Read...Dream...Do

All it takes is one good book.  With this any reader's life has the potential to be changed regardless of their situation.  This single volume starts a fire which will continue to be fueled by works from the same author or illustrator or new authors and illustrators.

For those fortunate enough to have classroom and school libraries, public libraries or homes filled with reading materials and who are supported by dedicated certified staff and/or caring adults, transformation is guaranteed.  Draw! (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) by Raul Colon is a visual offering giving evidence to the power of reading and individual imagination.  Entirely without words, it will leave you speechless, stunned by the images and the story they tell.


On the first page a boy is sitting on his bed, leaning against several pillows, reading a book with AFRICA on the cover.  Next to him is a safari hat.  On the floor, leaning against the bed, is a sketch book.  A glass of water and several pencils have been placed on his bedside table.

With a page turn, the illustration and our perspective grow.  An inhaler is also on the table, perhaps explaining the boy's presence in his bedroom.  He is now drawing.  A pair of binoculars, an umbrella, a stack of books and a sandwich on a plate have also been added.  But that is not all...a thrilling shift in the story is taking place.

A series of bolder, more vibrant pictures, moving from left to right, increasing in size, are superimposed on this visual.  They begin next to the boy's head.  In each of them, he is walking across an African landscape, wearing his safari hat, a canteen, an easel and a backpack while carrying his sketch book.  Readers know a kind of magic is beginning to unfold.

In the next series of single page illustrations, he befriends an elephant accompanied by a small white egret.  After completing a drawing of the elephant and bird, he rides on the elephant's back toward a herd of zebras.  Each time he completes a picture we are drawn deeper into his journey.

Giraffes running across the grasslands, lions lying lazily and standing majestically on a rocky outcrop, gorillas sitting among trees, water buffalo grazing, a hippo wading in shallow water, a charging rhino and monkeys quenching their curiosity fill page after page.   The adventuring artist climbs trees, shares his sandwiches, hat and pencils, hangs from vines, runs like the blazes and embraces a pachyderm pal.  We are definitely fortunate, as are his fellow classmates, to experience this fascinating day with him because of his talent; a talent to read, dream and do...through his drawing.



  Raul Colon has a distinctive illustrative process.  Each picture in this title invites readers to pause.  Opening the dust jacket an original piece features the boy drawing the charging rhino, intent but ready to run.  On the left an interior page from the book shows the boy on the back of the elephant holding his binoculars in one hand, a sandwich in the other.  In the background, a now calm rhino is staring at his portrait placed against a tree.  The book case is a different single illustration taken from the book of the giraffes running as the boy draws.

On the title page three pencils, the binoculars, a safari hat and a backpack stuffed with sandwiches and an umbrella give readers a peek at events to come.  All of Colon's visuals glow due to his technique of beginning with a golden undertone wash; thus illuminating his other colors.  A palette of browns, blue, greens and hues specific to each animal spread from edge to edge on single or double pages.

A sense of warmth not just because of the color choices but because of the acceptance (well except for the rhino) of the animals toward the boy is present.  They are as comfortable with him as he is with them; certainly this is due to his elephant guide.  Colon interjects easy, playful humor into some of his pictures; the gorillas holding the boy's hat and eating a sandwich and the monkeys drawing a picture of the boy in his sketchbook on the easel.

One final point is the two pages of the rhino charge.  Four small illustrations on a single page show him getting closer and closer to the boy.  With a page turn the action bursts forth across double pages.

My favorite illustration, which I would hang in my home in a heartbeat, is the boy, eyes closed, standing next to the elephant at the day's end.  The elephant's trunk is curved around his body, brushing against his ear.  Colon brings us up close to this scene focusing on the boy and the lower two-thirds of the elephant.  It is very moving.


When I read Draw! by Raul Colon last night at the end of my day, I was astonished at its beauty.  I immediately read it again and again.  Hand this to your art teacher, young artists and those who need or want to see the power of reading and imagination.  My Mock Caldecott list grew by one more title.

For more information about Raul Colon follow the link embedded in his name to the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature.  Here is a link to a site, Illustrated Friday, where Raul Colon answers ten questions about his work and process.  Here is a link to an interview at School Library Journal.  Enjoy the videos below.

...To The Ball Game

The day of the week, other than it being a school day, has left my memory.  It is October 1968.  Several classrooms of students are seated on the high school gymnasium bleachers.  Television sets have been rolled onto the hard wood floors positioned strategically for viewing.  History is in the making as the Detroit Tigers make a bid for the World Series championship.  The passion for "the national pastime" has filled the hallowed halls of learning in a small town situated on the outskirts of the state's capital.

