Beginning At The Ending

Have you ever noticed when there is only one of anything left, the value, real or imagined, increases?  When you think you will never enjoy the sensory experience of tasting, touching, smelling, seeing or hearing it again, it's as if there is nothing quite as important as tasting, touching, smelling, seeing or hearing that one thing as much as possible.  Without a doubt you find yourself wondering why you waited until there was only one remaining before you gave it the attention it so richly deserves.

Perhaps this is why we need to protect and enjoy every detail of our lives, each and every day.  The Very Last Castle (Abrams Books for Young Readers, October 9, 2018) debut picture book written by Travis Jonker with pictures by Mark Pett asks us to follow one very brave little girl.  Not only does she ask questions, but she decides to find her own answers.

In the middle of a small town stood something
you might not expect.

A castle. 

This castle is distinctive.  It is the very last castle.  For reasons unknown, no one has been inside nor has anyone left the castle. There is a guard at the top of a tower, unmoving and watchful.

One day Ibb, a girl living in this town with the very last castle decides to drop a stone in the moat.  The guard does not budge.  Sounds come from the castle, snapping, thudding and hissing.  These sounds cause people in Ibb's circle of friends to speculate on what might be inside the castle.

Autumn turns into winter.  The guard never leaves his station.  What could he possibly be sheltering? With the shift in seasons to spring, Ibb grows bold.  Another stone is dropped in the moat.  The guard moves.  The next day, she crosses the moat in a small boat and knocks on the very large door.  One of those three sounds scares her into leaving as fast as she can.

Soon an invitation is delivered to Ibb.  Her presence is requested inside the castle.  She is warned to not honor this summons.  Regardless, she walks to the castle and enters after the drawbridge is dropped.  Amazing answers to questions are revealed.  An agreement benefiting many is reached.


We are immediately intrigued after reading the first two pages.  Travis Jonker begins with not only the unexpected but a mystery.  We have questions.  With four words he opens the door to answers.

Then there was Ibb.

This child's curiosity challenges her to be courageous despite her teacher, friend and grandfather's speculations about what is being guarded inside the castle by someone no one has met.

Each time she decides to be brave Travis uses a repeating phrase to bind the incidents together.  Sound effects play an important role; three different sets plus two.  Dialogue is skillfully blended with the narrative.  All these techniques work wonderfully to create a storytelling rhythm.  Here are two passages.

The next morning, Ibb walked
past the castle.  She stopped and
looked up at the tower.

No guard.

Ibb had an idea.

She floated across the
moat, walked up to the
door, and, with all the strength she had,
KNOCK
KNOCK
KNOCKED.


When we look at the front, right, of the opened dust jacket we are introduced to a curious little girl and the shadowy figure of a guard on a tower top.  The one is already moving into a part of our heart.  Who can resist the shy smile, adorned backpack and cheerful clothing?  The falling leaves designate autumn as the season.  A careful look at the spine shows it covered with castle bricks.  A tiny figure of Ibb is pulling on the drawbridge lever below the title. An apple is placed above the title.  Why?

To the left, on the back, Ibb is standing in front of the castle door, having crossed the moat.  Her hand is raised as if to knock.  On the book case two different scenes are presented to readers.  One shows a determined Ibb walking toward her destination.  On the left we get our first look at the guard when he is not in the tower.  The two tiny images on the spine of the jacket have been removed.

The opening and closing endpapers are a darker shade of the blue in Ibb's dress.  Mark Pett renders his pictures using pen and ink and watercolor.  They span double pages and full pages.  Readers will want to notice the facial expressions on all the characters, especially their eyes.

Many of the illustrations are in full color but other visuals have limited color.  This not only elevates the pacing but draws our attention to the most important details in any given scene.  Sometimes a portion of an image will be in full color but other elements will have limited color.  The townspeople with the exception of Ibb's teacher, Miss Wicks, her friend, Alex and her grandfather, are never shown in full color.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when the story introduces us to Ibb.  She is striding across a pale green field with a few delicate flowers still blooming.  A tiny butterfly comes from the gutter.  Ibb moves with arms swinging from left to right.  She wears her yellow boots, red and white striped stockings, blue dress and polka-dotted long-sleeved shirt.  Her green backpack is covered with her favorite things. Her eyes are closed in contemplation.  The background is a crisp white.


When you read The Very Last Castle with words by Travis Jonker and pictures by Mark Pett for the first time, you are compelled to read it again, then and there.  You realize Travis and Mark have not only entertained you but guided you toward valuable life lessons.  You need to read this book often and share it with others as often as possible.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Travis Jonker and Mark Pett and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Travis has another site here.  Both Travis and Mark have accounts on Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  The cover reveal with a chat between Travis and Mark is at School Library Journal.  Travis has two great posts about this title on his blog, 100ScopeNotes; here and here. (The comic explaining the story behind this story is super.)  There is also a post full of Twitter tweets from Mark Pett about his illustrative process.  Travis wrote an article for the Nerdy Book Club about being an author.  Travis's friend, Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, celebrates this book at his blog, Watch. Connect. Read., today.  I went to Travis's event on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at McLean & Eakin, a book shop in Petoskey, Michigan.  To hear him read his story aloud was simply the best.

Egg-Citing Encounter

There are advantages and disadvantage to being alone.  Of course, it usually depends how much time you find yourself without company.  Is it hours, days or almost always?  A few hours without the hustle and bustle of daily life can be a sought-after miracle.  If this extends to day after day, month after month and year after year, it is an adjustment but certainly allows for thoughtful reflection on any and all things inside and outside your world.

A disadvantage is seeing something wondrous and having no one to chat with about it but remember there are those discoveries better kept to yourself.  They are simply too hard to explain.  Lizard from the Park (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, September 8, 2015) written and illustrated by Mark Pett (The Boy And The Airplane and The Girl And The Bicycle) represents the many phases of friendship, both joyous and challenging.

Like most days, Leonard walked home by himself.  On this particular spring afternoon, he took a shortcut through the park.  

Before we turn to the next page, let's pause a minute here.  First, Leonard is alone.  Second, he is taking a shortcut.  I can already feel the tension and anticipation increasing, can't you?  Now he's in

the deepest, darkest part.

We readers and listeners of stories know Leonard's life is about to change.

Leonard finds an egg and it's extraordinary...at least to Leonard.  He does exactly what a curious boy who is alone most days would do.  He plops it into his backpack.  Leonard lives in a large city in an apartment at the top of his building.

The egg never leaves his side for the rest of the day.  That night the two are snuggled together in bed.  When morning comes what is inside the egg decides to come out.  It is a lizard which Leonard promptly names Buster.

Over the next several weeks Leonard is thrilled with Buster's company sharing the things he enjoys doing most in his favorite places.  When the season shifts into summer Leonard notices two things about Buster which cause him some concern.  As the end of autumn nears and a holiday approaches Leonard hatches a plan which has to work.  It will lift them both up, up and away into fresh friendships.


When Mark Pett introduces us to Leonard regardless of our individual personality, we are drawn to him for his solitude and energy.  Pett has an easy, matter-of-fact but intimate way of narrating Leonard's and Buster's story.  With one or two but sometimes three sentences per page or per illustration, we are privy to every thought and action of the two.  Repetition of certain phrases connects one part of the story to another like pieces on an elegantly stitched quilt.  Here is a sample passage.

In the weeks following, Leonard took Buster everywhere. They spent their mornings together, their afternoons together, and they spent their in-between together. 


Unfolding the dust jacket and opening the matching book case moves readers to a park surrounded by a large city and introduces us to the two characters.  By viewing the back, to the left, we know exactly which city this is by the reading place selected by Leonard for him and Buster.  The finely wrought details and soft shading employed by Pett using charcoal and digital painting welcome us into this charming, thoughtful tale.  His use of pale purple is especially appealing.  A light, bright spring green colors the opening and closing endpapers.

The verso and first page is a single image of the buildings on the left with Leonard walking into the park on his way home from school.  The next two pages have him in the thickest part of the park.  When he spies the egg Pett sets a smaller framed rectangle within the larger picture.  With flawless placement the illustrations shift size from double pages, to single pages, to almost two pages with a narrow vertical visual.

Sometimes a group of small vignettes will be surrounded by the cream background softly framing them.  The wordless two page image showcasing Leonard's plan for Buster will have readers cheering.  Careful observers will notice the repeated presence of another even before Leonard does.

One of my favorite sequences of illustrations is Leonard trying to help Buster blend in with the other people.  His disguises are hilarious.  In the final image readers will burst out laughing at the inability of even Leonard to help Buster look like a regular guy any longer.  Personally I think the picture of Leonard reading with Buster between the lion's paws should be a poster to promote literacy with a friend.


Tender and triumphant Lizard from the Park written and illustrated by Mark Pett is a quiet treasure.  How fortunate for Buster to have a friend like Leonard, clever and creative who puts others before himself.  This book is a joy to read repeatedly.

To learn more about Mark Pett and his other work please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  Head on over to the publisher's website to view six interior images including one of my favorites.

Saving For A Dream

Most of us know what it's like to want something but be woefully short on funds.  Many needs claim the lion's share of our budgets before wants are even addressed.  For some a prioritized wish list helps us to tuck away monies.  Years may come and go before we have enough saved.

Imagine if you are a child who sees something you would love to have; not a newer or bigger one, just one at all.  You have no income like an adult. Maybe you don't even have an allowance.  In The Girl and The Bicycle (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division), a wordless gem, imagined and illustrated by Mark Pett, a girl spots something which becomes her heart's desire.

It's a busy city street bustling with shoppers, amblers and dog walkers.  A girl and her brother are moving with the flow until she notices a green bicycle in the toy store window.  She jumps with joy dashing for home, dragging him along, his ice cream cone forgotten in a puddle on the sidewalk.

At home a search for lost and forgotten coins is made.  Roadside sales yield a little bit more money but she is still lacking the needed amount.  Outside seeing her brother playing in piles of leaves, she gets another idea.  Rake in hand, she goes door to door in her neighborhood.  Finally one woman accepts her offer of help.

Bags are filled with leaves.  As seasons change from winter to spring to summer, we see the girl providing an extra hand for the same woman with inside and outside chores.  Surely her savings are growing.  Strolling with the woman's dog one day she passes the store with the bike still in the window.

That happy day arrives when the contents of her piggy bank, spread on the table, are exactly what she needs.  Running from the house carrying her purse, her brother tagging along, she heads into town.  Not one, not two, not three but four surprises befall the three characters.  All is right in this little corner of the world as the balance between giving and getting is precisely where it needs to be.


Happily removing the dust jacket from the book case it seems as if Mark Pett is giving us three very distinct, important representations from the book; the front jacket when the girl first sees the bicycle, the back jacket when she and her brother are excitedly leaving their home and the front book case showing the bicycle lying on its side.  A tiny rendering of the bike patterned in rows covers the opening and closing endpapers in two hues of green.  A similar color range as the companion book, The Boy and the Airplane, the soft, soothing shades of gray, brown, green and a single pop of rusty red are used in his watercolor and pencil illustrations.

Subtle shifts in the background tones signify changes in time and emotion.  Pett alternates his picture (all are edge to edge with no framing) from two pages to single page to vertical shared half pages.  His layout and design are simply inviting; asking you to stop and notice every small nuance in his pictures.

Tiny humorous details bring a classic realism to the visuals; the cat peeking about in the girl's home, her brother's curiosity and delight in the simple things, the woman's dog barking at the vacuum cleaner and squirrel and the grin on the piggy bank.  For the most part expressions on the characters are portrayed through their eyes; rarely do we see mouths unless they are smiling.  Pett has a gift for depicting what his characters are feeling at any given moment with body posture.  Careful readers will notice one particular person in the opening illustration and the toy the girl's brother is carrying in the final scenes.

One of my favorite illustrations (I adore many of them.) is of the woman and the girl cleaning the garage.  The dog is present sniffing, drawing our attention to his focus.  The woman is holding an object which will certainly cause readers to exclaim "Isn't that..?"  Pett has cleverly included items which are sure to generate discussion and questions.


I have read The Girl and the Bicycle by Mark Pett over and over and over since I purchased it this afternoon.  I could hardly wait to share it with my blog readers.   The ties between generations, the friendships which can be formed between the young and old, are utterly heartwarming.  Readers of all ages will be moved by the eloquence of this story.

For inside views of illustrations visit the publisher's website. Please follow the link embedded in Mark Pett's name to access his official website.  UPDATE Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast has more artwork for you to enjoy. (5/8/2014)

The Gift

Tomorrow evening one of the highlights of each month will begin promptly at 8:00 PM EST on Twitter.  Members of the Nerdy Book Club will gather.  It's an hour of book bliss known as the #SharpSchu Book Club, hosted by Colby Sharp, educator, co-founder of the Nerdy Book Club, co-host of the monthly #titletalk with Donalyn Miller and blogger at sharpread and John Schumacher, teacher librarian, member of the 2014 Newbery Committee, 2011 Library Journal Movers & Shakers and blogger at Watch. Connect. Read.  This month the spotlight will shine on three wordless picture books.

I've previously reviewed Molly Idle's Flora and the Flamingo (Chronicle Books) and Bluebird by Bob Staake (Schwartz & Wade Books).  The third book chosen, The Boy and the Airplane (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) by Mark Pett is about losing and finding.  Sometimes we find more than we have lost.


As the first page is turned on the left we see the merest hint of an adult leg walking off the edge.  On the right a young boy, clad in overalls and short sleeve shirt, is holding a box tied with ribbon in a bow, on his face is a look of wondering.  When the present is opened, to his delight, he discovers a red toy airplane.

In a heartbeat, now wearing a jacket, he's out the door.  For the next several pages his joy is almost palpable.  He runs holding the plane, he is a plane circling it on the ground, then giving it a glance, he picks it up.  Arm back, plane in hand, he gives it a mighty throw.

He runs following as it climbs toward the sky until...it lands on the roof.  In an instant his joy vanishes. This boy is a very determined fellow though.  Grabbing a ladder he tries to reach it.  No, it's too short.  The next two pages show him attempting all possible means of retrieving his gift; he's a cowboy with a lasso, a baseball player throwing a ball, bouncing on his pogo stick and a fireman with his hose spraying out water.

Clearly having exhausted all his ideas, he sits under a tree.  When a maple seed flutters to the ground next to him, a new thought begins to grow.  Carrying a shovel twice as big as he is, he digs a hole and plants the seed.  Years pass, seasons change.  So does the boy.

Now he is a balding, elderly man with a full beard clad in overalls and a short sleeve shirt, standing next to a very large tree. He climbs, he reaches and rescues.  Time, miracle worker that it is, has fashioned another shift.  A gift.


One of the most striking things about this book, immediately noticeable, is the color scheme, the grays, greens, browns and rusty red used throughout. Rendered in pencil and watercolor this palette gives readers a sense of the timelessness of this story.  Mark Pett elects to alter the jacket and cover, each showing the boy with his airplane in similar scenes taken from the pages inside the title.  Opening and closing endpapers are a pattern of the airplane outline in rows.

Increasing the readers' feeling of participation are the plain backgrounds in varying shades.  All our attention is focused on the boy, the airplane, and the tree.  Pett chooses to include the faint outlines of a door, the interior of a tool shed, a few blades of grass and a small flower. A tiny bird (or two or a nest with babies) are the boy's only companion as time passes.  Illustration size, two pages, a single page, split pages (horizontal and vertical) create new moments with ease.

The texture of the paper, the fine lines of Pett's work, and the deft strokes of his paintbrush blend to invite.  I found myself touching the pages more than once.  When we readers are viewing the final pages, we have formed a connection to the boy/man and the airplane.  That's why, for me, my favorite illustration is the double page spread, zooming in on the old man, as his face and arms appear over a treetop branch.  He's looking at the airplane resting on an aged roof as a bird is looking at him from within the leaves.  I'm pretty sure I sighed out loud the first time I saw this.


Mark Pett's The Boy and the Airplane is a gentle tale of gifts received and given, of persistence and patience and of how wanting and wondering change over the course of our lives.  This book is a priceless gift from Mark Pett to his readers.  It is meant to be treasured.  It is meant to be shared.

Please follow the link embedded in Mark Pett's name above to his official website.  There is an interesting post there about his creation of this book.  For further images of pages from the book, here is a link to the publisher website.  If you want more information about the #SharpSchu Book Club tomorrow night there are links embedded in John's and Colby's blog titles.