Absurdity at its best.
Magritte’s brand of surrealism is inherently intriguing to children; Belgian artist Verplancke builds on that interest, inventing a playful narrative that explores his compatriot’s subjects and style while showcasing his own formidable talent.
Opening panels portray the artist in bed, wide awake. Carefully chosen words contrast and connect to pull readers—and man—forward: “René was a painter, / but René couldn’t paint…. // His canvas was empty, / but his head was full.” He eventually approaches the easel, stares at a green apple, and nods off: images flow from his dreams. Wearing blue pajamas, the artist reaches across the page turn to paint himself in a suit and bowler hat. That figure stretches over the gutter to form an apple, a hat, and finally an “applehat,” the catalyst for more surprising mergers (a pipe and branch, spectacles and eggs). Subsequent spreads add frames and words to further tease imagination; i.e., a mouth fashioned from a red leaf is entitled “the mirror.” Verplancke mixes spare figures outlined and crosshatched in ink, fully colored compositions, and Magritte’s “impossible” views—windows as canvases, bright skies over a dark cityscape—to achieve the appropriate arc and atmosphere. He wisely emphasizes humor and clever visuals over facts to convey Magritte’s essence. Six reproductions in the backmatter prompt reflection and a return to the mind-boggling interior.
Absurdity at its best. (biographical note, selected works) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63345-016-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: MoMA
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way.
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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