Collaboration, Construction, and Storytelling: Meet the Pumphrey Brothers.

 I suspend my general concern about THEME MONTHS and special focus days when it comes to EARTH DAY and EARTH WEEK. The timing of these events is a natural outgrowth of Spring renewal, spring cleaning, and access to the outdoors (in the northern hemisphere). My goal is to post some reviews and reflections related to this theme every day this week, because care for our planet MUST be a multi-generational effort. Picture books can bridge those generations to inspire and energize, but also to develop lifetime bonds in memory and commitment to environmental care and activism. 

Two brothers have produced two books (among their others) that celebrate the power of youthful experiences to shape a lifetime of interest and engagement with the everyday world. Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey share a website that offers background stories about their separate lives and their remarkable collaborative careers as artists, illustrators, and storytellers. Their family bond is apparent on their website, and the celebrate this powerful human force in the two books featured here. Both reflect their rural and seacoast childhood lives in Texas, learning and growing and graced by parents and grandparents with whom they spent time and absorbed both skills and values. 

Norton Books for Young Readers, 2020

The first book that caught my attention is THE OLD TRUCK, created in story and art through the shared responsibilities, memories,  and imaginations of both Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey. The incredible (and award-winning) art is achieved with a stamp technique that they demonstrate in a video  on their website.

The use of stamps is as artful as the language, with nuanced variations in pattern and repetition that allow each image and stage of life to echo what has come before but also appear fresh and original until the final turn.

I picked this book up before hearing about it, based on the appeal of the images and concept. The title led me to assume it would be a twist on "This old man...", but instead I found nearly countless elements that make it one of my favorites of the picture books I read this year

The text is as seemingly simple and purposeful as the workings of that "old truck" in the title. What appears to be an African American farm family (dad, mom, little girl) rely on that old truck as they work their way through days, seasons, and years. Within a few page turns that little girl becomes the visual anchor of the evolving "farmer" story. She grows in competence and power, while the poor old truck is retired to the side of the barn. Her growth in skill and strength continue as the truck is eventually overwhelmed by plants and snow. 

When she (now the farmer) tows it  onto center stage, her text and visual story mirror the life of the truck during a patient restoration, including the continuation of family life on the farm.

I adore the book design, image placements, and use of a stamps which produce white-edged framing for each graphic/geometric element. It perfectly suits the simplicity of comforting and memorable images within the double page spreads. Equally, I adore the rhythm of the text, including perfectly timed repetitions/variations of phrasing, developing a read aloud text that hums along like a well-tuned engine. 

This will certainly have fans among boys, girls, families, farmers, and anyone who appreciates extraordinary talent in creating picture books. 

At that time I hoped that these two brothers would  create many more books of this calibre in the future. That reliable little truck feels like a symbol for the motor driving this author/illustration team. 

Norton Books for Young Readers, 2021

Within a remarkably short period of time, the Pumphrey brothers produced a companion title, THE OLD BOAT.  In this story the brothers reprise many of the irresistible elements from the first title, but with effective and enchanting twists. The trim size, subdued tones, and flat finishes lend an authentic vintage look. A stamp technique is again used, but in this case the stamps are created exclusively from plastics objects removed from water and coastal clean-ups. The brothers provide another fascinating video of how that was done, HERE.

The story is also multi-generational, with understated family love, joy, and a heritage of shared experiences over time. If you check out the creators' website links above (and I hope you will), you'll be smiling at the self-portraits suggested within the characters of this book. 

This, too, is a reclaiming story, one that moves beyond a single family to the community. The reflection of minimal, lyrical language from the first pages to the turn-of-fate pages take readers into the realm of responsibility for the damage done to the Earth by each and all of us. 

BOTH are excellent choices to read and share during EARTH WEEK and beyond. BOTH explore the ways heartfelt family experiences can grow responsible citizens and residents of this planet. And BOTH celebrate the danger of viewing our material world as disposable, and the VALUE of recovering and restoring our resources. 

Don't miss out on the books, the brothers, and the opportunities to make changes in your environmental arms-length outreach and also to raise a generation of NEW planetary residents. Let them see in you, in word, deed, and shared books,  the glory of responsible residence on Earth.

I read both books (multiple times) as library copies. If you read this post before April 24, you may want to register for a FREE webinar session that will feature brothers Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey in conversation with picture book creator-brothers Peter and Paul Reynolds. The link to register is HERE.

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