Cat One, Dog Won

One late summer afternoon as I was strolling down the streets in a tiny town located along the shore of Torch Lake in Michigan, a tiny kitten followed me wherever I went, purring and rubbing against my legs.  After some inquires with the local shop owners, it appeared this wee bundle of fur was an orphan.  By the time I decided to give it a home, someone else with children offered to take it.

Apparently fate already had another companion ready to become part of my family.  I just didn't know it yet.  The winning team of author Lee Wardlaw and illustrator Eugene Yelchin who gave us Won Ton:  A Cat Tale Told in Haiku has followed with an equally engaging and humorous companion title, Won Ton and Chopstick:  A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku (Henry Holt and Company, March 17, 2015).  Like me, Won Ton has no idea about the canine creature about to take up residence in his home.



The Routine
It's a fine life, Boy.
Nap,
play,
bathe,
nap, eat, repeat.
Practice makes purrfect.

When Won Ton awakens from one of his naps, sights and sounds alert him to a disturbance in his household.  A closed door appears to hold the answer to his question.  When it opens, he is aghast!  His boy...yes HIS boy...is holding a puppy.  This simply cannot be true.

Running from the room yowling in protest, Won Ton finds out who is taking center stage now.  He is gently put aside.  When his boy and sister try to name the canine intruder, Won Ton's suggested name, as you may guess, is not even close to their proposals.

When Won Ton attempts to lay down the law, as to what is what in the four-footed realm, he finds himself on an unwanted vacation in the great outdoors.  Not even the prospect of a wayward mouse can lessen the cat's loneliness.  Back inside for another day, our feline friend decides to take a different approach.

The toilet paper caper does not end well.  With both cat and pup now relegated to the joys of fresh air, Won Ton is delighted to encourage the youngster in a variety of "oh no" activities.  Bath time, rain time and trash time follow with the duo striking a tentative partnership.

What Won Ton knows to be true is pups make good pillows, their language of arfs, howls and whining is almost incomprehensible and

practice makes purrfect.

Only time will tell how this tale unfolds.  And the pup's name, given by Won Ton, you ask?  It's a poetic masterpiece.


In an author's note contained in the verso, Lee Wardlaw explains the form, senryu, used in writing these thirty-seven (haiku) poems, the later favoring nature over the imperfections sometimes present in relationships which is showcased in the former.  Each selection focuses with appreciation on feline features while emphasizing the apparent "que-sera-sera" nature of the newcomer.  The contrast between the two depicted in the thoughts of Won Ton provide for numerous humorous moments.  The pacing prevalent through word selections will have readers feeling like the characters portrayed.  Here are two poems from The Naming.

Sis goes first:  "Sushi,
Cookie, Noodle, Scraps,"  Great Rats!
It's a dog, not lunch.

Brutus?  Ninja?  FANG?
Cats don't laugh, Boy, but I might
make an exception.


Looking at the front of the identical dust jacket and book case, one thing is obvious.  The puppy is looking at Won Ton with perky curiosity.  The cat, on the other paw, is reserving judgment for now...maybe forever.  To the left, on the back, on a sky blue background, the first title with endorsements is highlighted.  At the bottom a smaller picture of Won Ton shows him with head bowed, one paw resting on his forehead.  The opening and closing endpapers, alternating in another shade of blue and green, are patterned in a mouse toy and a red Kong.  Beneath the text on the title page the backs of Won Ton and Chopstick are shown sitting side by side on a bright pale yellow canvas.

With only a few exceptions the illustrations, rendered in

graphite and gouache on watercolor paper,

spread over both pages either as a single image or two separate pictures joined by an element from one crossing the gutter into the other.  Only three times does the background hue remain the same designating important events in the story.  Eugene Yelchin has a discerning eye for pairing background colors together creating an enjoyable sequence and extending the text.

His lines used for Won Ton and the puppy capture the essence of cat and dog.  Sometimes only a portion of one or the other is needed to convey their presence.  The body postures and eyes for both Won Ton and Chopstick speak clearly about their personalities.

One of my favorite two pages is of the puppy wrapped in a towel in the bathroom after his encounter with a rather smelly wild creature.  The blend of pastel tile work with the polka-dotted towel and the placement of bones, rubber ducky and brush are perfect.  To the right on a plain pale spring green background is Won Ton cleaning himself.  His tale extends into the bathroom scene.


Both cat and dog lovers, anyone of any age who enjoys our furry friends, is going to thoroughly enjoy repeated readings of Won Ton and Chopstick:  A Cat and Dog Tale Told in Haiku written by Lee Wardlaw with illustrations by Eugene Yelchin.  With each reading the humor grows as you come to know each of the characters.  Practice reading it aloud so you get the voice of Won Ton right as well as the cadence of these poems.  Be sure to pair it with the first title.  You might also want to use in with My Big Dog by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel.

