Loving Advice

It's no easy task to be little in a world of large.  When you stand in an open sunny meadow, wildflowers dancing in the breeze, wander along a path strewn with needles among tall evergreens or gaze at a starry expanse at night, you feel the full power of your size compared to the surrounding vista but in some respects these scenes give us a sense of calm.  These spaces are not by our hands.  Walking among towering skyscrapers along crowded sidewalks with traffic buzzing by at breakneck speeds is an entirely different feeling.  Your size is further diminished somehow.

It's as if you are among giants, animate and inanimate, wandering with obstructed views except for familiar areas at your level, your line of sight.  Small In The City (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House Books, September 3, 2019) written and illustrated by Sydney Smith follows a small child on a mission.  Through his voice we are given a very personal perspective.

I know what it's like
to be small
in the city.

This child understands how the variety of sounds are frightening.  This child realizes how sensory overload can make decisions difficult.  Then, this child, makes it very clear, they are speaking to a specific individual, even though this individual is not present as they walk down the city streets.

Recommendations begin to be offered.  Some areas are okay but only under certain conditions.  Unruly pets are to be avoided.  If you need to hide, you can seek the comfort of certain shrubs or trees.

As snow begins to fall, the child increases suggestions of warmth, food and spaces for rest.  Readers come to comprehend the very intimate nature of the relationship between this child and the unseen being to whom they are speaking.  In several wordless images we are stunned by a revelation and a heartfelt request.  Nothing prepares us, though, for the twist on the final page.


With carefully constructed sentences, author (This is his debut as both author and illustrator.) Sydney Smith supplies us with truthful sentiments held by all who are small moving through an adult or taller world.  After several introductory comments, supportive examples identify exact impressions.  At this point we are curious but when the advice begins our interest, and yes, concern, grows.  We start to mull over in our minds the conversation between this child and someone else.  Who is it?  And this, readers, is stellar storytelling.  Here is the first tip by the child.

Alleys can be good shortcuts.

But don't go down this alley.
It's too dark.


Rendered in

ink, watercolor, and a bit of gouache

all the illustrations beginning on the dust jacket are heavily atmospheric.  The play of light and shadow allow us to feel the gravity of the situation.  The window on the bus featuring the child reveals another passenger when the right flap is opened.  To the left, on the back, the side of the bus fills this space until the opened left flap shows the beginning of another window.  The falling flakes of snow and the clothing worn by the child indicate the season as winter, elevating the emotional mood.

On the book case a brighter red, splashes which are used throughout the book, is used as its canvas.  The boy is embossed and showcased in the lower right-hand corner. Tiny dots, snowflakes, fall across his figure.

On the opening and closing endpapers, the palest blue gray with washes of white covers these pages.  Between the text on the title page, the child is seen walking next to a city bus.  On the dedication page, a flowered cup holds branches of vivid red berries.

For the first four pages there is a series of smaller wordless images. (There are more wordless illustrations within the book.)  They indicate the child inside the city bus until a chord is pulled and a stop is made.  Once the child begins to walk, the text is arranged among or opposite double-page pictures, a grouping of fourteen vignettes, full-page visuals, smaller images and three horizontal pictures on two pages.  Loose black lines frame the smaller illustrations.  Meticulous pacing heightens the mood and our expanding involvement in this wonderful story.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is on a single page, edge to edge.  A double-trunk tree is displayed prominently, its bare branches spread across the top.  Behind the tree, along the lower half of the illustration, are city buildings.  On the left trunk, a vertical row of boards has been nailed creating steps to a v-seat.  The child is there nestled between the two branches, still wearing his backpack.  Caught in a smaller branch on the right is what appears to be a small plastic bag blowing in the wind and snow.  Can you read the words?


Small In The City written and illustrated by Sydney Smith is a book to read and read again and then, to tuck away in your heart.  It's a tale in which all readers can identify; for who among us has not felt too small in a given situation. As a read aloud this invites speculation with every page turn.  And believe me, the farther you get in the book, the more you'll be going back to the beginning.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Sydney Smith and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Interior images from this book are included on Sydney Smith's website.  Sydney Smith has accounts on Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter.  I believe you'll enjoy these interviews with Sydney Smith at Miss Marple's Musings and Art Of The Picture Book.

