I SAW A BEAUTIFUL WOODPECKER

Summer homework at the outbreak of war, beautifully illustrated.

In 1939, 8-year-old Michal is assigned to write one sentence a day during a summer vacation he spends in various locations around Warsaw. On July 16, he writes, “I went to church,” and on July 23, “I found a big caterpillar.” Each sentence is illustrated with a painting that spans a double-page spread showing the unpeopled scenery of Michal’s observations: a church window peeping over a shadowed stone wall; a caterpillar settled on a thick green stem. Greens (dark, dappled, or neon-bright) dominate in this initially idyllic summer. Between paintings, the complete pages of Michal’s notebook are photographically reproduced in Polish, with translations repeated below. Adult readers will know that Michal’s summer in 1939 Poland is about to go horribly wrong, but context for the shocking changes in his sentences (with the green forest now illustrated backlit with hellish flames) is provided only in a closing historical note. Michal’s notebook—a simple composition book, assigned as a school project—is immediately familiar, making the shock of war immediate. A schoolboy dutifully practices his handwriting on alternate-thickness ruled paper, recording the mundane observations of life: catching a wasp, the arrival of the housekeeper, hiding from planes, the sound of artillery. English text is small and low contrast. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

If adults assist with historical context, an artistic and not-too-scary introduction to war’s onset.