by Raul Colon ; illustrated by Raul Colon School Library Journal PreS-Gr 3-Using watercolor and colored pencils, Colon has created a wordless book (based on his childhood) that speaks volumes. A boy, home for the day perhaps because of an illness, sits on his bed reading a book about Africa. He begins to draw. Five identical, intensely colored pictures of the boy with an easel, art supplies, and a pit helmet increase in size as readers begin this richly imagined day on a safari. He draws an elephant as an egret watches, and atop the elephant's back, the boy and bird find a herd of zebras. They pose for him as he sits on a stump. Giraffes thunder by, raising clouds of golden dust. The boy draws them, his body aslant as his eyes follow them. He draws a gorilla, who holds his helmet and shares his sandwich. He draws lions, a water buffalo, and a hippo before sighting a charging rhinoceros. Running with all his might, he barely escapes the rhino. Baboons retrieve his pencils, set up his easel, and draw him. They also eat his sandwiches as the day slides into evening. A spread poignantly captures the parting of boy and elephant. Eyes closed, he lays his head against his friend's side while the elephant's trunk gently caresses the boy's cheek. As six identical paintings decrease in size, the book returns to the boy's pale room, now strewn with drawings. The final scene shows the boy at school, holding the elephant's picture front and center. The pleasure the boy takes in making and sharing his art is palpable. Young artists will love this book, as will all children who know the joy of exploring their own imaginations. A must-have for every library.-Mary Jean Smith, formerly at Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TN (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. (c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. Publishers Weekly In Colon's (Baseball Is...) wordless fantasy, a boy lies on his bed, his sketchbook on the floor; he's lost in a large book titled Africa. As he takes up his sketchbook and begins to draw, small full-color panels of himself setting off across the African veldt sail forth from his mind like thought balloons. On the next page, he's entered his fantasy fully; he's in the African grasslands, carrying his drawing supplies and waving to a nearby elephant. After obligingly allowing its portrait to be drawn, the elephant carries the boy to meet other animals who pose for him-zebras, giraffes, and hippos. A rhinoceros portrait ends in near-calamity; a gang of baboons draw the boy. After a tender goodbye to the elephant, another series of sunlit panels retreats into the boy's head as he returns to real life. Colon's visual signature is the use of finely combed lines to trace the contours of his figures, a technique that's at once delicate and sensuous. It's a strongly developed and executed account of a childhood fantasy, urging all young artists to dream and to draw. Ages 4-8. Agency: Morgan Gaynin Inc. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved |
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