Purr-fectly Perfect

Our furry feline friends have personalities as distinctive as our own.  They can be unpredictable and creatures of habit at the same time. We find ourselves embracing them despite these contrasting characteristics.  Unlike most of their canine counterparts, sometimes it can take years before they allow themselves to be a part of a human family.

It takes a special kind of person to persist in loving a cat when they have not thought of loving anyone at all.  Negative Cat (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, August 31, 2021) written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall is about a persistent boy.  The cat he loves is also persistent, but not in the way the boy desires.  This is their story, a "tail" waiting to be told.

On Day 427 of asking for a cat . . .

a miracle happened.  The boy's parents said yes!  There were conditions attached to this affirmative response.  The least appealing was the necessity of reading for twenty minutes every day.  

Reading was not this child's favorite thing to do.  He read slowly.  He had to read aloud.

At the shelter, it was hard to select only one cat, but he did.  He named the cat Maxmilian Augustus Xavier, Max.  At home, the cat paid no attention to the comforts and treats, and toys supplied by the boy.  This cat stared at the wall.  This cat was negative in every respect.

In return for kindness by family members, the cat did undesirable things like putting its tail in the butter and eating flowers.  The parents and older sister were ready to return it to the shelter.  A call was placed.

In a last-ditch effort to keep this cat he loved, the boy scrambled to do some of the items on the conditions' list, most importantly, his least popular.  And another miracle happened.  In fact, the boy's classmates joined him at the shelter once a week, expanding on that unexpected revelation.

What readers might not grasp at the beginning, but is our first clue about this boy's nature, is the fact he asked for a cat for 427 days.  Sophie Blackall wants us to know the significance to this child of having a cat.  She wants us to understand his tenacity.  This builds page by page through first-person narrative and dialogue, past and present, until the joyful addition to their family.  When it looks as though the joy is fleeting, we are once again reminded of this boy's deepest desire to do anything to keep Max.  At this point you don't know whether to sigh or cheer, so you do a little bit of both.  Here is a passage.

The next day, I surprise Max with a toy mouse.

(He is not surprised.)

I tickle him with a feather.  (He is not ticklish.)

I tell him all my best jokes.  (He doesn't even smile.)

The wide band of blue on the spine complements the shades of orange (and tan) used in the canvas, wall, flooring and cat on the front, right, and back, left, of the open book case.  In looking at the front, you wonder what would prompt a cat to stare at a wall.  On the back, we are given a hint of things to come.  Text above and below a circular image is that usually found on the front and back flaps of a dust jacket.  It introduces us to the book and to author illustrator, Sophie Blackall.  In that illustration the boy is writing on his laptop as Max watches, seated in the boy's lap.

On the opening and closing endpapers in blue and white is an array of childlike drawings of cats of all shapes and sizes.  The cats and their features are outlines.  The canvas is polka dotted.    On the title page the tiny mouse toy is placed between the text.  The publication information and dedication page are opposite the first page.  In fact, the illustration on the first page is the right side of a double-page picture.  

The illustrations in this book were created digitally and superimposed on the reverse side of vintage wallpaper salvaged from a falling-down house.

Readers, with every page turn, will stop to notice the details. These details are full of humor.  It isn't that the boy simply begs for a cat with drawings, but he makes a cat-shaped snowman in winter.  He makes cat ears on his head from soap during his bath.  He has his mother read him Brendan Wenzel's They All Saw A Cat.  And . . . he reads Max one of the oldest picture books in the United States still in print, Wanda Gag's Newbery Honor book, Millions Of Cats.

The perspectives in the visuals and their sizes shift to convey emotions and enhance the pacing.  There are groups of small insets, double-page pictures, single-page images, horizontal panels, and diagonal panels.  The dialogue is shown in longer, loose speech balloons.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture of the boy celebrating the yes answer from his parents.  On the pale orange background is a green-striped oval rug.  He is kneeling on the rug on his knees supported by his hands.  His head is back, his eyes are closed, and he is laughing as he kicks up his heels.  He repeats three times:

I'm getting a cat!

Look no further than Negative Cat written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall for the ultimate silver-lining title.  With a marvelous blend of images and text, page turn by page turn, when hope is fading, it rises again through the magic of reading aloud.  I highly recommend this book for both your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Sophie Blackall and her other work, please access her website by following the link attached to her name.  Sophie Blackall has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Sophie Blackall writes a guest post about this book at the Nerdy Book Club.  Sophie Blackall is interviewed about this book, others, and her work at The Children's Book Review.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.

We know when we look at the world through the eyes of another, the world can become completely altered.  Two or more individuals can be looking at the same space and focus on entirely different elements.  This is how our perceptions of our immediate and extended surroundings increase and our imaginations are keener.  Inside Cat (Chronicle Books, October 12, 2021) written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel presents a cat's eye view as it moves throughout its building.  This cat believes what it sees, floor by floor, is a realistic representation of the outside.

Inside Cat knows many windows,

finds a view wherever it goes.

This Inside Cat sees portions of the outside.  It looks through windows of all shapes and sizes, geometric designs on walls, floors, and ceilings.  Some windows stand alone, and others share a space next to each other.

Each window is a chance to pause and ponder.  Each display a bit different, look by look.  The glass in these windows is clean, dirty, bubbled, and broken.  It is shuttered.  It is open.

