No Matter The Weather

You're walking back to your car after a quick stop to purchase a few items.  Suddenly the voice, growing more persistent of late, tells you to stop and look up. (Read Now by Antoinette Portis and you'll know what I mean.)  This is why on a blazing hot afternoon on the first day of August you find yourself taking pictures of clouds with your phone while standing in the parking lot of a big box store.  You hope with all your heart, they are a prelude to much-needed rain.
 

Rain will soften the ground, hard as cement.  Rain will ease the stress of the wild animals needing to quench their thirst.  Rain will help the towering trees whose leaves are drifting down far too early for lack of water.  This Beautiful Day (A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, Atheneum Books For Young Readers, August 1, 2017) written by Richard Jackson with illustrations by Suzy Lee reminds us of the magic to be found in a joyful heart with a little help from music.

THIS beautiful day...

Three siblings are lounging inside on a dreary rainy day with their dog accompanying them.  Clearly they are at a loss of what to do when one of them reaches to a radio twisting the dial for a bit of music.  He then leans forward in his bean bag chair arms raised and ready.  Before you can say let's dance, they are twirling and turning to the tune.

Hats and umbrellas are grabbed as the trio opens the doors and continues to lift their legs and gallop to the beat.  To them this day is filled with possibilities as they splish and splash through puddles, hooting and hollering with glee.  Certainly all the fun they are having is sure to draw the attention of others.  And it does.

Other neighborhood children carrying colorful umbrellas follow the lead of the brother and his sisters.  All the celebratory noise they make gets the attention of the sun.  It pushes the clouds away.

Eight children and one dog are cheering, laughing and playing as if this is the best day of their lives.  And isn't this the way to live?  They all tumble home, for snacks and a little bit of relaxing.  Come on Mom!  Join the jamboree!

Oh, the uninhibited elation these words written by Richard Jackson generate for readers.  His use of this beautiful day repeatedly ties his happy-go-lucky verbs together in an uplifting tempo.  To complete his symphony of delight lines end in rhyming words. Here is a continuation of the first line.

has everyone dancing

and spinning

and swinging around,

has all of us stamping

and stomping

our feet 

on the ground. ...

When you open the dust jacket, which matches the book case, you will be thrilled to notice that Suzy Lee continues the image on the front to the edge of the flap.  There we read the words:

COME ON IN,

the weather's

fine!

To the left, on the back, two of the siblings and the dog are leaping into the air as clouds scatter on a blue sky.  A single red umbrella drifts toward the right hand corner.  The opening endpapers are black, gray and white.  Rain pours from smudgy rain clouds.  On the closing endpapers the ending of the story continues.

With a page turn from the opening endpapers Suzy Lee starts the story opposite the title page.  The younger sister sits in a cardboard box staring out the window at the rain.  The older sister is slumped in boredom in front of a sketch pad and crayons.  This is done in black and white as is the first wordless image opposite the verso.  The dog sleeps in front of the French doors as the brother turns on the radio.

All of the illustrations span two pages.  As the children begin to dance the color blue is added to the black, gray and white.  The more fun they have, the more blue there is with pale green appearing.  As the clouds vanish more color is used.  

The depiction of the children, their facial expressions and body movements, is marvelous to the point you will find yourself wanting to join them.  Every single line and brush stroke is pulsing with pure jubilation.  When the umbrellas rise into the sky it's as if they are moved by this wonderful emotion.  

One of my many favorite illustrations I will let you discover for yourselves.  Suzy Lee takes us into a brief bit of suspended reality, a touch of magic.  Another of my favorite pictures is when the three siblings are splashing in the puddles.  The two older ones with the dog in the middle are jumping with total merriment, laughing and holding their umbrellas high.  Behind them the younger sister is marching and kicking out water in front of her as she holds her umbrella.  The dog is standing on its hind legs, leaping with its head raised, ears flapping and front paws close to its chest.  There is not a single person who can look at this without smiling.

This book, This Beautiful Day written by Richard Jackson with illustrations by Suzy Lee, is bursting with energy.  Readers will not be able to sit still when reading or listening to this.  Be ready to dance, rain or shine.  You will want to have a copy of this on your professional and personal bookshelves.  You have to read it...repeatedly.