UPDATE:  On September 17, 2019 Sydney Smith chats with a host about this book on CBC Radio.

UPDATE:  On November 13, 2019 Sydney Smith and his artwork are featured at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

All In A Week

For those who've grown up in a small town, you know what life there can mean to you.  There will be moments when you long to leave, yearning for more of anything.  Even if you do go to make a life elsewhere in a larger community, there will come a time when you recall all the benefits of living in a quieter place where everyone knows who you are and, for the most part, is friendly and willing to lend a helping hand.

For neighbors, adults and children alike, to be able to walk their city streets feeling safe and secure is a wonderful accomplishment.  To leave the comfort of their home and stroll to the local grocery store, bakery, hardware shop, drug store, post office, bank, school, public library, flower shop, park or even a doctor or dentist is not something many are still able to do.  It seems today our communities are spread across larger distances.

If you are willing, let's step back in time and revisit a town called Bloomville.  We first traveled there in the marvelous book called Lucy (Candlewick Press, August 2, 2016) written and illustrated by Randy Cecil.  In a companion title, Douglas (Candlewick Press, September 10, 2019) written and illustrated by Randy Cecil, our attention is focused on a charming, silver screen loving girl and her new acquaintance, a mouse. Join me as we begin with the first of four acts.

ACT I
1
On a Saturday afternoon in Bloomville,
Iris Espinosa put on her sister's blue sweater
and stepped out the front door.
A familiar buttery scent wafted through the air.

Popcorn.

As Iris, wearing her sister's clothing, heads toward the movie theater, she passes a huge feline with an odd number of toes on each paw, six toes to be exact.  She also passes Everett Dunn, stuck on the stoop to his home.  He has a knack for bringing home unwanted pets, so his mother has issued a restriction.  He can't go any farther than the stoop.

Today at the local theater, the Majestic Cinema, a film called Robin Hood is playing.  (It starred Douglas Fairbanks.  It was released in 1922 to great acclaim, even though it was in black and white and was a silent film.)  Like every time Iris goes to the movies, she sits in her same seat only on this day, slightly behind her, is a mouse, who also enjoys movies.  This mouse also loves all the popcorn dropped by the Woman with the Large Hat.  Over-consumption finds the mouse settling in the pocket of a blue sweater worn by a girl who smiles at her.

When the tiny stowaway awakens, she is amazed at the sights of the outside world and terrified of the monster with the six toes on each paw who follows them all the way to Iris's house.  Iris is thrilled to discover the mouse in her pocket and promptly names her Douglas after one of her favorite actors.  The plot, as they say, thickens when Iris's sister, Adriana, takes her sweater, where Douglas is hidden, and leaves to meet her boyfriend's mother. Let's pause here at the beginning of chapter five of eight chapters in act one.

We have met most of the characters, but not all, who will play a part in one harrowing moment after another for Douglas.  True to her namesake, her remarkable skills of swinging, leaping, climbing and masterful agility assist her in barely escaping time and again with her life.  It is during one of her most frightening getaways, someone wonderful is discovered.  Make no mistake, readers, this book's conclusion promises there is always another story to be told.


Readers are certain to be astounded by how Randy Cecil ties all the character threads and plot twists together to supply them with nonstop action.  It's a continuous series of knowing something is about to happen, watching it unfold, open-mouthed, and breathing a sigh of relief when Douglas is unharmed.  The connections between seemingly unrelated incidents are nothing short of miraculous.  (If you think about it, life is a lot like this, if we stand back and look at the larger picture as an observer rather than a participant.)

There is no dialogue in the narrative, but we are very aware as to what each character is thinking during each incident.  Randy Cecil brings us into the story with thoughtful descriptions and meticulous pacing.  Here are two passages.  (I will verify their accuracy once my finished copy arrives.)

This is going so well, thought Adriana as they all sat down
for a cup of tea in the living room.  And then she sneezed.

She reached her hand into her sweater pocket,
hoping to find a handkerchief.
Instead she felt something furry.  And whiskery.

It wriggled in her hand.


Exhausted, Douglas collapsed in a tiny heap on the rooftop.
As her racing heart slowly quieted and her shaking legs slowly stilled,
night began to fall, and the first real stars Douglas had ever seen
appeared in the sky.