To discover more about Lee Wardlaw and Eugene Yelchin and their work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  This link takes you to an interview of Wardlaw, Three Questions For Lee Wardlaw:  Advice For Young Writers And Illustrators, life advice and WON TON AND CHOPSTICK at author and illustrator, Debbie Ridpath Ohi's website.  Yelchin includes the entire dust jacket and four double-page interior visuals at his site; one of which is the favorite I mention.  If you follow this link to the publisher's website you can view more interior pages.  Links here are for a printable teacher's guide and an activity kit.

Snow Day+National Poetry Month=Time For Good Reads

After ten years of writing for advertising Bob Raczka's first son was born.  This reintroduced him to the world of children's books.  Loving the creativity that this venue offered him, he was able to publish his first book five years later.  Most of his books deal with art perhaps because of his love of drawing which began as a boy. But I truly believe that there is a poet sharing a part of his heart with his love of art. Then again, is not one the other?

In an earlier post, December 27, 2010, I reviewed his outstanding book, Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys (HMH Books for Young Readers, October 28, 2010.  This spring he further extends his gift of writing poetry with Lemonade and other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word (Roaring Brook Press, March 15, 2011).  Twenty-two puzzling poems with a punch can be found within the pages of this slim volume.

What Raczka has done, using only the letters in the title of each poem, is to string combinations of those letters down the page which refer back to or describe a scene relative to that word.  So his readers can measure their creativity to his, on the following page he puts the letters in order revealing those words he combined to complete his thought.  What we have is pure poetic pleasure!

No matter how much fun Rob Raczka had piecing these together, readers will have just as much or more.  And without a doubt pen and paper in hand they will begin to compose their own.  The simple, light, red, black and gray graphics of  Nancy Doniger distinctly compliment each poem hinting at the final solution while never detracting from the readers' quest.

Not wanting to seem partial to the canine corner of the world  (despite the fact that Dogku written by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Tim Bowers occupies Xena's Pick of the Month spot on the circulation desk in our elementary media center) it seems appropriate that Won Ton; A Cat Tale Told in Haiku (Henry Holt & Co., February 15, 2011) should be highlighted.

Lee Wardlaw using one of the most ancient forms of poetry tells the story of a shelter cat that finds himself a boy and a home.  These thirty-three haiku poems cleverly convey the reluctant but hopeful yearning of being chosen, the give and take adjustment in a different environment and the mutual love between the new friends.  Wardlaw is no stranger to the finickiness of felines as her precise selection of text captures the essence of all things cat; aloofness, casual interest, and reluctant insecurity.  Readers are brought full circle with the closing poem which will have them softly as cat's fur whispering, "Oh."


Coupled with this verse are illustrations by Eugene Yelchin that truly heighten the attitude of this cat.  Using graphite and gouache on watercolor paper Yelchin had me laughing out loud at the antics, emotions and facial expressions displayed by this creature.  As a pair Lee Wardlaw and Eugene Yelchin are purr-fectly matched.

Two of my favorite poems are:

What do you mean "Ewww"?
How is my tuna breath worse
than peanut butter?

Your tummy, soft as
warm dough.  I knead and knead, then
bake it with a nap. 

One of the Newbery Honor Medalists for 2011 was Joyce Sidman's Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night (HMH Books for Young Readers, September 6, 2010)  Sidman is no stranger to awards.  Two previous books, Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems and Red Sings from Treetops were Caldecott Honor winners, illustrated by Beckie Prange and Pamela Zagarensky respectively.

Twelve beautifully executed poems grace the pages of this mystical volume.  Readers feel as though they are quietly walking through the hours of inky, velvet shadow seeing it with new eyes.  To start a rhyming, lyrical verse invites all those inhabitants of the dark to come forth and be who they are.

...Come feel the cool and shadowed breeze,
come smell your way among the trees,
come touch rough bark and leathered leaves:
Welcome to the night....

 Each subsequent poem features those creatures of the nighttime as well as the flora that surrounds them bringing strangers, that we are, into their world.  Through a variety of poetic forms and techniques, song, rhyme, free verse, or concrete, Sidman illuminates those particular qualities that make each subject unique.

Whether the pacing and placing of text is that of the poet or the illustrator it contributes to the overall richness of this work.  As if the poems are not enough readers are treated to concise sidebars on the far right of each two page spread giving further details about each dweller of the dark. 

As stated on the back of the title page,

The prints in this book were made by the process of relief printing.  A drawing or sketch is transferred onto a block of wood or, in this instance, a sheet of linoleum mounted on wood, and the drawing is then cut and carved away using a variety of tools.  The areas left uncut are covered with ink and printed on paper by hand or on a press; a number of blocks can be cut and then successively printed in different colors, with the different blocks being "registered" or aligned to create a multicolored print.  The prints for Dark Emperor were each printed from at least three blocks (and in some instances as many as six) and then hand-colored with a strongly pigmented watercolor called gouache.

Rick Allen is an extraordinary artisan in his particular medium.  Extending the illustrations beyond the intended borders tempts readers to venture further noticing the subtle nuances of particular scenes.  Smaller graphics within the poems either highlight the intended subject or lend a bit of humor.  Careful viewers can follow one creature as it meanders through each poem among all the midnight magic acting as our guide.

Do yourself a favor by following Allen's link to his web site.  When considering the process of completing each piece, the results are amazing.