With The Eyes Of Your Mind

It is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.

This gift given to each of us is heartily embraced by children every single day.  In their minds, there is much more than meets the eye.  They see beyond what is and wonder about what can be.

Time and time again, their astounding ability to think beyond borders compels adults around them to realign their own reflections and directions.  Milo Imagines the World (Putnam, G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, February 2, 2021) written by Matt de la Pena with pictures by Christian Robinson is greater than a ride on a subway.  It's an exploration of first impressions and a reexamination of those very perceptions.

What begins as a slow, distant glow

grows and grows.

into a tired train that clatters down the tracks.

Once the subway train comes to a halt, Milo and his older sister board and find seats.  He first notices a man with whiskers, a businessman, and a woman wearing a wedding dress with a small dog.  When he takes this monthly Sunday trip, Milo finds himself a bundle of mixed emotions.  To settle himself, Milo draws about the people he sees.

After the man with whiskers exits, Milo sketches his evening spent with cats, escaping parakeets, and a supper of soup.  His sister is not impressed with his pictorial musings.  At the next stop a suit-wearing boy steps through the doors with his father.  His shoes, looking like they were just taken out of a box, are noticed by Milo.

Milo presents on paper a life of royalty for the boy.  For the woman in the wedding dress with her small dog, he imagines a high-flying departure for the newly wedded husband and wife.  Again, his sister ignores his artwork preferring to focus on a game on her phone.  A troupe of break dancers briefly capture everyone's attention.  What are their lives really like?  What do other travelers on the train think about Milo?

At their stop Milo and his sister leave the platform, making their way to an imposing building.  The suit-wearing boy with his father is there, too.  Together they all wait in a long line.  It is during this waiting; Milo comes to a profound understanding.  In that moment, Milo mentally redraws all his pictures.  Milo's bundle of mixed emotions settles on one, happiness, as he shows the best drawing to the person he and his sister came to see, his mom.

Each description of Milo's observations and his imagined scenarios for the people on the subway train written by Matt de la Pena are beautifully lyrical.  His selection of words, adjectives and verbs, and use of figures of speech are adept and full of sensory awareness.  We have no idea of the destination for Milo and his sister until near the end of the narrative.  This makes the realization moving, as readers recognize the veracity of Milo's life.  His mother is incarcerated.  Here is a passage.

The wedding-dressed woman near the far door

has a face made out of light,

while the dog peeking out of her handbag has no face at all,

just a long, lolling tongue.

For the front and back of the dust jacket, artist Christian Robinson fashions very real portraits of Milo on the front and his older sister on the back.  Milo looks toward the right and his sister looks toward the left.  The inclusion of childlike drawings in crayon and colored pencil informs us of Milo's skill and his imagination.  There is a blend of realism and joyful fantasy.  There is something completely endearing about Milo's knitted hat with the hand-lettering of his name in the title.  The title text is varnished on matte-finished paper.  

On the book case is a depiction of the subway train, extending on either side of the spine which is one of the steel pillars in the station.  Among the authentic depictions of the passengers are inventive drawings made by Milo's mind.  A deep-sea diver is exiting the train as fish swim around them.  Like the dust jacket, the canvas is white.  The opening and closing endpapers mirror the design and color of Milo's hat.  For the two-page image for the title page, we see on the left drawings by Milo as he and his sister go down the stairs to the train on the right.  

These illustrations rendered

with acrylic paint, collage, and a bit of digital manipulation

all span two pages with the exception of six single-page pictures providing a pause in the pacing and highlight a shift in the narrative. They are a mix of reality and the spiral-bound notebook pages belonging to Milo.  Readers feel as though they are participants in this story through the alternating points of view.  At times we are seated in the subway train looking across the aisle at Milo and the others on his side.  Other times we move in closer to Milo's side.  And sometimes we are shown a larger view of the station.

