Surprising Friendships: Incredible Picture Books

I'm popping back into this blog to share the good news I hinted at in recent posts. To start with,  pick up author/illustrator MARLA FRAZEE's latest release, THE FARMER AND THE CLOWN,  a ludicrous but genuinely  touching friendship story.
Here's what I had to say about it at Goodreads:

"This is a wordless story so brilliantly told in line, hue, and design that it borders on perfection, in my opinion. The colorful little clown train that appears at the beginning and end of the story offered me a nostalgic reminder of "The Little Engine That Could", which made me love the book from the opening spreads. The splash of color that the little lost clown brings to the vast dull pages makes a perfect metaphor for the effect his little life has on the long, gray life of The Farmer. The emotions Frazee is able to express with simple dots and lines on faces are unmistakable and nearly bring me to tears. This is a perfect example of the magic of picture books to change lives, including the surprise ending, which life so often drops in our laps." The Horn Book review should be read in its entirety but is excerpted here: "In Frazee’s pencil and gouache illustration the characters are arrestingly transformed: the child now clearly unhappy and the farmer’s softened features registering concern. The next morning, the farmer reveals a playful side as he essentially makes a clown of himself to get a real smile from his young guest. When the circus train returns later that day, the body language of the new friends expresses a powerful clash of emotions: the child’s ebullience brings both his feet off the ground, while the farmer, earthbound, stands stock-still and stoic. The two exchange hugs, wave goodbye, and…how the heck can Frazee break readers’ hearts like this? Never fear: as the farmer walks pensively away, viewers see that he’s being followed by a circus monkey, who gestures to us not to tell — surely a tip of the hat to Rathmann’s classic (and also wordless) Good Night, Gorilla."

Greenwillow Books, 2012

If you've been reading posts here for a few years, or if you're in touch with recent picture books that are guaranteed winners, you already know Z IS FOR MOOSE, with words by Kelly Bingham and illustrations by Paul O. Zelinsky.

If by any chance you don't know this remarkable book and these absolutely original characters (Moose and Zebra), please check out this post I wrote when it released a couple of years ago.

Greenwillow Books, September, 2014

That's how long I've been waiting for these two remarkable and quirky friends to return in their latest adventure, CIRCLE SQUARE MOOSE, created by the same team. Waiting for this to release left me bouncing and squirming as much as MOOSE does, but it was well worth the wait. Be sure to watch the book trailer here, including the credits at the end!

Here's what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

"When Moose first appeared in Z IS FOR MOOSE I had no doubt he'd be back to claim another book for himself. Sure enough, he hoofed and elbowed his way into an early math concept/shapes book, finding ways to "prove" that each figure was rightly a MOOSE figure. Bingham's text, a clever twist on traditional (and often boring) concept books is  interspersed with rhyming passages, offering ideal opportunities to carry the concepts outside the book, which might be a safer lesson. Moose's claims produce disruptions in labels, spaces, text, and "lessons", all accomplished with his irrepressible and irresistible smile. Kids will savor the humor, adore linking various images back to Z IS FOR MOOSE characters, and cheer when friend ZEBRA shows up to take charge and right the various wrongs. Near the end there is a meta-reference to Weisner's THE THREE PIGS just as mayhem ensues.  The lovely twist of ZEBRA needing MOOSE to save the day was so unexpected and the solution so perfect that we must all hold them to their promise on the final pages:  Can we do that again? Yes, Zebra, we can do that again." I'm not alone in my admiration for this latest Moose/Zebra encounter. No less than the venerable HORN BOOK had this to say: "Irrepressible Moose (Z Is for Moose, rev. 3/12) is up to his old tricks, trying to force his way into another concept book. This time the subject is shapes, and at first we seem to be reading an old-school shape book (“that sandwich you had for lunch? That is a…square”). The fun begins on the third page, when Moose appears and takes a bite of the sandwich. An offstage narrator addresses Moose directly — “Hey! Don’t eat that!” — in bold-type text. When Moose proves intransigent and ever more disruptive, his old friend Zebra comes to try to save the day. Things grow more and more chaotic until Zebra ends up tangled in the ribbons that illustrate curves; loyal Moose rescues him by turning the sun’s shadow (representing circles) into a hole that takes them clear out of the book. As in the first volume, Zelinsky expertly juxtaposes the expected orderliness of a book with the chaos caused by Moose’s interruption, but this time he steps up the meta elements. The ending is far from pat, but just as true to the characters as that of the first book. On the back endpapers, we see the same exchange that concluded their previous adventure, but the characters have switched places: “Can we do that again?” asks Zebra. “Yes, Zebra. We can do that again.” Adults should be prepared to share this book again and again, as well." Do yourself and ANY child you know a favor and share both titles as soon as you can get your hoofs hands on it. They can't be beat for sheer entertainment, but they also open discussions about quirky personalities, trusting friendships, and taking life's surprises in stride.

What Makes A Book A Book?

A special March/April issue of The Horn Book is entitled hBook: Books Remixed in the Digital Age. Each article merits reading and lends clarity and insight to the ever-accelerating evolution of the publishing of books and related materials for young readers.

Katie Bircher manages The Horn Book's Out of the Box blog, where you can find reviews of apps and e-books. Her contribution to this issue is titled: What Makes a Good Picture Book App? Eight traits are identified, many of which aptly describe the best picture books in print form: easy to navigate, puts users in charge, withstands repeated use, and others. Of all eight criteria the one that strikes me as most essential to a powerful picture book is this: Provides a surprising and joyful experience.

In his 2004 Caldecott acceptance speech for THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS Mordicai Gerstein said,

"Books take us to places we will never go, and let us be people and creatures we can never be..."

Criteria for children's consumption, whether applied to books, Apps, or eBooks, should point their creators toward that level of excellence. Gerstein went on to say:

"My intention in all my books is to give children just what I want to give everyone: something beautiful, magical, funny, and soulful: something that provokes good questions: questions about what an incomprehensible, beautiful and seemingly impossible thing it is to be a human being in this incomprehensible, beautiful and seemingly impossible world. What could be more difficult and more wonderful?"

Gerstein consistently achieves that level of excellence, but particularly so in A BOOK. In it perspective shifts to "the fourth wall", with the reader's-eye-view fully conveyed through the angles and shadows of the illustrations. Every aspect of this unique investigation of what goes on in A Book challenges the reader to engage, reflect, and participate in the question- all the while entertaining the heck out of us! Perhaps our questions about the current emergence of formats, platforms, and delivery systems are framed most succinctly inside the front flap of A BOOK. Even before her journey begins the pigtailed character asks: What's My Story?

For an inside look, as well as raves and reviews, explore the Macmillan site. Better yet, read A BOOK.

The answer to this question seems clear to Rabbit, the hero/heroine of NOT A BOX, by Antoinette Portis. When is a box NOT A BOX? When the user has the engagement, creativity, curiosity, joy, and imagination to see other possibilities.

With all due respect to Mr. Shakespeare and his rose, a book is not an App is not an eBook. And yet, perhaps they are one and the same, in some essential way. When creators of any and all versions of these strive for excellence, when they provide surprising and joyful experiences, when they overcome the difficult to achieve the wonderful, surely they share a common value in the lives of young readers/users.

In case you are one of the few people who haven't yet read Lane Smith's picture book addressing this existential question, check out the trailer for IT'S A BOOK.

And please chime in with your thoughts and opinions about these emerging delivery systems for children's literature.