She watched as they twinkled, so beautiful yet so impossibly far away.


Poised on the edge of the roof like a superhero examining the world, we are introduced to Douglas.  (I'm working with an ARC generously supplied by the publisher.) Even though Douglas is tiny, she is able to appreciate the world as a larger whole, not confining herself to her immediate surroundings of the cinema.  No matter where she finds herself, she adapts to every challenge.  On the title page, she is standing on top of a barber's pole.  The introduction of each act gives readers a broader view of a portion of Bloomville's streets and the buildings lining them.

All the interior illustrations, rendered in oil, appear in the same shades of white, gray and black as seen on the front of the cover.  They are placed in loose circles on single pages.  These draw our center of attention to all the details Randy Cecil includes in his artwork.  Sometimes he asks us to step back to see more of a scene and then he shifts to show us a close-up of Douglas.  It's like we are watching our own private movie.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when Douglas, yet unnamed, is in the movie theater.  Mrs. Pennington, the Woman with the Large Hat, is dropping as many popped kernels of corn on the floor as she is eating.  We move in close to the theater seats.  All we see of Mrs. Pennington are her legs, lower and middle portion of her body, and one arm holding the box of popcorn. Douglas, on the floor next to her, is leaping, mouth wide open, and ready to grab her next kernel of popcorn.


Whether you read this one-on-one, as a read aloud to a large group or silently to yourself, Douglas written and illustrated by Randy Cecil is simply splendid.  It's about friendship, being your best self, and how individual stories are connected to the larger story of us.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Randy Cecil and his other work, please follow the link to his website attached to his name.  There is an interior illustration available through the publisher's website. At Candlewick Press you can also read most of the first three chapters, act one.
  

She Gave Him Joy

A lot of people have playlists of music they prefer.  Some will have multiple playlists; one for exercise, one for creativity, one for concentration or relaxation.  Different music speaks to different people at different times.  Conversely a certain song or musician can connect and has connected with thousands of people during human history.

In the United States of America, for four years (and truthfully for some time before and after), this nation was torn by the Civil War from April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865.  In December of 1853, on a different continent, a baby girl was born.  Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreno Played The Piano For President Lincoln (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, August 27, 2019) written by Margarita Engle with illustrations by Rafael Lopez is the story of this musically gifted child who helped heal a grieving parent and national leader and his family.  One person can and will continue to make a difference. 

WHEN TERESA was a little girl
in Venezuela, Mama sang lullabies
while Papa showed Teresita how
to let her happy hands dance
across all the beautiful
dark and light keys
of a piano.

In making melodies on the piano, Teresa learned several things.  She was able to make sounds which imitated those inhabitants in the natural world.  Playing the piano was hard and took a lot of work but it was a way to soften her sadness and share her joy with others.  By the time she was six she could write her own songs.  A year later she performed in a small space within a cathedral.  Isn't this amazing?

At eight years old her life changed drastically.  She and her parents had to flee their country due to war, leaving everything she knew and loved behind her.  Their ship after sailing on stormy seas landed in New York.  The people and the language they spoke did little to make her feel welcome plus the United States was engaged in the Civil War.

Playing on a new piano saved this child.  She practiced and practiced.  Music of all kinds filled the air in her home.  She was soon given a new nickname, the Piano Girl.  Something wonderful happened to Teresa.  People loved her music and she was soon performing on stage with other musicians.

Perhaps she was wondering if her life could get any better than playing piano music for people and traveling to other cities.  It did get better.  She received a request to play for President Abraham Lincoln and his family at the White House!  She was ten years old.

What could she do during a war with streets in Washington DC lined with soldiers and exhausted nurses?  What could she do to lift the sadness filling the Lincoln family's hearts? An accomplished artist and statesman found their way to common ground.


With a mind and heart focused on poetic expression, Margarita Engle pens a biography both captivating and factual.  She supplies us with exquisite imagery of the land and wildlife in Venezuela, the travels aboard the ship to the United States, a scene from the Civil War and the memorable event of playing for the Lincoln family.  A repetition of a descriptive phrase for the piano keys creates a flawless flow from one section of the story to the next portion.  Here are two passages from a three-passage page.

