Words Of Wisdom. Words For Freedom.

There are words given to us by parents, mentors and friends which serve as touchstones.  They are like mantras in our minds springing forth to reinforce or direct a decision.  Those in existence the longest do not impact us alone but have spread beyond the borders of our daily lives encompassing the world at large.

Many of these wise phrases are linked to a single man, a man believed to have lived 2,500 years ago.  The Fabled Life of Aesop (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, March 10, 2020) written by Ian Lendler with illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski presents in the best and most beautiful style the life of Aesop and his fables.  For those who have believed these short tales are jewels, this book is the treasure chest holding them for us to savor freely.

One day, a slave was born.

His parents named him Aesop.  Aesop was not allowed to live with his parents.  He was forced to work in a vineyard on an island.  Aesop, as did the other slaves, quickly learned to speak in a special language; one not offensive to their masters.  They did so to remain alive.

Aesop had a mind capable of conjuring the ideal solution to a problem.  One day solving the dilemma of low well water levels had his fellow slaves cheering.  When asked a question by the observant master, a frightened but resolute Aesop told the story of The Lion and The Mouse.  His master, Xanthus, so loved the story, he moved Aesop to his home to manage his business.

Soon Aesop was sold to another master after he ended a dispute between Xanthus and that man.  During his tenure with Jadon, Aesop's stories settled and smoothed difficulty after difficulty.  His tales, fables, used animals nearly exclusively and contained other lessons for listeners, slaves like himself.  This increased their longevity and value.

The stories contained in this volume, The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The North Wind and the Sun, The Fox and the Grapes, The Donkey and the Lapdog, The Goose and the Golden Egg, The Fox and the Crow, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, The Ant and the Grasshopper, and The Lion and the Statue, are a marvelous bridge between two parts of Aesop's life.  After the last story, Jadon, so pleased with the work of Aesop, offered him an unusual compensation.  As was his practice Aesop, being careful what he said, told a story.  This story, a lifetime of stories, made Aesop's deepest desire a reality.  And this reality was like the proverbial pebble dropped in a pond.  The rings are still spreading today.


As each page is turned and words written by Ian Lendler are read, you feel something, a spark glowing and growing to a flame.  Each sentence is measured, building on the struggle of Aesop's life and how he chose to respond to that struggle.  Each description of incidents and the resulting fables indicate the gift Aesop was to himself, his masters and to the other slaves.  His final reward is a reward, passed first by word of mouth and second in the written word, for all of us.  Here is a passage from the narrative of his life.

The two masters agreed that Aesop's advice was very wise.
They settled their argument peacefully.
Jadon was so impressed that he asked to buy Aesop.  You
see, no matter how clever or kind Aesop was, he was still just
a slave and slaves were something to be bought and sold.
Xanthus agreed, and once again Aesop was taken away. 


When opening the rich, golden tapestry of elements in the image fashioned by Pamela Zagarenski on the dust jacket, readers will find themselves gasping aloud at the eloquent artistry spread before them.  The elegant scrollwork, the exquisite lines, the endearing animals, the Greek architecture and design all blend to form true splendor.  Placing Aesop with a fox and bird in the large lighter circle draws our attention to him but also to each item near him as well.  By placing animals from the fables within this initial look at the book, Pamela Zagarenski issues a warm welcome for us to learn about Aesop and to read his fables.

On the book case a much simpler and lighter (in color) scene is shown. It reflects the buildings, sea, weather and flora of the area in which Aesop lived.  Several animals along with Aesop are showcased.  One of his quotes is written along the bottom on the right side.

A deep golden color covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the initial title page, a clothed fox stands on a Grecian urn to reach a cluster of grapes set among delicate flora and fauna.  On the formal title page, on the left, Aesop sits on our planet with a lion, a fox, and a mouse.  The sun and moon lift as balloons on nearly invisible strings.  A crow is placed in the corner on the right of this left side.  On the right a rabbit leaps from some of the text.

Each turn of a page reveals images which will leave you stunned at their brilliance.  A circle holds Aesop as an infant with his parents' bodies wound around him. A weeping lion hangs from a net as the tiny mouse chews the fibers.  The depictions of the fables will have you pausing to relish every single item.  Pamela Zagarenski's illustrative interpretations are fantastic. 

