THE YELLOW BUS: Get On Board Life!

 

ROARING BOOK PRESS, 2024

From the yolk of an egg to the sun overhead, YELLOW is the color of LIFE. Loren Long's recent release, THE YELLOW BUS, is a triumph, both in writing and in illustration. 

The first time I saw the cover, I was hooked. Soon after, I read an interview in which Long shared backstory, one that he presents in a double spread of touching text and photos at the end of this picture book. It recounts his reflections and internal queries about a goat-occupied, abandoned yellow school bus, noticed on his daily runs. Those back pages include photos and discussion of his illustration process for this work, involving model-construction, rescued toys, and explorations with light and shadow. The resulting colors, shadows, perspectives, and angles evoke mood, changes over time, and especially the relationships between/among the people/characters, community members, settings, and THE YELLOW BUS.

I was enamored with all of the above, as well as the emotional journey of this very special central character. THE YELLOW BUS achieves a balance between its natural, purpose-produced nature and the undeniable heart and self-awareness at its core. Several reviews noted that this story evokes qualities from the beloved THE LITTLE HOUSE by Virginia Lee Burton, 1943 Caldecott Award winner. Personification and anthropomorphizing do not really describe either of these central characters, a little house and a little yellow bus. In both, it is the living beings who account for movement and changes of circumstances, but both "objects" are clearly self-aware of their relationships to those who surround them and inhabit them, with a capacity for joy in contributing to those lives, if given a chance. 

In his modern, mobile treatment, Long's imagined life story for THE YELLOW BUS, uses color (or lack of it) to clarify when and how that awareness occurs. In an expansive opening double spread, readers view a complex valley scene with intriguing details that echo throughout the story. That scene (worth close exploration) is in gray tones, but includes one spot of color, a tiny yellow bus, busily traveling its route. In following pages, with angles that always seem perfectly chosen from street level to sky-views, across seasons and time, the little bus senses and appreciates life when beings are on board. Readers know this from superb, minimal text (more about that in a minute), but mostly from the transformation of color. The loving families, community members, and surrounding scenes remain in grey tones, as do the beings, until they physically contact the bus, at which time they are shown in "living color". Another illustration technique that sustains the focus on our lead characters is the facial angles of those on board. We see enough of their features to lend personality and life to each of them, but their quarter-profiles, obscured-by-objects positions keep us focused on the most important player, THE YELLOW BUS. 

Long also wrote the text, providing purpose to the bus (taking them from one important place... to another). The varying casts of characters who share those journeys produce multi-sensory, ear-pleasing lyrical lines of text, from pitter-patter to shuffle-clunk, to rustle-bump-brrr, and more. These rhythms of occupancy form the heartbeat of the bus, and their absences indicate when the bus may no longer have a purpose. At that tender moment, readers will welcome the fact that several pages remain. I won't spoil an inspired and satisfying surprise conclusion. Please take time, in those final pages, to dwell on the visuals and explore what might be coming. And when the end is revealed, savor the gratifying shift in use of colors throughout the scene. 

Reflections on service, life, and connection couldn't be more dramatically and sensitively portrayed than on the wide double spread viewing a sunset skyline from inside the abandoned bus. The color choice, once again, suggests that life may have left THE YELLOW BUS behind. This is a fantastic book for young audiences (target age, Pre-K-2nd) but it's strong evidence that  picture books can offer life reflections for any age. Living in and appreciating each moment, valuing service, re-purposing ourselves when something beloved has been lost, and acceptance of the present  moment are values for any age. For every age. Achieving those attitudes and commitments requires resuming our own journeys again, and again. Taking us from one important place in life... to new important places.

THE LITTLE HOUSE OF HOPE: What WELCOME Looks Like

 Some picture books are like portals to the past, for me. A new release merits attention and praise on its own, but its connection with an all-time favorite of mine can't be ignored. To begin, though, I'll give the new title the full treatment before making that connection at the end of this post. 

Neal Porter Books, 2022

THE LITTLE HOUSE OF HOPE is written by Terry Catasus Jennings and illustrated by Caldecott medalist Raul Colon. My  bottom line for this is "textured brilliance". That will take some unpacking, but it's worth the effort. 

Beginning with the author note, which comes before the main text, we learn that  Jennings wrote this book with both anger and pride. Both came from personal experiences in being confronted by overt bias and residential restrictions based on immigration status. The stated rationale of one realtor was that immigrants would house multiple families in a single dwelling (often, but not necessarily, true), followed by his pejorative conclusion that this practice would inevitably lead to deterioration of property conditions and value. The author's pride arises from her own experiences in which such a pattern did occur, with her own family making room for others. But that extended family/friend support meant each and every family involved would move on to independent success and citizenship. Her father came to this country to escape political imprisonment, managing that same success and more. Outreach from other immigrants, and the support her family could eventually offer to others, inspired deep pride.

