Pondering Purpose And Life's Passions

To think about possible outcomes, to envision a future full of the best life offers to us and what we can give back, is how we fill our hearts with hope.  As adults our purpose as we pursue our passions is to pave the way for opportunities for those who follow us.  As my mom always loved to say, "Wherever you go, leave it better than when you arrived."

In Matthew Cordell's first book in a proposed series, Wish (Disney Hyperion, March 3, 2015) elephant parents long for a child.  The arrival of this member in their family, after disappointments, is as if a miracle is granted to them.  The second book, Dream (Disney Hyperion, May 2, 2017) written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell extends and explores the overwhelming pure bliss parents feel when their baby enters their lives.

On the night you were born,
our world shined
bright as the sun.

Gorilla parents gaze with complete amazement at their new child as if hardly able to believe such joy is their joy.  Before them they see a life about to unfold.  This new life will change everything; change them.  As they fall asleep together, one dreams.

In the dream the eyes and voice of the child are remembered with great affection.  The parent imagines the growth of the children in its ability to grip its fingers and climb to new heights.  Huge emotions, some of them contrasting, are woven tightly together by these thoughts.

As the dream continues the child, more grown, ventures to new places.  A friend is found.  Play and similar pursuits are shared.  A bond is forged.  But then profound sadness comes and the parent will do anything to ease this particular pain.

The parent's thoughts keep on unfolding a possible future.  The child is a young adult having followed a passion for making art as a painter.  Upon waking questions and promises swirl in the parent's mind.  Birth.  Beginnings.


No matter how many times this title is read one thing is abundantly clear, love pours forth from these pages.  Matthew Cordell conveys in his carefully chosen words the deep emotions felt by parents when a child they believe will never be born arrives.  Matthew allows us to speculate along with the parent.

As the parent shares their dream you realize you are privy to an intimate experience.  In this small being a personality is ready to blossom and flower spreading their own special beauty into the world.  When we read we can't help but wonder how the rest of our lives will be directed.  What will we dream?  Here are two more sentences.

I dreamed of the many stars
in your small eyes.

Of the music in your voice surrounding
everything, everyone, everywhere.


The soothing mint green as a background for the front of the dust jacket lends itself to dreaming.  The multi-colored pieces spiraling upward from the child signify a wish realized.  They and the title text are varnished. This wonderment follows him throughout the story.  To the left, on the back, one of the interior images is placed.  A parent (mother) is standing outside their home as the other (father), on top of a hill above the house, holds the child up looking into his eyes.  On the book case another interior picture is shared on a canvas of rich lavender, showing the child in five separate phases of growth.  The opening and closing endpapers are patterned in the confetti representing wishes and dreams.

Above the text on the title page the parents are kneeling, both looking at their baby in adoration.  An elaborate curl or question mark in the multi-colored pieces extends upward from the little one.  With a page turn we see two pages of white.  On the far right a gorilla hand reaches from the bottom of the page.  It is holding a paint brush, stroking a line of green.  Throughout the story we come to understand a picture is being painted as elements in the visual are added.  This is blended in with the illustrations Matthew creates using bamboo pen and India ink and watercolor on paper.  Without words the final painting appears on the last two pages.  I can't wait to ask other readers who they think paints this picture during the story.

The illustrations in Matthew's signature style, loose lines, intricate details, and expressive facial features amid wonderful settings are set in liberal amounts of white space.  This technique draws our attention to those items in color.  The perspective is shifted to bring us close to the parents and their child or to give us a larger view of their surroundings.  Sometimes the pictures will cover one or even two pages loosely framed or page edge to page edge.  To depict several incidents over time, there are smaller visuals grouped on a single page.

One of my favorite of many illustrations is for the words

A great journey was beginning
on this very bright night. 

A deep blue sky is brushed across the top of the page with stars and a crescent moon.  The mother and father gorilla are standing in front of their home.  One (the mother) is holding the child up toward the sky.  A large pathway of the multi-colored pieces reaches from them covering the sky as it lifts upward. ( I determined the one gorilla was the mother because it looks as if the other larger gorilla is a silverback.)


It does not matter if you are a parent or not or if you are a child reading this book.  Dream written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell is about hope.  Children are our hope.  They are the promise of a future.  This title tells them love will follow them as they dream of the paths they may follow.  These two books Wish and Dream are truly beautiful.