Some things seen through the windows remain the same, frozen.  Other things are in motion.  Is it a group of on-your-mark-get-set-go birds or a swarm swooping through the city?  It that an enormous snack or the display on an ice cream truck?

As Inside Cat moves from floor to floor, there are small treats and short snoozes to take.  Now wide awake, Inside Cat maintains it knows people up and down and all around.  It maintains it knows what it sees, and smells is true.  Inside Cat is certain it knows everything, until . . .

The use of language in this book by Brendan Wenzel is superb.  It is written like a poem with the first sentence and another three sentences bookending the center portions.  There is beautiful alliteration and rhyming.  The last sentence at the beginning of a new portion, a group of words, leads to multiple examples of that statement.  With every reading, the text becomes more melodic.  Here is a passage.

Glass all dusty.

Glass so streaky.

Glass gone gloomy.

Glass way freaky.  . . .

View to view,

floor to floor.

Knows the windows,

walls, and more.

Upon opening the dust jacket, flap edge to flap edge, the entire body of Inside Cat is supplied to readers.  The body and tail extend to the left of the spine.  The large eyes on the front draw our focus to the central theme of the narrative.  What is this cat's point of view?  The white of the cat's eyes and the title text are varnished.

A rusty red is the canvas on the book case.  Large portions of the front, right, and back, left, are filled with the cat's home.  It appears to be a unique building in the shape of a cat.  Inside Cat is peering through one of the windows, a cat's eye.  This is wonderfully ingenious.

On the opening endpapers the background shifts to a midnight blue.  The house is now shown in blue and white soft, flowing lines giving us the inside view of all the rooms.  In this perspective wherever there is a window, we see the outside.  The cat is still looking out the same window, although its eyes have shifted to the side.

With a page turn, we are on the double-page image for the title page.  Inside Cat is looking outside at a sunny floral depiction.  (I will say nothing about the closing endpapers which hold the publication and dedication information.  Everyone needs to see that for the first time without explanation.)

These images by Brendan Wenzel 

were rendered in a variety of media, including cut paper, colored pencil, oil pastels, marker, and the computer.

Every picture invites you to stop and stare as does the cat.  The inside views are in blue and white, faint outlines like you would expect to see on an architect's drafting board.  The outside views are in full color.  In each setting, inside and outside, they are bursting with items revealing the lives of the human dwellers or the cat's imagination toward the conclusion.  Readers will be looking in each visual for the tiny creature which seems to follow Inside Cat, at a discreet distance, of course.  Inside Cat is drawn with loose lines indicative of a careful, curious explorer.  Though Inside Cat is indeed careful and curious, it is also highly animated.

One of my many favorite pictures, two-page as they all are, is for the text above-noted.  Inside Cat is portrayed in five different poses at four windows.  The first one is so dirty Inside Cat's paws are covered with dirt, leaving behind paw prints on the steps, ottoman, the next window and the wall.  The third window is covered in dark paper to fashion a Halloween scene, one corner turned down to show the world outside.  The final window is an abstract, stained-glass of the sun in pastel colors with bright orange.  In this visual, it is as if Inside Cat is strolling through an art gallery.

No matter how often you read Inside Cat written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel, you will find something new each time.  The words will sing to you and the illustrations are like a map leading you to an amazing discovery.  I can't imagine a personal or professional collection without this title.

By following the link attached to Brendan Wenzel's name you can access his website to learn more about him and his work.  Brendan Wenzel has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  At librarian, guest lecturer at Rutgers, and writer John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read., Brendan Wenzel talks about this book.

Three Days Of Reading

On Friday, very early in the morning, life delivered an unexpected break in my daily routines.  It lasted for several days.  So, I read and read and read.  And I am still reading.

The first book I finished I started on Thursday night.  Your Heart My Sky: Love in a Time of Hunger (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, March 23, 2021) written by Margarita Engle is an exquisite portrait of living on the island of Cuba in the summer of 1991.  It is told in three voices of two teenagers, Liana and Amado, and a wise singing dog.  In this novel in verse, each poem, no more than three pages in length, is breathtaking.  You pause after reading each one.  I am still thinking about how Margarita Engle could embed such heartbreak, longing, and beauty into these poems.  Each poem is titled.

Although the government of Cuba is calling this el periodo especial en tiempos de paz, the special period in times of peace, for the majority of people it is a painful, frightening time of starvation.  Liana and Amando, have decided to forgo the government summer camp of farm labor.  It puts them both at a future disadvantage and on the radar of a government in total control of its people.

A chance encounter (or not if you believe the dog and I do) finds the duo working together in their desperate search for food for themselves and their families.  Their relationship gives them courage to do things like trading on the black market, helping those who shelter in caves before trying to make it off the island, and growing their own food in their family’s patios.  They do all this under the threat of discovery.

As their love grows, feeding their bravery, a tension enters their story.  Decisions need to be made.  Which comes first, hope or love?  Does one invite the other?  Or do they arrive together? 

Here is one of the poems.

Ode of Paz

Amado and Liana

Roaming

nomad

unpredictable

visitor

exhaling

aromas

of 

love’s

hunger

and hunger’s

love.  

There is a two-page author’s note at the conclusion of the book.  At the publisher’s website is a curriculum guide.  There is a short conversation with Margarita Engle and additional poems at The Book Page for the cover reveal.

On September 28, 2021, The Beatryce Prophecy (Candlewick Press) written by Kate DiCamillo with artwork by Sophie Blackall was released.  One of several reasons I was eager to read this was after watching a video on Instagram posted by Sophie Blackall. (https://www.instagram.com/p/CUXUk2cAZxC/)  Sophie Blackall was right.  Once I started the book, I did nothing else until I finished it.  Hours passed as the stories of a goat, a monk, a girl, and a boy unfolded and intertwined.

The goat, Answelica, is believed to be a demon by the monks of the Chronicles of Sorrowing.  Brother Edik dreads being anywhere near the beast who thrives on butting and biting the monks.  One morning his fear spikes as he enters the barn.  He finds a feverish young girl sleeping next to the goat, holding one of the goat’s ears.

The girl cannot remember anything about herself except her name.  Her name is Beatryce.  There are others who know exactly how she came to be alone with bloody and muddy clothing.  It has to do with a prophecy.

There will one day come a girl child who will unseat a king and bring about a great change.

The boy, Jack Dory, lost his parents in the dark woods by the hand of a wicked robber.  He lived with an older woman, Granny Bibspeak, until she died when he was twelve.  He remains in her home in a village that admires and respects the boy.  Jack Dory has the gifts of speed, remembrance, and mimicry.

Kate DiCamillo with this tale of mystery, intrigue, betrayal, haunting pasts, revenge, love and stories casts a spell that lingers long after the last word is read.  She reminds us how profoundly some things have changed, and others have not.  Sophie Blackall with her luminous endpapers, gorgeous first letters of each chapter, and full- and partial-page images breathes life into the characters and their circumstances.  Here is a passage.  

They were three:  Jack Dory, Beatryce, and a goat.

Jack Dory did cartwheels as he walked down the road.

He followed the cartwheels with several handsprings.

“You cannot do this, can you?” he said, calling back to Beatryce.

“I cannot do it because I must walk along and pretend to be a monk,” said Beatryce.

The satchel was slung across her chest.  It bumped against her hip as she walked.  Her heart felt heavy.

But the goat did not seem worried.  Answelica ran to Jack Dory, kicking up her heels and shaking her head, and then she ran back again and walked at a sedate pace beside Beatryce.

Jack Dory started to whistle a jaunty song.

Beatryce looked down at the goat.  She said, “I think he pretends to be happy.  I think that deep inside he is sad.  Those he loves are dead.  He is alone in the world.”

Answelica looked up at her, listening.

“I am not afraid,” Beatryce said to the goat. “I will not be afraid.”

Answelica nodded.

She bumped her head against Beatryce’s leg.  Beatryce took hold of her ear.

“I am not afraid at all,” said Beatryce again.

At the publisher’s website you can download a teacher’s guide, a curriculum guide, and a sample chapter.  You can also view an interior illustration. The cover reveal and a conversation between Kate DiCamillo, Sophie Blackall, and John Schumacher, librarian, guest lecturer at Rutgers, and writer, on his site, Watch. Connect. Read., is enlightening.

A graphic novel, an ARC, kept me turning pages faster than the lightning flashing during a weekend afternoon storm.  City of Dragons #1: The Awakening Storm (Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic) written by Jaimal Yogis with illustrations by Vivian Truong follows Grace as she absorbs the death of her father, the move to Hong Kong with her mother and new stepfather, starting classes at a private school, meeting three new distinctive friends, and the hatching of a dragon egg in her bathroom.  It seems the tales of an emperor and nine dragons she remembers her father telling her are not myth but reality.

Ramesh, her first-day friend, and Grace, through Ramesh’s tech skills, sneak away from a class field trip.  An old woman in the market speaks one word repeatedly to Grace as she holds her hand.  Then she gives her an egg.  The hatched egg, now concealed in Grace’s backpack the next day at school, brings two more students, Jing and James, into the group.  

That evening as the foursome try to figure out what the creature (Nate, named after Grace’s father) is, their only conclusion is that it is a dragon, a water dragon.  Very quickly they are pursued by unsavory characters who are part of a cult seeking to bring an enemy of the ancient Yellow Emperor back to power.  Unable to find the original old woman, they ask an elderly fishman known as the Southern Prophet for help.

Non-stop action heightened by realistic and witty dialogue by Jaimal Yogis amid detailed, expressive, and highly animated panels by Vivian Truong are certain to keep readers on the edge of their seats.  Hank, Grace’s stepfather, is not as he appears.  His boss, Dr. Kim has secrets of her own.  The Southern Prophet mourns the loss of his one true love, Mazu, a woman of the sea.  A trip to an island, a kidnapping, a wicked storm, and a series of earthquakes that might not be earthquakes elevate the tension.

This title is the first in a series.  The final page builds anticipation for the next book.  At the publisher’s website you can view eight interior pages.  Jaimal Yogis and Vivian Truong are interviewed about this title at The Beat.

We See This

Some of the most cherished memories of spending decades as a teacher librarian are not the moments when children finally understand you, but when you understand them.  It's those times when you step outside your thinking, refreshed by the children's thinking.  Their perspectives tend to be clear, honest, and profound.  You should never underestimate their powerful capacity for compassion, or their wonderful ability to find humor and laugh out loud with abandon.

