the arrival of returning soldiers home to friends and family of all ages is striking in its truth.  This is an important and moving book; a homage to those who serve and those who await their homecoming.  An Author's Note concludes the book.

To learn more about Greg Ruth and his other work, please visit his website by following the link embedded in his name.  On November 10, 2014 Greg Ruth was a guest blogger at teacher librarian extraordinaire, John Schumacher's site, Watch. Connect. Read.   He speaks about this book and several illustrations are posted.

The Colors of Freedom

For many years I spent the Fourth of July out on the sandbar of a northern Michigan lake, among hundreds of boats anchored in the growing darkness, navigation lights bobbing like lanterns.  When the fireworks began, spreading like giant flowers over our heads, I marveled at their beauty.  After the colorful display it was usually in silence or soft conversation our pontoon would make its way back down the river toward our cottage.  Then and now I feel so fortunate to be able to live in freedom.

On July 4th this year, as I was walking through the nooks and crannies of my favorite indie store in Petoskey, Michigan, McLean & Eakin,  a cover and title caught my eye.  Red Kite, Blue Kite (Disney Hyperion Books) written by Ji-li Jiang with illustrations by Greg Ruth.  Discovering upon reading the jacket flap the story was set in China during the Cultural Revolution, I knew I needed to read this book.  History tells us it was the Chinese who invented fireworks, the splendor enjoyed by many today in celebration of significant events.

I love to fly kites.

Young Tai Shan and his father, Baba, fly their kites from the roof of their home, the streets are much too crowded for the freedom needed by kites...and little boys. While the wind plays with their kites, Baba tells stories to Tai Shan making him feel as if he is floating with the blue and red darting diamonds.  The two are very close; all they have is each other.

Trouble comes in the form of people wearing red armbands, who take Baba away to work in a labor camp.  Tai Shan's world, as he knows it, is shattered.  He is removed from his home to live with an elderly woman named Granny Wang.

With a forest separating Tai Shan from his father at the camp, he adjusts to country life with Granny Wang, eagerly awaiting each weekend.  Baba is released on Sundays, walking for hours, for a visit with his son.  Their time together always ends with the flying of their red and blue kites on a nearby hill.

A day comes when even more sadness descends into Tai Shan's life.  Baba can no longer visit but he has a plan, a secret signal.  New larger kites, one red, one blue, flying high will tell their hearts what words no longer can.

Tai Shan is frantic when, for three days, his father's blue kite is not seen at the end of the day soaring in the distance.  Darker days loom for the father and his son but again the father's love gives the boy hope.  It's hope and red kites and blue kites which ultimately fill Tai Shan's heart and the sky above the village.


In an author's note on the book's final page, Ji-li Jiang explains the basis for this book; a family friend when young had an experience similar to Tai Shan's story.  Her pacing and word choice within the narrative closely parallel the act of kite flying as if moving along the currents of air, ups and downs duly noted.  Jiang uses several phrases, sentences, repeatedly to duplicate the joy father and son feel when sharing their kite flying, even though they are not always together.  Her realistic description of the frightening events, of the living conditions for both Tai Shan and Baba and of their deep love connects with readers.


From the opening jacket and cover readers are transported to another place in another time, waiting and watching with the young boy sitting on the rocky hillside.  Greg Ruth renders illustrations with graphite, sumi ink and watercolor across single and double page spreads, creating city and country vistas side by side close-ups of the characters' faces.  The shift in perspective elevates readers' commitment to the story; looking at the boy and his father flying kits from the roof in the distance moving in to see their faces together smiling, kite strings extended from their hands.

The color palette reflects the circumstances in which the two find themselves, a warm golden glow surrounding them during shared moments of contentment, shadowy shades of grays and greens when they are separated.  The use of line and color intensity make you feel as if the pictures could come to life, move on the page at any moment.  Readers are caught in the emotional bond between a father and his son during the happiness and sadness they share.  Some of my favorite illustrations are Baba holding Tai Shan, twirling him around in a circle, Baba squatting next to Tai Shan as each hold their kites, he explaining the secret signal to his son and the overwhelming joy on Tai Shan's face as he flies both kites.

Red Kite, Blue Kite written by Ji-li Jiang with artwork by Greg Ruth is an important book.  It brings a period in Chinese history to life through the portrayal of the close relationship between a son and his father and their love of kite flying.  This is the kind of book necessary to create understanding between people throughout the world.

Please follow the links embedded in the author's and illustrator's names to visit their official websites.