Few But Good (Part I)

My mom kept my childhood picture book collection while I was in college. I planned on sending for them once I got my first job and settled into an apartment, but that didn’t happen. Not long after I joined the working world my mom died due to a life-long battle with illness. After she died, the lot was boxed-up and put in storage. I didn’t want to deal with gathering my belongings or pay to ship them-- nor did I have the anywhere to keep them-- so I just left them there. I now live in a place with enough room for my old collection, but I lack the money to ship 150lbs of books. Once funds are sufficient I’ll have them shipped to me and I’ll be reunited with my childhood friends.

Meanwhile, I purchase new books as my budget allows. The books I’ve been collecting-- “for my future children” I tell myself, but really, who am I kidding?-- are few but good. There are six in all. While I don’t plan on reviewing every book I read in this blog, for my first post I thought I’d share my current collection, (since it’s only wafer-thin). Without further ado:

---

G is for One Gzonk! An Alpha-number-bet Book By Tiny DiTerlooney by Tony DiTerlizzi. Tiny draws strange creatures for every letter of the alphabet and describes each in rhyme. Everything goes well until some counting creatures hijack the pages and add numbers to Tiny’s narration, (much to his frustration).

Gzonk! combines the silliness of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, with the “draw-you-own-adventure” quality found in Harold and the Purple Crayon. It also pokes fun at traditional alphabet books. While most alphabet books use alliteration to help children memorize letters, (“A is for an Avalanche of Appalachian Aardvarks Arguing with Aluminum Apples”), Gzonk! makes it a point to not do that. It may look as if the Gzonk is balancing a goldfish on his nose, but Tiny points out that it’s a piranha. And though you might say the Gzonk is green, Tiny insists that he’s “avocado”. All of this adds to the charm of the book.

This is book embodies all the elements of a great picture book: clever words, lively personalities, fanciful imaginary creatures, dynamic illustrations, educational elements, conflict, and resolution. A total winner!

---

Flotsam by David Wiesner, is an absolutely gorgeous wordless picture book. Combining full-page illustrations and comic-book paneling, it tells the story of a boy who finds an old underwater camera on the beach. Realizing that there’s film inside the camera, he gets it developed. When he gets the pictures back he's amazed by what he sees. If you haven’t seen the book yet I won’t spoil it by telling you what’s in the pictures. Suffice it to say, if you’d been in the boy’s shoes you’d forever believe in magic. I wish I had found something a wonderful as this camera when I was a kid. Honestly, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it; no wonder this book got a Caldecott Medal.

Growing up, I preferred books with pictures and words. For some reason I thought that wordless picture books were a lazy way to create a story. Maybe I just didn’t find many books that did it well. If Flotsam had existed when I was in elementary school it would have knocked my socks off. This book is amazing; I hugged it the first time I read it.

---

If You’re Afraid of the Dark Remember the Night Rainbow, Add One More Star to the Night, by Cooper Edens is a twofer. Night Rainbow is printed on one side and if you flip the book over you can read One More Star. The original book (If You’re Afraid of the Dark Remember the Night Rainbow) was published in 1979, and is one of my all time favorite books of any genre. I’m not entirely sure if it was intended to be a children’s book, but I read it over and over as a child anyway.

After hearing me reminisce about it for years, my boyfriend bought me this new edition with 36 more pages than the original! The writing is minimal, (only one sentence every other page). There’s no plot to the book(s). It begins, “If tomorrow morning the sky falls… have clouds for breakfast.”, and it continues, “If you lose the key… throw away the house.”; ‘If the clock stops… use your own hands to tell time.”. One More Star is an extension of the original book: “If you’re at the end of your rope… untie the knot in your heart.”; “If one day you must leave home… draw stars on the bottom of your shoes to light your way back.”. I’m not sure what it all means, but I think it’s lovely all the same.

The pastel illustrations are really pretty, too. In one drawing a man in a top hat stands on a ladder placing a colossal strawberry in the sky with adhesive bandages. In another, giant safety pins hold the horizon together as a couple embarks on a paddleboat ride. Another page shows a woman sitting on a veranda holding a human-sized swallow in a maternal embrace. The illustrations are surreal and add to the strange beauty of the writing. It’s almost ethereal.

---

I’ll continue with part 2 of my collection in a few days. I don’t want to compete for your attention any further (I’m sure you have other blogs to read and a Facebook status to update). Stay tuned for more books!

Peace out!

--Jovan