ISLAND STORM, written by Brian Floca and illustrated by Sydney Smith, is a gorgeously written, gorgeously illustrated book from two top talents. A pair of siblings leave their house to “go see/the sea before the storm.” The wind blows and grows, the trees sway, branches bouncing “against each other, knock knock knock,” waves “SMASH/on the rocks/and EXPLODE/into spray.” The children ask “is this enough, or do we try for more?” They go on, past homes old and new, neighbors, marshes, meadows, their town, until “BOOM! RUN!” they take the shortest way home through shadows and gloom and wind and water, to home and relief and love, to trouble and forgiveness, towels, dry clothes, dinner and warm beds, while outside thunder rolls and rumbles until the storm passes. The pitch-perfect poetic text is dramatic, accompanied by deeply-hued impressionistic art that's a treat, full of motion and power, but also soft and tender.
THE SLIGHTLY SPOOKY TALE OF FOX AND MOLE, by Cecilia Heikkilä, tells of two friends who are busy all summer, Mole joining the fun when tourists come from the city, and Fox making cookies and jam and tea. When chilly weather arrives, Mole joins Fox every evening to eat snacks and listen to The Legend of the Scuffling Monster. One night, Fox finds that Mole has eaten all the cookies and jam in the pantry, leaving only “cabbages and an old jar of pickled herring.” And on Fox’s birthday, instead of “presents and a song from Mole,” the diminutive neighbor shows up demanding cookies (or even pickled herring)! Furious, Fox transforms into a monster who shows up at Mole’s house, where the terrified Mole tells his own story of greed and forgetfulness, a spooky but “overall, quite good” story with a warm, cozy ending. This satisfying, complex, slightly dark cautionary tale is beautifully illustrated with watercolor, gouache, and pastels, digitally finished. Very nicely done.
TUPLIP’S MESS, by Anden Wilder, features a “small pile… just a little Mess,” who follows the Tulip to school, to meals, and even joins the girl and Ta, “her favorite stuffed cat,” in bed. Mess picks up dirty socks, bedtime books, cereal spoons, scrap paper and pencil shavings, wrappers and crumbs, and even “Ta’s leaky stuffing.” But when Tulip isn’t looking, her small pile grows into a bigger, hungrier, chomping and chewing and gobbling Mess that becomes “impossible to ignore.” Finally, after Tulip hears a “horrifying SLURP!” and Ta is devoured, too, the girl dives in headfirst to save her beloved stuffed kitty. And manages to wrangle Mess back into “a small pile like before.” Which is “just fine.” Entertaining text is accompanied by appealing gouache illustrations that heavily favor pinks, blues, light yellows, and Mess’s squiggly gray. Gentle and sweet; also, thankfully, pro small Mess!
TAKE A BREATH, BIG RED MONSTER!, written and illustrated by Ed Emberly, is a follow up (many years later) to his groundbreaking GO AWAY, BIG GREEN MONSTER! which was a standout for my kids and me. I still have our ragged old copy. This book, rather than encouraging readers to be brave, offers strategies for self-calming when furious. Beginning with “two mean green eyes… a big thundery loud mouth, [and] two hot smoking ears,” readers deconstruct their anger via die cuts that add and change the look of the monster’s face. Kids can practice along, all the way to a “big monster smile.”
In ORPHELINE, written by Katelyn Aronson and illustrated by Dow Phumiruk, after a storm, Cora finds a baby mermaid “nestled in an abalone shell,” and brings her home. Cora, Mama, and pup Rascal do what they can, feeding the baby, letting her splash in the tub, and taking her for rides along the beach. But when Cora hears a distant voice calling, she realizes that the baby, Orpheline, must have her own home with a mother who’s missing her. Cora doesn’t want to give Orpheline up, but as Orphie’s smile slips away, Cora must decide whether to do what she wants, or to do the right thing and return the baby to her true home in the sea. Gentle and loving, Aronson’s well-crafted story and Phumiruk’s colored pencil and digital illustrations both glimmer like sunshine on the sea.
In THE LIBRARY IN THE WOODS, written by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, a hailstorm finally spells the end of farming for Junior’s family. They move into Roxboro, where Daddy gets a job at a lumberyard and Momma takes in “washing and ironing from the white people in town.” Junior finds out from kids in his neighborhood that he now has access to a library where Black people can take out books. Books about “sports, history, science, poetry, biographies… books [that seem] to go on forever… books by Black authors that [he] never knew existed before.” Junior runs home to share a book about George Washington Carver with his father, but doesn’t understand why Daddy sits in his rocking chair, holding the book without reading it. When Momma explains, Junior “gently” takes the book from his father’s hands and reads it aloud. It’s intensely moving, with eloquent text and acrylic paintings.
--Lynn
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