For these reasons, among many others, children are to be cherished. We live our lives so those who come after us have a richer (and more informed) experience.  If You Come To Earth (Chronicle Books, September 15, 2020) written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall is a book for all children, of all ages.  It's inspired by children and written as a letter from a child to a visitor from outer space.  It's a love letter about this fragile, but fierce planet and its inhabitants.  It's a remarkable read.  

Dear Visitor from Outer Space,

If you come to Earth,

here's what you need to know.

You'll know Earth from the other planets around the Sun by its color, its green and blue.  It has land and water.  Usually people live on the land in spaces of all sizes, or in rare cases alone and away from anyone else.

There are a vast variety of homes, made of a vast variety of materials depending on an equal number of factors.  Living in these homes are families, members who care for each other with love.  The billions of people populating Earth come in all shapes and sizes with a vast array of abilities.  Each one is unique, thinking their own thoughts, which are sometimes mirrored on their faces.

People dress for their jobs, their everyday activities and their weather.  Our weather can be breathtakingly beautiful, nearly perfect, but it can also be terrifying with people losing their homes and worldly possessions.  People find it necessary to move from one point to another, traveling in various methods on land, in the air, or on the water.  

Our letter writer addresses the recipient by revealing they are

a kid. 

They attend school to become informed to make better decisions as an adult.  As adults, people do many, many different things to keep society functioning.  When not working, their methods of enjoying free time exhibit their particular passions.  Our narrator goes on to discuss the necessity of food and water and its unequal availability.  This takes us to the sea and its saltiness.

On the surface the sea looks vast and fairly empty but it is not.  It is teeming with life, as is our land and our air.  The child presents to the reader what they wish to be if they were not human.  They talk about kinds of singing, music, language, and colors.  They compare those things found in nature, and those things made by humans.  They discuss those things not seen, some lovely, and some dangerous.

In closing the letter, the kid muses how on Earth we don't always agree, we fight, but this is not the best way for us to treat each other.  We find ways to make life easier for each other; those older take care of those that are younger, until their roles are reversed.  We honor the gifts of every age. There are things we don't know, but the writer states if you (being from Outer Space) come here I will honor the invitation at the end of this letter with an open heart.

Well, Sophie Blackall, you've again put your heart and mind on the pages of a book.  You've connected us with your words through the child letter writer.  You've shown us not only where we live, but how we live.

You, with your gorgeous language and ability to place yourself in the soul of your characters, take us from the solar system and to Earth.  We journey with you and your words to communities, to homes, and the people in them living their lives as best as they can.  You communicate through this child the less than best in humans and the best in humans focusing on what is here now, and what we can do to preserve it.  You offer hope.  With your sentences, you leave room for your artwork to offer further interpretation. Here is a passage.

There are more than seven billion people on Earth.

We all have bodies.

But every body is different.

I wish you all could see the marvelous details in the open dust jacket.  There are tiny gold foil dots in the blue sky and in the pattern of planet Earth.  The child's letter spiraling upward is a pictorial presentation of all the wonder to be found by a visitor when they arrive here.  

To the left, on the back, beginning with the ISBN the letter path is wider.  It weaves upward and loops toward the sun in the upper, left-hand corner.  The end of the letter is attached to a circular spacecraft.

On the book case with the universe in its black and starry expanse are possible beings from outer space.  There are four on the back, and one that crosses the spine.  There are four others on the front.  They are all colorful and singular in their design.

On the opening and closing endpapers, Sophie Blackall presents readers with the initial beginning and ending of this story.  First, the sun is rising across a washed sky in early morning blues and purples.  Shrubs fan out on either side of a hillside patchworked in mounds of floral displays.  On the right side of the hill is a two-story home with the letter ribboning out from a lighted second-story window.  On the second set of endpapers, our Moon, full and glowing, hangs about the same house, now on the left.  The letter has been released and found a recipient in the circular spacecraft hovering above the hill in a dusky sky with remnants of the sunset rising above the hill.  The letter flowing from the house on the opening endpapers continues across the verso and title pages, surrounding the text on the first and providing a place for the text on the second.

The illustrations in this book

were rendered in chinese ink and watercolor.

Each image by Sophie Blackall shifts in size to enhance her words.  Sometimes we are looking down on the illustration or looking at a panoramic presentation.  The intricate details will have you stopping at every page.  They ask you to pause and enjoy our Earth and all it offers to us.  They invite you to grow your appreciation for all people, and the inhabitants of this planet, our home. 

Within the two-page pictures there are panels dividing the space, highlighting specific examples to expand the words.  There is also a collection of circular images, or a cluster of windows, horizontal or diagonal illustrations, or a large group of portraits, each amplifying the child's statements.  Diversity is shown repeatedly as reflected in real life.  There are single-page visuals used for direct comparisons.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations in which I gasped out loud when I saw it is a double-page picture.  It is the artwork for the child speaking about birds.  Across the two pages is the shape of a large bird.  This shape, wings in flight, body, head and beak, and tail, is brimming with all kinds of birds in flight or repose.  The penguin is speaking the words:

I can't fly!