To learn more about Suzy Lee and her other work please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images. Please enjoy this interview with Richard Jackson at Bookology.  Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson features Suzy Lee on her blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Again...Again...Repeatedly

A book is a gift you can open again and again.

Garrison Keillor

What is it that makes us return to our favorite picture book titles?  Do we go back, even though we know exactly what is going to happen, because the story, the beginning, the middle and the end, is in perfect alignment.  Could it be the words, the narrative, the dialogue, create a kind of song in our minds, painting a picture even without the illustrations?  Or might another visit be due to the stellar artwork, the fresh color palette, intriguing layout and design?

I believe it to be when the combination of all of these is so striking, that not only is the book memorable, but you as a reader sense a kind of magic, a cosmic connection.  When I first lifted the cover of Open This Little Book (Chronicle Books) by Jesse Klausmeier with illustrations by Suzy Lee I had no idea what to expect. (I rarely consult the jacket flaps until after I read the book.)  Within a few seconds I began to feel a pull, a pull taking me right into the center of the book.


Open this...

Those first two little words offer much.  It seems so often when growing up we hear the opposite.  "Stop!" "Don't open that!"  This phrase is different; freeing, warm and inviting.  So we do as it requests.

In the Little Red Book, the Little Green Book, the Little Orange Book, the Little Yellow Book, the Little Blue Book and the Little Rainbow Book readers are introduced to Ladybug, Frog, Rabbit, Bear and Giant.  Each character is reading a book about the next as the volumes, inset in one another, continually get smaller.  As we move from book to book the characters move into the next title until a problem arises.

The pages of the smallest book cannot be turned by the hand of Giant.  But what are friends for? A book is began and finished with the story within read; to each character's individual and personal joy.

As first the Little Rainbow Book, followed by the others, is closed Giant, Bear, Rabbit, Frog and Ladybug return to their original settings.  When readers turn a page and read:

You close this little red book...

they, like the characters, are transported to a place where a passion can be pursued in the company of like-minded beings.  Read.  Read again.  Share. Read another. This is a timeless, treasured circle with no end.


According to an interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Jesse Klausmeier first conceived this book when she was five years old.  There is a child-like wonder in the simple sentences linked together; a curiosity about what will happen next to whom.  When she chooses story, the reading of a story, to bind these characters together in friendship, the repetition of the words creates a spiral circling outward to surround you.  You, the reader, become a participant in the tale.


Every single time I read this book I discover something new in the illustrations.  Suzy Lee's interpretation is meticulous; right down to the tiniest amazing detail.  Using pencil and watercolor with digital manipulation she begins on the jacket and cover; a lofty view of a tree trunk on the left whose branches stretch as shelves providing space for books and readers alike. Her opening endpapers are rows of tiny gray raindrops on a soft creamy white background switching to a variety of colors, like a rainbow, on the closing endpapers.

Initially Lee opens using a limited palette, black, white and red with a hint of green.  As each little book is opened small spots of the other colors are added.  As the characters return home the use of color increases plus careful readers will see not only the gift of color but the gift of something else bestowed upon each. The pure happiness exhibited by Lee's Ladybug, Frog, Rabbit, Bear and yes, even Giant in each setting is marvelous to behold.


I've lost count of the number of times I've read Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier with illustrations by Suzy Lee.  What I do remember is my excitement building at each page turn.  When I finish I know I am grinning from ear to ear wanting to shout from the rooftops "I love this book!"

Please follow the links embedded in this post to visit the official author and illustrator websites.  Suzy Lee did an interview at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast linked here.

I went right to my bookshelves and pulled off copies of Look At My Book: How Kids Can Write & Illustrate Terrific Books by Loreen Leedy, Making Mini-Books by Sherri Haab (Klutz) and The Elements of Pop-Up by David A. Carter and James Diaz because this title is guaranteed to inspire creativity.  You might also want to visit the web 2.0 application, Zooburst, to make virtual books.  It was an American Library Association 2011 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning.