Book: The Wretched Stone written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. 

Category: Picture book, fiction concept book.

Overview of the author/illustrator: 

Although Chris Van Allsburg did not receive a Caldecott medal for this particular work, he is the beloved author of Caldecott Honor Medal book The Garden of Abdul Gasazi and two very well-known and big screen adapted books: Jumanji and The Polar Express, both of which were Caldecott winners. Allsburg is also the recipient of the the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children’s literature. Allsburg began as a sculptor, and with encouragement and inspiration from his elementary school teaching wife, eventually went on to write and illustrate children’s books of his own. Like many children’s authors, Allsburg has a goofy sense of humor and on his own website describes himself by saying: “Chris lives in Beverly, MA, on Boston’s North Shore. For recreation and amusement, he rides his bike and plays tennis. He is not really the master of any instruments, but can entertain his children by producing simple tunes playing a recorder through his nose,” (2015).

Brief Summary:

The Wretched Stone is a book with an interesting format: it tells the story of a captain and his crew on their adventures in the form of a captain’s log. The captain of the ship stumbles upon a peculiar object when docked one day, and when he brings it back to the ship his crew experiences some interesting changes, and it becomes his mission to change them back into the fun-loving people they used to be.

Connections:

[All images have been screen captured from Heidi Weber’s (2017) YouTube channel read aloud video and have been referenced at the bottom.]

This fantastical book opens with no other information other than the captain beginning his log of his current voyage. The illustrations in this story are especially important because we are transported to a fantasy world with characters unlike any other. 

The use of line is important to note in Allsburg’s illustrations, as objects that would normally be depicted with straight, rough lines are shown with smooth, rounded edges. Everything from the boat on which the crew sails to the trees in the unknown forest, to the members of the crew are given a glossy, almost doll-like look. The use of these rounded edges makes this eerie tale more accessible to children, and it also transports us more easily into Allsburg’s imagined land. 

The illustrations are also used to develop and extend the plot. We are told mostly the facts by the ship’s captain, when he says things like: “Our passage is going well. The usual boredom that comes with many days at sea is not present on this ship,” and “The storm has passed. The Rita Anne is still afloat, but both masts and rudder are lost,” (Allsburg, 1991). Allsburg is able to bring these sentences to life with his illustrations: men in colorful uniforms marching gaily on the ship’s deck with a man playing a accordion; and the total destruction of the ship shown with the storm clouds breaking, masts broken, barely held up by the rough waters below. 

Allsburg’s purposeful use of composition is evident as well. Breaking from a traditional style of picture book where the words caption the illustrations, the captain’s logentries are placed directly on the pages throughout, reminding us as we read the story who is narrating. Allsburg is also deliberate in not showing us the crew member’s faces until they are turned into apes: the beginning page showing us only the bottoms of their faces and a crew member who is hidden by a hat, crew members walking along a log out of view of the reader or with their backs turned on the top of the ship, a crew member who appears to “swing through the rigging more quickly than ever,” (1991) but with his back still turned to us, to even the captain of the ship as he walks up the stairs – his face, of course, still not visible. Even the crew members on land at the very end are shown with their backs to us. Perhaps this is because Allsburg wants us to be fully shocked by their transformation into apes, or perhaps it is because their faces are not the focus of the story until they become apes, and therefore it is not important to show it. 

Or perhaps it is because the illustrations carry the story, they depict action, “One of the ways picture book artists create tension in their work is by using illustrations to anticipate or foreshadow actions,” (Tunnel, et al. 2016, pg. 43) and Allsburg certainly leaves the reader feeling tense. The reader feels the mood of the story with the ship’s abandoned deck in the dark hues of blue depicting a somber and creepy feeling; and again when we are warned of the upcoming storm with the dark blue waters contrasted by light blue crashing waves and a dreary, cloudy sky.

The way Allsburg refuses to show their faces leaves us wondering why, until we finally see the crew members as apes, sitting around the stone, gazing intently. Allsburg is careful here too – he never shows us the glowing stone, leaving it up to the viewer and their own imagination to figure out what it may truly look like. Though a description is given: “It is a rock, approximately two feet across. It is roughly textured, gray in color, but a portion of it is as flat and smooth as glass,” (Allsburg, 2016) there is much left up to interpretation as Allsburg refuses to show it to us.

Finally, Allsburg’s personal style is apparent through the whole book, his illustrations creating depth with their incredible attention to detail. Allsburg’s surrealist illustrations captivate the reader, reminding us that we’re in a fantasy-world, but one not too much unlike our own world. Although Allsburg doesn’t show us the glowing rock or the crew member’s faces, he does provide important details that give depth to the story: crew member’s heads titled back in delight; the overgrown forest where the rock was found, shrouded in vines; the colors seen in the rough waters and the fluffy but ominous rainclouds; and the intent stares of the crew member’s faces when they are finally shown to us – first staring into the glowing rock, and then as the ship member reads them a story. Tunnel, et. al remind us that “It is not difficult to see tat details in illustrations tend to give the artwork depth and allow artists to assert their individuality,” (2016). This is obvious throughout all of The Wretched Stone in Allsburg’s unique way of showing us his imagined world.

Conclusion:

I categorized The Wretched Stone as a concept book because to me at least, it seems to paint a pretty obvious moral: people change based on their surroundings. When they didn’t have the stone to gaze at, the crew members danced, sang, played instruments, and told stories. When they had the stone – their experience changed, and they became different people: in this scenario, monkeys.  People adapt to their surroundings, and it changes them. This relates rather perfectly to social constructivist theory, which tells us that people are shaped by the ideas and actions of those around them. People who grow up in different areas ideas are formed differently, and it’s something important to consider especially in teaching, but also in daily lives when we form opinions about others. I found myself thinking: is the glowing stone a metaphor for a television? When people are given the option to sit around this “glowing rock” all day, full of rapidly changing pictures, will they choose to sing and dance? To write and read? A child who grows up in a home and a school environment that is full of rich literature – how will their experience differ from one that is devoid of books, and features instead: a glowing rock? And the most pertinent question of all: in a society shaped so much by technology, how do we find balance?

References:

Chris Van Allsburg: biography. Allsburg, C., A. (2015). Retrieved June 13, 2019, from https://hmhbooks.com/chrisvanallsburg/biography.html. 

Tunnell, M. O., Jacobs, J. S., Young, T. A., & Bryan, G. (2016). Children’s Literature, Briefly (6th ed.). Upple Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

The Wretched Stone (Read Aloud). Weber, H. (2017, May 16). Retrieved June 13, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNHEXJj_WVA&t=29s. 

Book: Grandfather’s Journey written and illustrated by Allen Say, published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994 Caldecott Medal winner for illustration.

Category: Picture book, nonfiction informational book

Overview of the author/illustrator: 

ReadingRockets describes author and illustrator Allen Say: “He dreamed of becoming a cartoonist from the age of six. At age twelve, he was sent off to Tokyo — living on his own — to attend a prestigious school in the city. Instead, he sought out and apprenticed himself to the famous post-war cartoonist, Noro Shinpei, and spent the next four years learning to draw and paint. That experience is described first in his autobiographical novel The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice (1996) and later in the 2011 picture book Drawing from Memory. At age sixteen, Say emigrated from Japan to California with his father. Allen Say writes and illustrates evocative picture books about family, culture, creative expression, and dreams. Many of his stories movingly express nuanced details about the immigrant experience, something Say and his family experienced first-hand. Say won the Caldecott Medal for Grandfather’s Journey, the story of his father’s own journey from Japan to the U.S. and back again.” (2014).

Brief Summary:

Grandfather’s Journey is a masterfully illustrated picture book that tells the story of Say’s grandfather’s journey to the United States from Japan. He chronicles what it was like for his grandfather to arrive in America, his desperate longing for the place he called home, and his eventual return. Say also describes his own parent’s similar journey, and then eventually, his own. Say speaks of his grandfather’s homesickness for America and Japan – depending on which country he is currently living in, and his own feelings of homesickness: a feeling he knows his grandfather would understand all too well. 

Connections:

It comes as no surprise that Grandfather’s Journey is a Caldecott Medal winning book. The illustrations in the book bring to life the feelings and emotions described on each page and give the reader the experience of both countries and what it would have been like to experience both.

The colors used in the book are outstanding, and bring each page to life. The muted colors in his grandfather’s portrait at the opening of the book make the picture really feel like a portrait of the times, and the depictions of sunsets, deserts, fields, mountains, and coasts in both America and Japan highlight the beauty of both settings and the contrasts between the two. On most pages, Say uses chroma to show stark differences between the settings he has so carefully constructed. For example, pg. 6 shows a beautiful sunset over the ocean with hues of blue and orange, which are shown opposite pg. 7 which depicts a train station, colored in shades of varying black and grey.

Similarly, pg. 14 features a breath-taking illustration of the California coastline and the Sierra Mountains, using only shades of dark blue, black, and white to depict the loneliness of the coast. This illustration sits next to a portrayal of his native village in Japan: a striking rendition colored in different hues of bright green. Both are beautiful in their own ways, and the author is able to make the reader feel the nearly overwhelming feeling of loving and feeling homesick for both.

Say uses composition to draw the reader’s eye to the part of the illustration that is more important in the scene, and this varies between characters and settings. In the illustrations where the characters are most important, the background scenes are muted: for example, when his grandfather stands in a field in America thinking about his homeland of Japan on pg. 9, the colors in the background are only shades of brown and a very simplistic blue and white sky (think back to the difference in the sky in the sunset illustration – where the setting is the most important aspect).

In illustrations where the setting is the most important aspect, the reader’s eyes are immediately drawn to the background and the characters are muted. Take for example on pg. 10, an illustration of “huge cities of factories and tall buildings” (Say, 1993) where the factories are colored in hues of grey and white, in contrast to the character shown who’s face is shielded by his hat and who is colored in very dark hues of grey and black.

On pg. 21 where the author wants us to notice both the scenery and the characters, the background has much more color than on previous pages – the characters are shown in traditional Japanese dress with many different colors that make the reader notice them right away, but the towering mountains and multicolored trees draw the reader’s attention as well. These noticeable differences show extreme attention to detail by the author, and make the reader unconsciously notice exactly what the illustrator has intended they notice.  

The author’s personal style is evident throughout the whole book. Say uses watercolors throughout to depict both America and Japan, and the use of watercolors reminds the reader of traditional Japanese Gansai watercolor art. This makes sense when knowing that Say learned to illustrate under apprenticeships in Tokyo. Tunnel, et. al (2016) explain that “Surrealism is reality skewed. It represents the workings of the unconscious mind by creating a dreamlike state. ‘Surreal, eye-catching imagery can make even the most jaded picture book viewers take notice’ (Gershowitz, 2013).” (pg. 40). This is especially noticeable in Grandfather’s Journey where the illustrations are realistic enough to resemble both America and Japan, but also surreal enough to take us on a ride through the author’s imagination, adding elements of his apprenticeships and upbringing at the same time.  

Conclusion:

Tunnel, et al. describe the function of illustration in books as: “‘The function of art is to clarify, intensify, or otherwise enlarge our experience of life’ (Canaday, 1980). This statement is as true for picture book illustrations as it is for gallery paintings,” (2016, pg. 37). This is especially true and seen in Grandfather’s Journey as the illustrations give depth to the story and reinforce the overall emotion present in the story. If Say were to just write about his grandfather and his feelings of homesickness for their two homelands, would we understand the depth of those emotions as well if not for the gorgeous depictions of both places? Likely not – which is why in this book in particular, they are so important.

This book makes me think of several students I have had in the past who shared two different countries as their homelands. I had a student who was from Puerto Rico who regularly cried about how much he missed his grandmother and how much he longed to still live in a place where people spoke his native language of Spanish. I had a student who was from Vietnam, who doodled pictures of snowmen on his papers and explained that it didn’t snow where he was from. I’ve had many students who were from Mexico and often took trips back over breaks and would describe what it was like to stay with their extended families, making tamales over Christmas break and being read to in Spanish.

This book reminds us over and over again what it is like to belong to two different places at once, and the feelings that arise from it. This book supports the construction of knowledge because it reminds us, especially in a country where so many of our students come from different backgrounds, that their lived experiences may vary greatly from one another and from ourselves, as teachers. It reminds us to think about where our children have come from, how those experiences affect what they read and think about, the connections that they might have to different stories, and how important it is to honor all of those parts of their selves so that they are not forgotten and so that they feel as comfortable as possible: especially in a new place. Say (1993) speaks of the huge factories that “bewildered and yet excited him,” (pg. 10 and how he “marveled at the towering mountains and rivers as clear as sky” (pg. 11), along with how “the village was not a place for a daughter from San Francisco,” (pg. 22) and most importantly of all, the longing he felt and how he would return to both lands, because “…the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other,” (pg.31).

The book serves to validate all of those emotions, to remind them that it is okay to miss the place they are from while still loving and appreciating where they are now. All of our students have different experiences worth sharing and worth being listened to, and this book is one that can help to remind that fact to readers young and old.

References:

A video interview with Allen Say. (2014, August 26). Retrieved June 13, 2019, from http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/say

Say, A. (1993). Grandfather’s Journey. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Tunnell, M. O., Jacobs, J. S., Young, T. A., & Bryan, G. (2016). Children’s Literature, Briefly (6th ed.). Upple Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Book: The Farmer and the Clown written and illustrated by Marla Frazee, published by Beach Lane Books, Boston Globe Horn Book Award winner for Picture Book.

Category: Picture book, realistic fiction, concept book

Overview of the author/illustrator: 

According to her own bio, Marla writes books about “Babies, birthday cake, boxer shorts, boys, roller coasters, Santa Claus. I tackle serious topics on a regular basis.” Marla always says that to be a children’s book writer and illustrator, you must: “Study the genre and the best books of the past. Check out what is being published today. Read all the time. Read everything you can. Be passionate and honest about what you are doing and why you are doing it. Love it. Tell stories that matter to you.” Marla believes in the importance of supporting independent bookstores and protecting literary culture, and she writes from her own studio under an avocado tree in Los Angeles, California. (Frazee, 2019).

Brief Summary:

The Farmer and the Clown is a stunning visual treat; a book with no words, where the carefully constructed illustrations take the lead on a concept we all know but often forget: two people of very different backgrounds can find common ground. A small clown child falls off a train and befriends an old farmer, and in a few short pages we are reminded of what we can learn from others if we just give them a chance to show us.

Connections:

This beautiful book is entirely wordless, but the drawings are able to capture what words, adequately, likely would not. The author of this book uses many different visual elements to get across the underlying message: others have a lot to teach us. 

The colors in this book portray the overall mood. A grumpy farmer is positioned in a grey and brown barren field, when a colorful circus train comes by. The colors in the train nearly pop off the page when contrasted by the sullen field, and the child clown’s vibrant yellow and red and whimsical smile are contrasted as well by the farmer’s plain white and black outfit.

The illustrator is careful to show this calculated attention to detail in all of the scenes: when the child clown is shown inside the farmer’s house, the colors inside are still a muted: varying shades of grey and brown that make the farmer’s change into red (almost matching) pajamas evident. Even the tree in the field is shown as shades of brown instead of green, making the presence of the outsider: the clown, well known. When the circus train arrives again, a full rainbow of color can be seen, perhaps to highlight the intricate differences between the two groups of people – lone farmer and clowns.  

The use of line is purposeful as well; the softness of the lines makes a book that lacks bright colors approachable to the children who will see it, and the use of simple lines show facial expression: from the farmer’s scowl on the very first page to the child clown’s nearly omnipresent smile, gasps of laughter, and the sheer joy on the child clown’s family’s faces when they see him again.

Line is also used to show excitement, when the child clown points to where he came from, when he sees the train appearing in the distance, and again around his family when they return. The lines in this book fill in the spaces where words, deliberately, are not present. 

The illustrations in this story depict action where words are devoid: “Sometimes action in illustrations is subtle but suggests a great deal of activity,” (Tunnell, et al, 2016, p. 43). The small actions of a small child reaching up to hug an adult’s leg, a man putting on and taking off his hat to make an uncomfortable child smile, the sigh of a long day’s work, and the shared bond that comes with a picnic in the grass afterward. 

Although the drawings in the book are simple, they do not lack depth. You can feel the boy’s embarrassment when he gets his clothes wet, his fear of the night in a new strange place, his joy at showing what he knows, his excitement to see his family again, and the loss of his newfound friendship when it is time for him to go. The illustrator is able to show all of this, without a range of color, shapes, textures or filled in backgrounds. 

Everything in this book is intentional: from the matching red pajamas on the farmer and the clown child to the matching red end papers of the book. The simple illustrations convey the simplest message of all: two people who are vastly different can share a lot, learn from each other, and learn to love and care for each other, if they’re willing to give one another the chance.

Conclusion:

This book supports construction of knowledge in a very basic way. A small child, who has no preconceived notions of what differences they may have, loses his family and finds an adult that he trusts will take care of him. He shows him what he knows (how to juggle) and the farmer shows him what he knows (how to milk a cow, rake the field), and they bond just by being humans: sharing meals, laughing, working together, and having a picnic. The farmer sees a child who needs love and a home and provides it – regardless of how the boy might be unlike him. He assumes that he can learn and help, and he does. Active learning theory asserts that children learn by being active in their roles, not just by being told what to do. The boy works alongside the farmer, being shown what to do, immersed in the work to be done. Had the characters been two grown adults, from rival backgrounds, would the story have been the same? Two people just helping each other and connecting in the most fundamental ways? Maybe not: and that is the beauty of this story.

References:

Frazee, M. (2010-2019). Retrieved June 11, 2019, from http://marlafrazee.com/about

Frazee, M. (2014). The Farmer and the Clown. New York: Beach Lane Books.

Tunnell, M. O., Jacobs, J. S., Young, T. A., & Bryan, G. (2016). Children’s Literature, Briefly (6th ed.). Upple Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Book: Seven Blind Mice written and illustrated by Ed Young, published by Puffin Books, a Caldecott Honor Book.

Category: Picture book, concept book, fantastic fiction.

Overview of the author/illustrator:  From his very own website, Ed Young describes himself as follows:

“Caldecott Medalist Ed Young is the illustrator of over eighty books for children, seventeen of which he has also written. He finds inspiration for his work in the philosophy of Chinese painting. “A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words,” explains Young. “They are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe.

According to Young, a strong foundation of credibility must be established in order to create new and exciting images. Through such images, he hopes to capture his readers and ultimately expand their awareness. Young’s quest for challenge and growth are central in his role as illustrator.” (Young, E. 2006).

Brief Summary: This beautifully illustrated children’s book is about a group of blind mice, who attempt to figure out what the object that appeared before them is. The mice go touch it one at a time, drawing conclusions as to what the object must be, only knowing a very small portion of what really lies in front of them. The final mouse runs all along it, and puts all of the pieces together to figure out what the object truly is.

Connections: Although this book does include numbers, and would be wonderful to use with children learning number words as the numbers: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh all appear in the book, I do not believe this to be a counting book. Rather, this book is a concept book. Children’s Literature Briefly (Tunnell, et al, 2016) defines a concept book to be one that will “…introduce single, focused concepts to young children…. quality concept books tend to help children think about ideas…” (p. 72).

Seven Blind Mice is a book that includes gorgeous illustrations and number words, but what it really does is introduce the concept of making assumptions when you don’t have a full, clear concept in view. The book also helps to explain how some people might have different opinions about things, based on what they can see, or in this case: feel. Each mouse has a different idea about what the object is because they have different perceptions based on the parts they can feel. This would set the stage for teaching children about opinions, disagreeing respectfully, and understanding different perspectives, backgrounds, and ideas. The book even states a moral: “The Mouse Moral: Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole.” (Young, 2012). 

This story connects with constructivist learning, because constructivism is a theory that states that people take their lived experiences and prior background knowledge into account when adding new information. People construct their own ideas based on what they already know. In other words, their prior background knowledge is the foundation for the house that will be built from the new. In Seven Blind Mice, the mice construct their own views on what lies before them based on what they already know. The sixth mouse, having the prior knowledge of what a rope is (we can assume by touching and feeling one before), decides that the object that he has felt is a rope. It is really an elephant’s tail, but since he cannot see it, he builds on his previous knowledge (it’s long, there are strings at the end, it is lumpy like a rope) to determine what it is. The second mouse thinks it is a snake for similar reasons: he has prior knowledge that a snake is long, scaly, often curved – and this is what he determines the elephant’s trunk to be. 

It is only the last mouse, the seventh mouse, who is able to figure out that the object before them is actually an elephant. The seventh mouse doesn’t just rely on one part of the elephant, or one of her previous developed schemas, but rather all of the knowledge she has all placed together to figure it out. “When she came upon the Something, she ran up one side, and she ran down the other. She ran across the top and from end to end. ‘Ah,’ said White Mouse. ‘Now, I see. The Something is as sturdy as a pillar, supple as a snake, wide as a cliff, sharp as a spear, breezy as a fan, stringy as a rope, but altogether the Something is… an elephant!” (Young, 2012). The other mice only see one part each, and use the information they have, connecting it best to what they already know, to make incorrect guesses about what it could be. The white mouse is able to use everything she knows about elephants to put all of the pieces of this puzzle together. If she didn’t know anything about elephants, well, she’d still be left in the dark, imagining a Something that it Very Much Was Not. 

References:

Tunnell, M. O., Jacobs, J. S., Young, T. A., & Bryan, G. (2016). Children’s Literature, Briefly (6th ed.). Upple Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Young, E. (2006). Retrieved June 11, 2019, from https://edyoungart.com/about.html

Young, E. (2012). Seven blind mice. New York: Puffin Books.