Baseball (or softball) games are commonplace in our neighborhoods with skill levels as varied as our ages and sizes.  We all play to win, even if we know we will probably lose.  Our love of the sport is like a fever.  Attending a major league game is a valued rite of passage.   With eloquence in words and pictures, Baseball Is... (Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division) written by Louise Borden with illustrations by Raul Colon brings back memories of every game ever watched or played.

Baseball is our game...
the sport of America.
Its stories are stitched
through our nation's history.

Page by page our combined sensory perceptions about this historic pursuit are recounted little by little, layer by layer, building to the greatness of the game.  Beginning with the field layout, the equipment and the teamwork we are in the ballpark then and now.  We are one of many moving into our seats, eating ball park franks and greeting one another, collectively cheering, sighing and groaning.

We gaze across the expanse.  We hear the national anthem.  We watch as teams of players hit, run and field the sphere of possibility; never really knowing what will happen until it's done.  Our eyes see and our minds' record the terminology associated with every throw, swing and play.

Like any team sport, every individual counts.  Every player has importance; on display before hundreds, thousands of spectators.  We viewers track every aspect of the game in writing or by watching the large stadium displays.  We may be many but we participate as one.

Umpires, managers and announcers make their presence known in little and big decisions.  To follow the game, the history of baseball, is to know the history of our nation.  It's a shared experience worth sharing season after season, year after year.


To read the words gathered together by Louise Borden is to know the game of baseball.  Every nuance is explored bringing readers into the many moments which comprise the past and present of the sport as well as individual games.  Descriptive details enhance our understanding captivating our senses.  Here are two sample passages from a single page.

Baseball is rivers of people
flowing across streets,
streaming onto ramps.

Baseball is wide gates to a swirl of noise,
ticket takers,
ticket stubs,
and vendors,
selling souvenirs.


Opening the matching dust jacket and book case, pure exuberance for baseball bursts from the front and back illustrations.  On the front we see a professional in action with a group of guys, a gal and a dog on the back exclaiming over a hit as they play street ball.  A baseball stadium is placed in the background with other buildings.  Stunning opening and closing endpapers in a rose burgundy with gold etching showcase a collage of players in various positions on the field.  With a page turn a beautiful two page visual takes us into the country as a boy and girl play ball.  When the pitch is thrown, their dog leaps in the air to make the catch.  As a title page this, combined with the dust jacket and book case, gives readers a very real sense of the emotional beauty of baseball.

Each of the two-page pictures rendered in colored pencils by Raul Colon is rich in color and texture.  His shades and hues reflect time and place masterfully.  Smaller illustrations may be placed over the larger picture to provide readers with additional details.

It would be an honor to frame and hang any one of these in my home.  Two stand out for me.  Both have golden sand backgrounds.  One highlights all the many action plays, pitches and hits during a game.  The other showcases the importance of each individual drawing our attention to a player waiting for his at bat.


A tribute, an astonishing anthem in words and pictures, Baseball Is... written by Louise Borden with illustrations by Raul Colon will transport readers to another time and place.  Read it silently to yourself.  Read it aloud to others.  Whatever you do, be sure to share it as often as you can.

If you follow the links embedded in Louise Borden's and Raul Colon's names you can access their websites from more information about their work.  Here is a link to the publisher's website where additional pages are posted for you to view.

For more wonderful nonfiction titles please visit Kidlit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher.  Participants in the 2014 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge have linked their posts to her page.

I purchased my copy of this title from my favorite independent book store.  I hope your independent book store or local public library has a copy for you to view.

...From Sea To Shining Sea

Katharine Lee Bates taught English literature for forty years at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  As the story goes in 1893 after a trek by wagon, mule and foot to the top of Pike's Peak, she was so inspired by the landscape spread before her, she wrote a poem in her journal. Two years later it was first published and has since evolved into one of our nation's most cherished songs, America The Beautiful.

For eight years my two favorite books of this song were both published in 2004.  In his debut picture book illustrator Chris Gall depicts the poem in stunning visuals.  Here are two sentences from the review at Kirkus (March 1, 2004)

Gall, an actual descendant of Bates, illustrates the four verses of this country's other national anthem with bold, clean-lined, heroic American scenes, from a sturdy rural couple contemplating their "amber waves," to firefighters raising a flag over the ruins at Ground Zero.  This broadly idealistic art is infused with a spirit of inclusiveness, as blind Justice towers over a woman in judicial robes, a Tuskegee Airman poses heroically atop his fighter, and in the concluding spread, East meets West in more ways than one at Utah's Promontory Point.

In the middle of October paper engineer, Robert Sabuda gave readers his interpretation.  In a starred review Kirkus (October 1, 2004) states:

The wizard of pop-ups has created a masterpiece---in design, in execution, in boldness of vision, and in artistic and historic integrity.  