Without a new piano,
Teresa would have felt even more lonely,
but soon she discovered that wherever one is,
some people are friendly, drawn together
by songs.

Musicians came to her home,
playing along while they listened
to the dazzling notes
of her dancing hands.


The image seen on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case is a stunning portrait of Teresa's ability to part the darkness of war and death with her remarkable piano music.  The flowers and birds reflect not only the particular piece she is playing but her ability to bring the cheer and charm of her native land with her wherever she goes.  The scene on the front extends to the left edge of the jacket flap.  The dark cloud blooms for most of the back, parts for a small space and continues.  White tents for soldiers dot the hillside outside of a small community shown on the far-left bottom.

Certain elements of the front and back of the jacket and case are replicated on the opening and closing endpapers.  The first offers a countryside at war with a single tiny bird flying in the sky.  On the second a historical note occupies a large portion on the left, then Teresa's piano has sheets of music taking wing mixed in with flowers and a brightly colored bird. (This bird appears several times throughout the book.) The dark clouds are moving away on the right and on the left.

The illustrations for this book were rendered in mixed media (acrylic on wood board, using sticks and other tools to paint; watercolor; construction paper; pen; and ink), and then assembled digitally

by Rafael Lopez.  Apart from two full-page pictures, all the images are double-page visuals.  Each one not only depicts a specific moment but conveys strong emotions.  Color choices supply us with joy, fright, sadness, and worry.  We are wrapped in Teresa's world.

Details reflect place and historical context.  All the people are fully animated according to the scene.  These illustrations are guaranteed to invite discussions and further research.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is of the family fleeing their home in Venezuela.  It captures these moments with sincere clarity.  Dark clouds scallop across the top of two pages.  Rain beats down diagonally on the right, across the gutter and on a portion of the left.  On the hills on the left, buildings are on fire and smoking.  In the foreground barrels drift in the ocean on the left due to the storm.  On the right a schooner is trying to ride out the horrific weather.  Beneath the ship and filling the lower half of the right side is a portrait of Teresa.  Her head is bowed, and her eyes are closed.  It's a breathtaking representation.  We see a side of her face, as she is facing right.


This book, Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreno Played The Piano For President Lincoln written by Margarita Engle with illustrations by Rafael Lopez, is the kind of nonfiction sure to excite and encourage readers.  If one ten-year-old child can bring contentment to a grieving family with her music, think what you or I or everyone else can do with our combined talents.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Margarita Engle and Rafael Lopez and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Margarita Engle has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Rafael Lopez has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.


Please be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other titles selected this week by participants in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.

A Melody Forever In Memory

A song, its words and range of notes, can sustain you.  It can raise your spirits by pushing you forward to bigger and brighter accomplishments.  This song can connect you to another single soul or to a multitude.  This music can and will remain in our collective memories.

When you think of music or a song, the first thing which comes to mind is not usually that it can be a rallying point for a significant group of people but perhaps this should be.  Sing a Song: How "Lift Every Voice and Sing" inspired Generations (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, August 6, 2019) written by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Keith Mallett imagines a story beginning at the beginning of a birth of a song. Like many births it starts loud and strong but is quietly carried from heart to heart.

Before you were born, a girl learned a song.

This girl's principal was James Weldon Johnson.  His brother was John Rosamond Johnson.  Together they composed a song to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  This girl sang this song over and over until she and 499 other children sang it loud and strong on February 12, 1900.

She continued to sing it to her students, and to her husband as they traveled from Florida to settle in Pennsylvania.  And she sang it to her son.  This son heard both his mother and father humming or singing this song as they planned their futures or needed to raise up their work-weary souls. At church, one day, this son, this boy, sang this song like his mother had.

Back straight, head high,

heart and mouth open . . . 

Through World War II, discrimination and joining the NAACP, the son, now a man sang.  His daughter learned the melody.  It carried her through the news that rocked our nation, the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  

And so, it was that this song moved through generations, from parents to children.  It followed them during protests, during trials won and lost as an attorney, and to joyfully celebrate family reunions.  It was sung at college graduations and the opening of businesses.  One fine day, another girl, 116 years later sang this same song as crowds gathered and the first African American president and members of another family rang a bell to signal the opening of a momentous building housing memories and contributions of the African American people in these United States.