To learn more about Matthew Cordell and his other work please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Matthew chats with author James Preller on this blog about the first book but this gives you an idea of how the proposed trilogy will be portrayed.  Matthew has an account on Instagram at cordell_matthew.  Enjoy these two images I was able to find online.

A Wish Come True

On May 16, 2015 letters were exchanged in a post about a project author illustrator Matthew Cordell and I were working on to place two hundred copies of his book, Wish, in the hands of newborn children at the Charlevoix Area Hospital.  Matthew followed with a post on his blog on May 19, 2015.  On May 28, 2015 the books were delivered to the hospital.  I had the distinct honor to give the first book to a baby boy born that day.  I hope you enjoy this short video clip of the process captured in pictures.

Wish

Dear Matthew,

You know I've been a fan of your work for years but when I first read Wish I knew I was holding an extraordinary book.  It was as if all the love you hold in your heart had been placed on those pages.  It addresses with compassion a timeless longing.

From conversations on Twitter after I posted my review, I knew many others, whether they are parents or not, have similar feelings about this book.  A discussion followed about making multiple copies of Wish available to more people.  At the time I suggested to Twitter followers they contact their local hospital foundations.

Two months later on April 30, 2015 I reached out to one of the board members of the Charlevoix Area Hospital Foundation.  When asked how many children were born each year at the hospital, she said there are two hundred.  At the end of our phone call, I knew I would be giving them copies of your book in memory of my mom. 

My mom instilled in me the belief that anything worth doing is worth doing right, so it became important to me that the books given to the newborns be signed by you.  I not only want to thank you for agreeing to autograph the books but for corresponding with me online.  To share your joy in this endeavor has been truly wonderful.

Through our mutual friend, John Schumacher, as you know, I was given a contact name at Anderson's Bookshop.  I am thankful for their assistance in ordering the books and coordinating the signing with you.  As the delivery date for the books gets closer I can feel the excitement growing.

A book plate will be placed inside each copy reading

Welcome to the world!

May this book be the first step on your journey

to becoming a lifelong reader.

It is given with love by Margaret Marie Myers Culver 

in memory of her mother, Agatha Marie Fires Myers,

 a woman who loved introducing the joy books can bring to children.

I have decided to wrap the books, Matthew, in white paper with a yellow ribbon tied around each one.  To me children, like this book, are a gift. 

At this time I am filled with overwhelming gratitude.  I am thankful to be able to give Wish to these children and their parents.  I am thankful for you, Matthew, for writing this book and for agreeing to sign the two hundred copies. I am thankful for all the people who are helping make this beautiful thing happen.  I am smiling on the inside and on the outside.

With love,

Margie

Dear Margie,

I am absolutely floored.

Backing up for just a minute… I remember the very moment I first discovered you and Librarian’s Quest. I’d happened upon your review of my book, Another Brother. It was the most perceptive, thoughtful, insightful, and pitch perfect write-up I’d seen. Every last nuance and subtle gag and hidden message I layered into that book—you found them one and all. I got chills. You know when you listen to the perfect song, or see the perfect movie, or (of course) read the most perfect book, and it sends a chill right over your whole entire self? That’s how I felt. And every review I’ve read of yours since has had a similar effect.

It’s obvious that you put so much of yourself and so much of your time and intricate thought into the things you want to say about the books you love. You give complete attention. You truly love what you love. And it’s all done for the sake of the book itself, which I very much admire.

As bitter as this may sound… so many times in today’s world, people throw terrific, outrageous things into the air that will never come into existence. Like, “every baby born at this hospital should receive a copy of your book on the day she/he is born.” It goes into the atmosphere, never to materialize and never to be heard from again. This thing was said, which sounded nice, and then it went away and I had no other thought about it. That was that. Then… out of nowhere, you came back and said that you would actually be making this incredibly generous notion into a reality. I was shocked. Shocked! But at the same time… I can honestly say, I wasn’t all that shocked. That it was coming from you. I still can’t believe it. And yet I can.

On behalf of myself, and on behalf of the tiniest new readers who will benefit from this, and on behalf of their moms and dads who will benefit too, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Margie.

I am absolutely floored.

With love and admiration,

Matt  

UPDATE:  Matthew wrote a blog post about our project on May 19, 2015.

To Believe

To wish for something is to believe it is possible even if others name it a miracle.  Once a wish is made, even if we don't conscientiously work toward it, our marvelous minds begin to guide us in the right direction.  What's not always easy to determine is if the variables will align to make this longing realized.

There may come a time when two believe they would be better as three.  Wish (Disney Hyperion, March 3, 2015) written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell is about the desire to become parents.  It's about a wish for wonderful coming true.

At first, there is us.
There is only us.

Without the us, the elephants, even knowing it, a wish has been made.  They go about their lives; getting comfortable as a twosome, looking forward to the future, traveling through each day and to places yet unexplored.  As time passes their thinking shifts from being a duo to wanting a trio.

This wanting swells within them.  They look forward to a different future, needing to know and planning to grow.  Together they travel.  Together they rest, their anticipation heightening.  Ever alert, ever hopeful, hardly daring to breathe, they listen.  But...

Nothing is heard.  There is still only the two of them.  A yearning is unfulfilled.

Day after day the elephants live their lives but something has changed.  This is why they are unprepared.  This is why they are surprised to hear something they do not expect to hear.

It's huge.  It's loud.  It's joyful.  It's the miracle of becoming more than us.


With the beginning two words of text Matthew Cordell starts to frame expectancy for his characters and us readers.  Sentence by sentence he builds his story, the relationship of the two elephants and our connection to them.  We know change is coming, we hope for it as they do.  We feel their excitement, their sadness and sudden bliss.

The narrative is simple but profound.  Many times the sentences will contain only two words.  Each word in each thought has been carefully chosen; specific words in specific places.  Matthew Cordell employs a form of repetition from the time as us to the hope for welcoming a you.  Here is a sample passage.

And then we wait.
We listen.
So quiet, 
so patient,
so still.


You can't see it but on the copy I hold in my hand above the two elephants with their wish colorfully displayed, a tiny elephant, eyes closed in the center, are the words

family begins with a ...

To me the pale yellow background signifies a new endeavor and creativity.  On the back of the dust jacket, the two elephants have their arms around each other, gazing out across the sea as their wish finds a path toward the sun.

Beneath the jacket is a treat for readers, pale blue spreads across the left and right, the wish stream taking us toward the baby elephant.  The opening and closing endpapers are patterned in the pastel representation of the wish.  A single small picture of the two elephants facing each other with the wish coming from their trunks is shown on the title page.  It's in the shape of love.

Using bamboo pen and India ink and watercolor on paper for his illustrations, Matthew Cordell places his setting at the seaside.  He opens and closes his story on a tiny island; the time of day and what is featured on the island differing.  When the two hopeful elephants plan to be parents their vessel for travel is no longer a plane of their own making but a boat.  As time passes for the couple, the landscape of their home on the shore changes.

 Cordell alters his image sizes to match the pace of his story, single page to double page to a series of vignettes.  White space is an element used skillfully.  Detailed images, emotion in every stroke, extend the narrative elevating it to elegance.

One of my favorite pictures is of the two elephants in front of their home after experiencing their disappointment.  You can see the objects used for their two journeys and hope in the form of trees.  They are flying a kite on a sunny seaside day.  Ever so faintly in the walkway leading to their front door is a hint of the wish.


Wish written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell is a book to share with children to let them know how important they truly are.  It's a book for people whether they are parents or not.  It's about nurturing a thought toward reality.  It's about becoming a family.

To discover more about Matthew Cordell please visit his website and blog by following the links attached to his name.  In a guest post at KidsReads Matthew Cordell speaks about using elephants in this title and more about the book itself.  At The Styling Librarian read an interview about many of Matthew Cordell's titles. For a chat with Erin E. Stead and Philip C. Stead and Matthew Cordell follow this link to Number Five Bus Presents...  Matthew Cordell has been a guest at author and blogger Julie's Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast several times. Follow the link to a list of those posts including an extensive one about his work.

UPDATE:  Please follow this link to teacher librarian extraordinaire and blogger John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read. to view the book trailer and read Matthew Cordell's heartfelt message about this book.  

UPDATE:  Please follow this link to super teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner's Let's Get Busy Podcast with Matthew Cordell.  You might want to have tissues handy.

UPDATE:  Please follow this link to an interview of Matthew Cordell at Debbie Ridpath Ohi's blog, Inkygirl.com