If I had a large trunk for treasure it would be filled with books, books with special significance and certain to be classics in time, if not already.  This book, If You Come To Earth written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, would have a place in this treasure trunk. It is stunning in every respect, words, artwork, design, and in the quality of paper.  No matter how many times you read it, you'll find something new and leave the reading with your spirits lifted.  There is a full page Author's Note at the end with Sophie Blackall speaking about her inspiration for this book, her work on this book, and what she wishes readers will take away from this title. I highly recommend this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Sophie Blackall and her body of work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Sophie Blackall has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view lovely, displayed interior images.  Further images are available at the book's website along with a letter writing kit.  Sophie Blackall and this book are featured on PictureBooking and at author, reviewer, and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Silent Watchers Of The Water

With the understanding there is no other state in the United States with as much freshwater shoreline as Michigan; it's no surprise there are at least one hundred twenty-four lighthouses positioned along the upper and lower peninsulas.   They are designed and constructed in a variety of shapes and sizes with different materials.  Some are tall, towering and highly visible.  Others are shorter and sturdier.  Still others appear as actual houses with a type of tower incorporated into the structure.

The oldest operating lighthouse in Michigan was built in 1825, rebuilt in 1829 and again in 1861.  It guards the entrance to the St. Clair River on Lake Huron.  Can you imagine the stories to be heard if the walls at the Fort Gratiot Lighthouse could speak?  Our lighthouses represent our best efforts to keep travelers and sailors safe regardless of the circumstances.  Hello Lighthouse (Little, Brown and Company, April 10, 2018) written and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist (Finding Winnie:  The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear Little, Brown and Company, October 20, 2015) Sophie Blackall chronicles the life of a lighthouse keeper in a lighthouse standing strong against time.

On the highest rock of a tiny island
at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse.

At the top of the lighthouse a beacon casts its light without ceasing hour after hour.  This story starts with the arrival of a new keeper.  It's his job to polish the lens, refill the oil and trim the wick.  He needs to make sure the clockwork is always wound so the light will keep moving.  Within the pages of a logbook he records his daily activities.

When not tending the light, he paints the walls of the lighthouse rooms, drinks tea, fishes and wishes for company.  He writes letters and waits.  When the next tender comes with food and oil, it also carries a longed-for companion.  Our keeper now has his wife.

Wild winds, crashing storms, thick fog and ice as far as the eye can see, do not deter the keeper.  He rescues sailors whose boat crashes on the rocks.  When he becomes ill, it's his wife who becomes caretaker and keeper.  Everything is noted in the logbook, most importantly the birth of their child.

Years later when the tender comes, it delivers food and oil and a letter.  The life of the keeper, his wife and child are about to change.  The coast guard brings a new lamp.  This new lamp does not need someone to polish the lens, refill the oil and trim a wick.  A machine keeps it moving.  When the ship leaves, so do the keeper, his wife and their child.

The rooms in the lighthouse are now empty.  The beacon casts a light continuously.  An answer shines back.


Like a song of the sea, the words of Sophie Blackall invite and lull readers into the rhythm of the seasons, weather and life of the lighthouse keeper.  Each plainly written sentence contributes to poetic paragraphs which bring us back to the lighthouse keeper writing in his logbook. The logbook is the constant refrain.  In between these paragraphs Sophie talks about what is going on outside the walls of the lighthouse describing the time of day, the weather and the season.  Each of these ends with

Hello!
  . . . Hello!
         . . . Hello!

Here is a passage.

The keeper looks through his telescope.
The tender arrives, bringing oil and flour
and pork and beans . . .
. . . and his wife.

He shows her around
the round rooms
of their house.
He tends the light
and writes in the logbook
and sets the table for two.


When you hold this book in your hands, the trim size, taller and less wide than most picture books, replicates the essence of a lighthouse.  Upon opening the dust jacket (I am working with an F & G generously supplied by the publisher.), the sea scene of water extending to the horizon is mirrored on either side of the spine.  The waves roll and wrap around the rocky base of the lighthouse on each side.  On the front the keeper stands stalwart as the light extends from either side.

To the left, on the back, we are brought a bit closer to the lighthouse.  A cut-away view shows us the storage tanks beneath the first floor, the entrance with the beginning of the spiral staircase, the storage room, the kitchen, the bedroom, a small study and the light at the top.  These seven views give us a greater perspective on how the keeper and his family lived.

The opening and closing endpapers resemble a logbook.  On the first is a photograph of the lighthouse keeper and his bride, a sketch of a ship, a whale tail stitched on fabric, a portion of a letter written to his wife, a spoil of thread and a fountain pen.  The closing endpapers feature a discussion by Sophie Blackall about lighthouses and this book.

Spanning two pages, the verso and title pages feature a view of the lighthouse from the point of view of a bird.  It sits in the upper, right-hand corner with the ship circling around it.  All the water appears to swirl around the lighthouse in a delicate pattern of water and waves.

Rendered in Chinese ink and watercolor on hot press paper each page turn reveals another breathtaking larger image or a combination of a single illustration with smaller pictures opposite it.  The smaller visuals are framed in lines (ropes) used on water vessels.  Sometimes these smaller pictures will be placed within a larger image.