As you read this narrative penned by Kelly Starling Lyons, you can feel something building inside you, something good and something powerful.  For the members of each generation, her descriptions of parents passing the learning of the words and the singing of the song to spouses and children are beautiful portraits of family and a larger community.  Her repetition of the words

back straight, head high, heart and 

mouth open

followed by verses from the Black National Anthem sung by the children actively engages readers.  Her inclusion of realistic historical struggles endured, and triumphs celebrated elevates and enlarges reader understanding and compassion.  Here is a passage.

And you know what?

Her little boy learned that song.

He listened to her hum it as she dreamed of

being able to teach again in her new home.

He heard his daddy sing it when the days

at the steel mill wore him down.

When you look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, the color choices for the sky complement the child lifting her voice in song.  The luminous yellow, golden yellow and orange with the deep sky blue could either be a sunrise or a sunset, which is an excellent choice.  It reminds readers of the enduring quality of this song all day, every day.  The use of light and shadow on the face of the girl is a thing of beauty.  Can you hear her singing Lift every voice and sing?  To the left, on the back, is a continuation of the sky with four lines from the song placed near the top.

On the opening and closing endpapers on a canvas of pale purple are the lyrics to the song.  The colors in the sky are the background for the title and verso pages.  The illustrations by Keith Mallett 

were drawn freehand and painted digitally.  

They alternate between full-page pictures and double-page images.  The faces of all the people featured are full of warmth, passion and purpose.  Each visual regardless of the place and time has a portion which draws our attention.  Individual elements are authentic with respect to their historical perspective.  The designs in the fabric of the blankets around the infants are of importance.    

One of my many favorite illustrations is when the son of the first girl is singing the anthem in church.  A deep navy background enhances the arched stained glass window on the left.  The boy is standing in front of the window garbed in his choir robe of black with a purple collar and wearing a white shirt with a black tie.  His hands are crossed in front of him and placed over his heart.  His mouth is open in song with eyes mirroring his reverence for the words and music.  To his left and extending over the gutter are five other choir members.  They, too, are singing, but because of the lighting you feel as though the boy's voice is predominant.

Informative through an imagined but historical point of view Sing a Song: How "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Inspired Generations written by Kelly Starling Lyons with illustrations by Keith Mallett will have you seeking out as many renditions of the song as you can and soon you will be humming it, too.  This is a moving and memorable narrative with illustrations which envelope you.  Be sure to read the full page author's note at the end.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Kelly Starling Lyons and Keith Mallett and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Kelly Starling Lyons has accounts on Facebook and Twitter.  Keith Mallett has an account on Tumblr.  At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  I hope you enjoy these renditions of Lift Every Voice and Sing.

You might want to read this NPR Music broadcast, Till Victory is Won: The Staying Power of 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' which has links to other performances.

Solid As A . . .

You can't live in northern Michigan without encountering rocks.  Just beneath the mostly sandy soil is an entire community of stones of every conceivable shape and size.  When excavating to build the basement for a house now sitting on a hill, these giants were unearthed.  Now they grace the top of the garden along a driveway.  A day at the beach, near the tip of the Mitt, will yield Petoskey stones found primarily in Michigan.  Large or small, this area has them all.  Wherever you go, there they are.

You can pick them up, skip them on the water, use them to build a wall or sit for a bit to just listen or look.  A Stone Sat Still (Chronicle Books, August 27, 2019) written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel (They All Saw a Cat, Caldecott Honor winner, and Hello Hello) is a wonderful imagining of sensory perceptions with respect to a stone.  For all of you who have every wished an inanimate object could talk, this book speaks volumes.

A stone sat still
with the water, grass, and dirt

and it was as it was
where it was in the world.

Depending on the hour of day this stone appeared dark or light.  Depending on its current occupants, it was noisy or silent.  Depending on its age, to the touch, it was jaggy or polished.  Weather and the seasons changed its colors.

Even though its size remained basically the same, to one creature it seemed to be a place to step and to another critter a mountain rose up before them. Animals used the stone for a variety of purposes; as a sanctuary, a food preparation space or a vantage point for a predator.  Like other natural landforms, it served as a guide and a challenge.

