This pair of recently released picture books are treasures when enjoyed "as is", each offering a heartwarming, heart-tugging story, with visually engaging and expressive images and satisfying resolutions. Each will undoubtedly by reread again and again, each inviting readers of any age to pore over the illustrations and expressions and subtle details despite appearing to be pretty simple. And BOTH offer ideal mentor text for older readers for exploration of deep themes, distinct voice, and story structure to build tension and weave clues throughout minimalist text.
Neal Porter Books, 2019 |
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2019 |
TRUMAN is written by Jean Reidy and illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins. Truman is certainly the most appealing, charming, donut-sized tortoise you'll ever meet. He's also very clever, recognizing subtle changes in in his dear friend, Sarah, on the day she prepares to to go to school for the first time. From his window-view tank, Truman's logic leads him on a grand adventure to "be brave" and go in search of Sarah, who he had watched climb ON THE BUS for the first time!
His deep-seated commitment to Sarah, his flawless logic, and impressive determination lead him out, onward, and unwilling to give up, even when feeling overwhelmed.
The consistency of his tortoise-eye-view and mindset allows readers to identify with his fear despite knowing the human side of the story. The bright colors and unusual scale and perspective of the scenes combine a background awareness of the time passage for his adventures to build hope in the reader. An expected happy ending is taken a few pages further to extend the satisfaction level of both Sarah and Truman moving into a new stage of their relationship.
I've been reading many rave reviews about these books and expected to like them, but I was wowed. These seemingly simple books can serve as mentor text for tone, voice, and even for art perspective. Both are books that kids will beg to reread and can do so for themselves at very early ages.When the two are shared together the similarity of rounded images, minimalist line characters with expressive eyes and postures, and voices of the narrators beg comparison. On the other hand, contrasting the two titles for use of color and light tones, seasons, settings, and relationships merits discussion.
Writers intent on creating remarkable picture books should take a page and explore both through repeated readings and discussions. Don't miss them.
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