When Sophie's narrative speaks of the lighthouse keeper smaller images within those circles are used.  When she talks about the exterior of the lighthouse and its surroundings, the picture extends page edge to page edge over two pages.  There are two worthy exceptions to this pictorial rhythm.  They are of the wife pacing in the lighthouse ready to give birth and a close-up of the wife, and husband holding his newborn child.  Both of these are double-page illustrations.

With that being said at the close of the title, Sophie gives readers another stunning gift in the form of a gatefold.  This leads us to her final image.  It is the quintessential close to an utterly breathtaking book.

The exquisite fine lines drawn and painted bring a delicate mastery to every single one of the illustrations.  Readers will pause and study the individual elements.  They will notice the handwritten letters rolled into bottles and tossed into the sea, the lighthouse calendar hanging on the wall, the patterns in the wife's dresses, the rug on the floor, and the quilt on the bed.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  It is the picture of the wife and her husband, the keeper, after the birth of their child.  Along the top half of the image the wife is lying beneath a quilt patterned in circles pieced together with twelve triangles of fabric.  Her head, resting on a pillow, is turned toward her husband seated next to the bed.  He holds their child in the crook of his left arm.  With his right hand he is noting the birth of their child in the logbook resting on his legs.  His feet are stretched out on the circular rug.  An oil lamp glows on the small table next to him.  The point of view is as if we are looking down on them.


No matter how many times you read this title, you will find the beauty of the words and illustrations lingering long after the book is closed.  Hello Lighthouse written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall is a wondrous work, a true masterpiece.  I highly recommend this title for both you professional and personal collections.  You might want to visit the United States Lighthouse Society Lighthouse Facts site.

To learn more about Sophie Blackall and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Sophie is interviewed at Kirkus about the writing and illustrating of this title.  I know you will enjoy this video chat and the array of interior images shown.
Book Chat with Illustrator: Sophie Blackall from LB School on Vimeo.

UPDATE:  Sophie visits author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast on April 17, 2018 to talk about her illustrative process and decisions in creating this marvelous title. 

UPDATE: Sophie is interviewed by Jennifer Black Reinhardt at PictureBookBuilders on June 12 2018.  It's wonderful and insightful.  

Up Up And Oops!

It's a voyage to be always remembered.  It compares to nothing else in the sensory perceptions experienced.  You are riding through air using contained heated air.  It's all scientific but feels like a miracle.  Moving vertically and horizontally across fields, slightly above treetops, alongside roadways and over country homes you truly become like you imagine birds to be.


On November 21, 1783 the first untethered manned hot air balloon flight was completed in the country of France.  (Previously, a sheep, a duck and a rooster were successfully flown for two miles in eight minutes on September 19, 1783 in Paris, France.)  Despite several subsequent successful flights, there was yet another milestone to accomplish, manned flight from one country to another by hot air balloon. A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785 (Margaret Ferguson Books, an imprint of Farrar Straus Giroux, October 11, 2016) written by Matthew Olshan with illustrations by Caldecott Medalist Sophie Blackall takes readers soaring and exploring; adding in more than a little laughter.

"Our big day at last!" cried Dr. Jeffries, leaping from bed.  He flung open the shutters and lifted his dog, Henry, to the window.

It is January 7, 1785.  Dr. Jefferies and Monsieur Blanchard are going to cross the English Channel from England to France in a hot air balloon.  The first glitch comes when the good doctor goes to pick up Monsieur Blanchard and finds him not in his room.  It seems Blanchard is already at the launch site and now is claiming only one man and one dog can go.

Rightfully so, Dr. Jefferies is puzzled as everything and everyone was carefully weighed yesterday.  When all is double checked it is discovered that Blanchard has mysteriously gained almost eighty pounds in one night.  What?!  Wearing a lead vest can do this for a man.

Taking flight amid constant bickering about who will step off first, which country is better, who paid for everything and who is captaining this vessel, the duo settle into an uneasy companionship as passengers are apt to do.  Dr. Jefferies documents the trip.  Monsieur Blanchard eats and naps.

While he sleeps something happens to the balloon.  Dr. Jefferies, being a learned man, believes he has solved the problem.  Perhaps he has solved it too well.  Waking Monsieur Blanchard, the twosome finds themselves in an awkward (frightening) situation.  When faced with nothing but the bare necessities, a gentleman's agreement is reached.


Using the original monograph as written and presented by Dr. Jeffries, author Matthew Olshan pens a blend of narrative and dialogue.  Infused with wit the facts weave flawlessly throughout the tale.  It's a rare gift to be able to bring the events of a single day to our attention with this caliber of intelligence and ingenuity.  Here is a passage.

The balloon rose into the sky.
By working the oars and the rudder,
Blanchard could turn the aerial car this
way or that.  Soon they were out over the
water heading toward France.  The views
were spectacular, but Jeffries was still 
upset about his speech.

You, monsieur,
are not gentleman.

The captain is busy.
Will the passenger
please be quiet?


An idyllic scene welcomes us to this book on the opened dust jacket.  The sea, sky and clouds continue to the left over the spine creating a single illustration.  Upon closer inspection the expressions on the faces of the four passengers reveal a sense of unease rather than peace.  It's a beautiful design for the title with the text on the cloud within the balloon.  The book case too is a single image.  It gives us a view of the bed of the channel beneath the balloon.  It hints of the measures taken by the reluctant companions.