We are distinctly aware of the facial expressions and body postures of the characters.  There are people of varying ages, walks of life, and ethnicity.  When we are viewing the pages of Milo's notebook, we sometimes see his hand steadying a page or holding a pencil as he draws.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a single-page image.  We are close to Milo, his sister, and a new passenger on the subway.  On the far left, seated, is an elderly, well-dressed gentleman carrying a cane for walking.  Between him and Milo is an empty seat with Milo's notebook and pencil placed there.  Milo has turned in his seat to look at his face in the window.  His expression is one of curiosity.  Turned away from him and studying her phone is his sister on the right.

We need this book, Milo Imagines the World words by Matt de la Pena and pictures by Christian Robinson, so readers can see their story here and other readers can comprehend their stories with compassion.  This collaboration between these two creators is exceptional.  You will want to have a copy (or more) of this title in both your personal and professional collections. 

To discover more about Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Christian Robinson has interior images at this website.  Matt de la Pena has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Christian Robinson has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website is a teacher's guide and an audio sample.  You will enjoy interviews about this book at Publishers Weekly, AL DIA, and NPR Weekend Edition.

It Never Fails

She was in her twenties before she heard him say those three powerful words to her.  He was a believer in actions speaking louder than words.  There was no doubt of his love for her but to hear those words spoken to her with quiet purpose is a cherished memory.

Love manifests itself silently without fanfare in everyday moments, a smile or an extended hand.  It can roar so the whole world is aware of its presence.  Love (G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, January 9, 2018) written by Matt de la Pena with illustrations by Loren Long lifts up love so readers can rejoice in its beauty as it radiates into our hearts and surrounds our souls.

In the beginning there is light
and two wide-eyed figures standing
near the foot of your bed,
and the sound of their voices is love.

If you listen and look you will hear it and see it in the city scene as you pass by in a taxi.  Love makes an appearance no matter where you live or the time of day.  You need to let it wash over you in the gifts given by Mother Nature and in the singular sounds of human progress.

Children of all ages in all seasons give love in their laughter.  Reach out, share it and join in their joy. In the midst of tragedy, heartache, or a nightmare, a voice can shelter us or a pet can comfort us and speak of love.  Love wraps around us every single day if we think about the people who are a part of our lives.  What they do is a love song just for us.

Have you ever studied the face of a grandparent, parent or beloved adult?  The wrinkles lining their faces represent paths traveled to give love.  Do you remember family stories?  Is there one member whose tales are taller than the others?  This is love.

Strangers send love into the world when they pursue their musical passion.  You have love too.  It's seen in your reflection.  So sweet children, wherever you go, there is love in you, in others, and in the world.


These twenty five sentences, these phrases, written by Matt de la Pena speak of seeking and finding love in ordinary places, in spaces we share with others.  He asks us to be aware and to understand the numerous forms of love.  Readers will be connected to other readers through Matt's depictions of love beginning with his first sentence.  This connection will broaden and grow deeper page by page.  Here are three sentences, one following the other.

And in time you learn to recognize
a love overlooked.
A love that wakes at dawn and
rides to work on the bus.
A slice of burned toast that tastes like love. 


When I first looked at the dust jacket with the shades of yellow and rich blues with a hint of purple, it wrapped around me like a hug. (When I left home for the first time going to college my mother made me a bedspread, pillow case and pillows in these colors.  She said it was to remind me of her and her favorite flowers, violets.)  Artists will tell you these hues are close to complementary.  The front of this dust jacket reminds us storms will pass and sunshine (sunrises and sunsets) will always follow, like love.  This image of the father and child with the yellow umbrella is precious.  To the left, on the back, the darker blue color provides a canvas for a puddle spreading from the top, left portion.  Reflected in the puddle is the child walking and carrying a closed umbrella.  The title text is varnished.

On the book case a thin layer of grass spans from left to right.  Along the top is a slightly larger layer of sky with wisps of clouds.  In the center is bright golden yellow.  This is deeply symbolic.  On the opening and closing endpapers is a deep, deep shade of blue.  On a background of pure white the initial title page shows the word love.  On the formal title page the design of the book case is repeated.

Rendered in

collaged monotype prints, acrylic paint and pencil

the illustrations created by Loren Long will literally take your breath away.   Some of them are loosely framed circles on a single page, others cross the gutter from left to right or right to left leaving a column for text and others span two pages framed in white.  There are single page pictures too.  Loren uses full color but his choices convey mood such as when the child is searching for love in a dream and can't find it.  His perspectives represent shifts in emotion and emphasize those emotions.

The words of Matt de la Pena are enhanced by Loren Long's images.  When Matt speaks of a ride in a cab through a city our eyes are immediately drawn first to the taxis lining the curb.  We are aware of the layers of buildings in the background and the framing of the trees.  We are transported to this park.  A red balloon drifts in the air.  We see the vendor's stand on the far left.  A woman holding a hot dog in one hand and a dog leash, attached to her pup, in the other hand is watching.  To the right a boy in a wheel chair is holding out a hot dog to a man resting on a bench.  A single crutch is leaning against that bench.  There are many stories in this scene.  Each illustration Loren has given us is replete with details inviting discussion and contemplation.

One of my many favorite illustrations is the one for the above-quoted text. It is on a single page.  Two children stand at a window.  The younger of the two is looking outside the window.  It's winter and a man carrying a lunch pail is trudging through the snow toward a bus.  An older sibling is facing the boy, handing him a glass of juice and carrying a plate with burned toast on it.  A large radiator is beneath the window.  (My dad worked in the same factory for forty-one years.  I still have the thermos he carried.  I can't remember him ever missing a day of work.  And I can't eat toast unless it's burned.  My mom always burned the toast.)


Love written by Matt de la Pena with illustrations by Loren Long is as the title states but make no mistake, this is a book conceived and created with love by these two men.  The words and images are about all of us.  We can see and sense ourselves on every single page.  You will want to have multiple copies of this title for your professional collections, at least one for your personal collections and this is one you will be gifting to others often.  Thank you Matt de la Pena and Loren Long.  Thank you with all of my heart.

To learn more about Matt de la Pena and Loren Long and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Both of them have pages on their sites dedicated to Love. (Matt and Loren)  Please visit those special pages for further understanding of their work on this title.  At the publisher's website you are given a peek inside the book.  Matt de la Pena and Loren Long are guests on NPR's All Things Considered.  You will certainly want to visit Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read., to read the interview with Matt and Loren.  You can also view the marvelous book trailer too.

On The Bus

You walk everywhere.  If it's too far to walk, you ride your bicycle.  Finally the time arrives when you have a car to drive but with this ownership comes maintenance, insurance and the cost of gas.  A day comes, much too quickly, when using a vehicle to get from place is no longer an option.  Neither is walking or riding a bicycle.

Even at ninety my mom still wanted her independence.  (I'm pretty sure I'm going to feel the same way if I make it to ninety.)  For her taking the city/county bus, even with her walker, was a beautiful blessing.  She became friends with the drivers and frequent riders.  It was an entire new community.  

I was fortunate enough after a visit to my local independent bookstore, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, to purchase and read a title released today which honors traveling in the city by bus.  It also pays tribute to the relationship children have with their grandparents.  Last Stop On Market Street (G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA)) written by Matt de la Pena with pictures by Christian Robinson is a book about love created with love.

CJ pushed through the church doors, skipped down the steps.

As the boy and his grandmother leave the building it begins to sprinkle.  CJ is full of questions; wanting to know why they have to wait at the bus stop in the rain and why they can't ride in a car like his friend.  Her replies are full of wisdom; she is sharing what her eyes see that he is missing.

As she predicts the driver, Mr. Dennis has a surprise for the boy.  Fellow passengers are greeted by both as they take their seats.  CJ asks Nana another question about their destination.  He cannot understand why they go there after church.  As the bus travels down the street she continues her knitting answering him with sympathy expressed for his friends.  They will never experience what she and CJ experience.

