FANTASTIC (Flying) BOOKS: Consider the Following...

 I read book this earlier, closer to its release date over a decade ago.Then a friend gifted me a copy with an awareness that books are central to my life and they thought I should be sure to read it. That was a touching reminder to me that my friends and family all know how central to my life BOOKS are. Admittedly, I'm a tad (HA!) hyper-verbal, and I apologize for that regularly. Even so, I'll never apologize for celebrating books, especially books for youth. Too many of the changes in contemporary life and society push for our attention, and BOOKS deserve all the cheerleaders they can get. 

MOONBOT BOOKS
 Imprint of ATHENEUM BOOKS FYR, 2012

(SPOILER ALERT- I will share the full circle of this story. It is older and most know it.)

In the case of THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MORRIS LESSMORE, written by William Joyce, the character in the story lives an exciting series of events with books. The story is magical and action packed (yes, a story about a man reading is action- packed) and was an outgrowth of Academy Award-Winning animated short film. Joyce and Joe Bluhm share illustration credits for this lively, extra long picture book filled with truth and wonder. A single reading will suggest the heart of the story and a central theme of the film. This is a visual feast with dramatic tension and imaginative joy throughout, quietly flooded with heart. 

A twist on a  famous movie line captures my original response to the first spread text: It had me at ...

"Morris Lessmore loved words.

He loved stories.

He loved books."

And that's all it took for me to feel that Morris and I are kindred spirits. Morris is also a writer, though many of his attempts end in upsets. When Morris broke his habit of looking down, the sepia-tones spreads shift to colorful, literally uplifting images. The world of books, personified and speaking to him directly, intervenes in his frustrating, worried, internal world. Books introduce possibilities, curiosity, and excitement that lead to sharing books with others. "Everyone's story matters," he says. 

His life of reading, sharing, tending books, exploring words, and and writing his own story led, in a page turn, to his eventual aging. Those beloved books read themselves to him, care for him, comfort him. When he writes the last page of his own book, when he steps out of life and into the eternal world of stories, his own book remains behind. The books understand, waiting... 

...for the young girl who enters the world of books left behind by Morris. His book flies to her hands, filled with his story, his joys and upsets and fears and excitement. That's where her story begins... with the opening of a book. A legacy passes hand-to-hand, page-to-page, generation to generation. 

This lovely circle story is both surreal and anchored in truth. It is both heartwarming and poignant. The illustrations are beyond my tools of description, and evocative of an animated film, of course, with letters and words assembling and disassembling, swirling on and off pages, enticing and exciting. 

Viewing the short film may feel like a significantly different experience from reading the book. It is a visual, wordless exploration of broader themes. Among those are the revelation that an old book, any book, only offers a life when it is read, when readers partner with the symbols and images on the page to give life to the stories within the covers. The central stories (book and film) are the same, but the lives of the books, their NEED for connection with readers is much more palpable in the film. Both deserve attention, and carry compelling messages without being didactic.

Both the book and film suggest that a simple, single person, someone with a life of their own, will discover a universe of stories in words and books, in libraries, in sharing books with others. Tomorrow, April 1, begins National Library Month. This feels like a fabulous way to celebrate books and libraries with young readers. They'll recognize the richness, color, and connection that books bring into an otherwise dull life. I hope you'll check out both the book and film, and share some love with local libraries and librarians.

The books and I thank you!

STILL LIFE: A Study in Quiet... and Artful Adventure

"Twas the night before Christmas and all; through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse."

Greenwillow Books, 2024

Wanna bet?
 

On this EVE of Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa, on these dark days of winter solstice, I seek "peace" and "stillness" in rare moments of calm and  deep reflection. STILL LIFE, written by Alex London and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky riffs on that theme and does so with insight and humor, for every age. Both are award-winning creators of works for young minds and eyes, and both have contributed those talents to this work of art, about works of art. And about LIFE, still or otherwise.

Big picture first, since the cover suggests an up-close perspective. It raises BIG questions, too. There is a painter involved, front and center, and a still life artwork.(For a full version of the intended masterpiece, check the back jacket cover.)

The front of the jacket cover indicates a potentially mischievous dragon who "enters the picture", breaking the frame, hinting at all sorts of imagined adventures that might ensue. In this case, dragon's "second point of view" emerges within the art. In real life, that "other" point of view is the audience. Once the artist declares "done", all control of the art is lost, and we make of it what we will. That interactivity of creation by the artist and creativity from the viewer takes on a special twist when the "other" emerges from within the painting. 

Much of the fascination for reader/viewers will lie in close examination of each page-turn variation within the painting as a distinctly alternative "not-at-all-still" story unfolds in contrasting cartoonish, bold-lined style involving characters we recognize from other picture book tales. You can guess, can't you? A princess, a dragon, mice, and more? The text, though, carries its weight by also setting up contrasting expectations:

"The candle does not flicker, glow, or drip.

There is a knife and a spoon, but no one to use them.

The coins in the purse will stay where they are."

That's an open invitation to examine these aspects closely, markers for pending change. When viewing actual still life art, I tend toward such details, wondering in what ways, for what reasons the artist assembled the objects to model for the work. What story did they have in mind about the people behind the places/times in which the display would have occurred? That state of inquiry is both deeply peaceful and imaginative. And it parallels the unfolding of this book. 

Not a spoiler, but some advice... 

Adults who share this with children might tend to examine the "still life" art most carefully, but lap-audiences and other young minds are going to quickly catch the unexpected shifts and appearances in the background of the easeled art. Somehow, mice, obviously stirring creatures,  appear and  make their way from outside the art to inside it, and thus the action/adventure is launched. 

I wondered about the magical creative thinking here: were the mice interacting with the actual modeled scene, with evidence of their actions somehow appearing within the art itself? But the actual illustrator, as always, provides subtle and delightful clues to that answer. Check the spreads for evidence that the "life" characters within the "still life" art are interacting on images painted on canvas. In fact, the adventure also breaks the frame of presumed expectations. It is the princess who runs to the rescue, and the note calling for help is not as simple as classical assumptions might suggest.

The surrealism and magical genre juxtapositions with classical images will have readers begging, "read it again!'. Perusing the overall visual complexity and detail, both evident and obscure, could occupy a quiet afternoon. Such examination will yield satisfying discoveries while, most likely, leaving many more specifics to find in the next encounter. Among those close-looks could be a side-by-side comparison of the before-and-after images using the back jacket and the final two spreads. 

I recommend this highly, as holiday gifts and throughout the year. Anyone who has ever enjoyed a "Where's Wally" title will dive into this with glee. Please urge them to read and savor the full story, first and foremost. More than that, fans of Zelinsky's other works will treasure the blend of elements of his classical mastery (Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin), lively and complex cartoonish creations (Z Is For Moose), and his wry visual humor throughout, most especially when blending classical and comic styles, including speech bubbles (Awful Ogre's Awful Day). For more of my reflections on picture books by Zelinsky, type his name in the search box and sit back to enjoy!

BONUS INFO....

***Beneath the jacket cover, the hard case front and back (under the paper jacket) presents a visual tale of this lively and lovely book, one that reminds both artist and audience that art is in the eye and talent of the artist, but also the eye and imagination of the beholder. Finding a way "in" to the art we view allows access to creativity and imagination. It's an opportunity to treasure, as is this book.

How We See Ourselves: HENRY THE BOY

How we see ourselves matters. It is shaped in both subtle and obvious ways, rooted in early childhood, and, all to often, negatively affected by those around us. That can happen intentionally, through bullying, but also through the most casual of comments, glances, or even subconscious bias and consistent micro-aggressions.

Penny Candy Books, April, 2019

HENRY THE BOY is written by Molly Felder and illustrated by the mother-son team of Tara Sweeney and Nate Christopherson. It is true for all picture books that the story begins on the cover. In this case I especially urge you to linger at the cover, before knowing anything else about Henry.  Ask yourself what it tells you about Henry and who this boy really is. Here's what I came up with:

• Henry the Boy with curious eyes. 
• Henry the Boy with a big imagination.
• Henry the Boy living in a colorful world of possibilities.
• Henry the Boy with places to go and things to do.
• Henry the Boy with feelings.

Oh, perhaps you also noted that Henry the Boy wears glasses and has crutches. Those are also his truth, but are such small parts of HENRY THE BOY. The cover encourages readers to begin by seeing HENRY THE BOY, not Henry, the boy on crutches.

The illustrators use a combination of surrealistic distortions and additions to surround Henry, but safely embed those into stable and familiar scenes. Henry begins his day with a smile, using his sticker-covered crutches to descend steps, that are, in his reality, extremely steep. The images also reveal that coming downstairs to breakfast is a familiar challenge he has mastered, smiling while envisioning his sticker-covered, clicking crutches as his heron legs. 

It is during interactions with others, from classmates to his friend Joel, that Henry confronts the labels others use for him. Even if meant in fun (robot, chicken) Henry the BOY knows they are seeing that last detail, those crutches, as the most important one about him. They are erasing his agency and empowerment to reshape his perception of himself. 
And they are hurting his feelings.

With that problem presented in the first pages, Henry and Joel are free to have fun- on the playground, on their walk home, and in Henry's muddy backyard. Their adventures unleash the illustrators to splash the backgrounds with vibrant color and "people" the foreground with fine-lined drawings of the various metaphorical comparisons that arise throughout the book. Henry's freedom to just be a BOY in these pages is empowering, as is the end-of-play moment in which Henry manages to use his crutches to stand up on his own, no helping hand required. The help of being allowed to be a BOY has already been given.

Henry's busy day ends as we would hope-- with Henry the BOY as happy as he was when the day began. His book, his collection of object-friends, and his experience of acceptance and engagement with Joel have provided the confidence for Henry to be a BOY.

The combination of color, curiously engaging line drawings, and story will draw the youngest back to this book again and again. In the process, they will meet HENRY the BOY, absorbing the appealing sense that we are all more alike than different, and we can do more than others might imagine we can. In the process this offers a wealth of discussion potential about topics of resilience, empathy, confidence, and problem solving. 

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It is available now for preorder with a publication date of April 2.