The stone continued to be many things to many residents of the wild.  It told tales.  It hosted concerts.  In the spectrum of this planet's history, the stone was both old and new.

As climate shifted the stone was no longer sitting with

water, grass, and dirt.

Water rose until it was surrounded.  Then it vanished.  Or did it?


Even with repeated readings, the fascination of how one thing, a stone, can be much to many, does not diminish but grows.  Brendan Wenzel, with this narrative, stretches our thinking.  He asks us to use all our senses and to place ourselves in the position of an array of animals to determine the purposes this stone serves.

His pacing is impeccable.  His repetition of several phrases ties one portion of his lyrical observations to another portion.  Alliteration creates a welcoming cadence.  Here is a passage.

And the stone was the wild

and the stone was a home

and the stone was a kitchen

and the stone was a throne.


The liberal use of crisp white on the open dust jacket places emphasis squarely on the stone and the snail.  The lower left corner of the stone crosses the spine and extends to the back.  There blades of grass, some sprouting seeds, span most of the lower portion to the flap edge.  The stone and the blades of grass fashion a nook for the ISBN.  On the right side of the stone, on the front, its corner continues to the right flap with grass to the edge, also.  The title text, the snail and the stone are varnished.

On both sides of the book case we are given a close-up view of the stone.  It covers it completely.  The meanderings of the snail supply an intricate maze which, if the case is moved in the light, reflects its varnished trail.  The opening and closing endpapers tell a story of the stone.  On the first the stone is as it is.  On the second the stone is no longer in view on land as evidenced by what is now attached to its sides.

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

these illustrations, most spanning two pages, supply readers with an excellent sense of place and time.  For the purpose of altering the rhythm of his words, Brendan Wenzel inserts full-page pictures, a series of vertical vignettes, four, three and four, over two pages. For dramatic effect there are two horizontal images together on two pages.  These are followed by a wordless, double-page image which silently makes a huge statement.

Readers will want to ponder each picture.  They will want to follow the snail's progress and the resting and flight of the owl.   Will they notice the growth of the grass, plants and tree?  What will they think of the encroaching water?

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the words

and the stone was bright

At the top of a darkened sky with speckles of stars is a circular portion of a full moon on either side of the gutter.  Beneath it, ablaze with moonlight, is the stone covering most of both pages.  A few clumps of new grass are growing through the dirt around the stone.  A sapling has sprouted to its left.  On the stone, wide-eyed and on the right, sits an owl, feather tips gleaming in the glow.  What has the owl's attention?


Readers and listeners will want and need to re-visit this book, A Stone Sat Still written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel, repeatedly.  It presents us with the advantages of viewing the world through multiple sets of sensory points of view.  It asks us to appreciate and admire our planet and all its inhabitants.  It requires us to question our purpose in caring for Earth.  This title is highly recommended for your personal and professional shelves.

To learn more about Brendan Wenzel and his other work, please visit his website by following the link attached to his name.  Brendan Wenzel has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  At each of these places, Brendan Wenzel shares his processes for this title and other titles.  Here is a link to a video he posted on Instagram about the development of the stone.  Here is another one about the creation of his cut paper moose.  There is a Q&A with Brendan Wenzel about this book at Publishers Weekly.  Enjoy these two marvelous videos.




UPDATE:  This title is featured at author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast on November 6, 2019.

From The Vines

Cooler nights the past week have hinted at the nearness of autumn.  There's not as much birdsong in the air in the mornings signaling the beginning of their migration south for the winter.  Farmers' markets are filled with an abundance of summer-harvest fruits, vegetables, flowers, honey and other homemade delicacies.

Pumpkins are ripening on their vines. It's that special time of year to make selections for celebrations of Halloween.  Pick a Pumpkin (Candlewick Press, July 9, 2019), a companion to Pick a Pine Tree (Candlewick Press, September 19, 2017) written by Patricia Toht with illustrations by Jarvis follows a family from seeking the perfect pumpkins to strolling through their neighborhood on a spooky October 31st.

Pick a pumpkin 
from the patch---

tall and lean
or short and fat.

There is an abundance of colors of orange, some white and green, too.  This mom and her children fill their wagon with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes.  They take a break to sip on an autumn drink and munch on crispy, candy-coated apples.