The opening and closing endpapers are a gorgeous pattern in black, cream and gray.  Small nautical lines (ropes) extend from the top to the bottom.  Placed on these in a series of decorative ovals is the balloon over the channel with a cloud behind it and a gull flying above it.  The title page is an extension of the dust jacket; clouds, sky and sea with the tail of a whale breaching.

Utterly charming pictures in the interior span across two pages, single pages and partial pages.  Sophie Blackall uses speech balloons for much of the dialogue.  Sometimes she fashions a series of panels much like a comic in the same color palette as the endpapers to convey significant moments.  She varies her perspective to take us directly into the action; as when the passengers are calling to a warship below the balloon it's as if we are behind them or when the balloon is nearly to the coast of France we are able to see the smaller balloon high above the coastal sea town and hills.  The expressions worn on the faces of the characters contribute to the laughter we feel welling up inside us at the story proceeds.

One of my favorite illustrations spans two pages.  It's the balloon's eye view of the car carrying Jeffries, Blanchard, Henry and Henri.  With two sandbags inside the men are leaning back at opposite ends.  Jeffries is writing in a journal petting Henry.  Blanchard is holding a small cooked fowl, chewing on one of the legs.  Henri eagerly jumps on his knee hoping for a nibble.  Satchels are visible along with an umbrella and a violin.  For the moment everything is perfectly perfect.


As soon as you start to look at the dust jacket, book case and endpapers you understand why A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785 written by Matthew Olshan with illustrations by Sophie Blackall appears on The New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2016.  The text and pictures work in excellent harmony to convey this marvelous feat by two men who really did not care for each other.  You should read this often and aloud whenever you can.  It is a must-have for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Matthew Olshan and Sophie Blackall please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Sophie Blackall also maintains a blog.  If you wish to view interior pages follow this link to the publisher's website.  (One of my favorite pictures is shown.)  Julie Danielson, author, reviewer and blogger at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, highlights this title with Sophie Blackall sharing research images, sketches and final art.  Matthew Olshan is interviewed by Deborah Kalb about this title and his work in general.  In two posts this year on his blog, Watch. Connect. Read., John Schumacher, Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, chats with Sophie and showcases her Caldecott Medal speech.


While I realize this title is not nonfiction in its entirety, the author does include in a note about his research and what is fact and what is fiction.  For this reason I am including it in my selection of titles for Wednesdays during the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2016 hosted by educator Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy.  Please visit this site to view the other books selected this week by participants.

A Veterinarian's Hands, A War And A Child's Love For Bears

I like to think that even in the most fabulous, fantastical piece of fiction there is a shred of truth.  Perhaps the writer saw, heard, smelled, tasted or touched something real which triggered a thought carefully saved in their memory or journal.  All stories start with a single captured moment.

If we are fortunate enough to read a story, an entire story, so wonderful it feels like fiction even though it is based upon fact, we have been given a gift.  Finding Winnie:  The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear (Little, Brown and Company, October 20, 2015) written by Lindsay Mattick with illustrations by Sophie Blackall is one of those books.  It's about chance, choice, connections and love.

"Could you tell me a story?" asked Cole.
"It's awfully late."  It was long past dark, and time to be asleep.
"What kind of story?"
"You know.  A true story.  One about a Bear."
We cuddled up close.
"I'll do my best," I said.

A mother begins a story to her son Cole.  It takes place at least one hundred years before the boy is born.  It's about a veterinarian named Harry Colebourn.  It's said the warmth in Harry's heart moves to guide his skillful hands in caring for all animals.  A war in Europe extends its influence across the ocean to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where Harry lives and works.  Harry leaves his home to care for the horses used in this war.

After the train carrying the soldiers weaves through the countryside for several days a stop is made at White River.  Strolling along the platform Harry sees a bear cub tied alongside a man, a trapper.  Reaching into his pocket, kindness guiding a decision, the veterinarian offers the man twenty dollars for the young animal.  As you can imagine, the Colonel is initially shocked by Captain Colebourn's actions.  The rest of the men in his regiment are intrigued and thrilled with the bear's antics. The bear is given the name of Winnipeg, Winnie for short.

Winnie is never far from Harry as he works in the special tent, among many as far as the eye can see, designated for horses. He makes sure she acts like a proper solider and her skills surpass those of her human counterparts when it comes to finding something.  When all those men and all those horses sail for Europe, Winnie sails with them too.  She is the mascot for the men.

When the orders are issued for the men to join the fight in France, Harry makes another choice.  His love for Winnie is greater than his need to be with her.  She is placed in the London Zoo.  Young Cole can't believe this is the end of Winnie's and Harry's tale, but it is.  It is NOT the end of Winnie's story.  Nor is it the end of Harry's story.

A boy looking for a name for his stuffed bear visits the zoo, spying the bear cub and thinking her name would be the perfect for his beloved toy.  Again and again he returns; allowed inside the enclosure to be close to Winnie.  His adventures with his stuffed bear, inspired by Harry Colebourn's Winnie, are written down by the boy's father, A. A. Milne.

Happily Harry returns home to Winnipeg tending the animals under his care.  His son has a daughter who has a daughter who has a son named...Cole.  One man's love, one boy's love and one father's love are linked forever.


If you've ever read aloud to a child or a group of children, even though you are speaking and they are listening, there is an exchange taking place and a bond is being formed.  If they are comfortable with you, questions will be quietly asked during pauses or blurted out loud as curiosity overwhelms them. Lindsay Mattick writes with a natural and knowing voice both in the conversations between Cole and her and as she is relating the story of Winnie and Harry and Winnie and Christopher Robin.  Her words flow effortlessly as one who is familiar with the truth and with the wisdom of life experiences.  Here is a sample portion of a passage which resonates on many levels.

"Sometimes," I said, "you have to let one story end so the next one can begin."
"How do you know when that will happen?"
"You don't," I said.  "Which is why you should always carry on."


You can't help but marvel at the genius of the dust jacket as designed and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. On the front Winnie is looking right at the reader as she might have looked at Harry Colebourn when he first saw her.  She clings to his boot knowing he will care for her.  To the left, on the back, the blue and white pajama leg of a child and a part of their top is visible. In their hand is a teddy bear.  It's the two Winnies.  If you read a tweet below you can learn how the background was chosen.

Across the book case left to right are seven marching soldiers in a line silhouetted against a sky blushed in either a rising or setting sun.  Birds fly above them as Winnie leads the way.  On the opening endpapers a lush forest scene, a stream winding through the trees, greets readers.  A lone fox looks up.  Another two-page spread for the title page shows us what is beyond the stream. A small bear cub looks down from a tree branch.  The closing endpapers complete six pages of a photo album highlighting actual photographs and memorabilia of Harry Colebourn, his regiment, statues of Harry and Winnie, Christopher Robin and Winnie and Lindsay and Cole.  By turning the book the verso can be read on the final page.

Rendered by Sophie Blackall in Chinese ink and watercolor on hot-press paper the illustrations sing out warmth and love.  The trees in the first two images are seen again as wallpaper in Cole's bedroom.  The colors and patterns selected for Lindsay's and Cole's clothing as well as the bedding, books and the shelves are a beautiful blend of shades and geometric bliss.

In the telling of Harry's and Winnie's and Winnie's and Christopher Robin's stories picture sizes vary spreading across the gutter to leave a column on either the left or right with an inset of Lindsay speaking with Cole within a small circle.  Sometimes an image will cover a single page edge to edge or a partial page leaving room for the narrative on the side or bottom.  Blackall groups three or six illustrations framed in cream to show the passage of time.  The layout and placement of pictures is wonderful.

The details readers see on every page will have them pausing to take notice; the cost of reading material on a rack at the train station, the engine number on the train, the military uniforms and tents, the initials on Harry's duffel bag, the scenery as Harry drives Winnie to London, the bird's eye view of the London Zoo and the comparison views of the soldiers leaving for Europe and their return home at the train station.   One of my many favorite pictures is of Harry first holding Winnie on the train after she has eaten a variety of food.  She is happily sucking on a bottle of condensed milk, humming away.  The other men watch, grinning and laughing.  In the midst of what was surely a frightening time for them Winnie provides a pleasant distraction, a reminder of home.


This book, Finding Winnie:  The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear, written by Harry Colebourn's great-granddaughter, Lindsay Mattick, with illustrations by Sophie Blackall is a stunning work of textual and pictorial storytelling.  Every reader, no matter their age, will find these tales touching their collective hearts.  It's all about being connected and we are...we truly are.  It would be interesting to compare this title with students along with Winnie:  The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh (Henry Holt and Company, January 20, 2015) written by Sally M. Walker with illustrations by Jonathan D. Voss.

To learn more about Sophie Blackall and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Update:  At Sophie Blackall's blog she has posted Finding Winnie, Part 1, The Making of Finding Winnie Part 2 and The Making of Finding Winnie Part 3.  At the publisher's website you can read an excerpt starting with the opening endpapers.  It's interesting to see the image chosen for the UK version book case.  At CBC Books is a nice graphic timeline.  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson has a remarkable post about this title at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, One Picture-Book Roundtable Discussion Before Breakfast #4: Featuring the Women of Finding Winnie.  This link takes you to an educator's guide.  Historica Canada has a conversation with Lindsay Mattick.  Be sure to listen to PW KidsCast:  A Conversation with Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall.

UPDATE:  After the announcement of Sophie Blackall winning the 2016 Caldecott Medal for this title she was interviewed at Publishers Weekly.

Enjoy the tweets below.

Today's #kidlit sticker advertises Finding Winnie: https://t.co/IjxAqZdzoe pic.twitter.com/NCvzHj54nX

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) October 20, 2015

Fact! The cover of #findingwinnie is a nod to the pattern on a 1950 edition of #winniethepooh… https://t.co/CBIdfBU5S2

— lindsaymattick (@lindsaymattick) October 7, 2015

" I spent over a year working on Finding Winnie..." -@SophieBlackall http://t.co/5pmu3qtRFR pic.twitter.com/PGTycxgLQY

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) September 7, 2015

It makes me smile that the vine of Lou Grant smelling @lindsaymattick's Finding Winnie has been viewed 13,200 times. https://t.co/QxiqHvpUVX

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) August 8, 2015

My goal is to tell everyone about Finding Winnie:True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear. http://t.co/7TfnoeNzoX pic.twitter.com/yXIf2f87Je

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) April 11, 2015

Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by Alyson Beecher to view the other choices in the 2015 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge by other bloggers.