The fine features on the people, their clothing and the settings in which they are placed are indicative of the time period in which Aesop lived. All the illustrations in a variety of shapes and sizes are breathtaking but the double-page pictures near the end are heart-stopping.  You simply can't help but look at them over and over.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is when Aesop's heart's desire is fulfilled.  On the matte-finished cream paper a bird is flying from left to right.  The bird fills most of the right side with the tips of tail feathers crossing the gutter.  The feathers on its right wing are spread as it is raised.  Aesop and a fox are seated on the bird's head.  Aesop is holding one of the pebbles.  The bird is holding an olive branch in its beak.  A pebble is held in the curve of one foot.  A portion of a large deep golden ball is shown in the lower, left-hand corner on the left side. Several other circular elements are meticulously placed.  Phrases and letters in diverse sizes flow from the body of the bird, swirling and looping across the left side of the image.  Letters curve from the bird's beak as if an extension of the olive branch.


This book, The Fabled Life of Aesop written by Ian Lendler with art by Pamela Zagarenski, is a magnificent ode to a man and his words.  A two-page Afterword provides further information.  There is a Bibliography also.  This book comes with my highest recommendation for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Ian Lendler and Pamela Zagarenski and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Ian Lendler has an account on Twitter.  Pamela Zagarenski has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  A wonderful interview, Ancient Wisdom for Trying Times. An Interview with the Duo Behind The Fabled Life of Aesop, of both Ian Lendler and Pamela Zagarenski is highlighted at Elizabeth Bird's A Fuse #8 Production.  I consider this a must read. 


To enjoy the titles selected this week by other participants in the 2020 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge, visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher.

Listen To The Wind

There are moments when reading a picture book, a graphic novel, a book for middle grade readers or a novel for a high school audience, when you think to yourself about the absolute brilliance of the author to articulate a setting, a mood, create a conversation or weave a plot line.  If I could point to only one thing, although I believe it is a mix of many, they all have in common it is their keen sense of observation.  They make a practice of noting details in life each and every day.  They store these away in their minds until their creativity or curiosity encourages them to grow.

Two time Caldecott Honor winner (Sleep Like A Tiger written by Mary Logue, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, October 23, 2012 and Red Sings From Treetops: A Year in Colors written by Joyce Sidman, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, April 6, 2009) Pamela Zagarenski debuts as both an author and an illustrator in The Whisper (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 6, 2015).  The potential found in images to awaken our imaginations is discovered by a little girl.  The result is a marvelous journey into the realm of storytelling.

There once was 
a little girl who loved stories.  
She loved how the words and pictures
took her to new and secret places
that existed in a world all her own.

Just before school was to end at three o'clock she noticed a single shelf in her classroom.  On the shelf was a book quite unlike any she had ever seen.  When questioned her teacher replied the book was a gift received from a grandmother.  It was brimming with stories, magical stories.  When her teacher asked if she wanted to borrow it for the night, the little girl excitedly said yes.

On the way home, unknown to the little girl, letters and words escaped from the inside of the book.  A fox following behind netted them.  After settling in for the evening, with high hopes, the girl opened the book only to discover page after page of pictures with no words.  How could this be?  Were illustrations without words stories?  As she sat there in her bedroom a breeze brought in a whisper.

The whisper spoke to her about imagining asking her to think of words reminding her there are

never any rules, rights, or wrongs in imagining---imagining just is.

Unused to thinking of her own stories, the little girl struggled but managed an acceptable title and two thoughts for the first image.  As she studied the next picture details seemed to jump out at her and the words came more quickly.  She found herself adding dialogue to her narratives.

Each page turn brought more elaborate tales.  Unaware of the passage of time, as the little girl drifted off to sleep a single story had been created by her for each illustration.  In the morning as she hurried to get ready for school, those stories and their characters lingered in her mind.  On the way a meeting left her puzzled but one good turn was exchanged for another.  As the book was returned her enthusiasm was met with joy.


Pamela Zagarenski crafts this book with care; making sure it goes straight into the hearts of those who already have a love of stories but also invites them and others to venture into experimenting on their own.  Using the little girl as an example we follow as she, page turn by page turn, increases her ability to look at an image and see more.  The technique used by Zagarenski to begin the story but not complete it for the readers is fascinating, leaving each one wanting and willing to continue in their own minds.  Here is one of the stories.  Pictured is a magnificent ox resting with a man leaning in to speak in his ear.

The Secret "Mr. Ox, you must please promise not to tell anyone, but we need your help.  Last week...


Upon opening the matching dust jacket and book case readers are greeted with magical whimsy.  The little girl, the fox, grapes, bees, and the crown, floating above the two and on the book she is holding, are full of possibilities.  This image continues to the left on the back.  A portion of a lion is stepping and reaching from the edge.  Through a hoop (window of sorts) a white rabbit circled by stars leaps.

The opening and closing endpapers most certainly signify a beginning and an end of stories and days. While some of the same elements appear in both, those at the conclusion contain more, welcoming readers to wonder at their inclusion and placement.  Rendered in mixed media Pamela Zagarenski's paintings are spectacular in their singularity.

Each two-page spread is full of delicate details.  Her perspectives ask us to pause, study and wonder.  Each image is loosely framed as if its page is torn.  Zagarenski places elements outside the frame extending the impact of the illustration.  As we look at a larger version of a page from the book, the little girl is shown at the bottom looking in her book.

You can't help but want to see the originals and feel the texture.  It's nearly impossible to select a favorite.  The two pages depicting the little girl sleeping after creating a story for each picture is beautiful.  Characters and elements from all the illustrations swirl around her.  On the floor next to her, the fox is curled by her side.  Her head, now wearing a crown, rests on the book.


Today we started our Mock Caldecott unit with the entire fourth grade.  To hear the reactions of the students during the reading of this book and during the discussions later was wonderful.  The Whisper written and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski is one of those books inviting interpretations as varied as the readers.  It's a celebration of the time-honored tradition of storytelling, the power of pictures and the glory of imagination.

To learn more about Pamela Zagarenski and her other work please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  You will enjoy reading her About Me page.  Please take a moment to read author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's discussion of this book at Kirkus.  Visit her blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, to see images from the book.

Wide Awake

Our bodies are wired to be active during the daylight and desirous of sleep as nightfall approaches.  Of course, most little guys and gals will have nights when they can truthfully say sleep is the last thing on their minds.  They have a multitude of other activities they would rather be doing; anything but sleep.

Thankfully there are caregivers, parents, who can remember those nights as a child feeling energized, wide awake and ready to go.  Those memories fuel their wisdom.  Sleep Like A Tiger (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, October 23, 2012), a first picture book written by Mary Logue with illustrations by Caldecott Honor winner, Pamela Zagarenski, is like watching treasured moments from a bedtime ritual.


Once there was a little girl who didn't want to go to sleep even though the sun had gone away.

She tells each of her parents.  While they acknowledge her feelings, they still ask her to put on her pajamas.  Hmmm....she's still not sleepy.  Would she please wash her face and brush her teeth?

Next she gets into bed, even thought she's not the slightest bit tired.  But there's something about lying there that begins a kind of magic.  It starts with a single question to her parents.

Their first answers stay within their home; how and where the dog and cat sleep.  Their little girl's mind is wandering and wondering now.  She wants to know about bats, whales, snails, and bears until she knows something, prompting her parents to ask a question.

The quiet conversation completed, her curiosity satisfied, the little girl informs her parents she is very much awake.  This they understand; kissing her good night, turning out the light, pulling the door nearly but not quite closed.  Now the mind meanders, calling to sleep.

Each of those creatures visited during their nighttime chat along with their sleep habits are one by one being relived thoughtfully.  What they do, she mirrors.  At last to stay strong, she goes to sleep...like a tiger.


Mary Logue creates a soothing sense of peace, weaving a spell, much like a wizard with words.  She takes readers outside the girl's bedroom into the intimate, immediate space of the sleeping animal with detailed images.  A rhythm is in place between the questions, replies and the replications of those answers.  Here is an example.

"Tiny snails?" she asked.
"They curl up like a cinnamon roll inside their shell."


When first looking at the jacket and cover of this title it's as if you've wandered into a dream. You see a girl and tiger curled together in sleep; she with a stuffed tiger in her arms and the tiger's paw on a doll, both wearing crowns.  The opening and closing endpapers, each different, are a whimsical continuation of the dream, a reflection of the story within.

Mixed media paintings on wood with computer illustration formed by the hand of artist Pamela Zagarenski are an open invitation to this tale.  Richly textured, patterned and colored each picture is a collage of lightness, gentle emotions and most of all...love.  Exquisite details await discovery; the little girl's drawings on her bedroom wall, the mother holding a copy of The Little Prince to read at bedtime, a tiny fox passing by the barn, a tea pot with cups in the bear's den with an red alarm clock set to spring.


We readers know books with the flawless combination of words and illustrations can take us to places we can not find on a map; time standing still while we are there.  Sleep Like A Tiger written by Mary Logue and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski is one of those special books, a gift bestowed on those who read it alone or when it is shared; especially when it is shared.  Even after several readings I continue to be amazed at both the narrative and the pictures, marveling at the power of each to delight and soothe.

Please follow the links to the author's and illustrator's websites embedded in their names.  Pamela Zagarenski has been interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  This is a video I discovered on YouTube highlighting more illustrations from the book.