Once home every speck of dirt is removed from their chosen gourds.  An area is made ready for carving and tools, utensils and bowls are brought outside.  A few neighbor children join the fun. 

Cutting, pulling and scooping clear the canvas.  Let the creativity begin!  Eyes wide with wonder or suspicious slits and noses form above mouths of happy grins or grumbling growls.  Soon all the pumpkins are completed to perfection.

Next the outside of the house with the help of dad is adorned with webs and web-weavers, shimmering ghosts, skeletons and swooping bats.  All the children don their costumes cheerfully chattering.  There's a witch, a mummy and is that a cute little pumpkin in mom's arms?  Those perfect pumpkin prizes are carried to their places; now glowing, the jack-o-lanterns are sidewalk sentries.  There's only one thing left to do, and it's done with exuberance.


Author Patricia Toht welcome us with her masterful use of poetic language, punctuation and pauses into the marvelous atmosphere of preparing for this holiday.  Her sentences with their embedded rhymes are like stanzas in a melody leading us into this night full of magic and mystery.  Alliterative phrases will have readers ready to move.  Here is a passage.

Lumpy chunks. Sticky strings.
Clumpy seeds. Guts and things.
With a spoon, scrape sides neatly.
Clean the inside out completely.
           Now all together . . .


Across the open and matching dust jacket and book case are pumpkins and one jack-o-lantern of every shape and size and shade.  The color palette radiates Halloween with hues of orange, purple, blue, green and a spooky white.  The costumed siblings can hardly contain their delight among the webs, spiders, bats, black cats, scurrying and curious mice, birds, autumn leaves and a wide-eyed ghost positioned around the ISBN on the back.

On the opening endpapers is a vast autumn sky with the birds shown on the jacket and cover flying over a nearly setting sun. On the closing endpapers it's the same scene with leafless branches and shrubs along the bottom and the huge sky above.  Now that sky is darkened, and the sun is replaced with a full moon.  Is that who I think it is riding her broom across the moon?  The birds have been replaced with bats.

The verso and title pages are a stunning work of art by illustrator Jarvis.  A row of autumn trees spans both pages with a windmill on the far right.  In front of them is a three-rail farm fence.  We move in close for the lower half of the illustration.  Muted-fall foliage is scattered on the ground.  On the right two large pumpkins are growing from vines.  Three crows, one on the left, watch and caw. 

Rendered in pencil, chalk, and paint and colored digitally all the illustrations are double-page pictures.  The choices of color for all the elements, including backgrounds which accentuate the other details, are absolutely splendid. Every visual is full of anticipation and animation.  The expressions on the people's faces convey pure excitement.  There are birds, mice and a black cat in nearly every picture. (Readers are going to love looking for those creatures.)  Near the pumpkin patch are two shops; one named Jarvis Art Supplies and the other Patty's Book Shop.  You won't believe the number on the side of the wagon the family is using at the farm.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when the family and neighborhood children are standing in front of the pumpkin, now a glowing jack-o-lantern.  The background is hues of blue darkening to deeper greens near the bottom.  Dad, on the left as a vampire, has his hand resting on mom's shoulder as she stands on the right.  She's wearing devil horns and holding the baby garbed in a pumpkin costume.  Left to right are two children on either side of the gutter wearing their costumes.  One is holding the cat.  In a low arc at the bottom is the top of the jack-o-lantern with its stem in the gutter and extending out on either side.  All their faces show awe.  They are radiant from the light of the jack-o-lantern.


If you are looking for the ideal pumpkin or Halloween title, then this book, Pick a Pumpkin written by Patricia Toht with illustrations by Jarvis comes highly recommended.  I can't imagine a storytime without this title as a selection.  You'll definitely want to have a copy in your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Patricia Toht and Jarvis and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Patricia Toht has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.   You can find Jarvis on Instagram and Twitter, too.  At the publisher's website and at Penguin Random House you can view interior images.

At Water's Edge

As the weekend of the unofficial end of summer approaches, the beach along Lake Michigan has been anything but favorable for exploring.  There have been gale warnings, rip tide warnings, small craft and lakeshore flood advisories for the past two days.  The good news is all this wind changes the sand, creating an altered landscape.  The high waves wash in new treasures to discover.  It's paradise for beachcombers.