"Textured" refers literally to such layers within the text, and to the subtle illustration undercurrents of lines, waves, and shades of color within sprawls and details on every spread. This technique employs natural coloring, shadows, and shading that evoke both timelessness and a slightly old-style classic effect. This story and the patterns it celebrates are as old as our country's history, from initial colonization to later homesteading and eventual industrial immigration. That open embrace and shared identity within family, ethnic, or language-based communities have been the safety nets that launched a nation of workers, learners, leaders, and citizens. It continues to do so, with the beacon of HOPE as a consistent concept over centuries.

In this case, a contemporary fictional family's search for a new life reflects Hispanic language, customs and cultural references/language. The daughter, Esperanza, (her name translates as HOPE) applies her talent to make welcoming posters for each of the families who find short-term respite and support within their little house (Una Casita). Both parents work multiple jobs to cover expenses and allow them to  supplement elbow grease with paint and cleaning supplies, improving the home's worth on financial, aesthetic, and emotional levels. The simple narrative incorporates the journeys of several other families whose lives both confirm that realtor's assumptions (multiple families sharing the residence) and defies them (each improving the little house with love, laughter, hard work, and entrepreneurship). We learn that the initial family's progress leads to mastery of English, citizenship, and resuming professional careers they once practiced in their homelands. Throughout each transition, young ESPERANZA provides her message of uplifting hope!

Original Release; 1942
Caldecott Gold Medal Award

As promised, here's the connection this new book brought to mind: THE LITTLE HOUSE, written and illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton. In this classic and timeless story, it is the little house in the country that is eventually encroached on, surrounded by, nearly swallowed-up by urban sprawl. The personality of the house  itself is the star, without relying on anthropomorphizing it. The eventual solution is gratifying and continues to apply to modern day urban/suburban/ex-urban sprawl. The ideas, in this and in THE LITTLE HOUSE OF HOPE, offer parallel concepts of values, crowding, communities, identity, and the importance of acceptance and providing room to grow, to thrive. Both also float the sense that this is not a cycle that will (or should) end with the closing of the book cover. If you've never read this one, please do. And be sure to get a copy of THE LITTLE HOUSE OF HOPE, sooner rather than later. It is yet another picture book that reaches the minds and hearts of adults every bit as well as it does those of young audiences. 

While I'm on the topic of HOPE, check out the latest in a series of poetry anthologies for middle graders from POMELO BOOKS, WHAT IS HOPE?.100% of the profits will be donated to the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund, providing books for children in need, especially in war-torn countries like UKRAINE. Can be ordered anywhere, but also directly from the publisher, HERE. I am excited and honored that one of my poetry submissions is included.

One Times Square- for New Year's Eve!

***Even if you aren't able to get your hands on this title before New Year's Eve, 

take the time to explore it during the year ahead.***

David R. Godine, Publisher. 2012

My familiarity with Times Square is limited to the view from Discovery Channel's CASH CAB window. I'm willing to bet, though, that even those who walk the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Broadway on a daily basis would be as intrigued as I was by the detailed history of this iconic site portrayed in the 2012 picture book, ONE TIMES SQUARE: A CENTURY OF CHANGE AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD. Written and illustrated by Joe McKendry, the creator of BENEATH THE STREETS OF BOSTON, this view of Times Square is a fascinating trip through time and history.

David R. Godine, Publisher. 2004

McKendry starts the story at the beginning, when Broadway was Bloomingdale Road on the old Eden Farm in the early 1800's. He guides the reader through time with maps and art that evoke sepia-toned photographic images, vignettes of larger-than-life characters who shaped the heart of the city, and overlaid diagrams that allow you to place the past in the context of the present. Every detail contributes to the sense of time and place, including clothing, hairstyles, vehicles, historic references, iconic images, and signage.
Kirkus Review offers praise for the unexpected history of this very famous intersection.

Sandpiper paperbacks, 1978

In much the same way that Virginia Lee Burton's classic THE LITTLE HOUSE shows the effects of urban development across generations, the transformation of a century is compressed into the pages of a picture book. In that case the text and images are equally informative for younger readers.

McKendry, though, reveals considerably more with his gritty content, meticulous accuracy for dates and data, and a double-page spread in which the two year deconstruction/reconstruction of the Times Square Tower is depicted from September, 1963 through June, 1965.

His final pages include some challenging questions about what the future may hold for this landmark site, as well as references and acknowledgements.

Whether you'll be awake to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve or catch a clip of it on the news or YouTube, you'll see it from an  entirely new perspective after reading McKendry's book.