Other riders enter the bus.  Each prompts questions from the boy.  When a blind man gets seated she says there are other ways to see.  When two boys stand listening to their portable media player, she suggests he listen to the real live thing, a man with a guitar on the bus.

On the recommendation of the blind man, CJ, Nana, the man (and his dog) listen with a different sensory style.  The man is right.  It's pure magic.  As the passengers applaud the performance, the bus comes to a stop.

CJ holds his Nana's hand as they walk.  What he sees and what she sees is still different but all her answers to all his questions, especially the last one, make him realize he wants to be like her.  As they enter another building, to take their places in the line, CJ knows there is no other place he would rather be.

Prior to this title I have read a picture book, young adult novel and a short story by Matt de la Pena, enjoying them a great deal.  His writing in those, as in this title, brings readers directly to the moments shared by his characters.  Word choices and sentence structure reflect conscious choices; striking and at times poetic.  The love shared by CJ and Nana is evident in his comfort in asking her questions and in her patient replies.  Here is a single passage.

The outside air smelled like freedom,

but it also smelled like rain,

which freckled CJ's shirt and dripped down his nose. 

You can feel the warmth like sunshine coming from the matching dust jacket and book case as soon as you look at it. The vivid colors and the bold shapes sing out to readers.  When opened it becomes a single illustration of the bus traveling down Market Street.  In blue paper strips above the bus on the back we read:

CJ and his grandma take a bus ride together,

discovering the beauty and wonder

of their vibrant neighborhood.

A golden yellow provides the background on the opening and closing endpapers for white silhouettes of items important to the story; a bus, a butterfly, a coin, a jar with butterflies, a guitar, a hawk, a dog, a pair of glasses, an umbrella, a tree, a hat with a flower and a rainbow.  

Most of the visuals extend across two pages, edge to edge, beginning with the dedication pages; a portrait of the city street.  Christian Robinson rendered these and the other pictures using acrylic paint, collage, and a bit of digital manipulation.  All of his smaller illustrations are framed in white space in shapes which mirror the windows on the bus.  It's like we are being given a gift of looking into this special world.

Robinson's details take us into the city.  Through his work we are riders on this bus with CJ and his grandmother.  With a brush stroke or a carefully-placed shape we understand his depiction of each person.  There is a quiet, humming joy in his color palette.  

Without being explicit my favorite picture is of CJ listening to the guitar music.  I can only imagine that all readers will, without a prompt, do exactly as he is.  It's one of many beautiful moments with the narrative and image working in exquisite harmony. (Also, I wonder what book CJ is reading at the end on the publication information page.) 

Last Stop On Market Street written by Matt de la Pena with pictures by Christian Robinson is an eloquent portrayal of the bond between a boy and his grandmother.  With each page turn you feel yourself being wrapped in the love radiating from the story.  I literally sighed aloud at some of Nana's answers.  This is a heartprint book; a must read for all readers of all ages.

To discover more about Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson please follow the links embedded in their names taking you to their websites.  Matt de la Pena is a guest at teacher librarian extraordinaire John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  This links to an interview of Christian Robinson upon his receipt of the 2014 Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award.  Both Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson are featured at author Julie Danielson's blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.
Update:  Enjoy this interview with Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson at NPR Books Listen To The Story Morning Edition.
Update:  Head over to Scholastic's Ambassador for School Libraries John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read. to see a new video with Matt and Christian talking about this book. January 12, 2016
Update:  After the big win of the Newbery Medal Matt de la Pena is interviewed at Publishers Weekly. January 12, 2016

.@mattdelapena I ♥/ Students reacted to blind man closing his eyes to feel magic of the music. #SharpSchu How did this image come to you?

— Margie Myers-Culver (@Loveofxena) December 17, 2015

#SharpSchu It was actually a joke from the blind man (in my head), though nobody sees it that way! https://t.co/W6Gwm0LjH8

— Matt de la Pena (@mattdelapena) December 17, 2015