Bursting Forth From The Blizzard Is...

Although it's winter in northern Michigan, a strange sight was seen in our neighborhood yesterday morning, a snow plow.  Usually we don't see a plow in our neck of the woods until late afternoon; when the school buses have already dropped the guys and gals back home.  We must be last on their route due to the closeness of the county garages.  There really hasn't been much snowfall lately either.

What was really surprising was the size of the plow on the front of the truck.  It was so big it could have been used in the last Ice Age.  It was gargantuan.  I began to wonder what this driver and his truck knew that the meteorologists were keeping from us.  It is evident this truck must be related to the new character in Stephen Savage's latest title, Supertruck (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, January 6, 2015).

The city is full of brave trucks.

Each of the trucks in the city has specific acts of valor for which they are noted.  The green truck with the bucket on top can reach to fix power lines.  A hose shoots out water from the red truck to put out fires.  A hook and winch help the blue truck tow away stranded vehicles.

One truck in gray and white simply picks up the city's garbage.  This job, mostly behind the scenes, steadfast day in and day out, is not noted as being particularly gallant.  An evening in winter is about to reveal another side to this ordinary truck.

It begins with a few fluffy flakes tumbling from the sky.  The snow keeps falling until it gets deeper and deeper.  Life in the city comes to a standstill.  The green, red and blue trucks are stuck.

In the darkest part of the night, one truck, a gray and white truck, makes its way to a garage.  WHOA! Out of the doorway emerges SUPERTRUCK!  With a big orange plow on the front he trudges through the city.

Roads, avenues and streets are cleared through his single-wheeled efforts.  The other trucks marvel at his magnificent moves.  Who is this truck?  His secret is tucked away inside one lone garage on a deserted pier as the garbage truck makes his daily collections the next morning.


Simple straightforward sentences written by Stephen Savage introduce readers to life in the city dependent on the heroism of the trucks.  The first four followed by a question set the calm pace.  It's one word in the sixth sentence, just, which sends out a clever possibility, a shift in the story.  You get the feeling there might be more to this truck than meets the eye.  As the momentum builds with the arrival of the blizzard we know something is going to happen.  We keep turning the pages to discover the truth.  This is wonderful!


The pull of the rich bright red cloth spine with the silver lettering made me eager to open the book case.  The blue gray of the grinning Supertruck on the front supplies the background on the back.  A wheel with Supertruck in white acts as a frame for a frontal view of him happily plowing through the snow.  Another shade of vivid blue/purple is used for the opening and closing endpapers.  Kids' hearts of all ages are already humming.  On the title page Stephen Savage places an image beneath the text of white eyes, headlights, peering from a darkened garage on a pier with the cityscape in silhouette behind it.

Rendered in pencil, paper, stylus, tablet and currants (for the snowflakes) all of Savage's illustrations span two pages with the exception of the first and final pages.  On those readers are treated to circular pictures; the first in sunny yellow featuring the first three trucks, the second in the dusky blue evening, snow falling as the garbage truck goes into the special garage.  Simple lines and geometric shapes convey the essence of the city and the trucks.  The bird's eye views of the city are graphic gorgeousness.

Each of the vehicles is given eyes and mouths to convey emotion.  A carefully placed squirrel and bird perched on a fire hydrant add to the reality of each scene.  The fact that Savage gives the garbage truck glasses makes my superhero-comic-book-loving-self sing especially when they are not shown as Supertruck dons the plow.

One of several of my favorite illustrations is when the garbage truck is moving through the snow toward the garage on the night of the blizzard.  In the background is the lighted bridge.  A glow illuminates the doorway.  There is a look of determination on the truck.  The colors in this image are shades of blue and purple with snow falling everywhere. (Cue: Superman music)


You don't have to be a fan of trucks to love Supertruck written and illustrated by Stephen Savage.  Heroes come in all shapes and sizes but the one thing they have in common is their huge hearts.  I can almost hear the theme song now...by day a trash-picking garbage truck, while the city sleeps in the dead of night while the winds of a snowstorm howl it's Supertruck to the rescue.  I think I need to create a list of huggable books or a shelf on Goodreads.  This title would definitely be placed there.

To learn more about Stephen Savage and his other titles please visit his website by following the link embedded in his name.  I have reviewed Where's Walrus?, Little Tug, and Polar Bear Morning. Though mentioned in an earlier post please follow this link to an outstanding interview of Stephen Savage at author and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Teacher librarian extraordinaire and blogger at Watch. Connect. Read., John Schumacher chats with Stephen Savage about this book here.  It is in this chat that Savage reveals his illustrative techniques for this title.  To see eight images from the book go to the publisher's website.

Stephen Savage was kind enough to respond to an email.  Here are three photographs on the currants he used to create snowfall in his illustrations.  Red pepper flakes and cereal simply would not supply the same effect.  If you visit the publisher's website you can see the final result.

UPDATE:  Stephen Savage reads this title aloud at KidLit TV.

Blow Winds Blow, Blow The Falling Snow

It's like living inside a snow globe someone is constantly shaking.  The landscape is laden with more than a foot of white fluff.  Soon the winds will begin to howl rattling the windows and singing down the chimney.

When the National Weather Service issues a gale and winter storm warning together, it's time to expect the unexpected especially when Thanksgiving is ten days away.  Back in February 1978 no one was prepared for the severity of the storm; no one was sure the meteorologists were correct.  Caldecott Honor winning author illustrator John Rocco (Blackout, Disney Hyperion, May 2011) writes and illustrates his version, Blizzard (Disney Hyperion) with all the childlike awe this spectacular event deserves.

One day, when I was a young boy,

nearly four feet of snow fell from the sky.

On a Monday morning when school was in session the flakes began falling.  When they were dismissed early; they were accumulating, getting deeper and deeper.  Even as bedtime approached, the snow kept coming down.

Leaving the house by the door was not an option the next morning.  Moving through the snow was nearly impossible.  Thankfully a working woodstove and hot chocolate warmed up John, his older sister, Mom and Dad.

For the next few days endless shoveling and digging in the snow were on the agenda.  By Thursday no snow plows had been through the neighborhood yet.  Having enough food was becoming a concern.

For a boy who had faithfully read the Arctic Survival guide, there was only one thing to do.  On Saturday, with a list and creative ingenuity on his feet he left the house.  Many stops in the neighborhood were made, delaying his arrival at the local market.  

With his goal accomplished, getting home before dark was necessary.  Many stops in the neighborhood were made, making his arrival home all the more welcome.  In 1978 memories were made.  In 2014 we lucky readers get to read a book recreating those meaningful moments and the incredible efforts of one ten-year-old boy.

It's like John Rocco has turned back the clock several decades, allowing his younger self to tell the story.  His sentences highlight those exact things which would capture the attention of a ten-year-old.  The revelation of a series of personal events by using specific word descriptions gives readers a sense of being side by side with John.  Here are a couple of examples.

We laughed as we sank deep in the frozen powder.  

But walking was hard---

it was like trying to move through white quicksand.

We made camp by the woodstove,

and our feet tingled as we sipped

hot cocoa made with milk.

How can you look at the front of the dust jacket and not smile?  The ten-year-old boy with outstretched arms standing in his windswept snowy neighborhood is feeling downright joyful.  On the back of the dust jacket a picture taken from the book's interior of him, his dog and sister struggling unsuccessfully in the snow gives readers a precise idea of its depth.  Underneath the book case a bird's eye view of the rows of houses, buried beneath the storm's drifts as flakes swirl around, leaves no doubt as to the extent of the blizzard.  The opening endpapers are in a pale steely blue with heavy snow falling into piles.  Nothing but pure white covers the closing endpapers except for a path of telltale prints extending from one corner to the top of the next page.

I burst out laughing at the page before the double title page spread.  Using a single page John Rocco has a series of six pictures of himself holding a measuring stick.  In each one the snow gets higher and higher until all you can see is the boy's hand at the top of the stick and the top of his ski hat with the white pom-pom. Breathtaking would be a word to define the title page.  Again it's as if we are looking from above through a break in the storm clouds at the neighborhood below before the snow begins to fall.  

Rendered in pencil, watercolor, and digital painting the illustrations vary in size according to the amount of white space framing each.  Several span from edge to edge on a single page or across two pages.  Rocco has cleverly inserted the name of each day into the images; as part of the message on the blackboard in the classroom, squirrel tracks over a snow-covered roof, snow-covered branches on a tree, or raisins spilled across the floor from a snack box. His four-page fold-out of the boy's trip to the neighborhood market is wonderful.  The labels of all the stops made couldn't be more perfect.  

Two of my many favorite illustrations follow one another.  The first is the scene from the boy's bedroom as he gazes out the window at the falling snow on Monday night.  The Arctic Survival book in tented to a remembered spot on his bed, his penguin lamp glowing.  On the wall hangs an Everest poster.  Lying next to the bed is his dog.  Outside a street light illuminates the Stop sign.  About a foot of the post is uncovered.  On the next page all readers see is blue, lots of falling snow and the Stop sign, now partially covered in snow.  

Blizzard written and illustrated by John Rocco marvelously documents seven days during the blizzard of 1978 as seen and experienced by a ten-year-old boy.  It is said you should write about what you know.  John Rocco does it brilliantly in text and illustrations working together in seamless harmony.  This title is on our Mock Caldecott list.  

To learn more about John Rocco, his books and illustrations please visit his website by following the link embedded in his name.  Follow this link to a recent review by author and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. (My two favorite pages are featured.) This links to a post at Kid Lit Frenzy as part of the blog tour for Blizzard. Several days remain on the tour.