From Your Soul

Striving to make a dream come true takes dedication, determination, desire and a great deal of practice.  Given the chance to exhibit the results of your endeavors is exciting.  When other members of your family with the same interests are a part of the event, your eagerness is magnified. 

You would think that an individual close to you (really close to you), would be supportive.  In fact, you should be able to count on them as your most ardent cheerleader.  Linus The Little Yellow Pencil (Disney Hyperion, June 4, 2019) written and illustrated by Scott Magoon follows the creative ups and downs of an artist with a pessimistic critic.  It's not easy to stay on point in those kinds of conditions.

The family art show was coming up, and only the art with the most heart would win the grand prize.

Linus, the little yellow pencil, is entering the contest for the first time.  Ernie is Linus's eraser.  He has a hard time finding anything good to say about Linus's drawing.  Ernie is first worried and then very angry.  Linus, in his opinion, has no talent.

Every dot, line and object Linus draws are erased by Ernie.  Now Linus has nothing for the contest.  He watches his family preparing for the exhibition.  Brush is happily painting as Ink, Red Paint and Orange Paint comment.  Linus is a tad bit jealous.  Pen and Crayons are passionately pursing their entries.  

Ernie's lack of confidence in Linus seeps into his psyche.  His happy-go-lucky spirit is fading.  When Ernie suggests they not go to the show, it is heart-breaking.  Both Linus and Ernie are starting to wonder if each other are right.  With nowhere left to go, Linus enters a nearby cave.

Inside the cave, Linus meets a being who has a distinct kinship with him.  During their conversation woes are expressed and advice is given.  Popping out of the cave, Linus is a changed little yellow pencil,

sharper than ever, 

he works with renewed vigor until an idea pops into his mind.  It's a concept with a collaborative twist.  The evening of the family art show is one everyone will remember.

Using carefully constructed simple sentences with a mix of dialogue and characters' thoughts, Scott Magoon writes a story mirroring situations and emotions in which readers will identify.  He clearly portrays the battle between loving what you do and being brave enough to keep doing it.  Readers will appreciate the wordplay within the narrative; especially the double meanings.  Here is a passage plus a little bit more.

Linus drew more, but Ernie flipped.

"You can't even make a stick figure?!"

"Oh, I don't know," said Linus.  "I like this one."

"No, trust me," said Ernie.

So Linus tried again . . .

and again.

But it was no use.

Ernie didn't like a single mark Linus made.

Rubba-dubba-rubb went Ernie.

And Linus's lines were gone.

When readers look at the smiling face of Linus on the front of the dust jacket, it is their understanding this little yellow pencil enjoys what he does.  Every portion of this illustration is lifelike, asking us to reach out and touch the page.  We can see texture, but the text is raised so we can feel it, too.  You can see faint images used as a background.  These are Linus's drawings.  

It is when the dust jacket is opened the other end of this pencil comes into view on the back, to the left.  It is cranky, doubting Ernie, enlarged just like Linus.  The line drawn by Linus is being erased.  Eraser bits fall to the left of Ernie.  The text on the back reads:

What 

will

draw

them

together?

A yellow post-it-note in the lower, left-hand corner shows a zebra sketch.  The ISBN covers most of the zebra's body.  (Clever, Scott Magoon, clever)

From left to right and crossing the spine are small colored squares on the book case.  Some are in rows; others are placed on top of these loose rows.  Inside the squares are examples of artwork after Linus's idea grew in his mind.  In the lower, right-hand corner on the front the title has been written in a yellow square.

On the opening endpapers a large drawn squiggle moves from left to right, nearly top to bottom, on a yellow canvas.  In black and white on the closing endpapers a burst of artwork in rays shines from the upper, right-hand corner to the far-left side.  This is a glorious example of Linus's grand design.

Using scanned paper texture and Photoshop Scott Magoon's illustrations are a marvelous medley of characters and artistic styles.  Items found in artist's studios and on their tables are brought to life with dots and lines and ingenuity.  Drawing notebooks and a worktable provide a canvas for the papers and artwork.  The depiction of Linus in the cave is superb.  (Look at Ernie's face!)

The picture sizes are nearly all double-page visuals.  The perspective shifts in sync with the narrative.  Emotion is embedded in every single one.  These tools of the artists' trade are fully animated expressing and experiencing human qualities.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is on a single page.  It highlights a good portion of the text previously noted.  On a plain creamy yellow background, Linus has drawn a stick figure in the lower, left-hand corner.  There is a grassy area at the bottom with lines rising from the ground.  A stick is standing in the middle of this area.  Three branches with leaves extend from the stick.  A smiling face is in the center with an eye and eyebrow on either side and a smile curving underneath.  Ernie is erasing the grassy area on the right.  Linus is trying to draw a swirling line, but he is clearly unhappy.

Like the winner of the art show, this book, Linus The Little Yellow Pencil written and illustrated by Scott Magoon, has the most heart.  It's not only about following your heart but also about helping someone else to see the art in their heart.  It's a hopeful, lively look at staying true to your calling but to be willing and brave enough to change.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections. (The dedication is simply lovely.)

To learn more about Scott Magoon and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  He has a great deal of information and resources about this title.  Scott has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Scott Magoon is interviewed at Creative North Shore, The Write Space and Critter Lit.   

The Write Thing To Do

When it's the first day of a new year, many take time to reflect back on the past 365 days while looking ahead.  Situations are assessed wondering what else might have been said or done.  Two words, if only, sometimes creep into our thinking.  We wonder if only we would have known then what we know now.

Let us suppose for just a minute we might have known then what we know now.  Would this new knowledge have changed anything?  Would it have altered moments or events for the greater good?  Kate Messner's middle grade title, All The Answers (Bloomsbury Children's Books), set to be released on January 27, 2015 replaces "if only with "what if" challenging readers to seriously think about the power of knowing.  

The pencil didn't look magic.

       It looked the opposite of magic.

All twelve-year-old Ava Anderson needed was a pencil to use for Mr. Farkley's math class.  She found it stashed in the family junk drawer in the kitchen.  Neither she, her older brother Marcus, her younger sister Emma, her general store owner Dad, her financial planner Mom nor her father's mother who lives with them have any idea about the power contained in this particular blue pencil.   

It is during her test when a particular formula has vanished from her brain due to jitters, the pencil speaks to her.  All Ava does is doodle a question on her paper.  No one else can hear it.  In fact Ava does not even know the voice is coming from the pencil.  Even after writing down several other questions and hearing replies, she is not making the connection.

Upstairs in her bedroom after school, Ava finally figures out the voice is not some spirit following her around for the day but is actually coming from the pencil.  When she shares this information with her best friend Sophie, Sophie sees huge potential.  Ava sees problems.  It seems the voice has limitations in the responses it provides.  It can only supply facts, not answers depending on the free will of people.

Let's pause here for a minute.  Ava is a first class worry wart.  Sophie is a free spirit.  If an opportunity arises Sophie is immediately ready to jump in with both feet.  Ava, on the other hand, starts listing all the possible problems and wishing for more time to prepare.  Two people, one who doesn't stop to think and the other one who thinks too much, are the best of friends.

For a while Ava and Sophie have fun writing out questions and listening for the results, but carelessness, interpretation and fear threaten their friendship and the balance of life in Ava's family.  Other threads of story are sewn into the fabric of the pencil and it's magic.  Their value is intrinsic to a beautiful whole.   

Ava's Dad is constantly trying to think of a way to maintain his business in light of a larger box store coming to town.  He is looking for that one thing his store will have exclusively.  Ava's Mom and her father, now living in an assisted living facility, Cedar Bay, seem to be at odds with one another ever since Ava's grandmother passed away five years ago.  Her grandfather, Hank, rarely speaks to anyone.  

Ava will need to summon all her courage, to set aside her worries and fears, to realize her full potential.  Knowledge from the pencil will prompt life-altering decisions. Ultimately resolutions rest on the power of love not magic.

Readers of work by Kate Messner are familiar with her masterful skill in character development focusing on the relationships between them.  She places these people in realistic situations which ask them to discover who they are and to be their best possible selves.  Her characters are fully human, wonderfully flawed but compassion is easily felt for them.  Ava's voice in her thoughts and words, as well as those of the other characters, is clearly understood in dialogue which is as full of life as they are.

Giving magic to this pencil in a realistic setting heightens each situation.  As day to day family and school life swirl about Ava, her reliance on it increases but so does her hesitancy to use it.  It is a dilemma propelling the plot forward captivating readers from chapter to chapter.  

Messner has a gift for chapter titles and chapter endings.  A single word or sentence may leave readers wondering or provide an easy connection to what comes next.  Every moment is measured; every moment is tied to another.  Here are some sample passages from the book.

The pencil was bright blue with yellow lettering that spelled out "EverQuest: Innovative Research Solutions."  Ava didn't know what that meant, and she didn't care.  All she cared about was having a pencil for math because if you showed up for Mr. Farkley's class unprepared, he gave you a look that could wilt a giant three-hundred-year old oak tree right down to the ground.
And Ava was nothing like an oak tree.  She was only twelve.  She had skinny arms and spindly legs and wilted easily.

Sophie frowned for a second, then laughed out loud and reached for the pencil. "I'm going to ask it what color underwear Mr. Farkley was wearing today!"

"Sophie, no! That is the grossest question ever!"

But Sophie was already scribbling. She finished, and then she doubled over laughing.

Ava really didn't want to know, but Sophie was laughing so hard she had to ask.  "Okay, what? What did it say?"

Sophie held up her finger and tried to catch her breath.

She played the song from start to finish, without looking away from the music.  She played for Johnny Hodges and for Grandpa and for Mom.  But mostly, she played for herself.  She let the notes carry her, let her fingers ride the keys, let herself be lifted up by her own breath blowing through the horn.

All The Answers written by Kate Messner is an outstanding middle grade title.  This is the age when girls and guys are seeking solutions, defining the people they will be.  This book provides true life situations.  It asks readers to think how they would act or speak if in similar circumstances.  It asks all readers to wonder about what it is we really need to know.

To discover more about Kate Messner and her other books please follow the link embedded in her name to access her website.  Here is a link to a Pinterest board she created for this title. Some of these pins will really get you thinking about the book if you've not read it yet.  Here is the link to a Nerdy Book Club post written by Kate Messner.  She speaks about characters and her books.  Follow this link to read an excerpt from All The Answers. Update: Here is a link to a short blog post where Gilbert Ford talks about illustrating the cover for this book. 

Once Upon A Pencil

Before I could read, as soon as I could read and to this day, fairy tales are favorites.  Traditional, variants and fractured, I enjoy them all.  My bookshelves are a testament to this preference.

It's such fun to see the spin authors and illustrators put on traditional tales.  Their inventiveness has never seen an entire cast of pencils though.  Little Red Writing (Chronicle Books, September 24, 2013) written by Joan Holub with illustrations by Melissa Sweet leads readers down the perilous path of authorship fraught with danger where bravery and a noun might save the day.

(Not only do I open the jacket and cover of a book before reading it, as well as examine the opening and closing endpapers, but I like to peruse the title page, dedication and verso.  A single sentence in the verso is intriguing.  It says: This book does not condone the use of explosives for any purpose other than the purely fictional.  Hmmmm...)

Once upon a time in pencil school, a teacher named Mrs. 2 told her class, "Today we're going to write a story!"

Each student wishes to write about what they know best. So you can imagine what type of tale the birthday pencil, the basketball pencil, the state pencil or the dinosaur pencil might compose.  Without a second thought, Little Red, knowing her color means courage, wants to write about a brave pencil.

Carrying a basket of fifteen red words given to her by Mrs. 2 and her notebook, Little Red sets off to find her story. Down the hall, the gym is a beehive of verbal motion pushing her out the door into a worrisome woods of adjective overload.  Needing to get out of there Little Red uses one of her red words, only to land next to the supply closest.

Oh, no...now she's stuck in a run-on rut.  In the nick of time a delivery truck speedily arrives, but wait...what's that sound? Whatever it is, it's chasing her.  She's running throwing out words from her basket, willy-nilly.

GRRRRRR....


Using language to create perfect pun-tastic prose, Joan Holub gives readers a fairy tale fractured with fun.  Not only are you turning the pages to see what part-of-speech trouble Little Red might encounter but you are wondering how or when the other key players of the original story will appear.  By combining those elements with places found in a school, Holub delivers a first-class, action-packed adventure; puns aside, points on the story path are brimming with brilliant word choices. Here is an example.

She went to the gym and was quickly 
drawn into the action.
She bounced! She boogied. Then she cartwheeled right off the page and into ...
a deep, dark, descriptive forest. ...

...AHA! Scissors!
I need to cut through 
all this description
and stick to the
story path.

There is no mistaking the illustrative techniques, the skillful use of watercolor, pencil and collage, of Melissa Sweet.  The front jacket and cover allude to the spirit of the main character hinting at possible danger and the parallels to the original fairy tale.  Puns and pencils are featured on the opening and closing endpapers with white backgrounds.  Sweet uses these, as well as the title page and verso, to extend the storyline.

Incredible detail, facial and body language, alternating size and perspective in the illustrations contribute to the overall effect of liveliness with just the right amount of humor appearing here and there.  Her design and layout of the collage using paper found in school settings and the every-changing typography will have readers coming back over and over to look at the pages.  Sweet begins the story with a blackboard, letters A-J showing above, but ends with a blackboard, letters Q-Z on the top.  Mrs. 2 has a I ♥ Mrs. 2 cup on her desk.  The instructions on the back of the WOLF 3000 are laugh-out-loud funny.

Little Red Writing written by Joan Holub with illustrations by Melissa Sweet is not only a playful take on the familiar but will spice up any writing classroom.  This is one fairy tale to be enjoyed by guys and gals, parents and teachers alike.  It's also a tribute to the power of the written word.  Read it.  You'll see exactly what I mean.

Please follow the links embedded above in Joan Holub's and Melissa Sweet's names to access their personal websites.  Please follow this link to a discussion guide.

Little Red Writing by ChronicleBooks