In an effort to fill my book gap challenge, several days ago when participating in one of my favorite pastimes, browsing in a bookstore, my attention was completely captured by a new joyful cover of a book titled, America the Beautiful Together We Stand (Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.).  Ten notable illustrators, Bryan Collier, Raul Colon, Diane Goode, Mary GrandPre, John Hendrix, Yuyi Morales, Jon J Muth, LeUyen Pham, Sonia Lynn Sadler and Chris Soentpiet have each contributed in their unique illustrative styles to give a new vision to this poetic song.  The result is as varied and resplendent as the land in which we live.


Beginning with O beautiful for spacious skies, the luminous paintings of Chris Soentpiet display a group of happy, shouting, singing children from all ethnic backgrounds holding and waving small American flags with fireworks blossoming above them.  The play of light on each of the faces is a joy to behold.  The detail is nearly photographic.

The pastel painting of Mary GrandPre lights up For amber waves of grain, showing children at play.  A large tree branch in an open field has become their ship adorned in colored cloths for sails and flags birds flying in the sky around them.  They are joined by a happy barking dog.

Raul Colon's distinctive use of watercolor paper, watercolor washes, etching, colored pencils and litho pencils breathes beauty into For purple mountain majesties.  His representation of these words is one of the finest I have ever seen.   Mountains provide a backdrop for five children, (equal in size to the mountains) engaged in activities, basketball, paper airplane flying, skateboarding, baseball and jumping rope.

Sonia Lynn Sadler's usual medium is colored scratchboard.  Her depiction of Above the fruited plain! is a gathering of people from all walks of life of all ages gathered around a large quilt which they are stitching together.  The pieces of the quilt are pictures of Americana from East to West.  Everything is outlined in a fine white line accentuating this colorful array.

America! is shown in a powerful image by Bryan Collier in his technique of watercolor collage.  A faint dark sky blue image of our flag provides the background for tree branches showing faces.  Prominently displayed is a young child hands firmly grasped in front over the tree.

The second America! done in soft greens by Jon J Muth shows a forest glen.  His watercolor artwork focuses on two children tending to a newly sprouted tree.  One child is kneeling next to it as the other carries a watering can, a small turtle crawling away to the left.  A feeling of serenity permeates.

With shades of red overtone, Yuyi Morales renders her signature illustration in acrylics.  God shed His grace on thee is vividly visualized by a close-up of workers in a field of green taking a break in their labors, eating and drinking, small children with them.  As two hummingbirds flutter by, music drifts out from the portable radio in one of the worker's pockets.

Diane Goode's pen and ink drawings highlighting And crown thy good in pale teals, browns, a brighter green, red, white and blue intricately depict historic moments and accomplishments.  Towering over these is a young adult handing off a crown of laurel leaves to another four, hands linked.  All are balanced on stepping stones in water.

LeUyen Pham who in an interview stated she likes to keep people guessing about her medium, brush pens, watercolor, gouache, pencil or computer, has masterfully painted rows of children not only resembling the American flag but the shape of the United States.  Her illustration is on the front cover and interprets with brotherhood... .The playful pyramid nearly rings with laughter.

The final two pages, From sea to shining sea! drawn by John Hendrix are extraordinary.  On the left we see an old sea vessel floating above the clouds manned by children garbed in attire from various time periods.  As the clouds part on the right mountains turn in a landscape showcasing a geographical tableau replete with all manner of buildings and landmarks as his circular, starry, stylistic  fireworks are placed across the golden sky and page.  Every time I gaze at this illustration I see something new, something particular to our country.

When unfolding the jacket from the cover readers are treated to a vertical colorful portrait display of all forty-four presidents; a poster.  Rich, blue endpapers, front and back, display rows of white stars.  A turn of page lists each of the illustrators in alphabetical order alternating the color of their names in red and white on the same blue background.  After the simple title page the series of exquisite nearly two page illustrations begin, each interpreting a portion of the song.

Alternating first on the right side, then on the left, each pictorial representation leaves a small column in which a presidential quote appears.  Above each quote is a significant national landmark or symbol. At the close of the song these items are listed in the order they appeared with an explanation.  The final two pages include all four verses of the song, a small paragraph titled Our Democracy followed by a Thomas Jefferson quote and a small biographical paragraph about Katharine Lee Bates.


This is by far the longest review, assessment, of any book for which I have posted on this blog.  I wanted to focus on the artwork of each individual illustrator knowing how much time each invested in their depiction of their given words.  America the Beautiful Together We Stand is an absolutely gorgeous array of artwork; an exhibition of various mediums from masters in the field of children's book illustration.

I can see multiple uses for this title; a study of the poem becoming a beloved song, a study of various artistic styles and mediums or examining the representations for the words each illustrator chose.  I have embedded links to each illustrator's website or if they had none, the most recent discussion of their work.  This title comes highly recommended; it's stunning.