Picture Books (Week 2)
Going Down Home With Daddy - Kelly Sterling Lyons
Lyons, Kelly Starling . Going down Home with Daddy. Daniel Minter, Illustrator. Peachtree, 2019.
This book is about a family traveling to their grandma's house to have a family reunion. Lil Alan is nervous because he doesn't have anything to share like the rest of the family. The illustrations reflect the mood and setting of the story. Minter uses a combination of oranges and blues to set the scene using blue for night time and orange for the day light. Blue is also used to show shading and indoor places while orange is used primarily for the outside as well. The colors also cleverly show the mood as Alans nervousness shows through with the use of blue but also scenes of excitement are bright and orange. While Lil Alan's cousins are happy and excited to show what they are going to share with the family they are surrounded by a bright orange, Lil Alan himself is highlighted by blue. This is also highlighted within the church, as Alan's unease shrouds the entire church with blue. The illustrator does a wonderful job showcasing not only the scene but every emotion that Alan feels.
Double Bass Blues - Andrea J. Loney
Loney, Andrea J. Double Bass Blues. Rudy Gutierrez, Illustrator. Random House Children’s Books, 2019.
This book is about a boy who is traveling home with his double bass after a concert. This book is particularly interesting because instead of the classic of the story being told by words accompanying pictures, this is a story being told by pictures accompanying words. The majority of the words in the book are onomatopoeias, with rain being shown with "plink plink" and sounds of the double bass being shown by "ziiiiips." The illustrations can be uncanny. There are very realistic faces with unrealistic hands and bodies. Thick lines are also used within the illustrations, showing windows on the bus and outlining clouds and instruments. There's also a wide usage of colors throughout the book. In each page, it feels that the illustrator, Rudy Gutierrez is attempting to use every color to his disposal. This adds to the weird but vibrant vibe to the book in total
Out of a Jar - Deborah Marcero
This is a book about a bunny named Llewellyn who bottles up all of his emotions
and puts them in a closet. When he can't fit anymore, all of the bottles come
tumbling out and he feels all of his emotions at once. He then learns to let
himself feel his emotions and let them go. The emotions in this book are
brilliantly illustrated as they are personified colors with eyes. Fear is
black, inky, and invasive while his excitement is yellow, shiny, and has a big,
happy smile. These colors surround Llewellyn to show that he is feeling them.
When he puts emotions into jars, the emotions keep their personality. Fear is still
black and branching out and inspiration is put into a whale shaped vase. Emotions
also also represented with their faces; emotions like anger still have angry eyes
and excitement still has a bright smile. Not every emotion shown in a jar is
shown in the text. One emotion in particular is sky blue with white lines
coming from the wide eyes. If I could guess, this emotion might be awe or maybe
overwhelm because it is reminiscent of sun rays in the sky with the lines
coming from the center, and it's in a large ovular bottle.
The Olive Tree - Elsa Marston
Marston, Elsa. The Olive Tree. Clair Ewart, Illustrator. Wisdom Tales, 2014
This book is about a boy named Sameer meeting a family returning to their home after a war. The family has a daughter named Muna but she gets mad at Sameer when he picks olives from the ground on his lawn, even though the tree was planted on Muna's side. One night, the olive tree is struck by lightning and it crashes to the ground. Muna and Sameer then spend the day cleaning it up and putting the wood in each other's lawns. Something to note about the illustrations in this book is that in each page, the olive tree is featured prominently. The olive tree is a character in each of the pages as it's a point on conflict between the characters. I am not Lebanese so I cannot speak to if this depiction is accurate or not, but as shown here the author has studied Middle Eastern culture in Beirut and a Lebanese husband which can give some credibility to her work!
You make some good observations here. Consider that in a formal review you have a limited word count, so make each word and sentence count. In Going on Home, you state "The illustrations reflect the mood and setting of the story." Then go on to explain it in the following sentences. You could combine all this into one, more concise and effective sentence.
ReplyDeleteAlso consider adding evidence to your evaluation comments. It strengthens the opinions you offer.