You never know what wonders await as you walk along the water's edge.  In Sandy Feet! Whose Feet? Footprints at the Shore (Sleeping Bear Press, April 15, 2019) written by Susan Wood with illustrations by Steliyana Doneva we spend the day at the beach with a family.  The siblings find the most interesting markings in the sand.

Sandy feet,

on the beach,

make prints in the sand.

The first set of prints are easy to name.  The family has a frisky pup with them.  The brother spies delicate three-toed shapes.  Can you name this bird with thin legs and a hopping gait?

Shallow scoops like a miniature highway zig and zag across the sand as something scurries.  Watch out for those two claws!  A familiar scavenger leaves prints before flying away crying like a crow of the water.  

One of the silent sentinels of the sea glides by, drops and scoops up a tasty tidbit.  Along the sand something else moves using five legs.  How fast will it go?  It's watched by barnacles clinging to wooden pier posts.  

How fortunate for these children to see this sight as a nest is hollowed in the warm sand.  Later, their architectural skills form a marvel.  Laughter follows as their mother helps them find another use for their piles of sand.  There's nothing quite like a day at the beach with this family and Mother Nature.

Little readers and listeners and those reading this book penned by Susan Wood will feel the spell cast by her use of language.  The rhyming words at the end of every two sentences depict a rhythm not unlike the gentle cadence of waves on a sandy shore.  With ease we move from one creature to the next one and complete the circle as we begin---with the family.  Susan Wood uses lively verbs and adjectives to describe each kind of feet and the actions of the individuals.  Here is the sentence which follows the first one.

Digging feet,

furry, friendly,

wet dog licks your hand.

The sandy beach extends over the spine to the far left of the back on the matching dust jacket and book case.  The children mirror the actions of those enjoying a day at the beach.  It's a contrast between lots of motion and careful contemplation.  The billowing clouds match the foaming of the waves.  I wonder if readers can name the prints in the sand before reading the book.

On the back two sandpipers move from the left to the right.  Above them are two photographic snapshots.  They are portions of interior images of a sea turtle and a crab.  Both are captioned and ready to be placed in an album.

The opening and closing endpapers are a crisp white like the clouds and foam from the waves.  Illustrator Steliyana Doneva gives us a sandy background for the title page text.  Starfish prints move in a loop from the left edge to the right edge. For the first page turn there is no text, but the visual story begins with the parents walking to the beach carrying gear as their children and dog run into the water.

All the illustrations span two pages.  The perspectives vary with elements being close to us as others in the same scene are farther away.  Sometimes we get the sense there are dunes rolling along the beach.  We may only see human feet and ankles as a bird walks past them or we may be looking down at the children as another creature hurries away.  It's as if Steliyana Doneva presents us with a sensory experience in her artwork.  We feel the joy expressed on the humans' faces and their dog's face, too.  Another technique she employs is to give a hint of the next sentence by placing those footprints in the sand in the previous image.

One of my favorite illustrations features a bird's eye, but close-up view of the children.  Their heads are bent studying the markings in the sand.  Sand fills most of the two pages but the waves' foam forms a half circle from the left edge to the right edge.  Both children are on the left.  A crab moves from the left to the right side.  In front of it are a new set of prints.

There are still beach days left for this summer in Michigan and for many places in our world, there are beach days every day.  This title, Sandy Feet! Whose Feet? Footprints at the Shore written by Susan Wood with illustrations by Steliyana Doneva, mirrors this adventure beautifully.  At the close of the book two pages are dedicated to providing further information about the nine footprints shown in the words and pictures.  Readers are challenged to be ecology detectives using their observations, cameras and sketch pads and pencils.  You'll want to have a copy of this book for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Susan Wood and her other work, please access her website by following the link attached to her name.  Susan Wood has an account on Twitter.  Steliyana Doneva lives and works with her family in Sofia, Bulgaria.  The link attached to her name is an artists' website.  She is interviewed at Kid Lit 411 and Miss Marple's Musings.

Please remember to visit Kid Lit Frenzy hosted by educator Alyson Beecher to view the other selections this week by those participating in the 2019 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge.