Essay 1 - The Power of Exquisite Art in Children’s Books
If literacy is the result of inter-related, complex cognitive skills, then educators cannot underestimate the importance of beautiful and expressive art in the environment of a developing human. Stylistically, the art and writing of Leo Lionni, Mo Willems, and Lauren Child differ vastly. The commonality that draws me to their books however, is the element of expressivity in their visual art, as seen in the artwork or the visual arrangement of supporting and narrative text. The benefits of this to developing visual literacy in children are many: children become familiar with and are able to recognize certain visual styles, they become critical and appreciative viewers of art and gain experiential knowledge of the power of art to convey feeling, emphasis, and set a tone- without, to borrow some of Ms. Child’s phrasing, never, not ever even having had to take AP Art History!!! Not to be overlooked is the fact that if the artwork is aesthetically appealing, expressive and perhaps humorous, parents and teachers will enjoy sharing the book with their children over and over again. When a children’s book serves as a catalyst for adult/ child interaction, genuine conversation, laughter and inspiration, then that artist has truly created a great work of art. A children’s book that has caused moments such as these serves our society far more than an acquired, untouchable work of art enshrined in museum glass. As to developing avid readers, what else could induce this love of ideas and inspiration conveyed through language and image as the great experience of a book shared with a parent, friend or teacher?
I settled on these three artists for a very simple reason: I love them. I have thoroughly enjoyed each title listed here and have shared them many times with any child (and some adults even!) who will listen. Some appeal to me as an artist, for their ability to inspire and allow me to dream; some I treasure for their gift of humor- they remind me of the pure joy in a good belly laugh, and others I enjoy because of the timeless, simple-yet-profound lessons that we are all better off knowing.
Leo Lionni was a self-taught, highly-acclaimed graphic designer, fine artist, sculptor, painter and author /illustrator of many children’s books. His on-the-job training in advertising art is evident in the clean visual appeal of his works. Much like Piet Mondrian, a fellow Dutch painter who was active and popular at the same time that Knopf was publishing many Lionni works, Lionni reduces visual communication to its most essential elements in order to convey an idea or tone. This is a necessary skill of any graphic artist interested in advertising. It is evident to me that Lionni lived by his personal belief that children should be presented with beautiful and exquisitely crafted books. While growing up, Lionni was surrounded by beautiful art and we have reaped the results. I find Lionni’s works to be memorable because of their very simple yet timeless messages. Upon reading The Biggest House in the World and Swimmy, I was thrilled at the presentation of great ideas in a way that children could grasp. Mr. Lionni’s books contain lessons that I feel humans are better off learning sooner rather than later. I feel the intensity of his observation of the beauty in each pebble and clump of moss that he encountered while working on his artworks in the Italian countryside. The fact that the artwork is, to me, inspiring and beautiful only makes me all the more passionate about sharing the books with others and I think, my children and students can feel that passion.
Much more recently, I have become enamored of Mo Willems’ pigeon who achieved notoriety in Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog. I am not sure that there is any moral lesson to be gleaned from these books other than that of standing firm when “no” means just that: No. Children laugh out loud as they instantly recognize themselves in the pigeon’s now-famous wheedling and cajoling. I laughed in recognition of myself when I was a child trying to get away with the same attempts at staying up a little later and doing something I was not allowed to do. Not to be missed is the expressiveness of the simply drawn lines and the attention given to the text. Children howl with laughter as the pigeon screams “That’s It!” and they notice the tone inherent in the heavily scribbled crayon lines. Similarly, when Sam snaps and breaks into the long list of events that have brought him to tears in Leonardo the Terrible Monster, the placement and visual style of the text is just as important as the words themselves, prompting appropriate reading tone from any adult reader. Willems’ use of visually striking text is helpful to young readers in that adult readers cannot help but read with appropriate expression and tone, thereby providing children with appropriate modeling of these crucial communicative elements of speech.
Similarly, the work of Lauren Child is so humorous that even the busiest parent will find him or herself laughing out loud with their children at Charlie and Lola’s antics, Kurt’s sullen teenage-ness, Clarice’ overuse of words like “utterly”. While I know Ms. Child’s use of made up words and stringing-together-of-very-long-words-and-multiple-descriptives is utterly, grammatically incorrect, children see them for what they are: bending language to meet one’s needs to express ideas. Ultimately, what is art, but a manipulation of methods that convey ideas to communicate one’s own idea? Children laugh at the incorrect usage of grammar as they themselves become more familiar with the syntax and pragmatics of their language. And then there is the artwork- oh the artwork! I can still open I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato and find something I had not noticed before in Ms. Child’s collage work. Drawings, found objects and photographs are combined successfully to provide enjoyable illustrations that appeal to children and adults alike. My children have devised a new “game” whenever we read a Lauren Child book: they count all the photographic elements on each page, all the ink line drawings and collage elements. Ms. Child has been quoted as saying that her books are about very believable children and grown-ups in plausible situations, and I agree. The dialogue contains combinations of language that most children would use as their acquisition of language develops, to tell their stories.
Fortunately for me, my children and students, there are more books out there than I will ever be able to read in my lifetime. These three artists however, have made my time here that much more enjoyable and inspired.
Titles Authored and Illustrated by Lauren Child
Child, Lauren. But Excuse Me, That is My Book. New York: The Penguin Group, 2005.
Lola is upset because someone has borrowed her most favorite book from the library, Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies. Her older brother, Charlie, after much resistance, manages to convince Lola that the library is full of wonderful books that just may become favorites of hers as well. Lola’s description of why she likes her book, as she has come to call it, is hilarious- any parent will instantly recognize a preschooler who has fixated on a particular book when they see Child’s renderings of Lola . I think the book will appeal to toddlers, preschoolers as well as primary grade readers who have felt for themselves that very real love for a book’s contents. And if they have not yet experienced that, this book may serve as their first.
Child, Lauren. I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2003.
This is another helping of Charlie and Lola, aimed at preschoolers, and even enjoyed by some third and fourth-graders I know! Charlie, engaged in the mealtime struggle that is typical when children’s preconceived notions about foods outweigh actual sensory input from their taste buds, ingeniously devises new names for the offending foods and Lola tries and loves each one. Peas, are now Green Drops from Greenland, Mashed potatoes are cloud fluff form Mt. Fuji, and carrots are actually orange twiglets from Jupiter. The descriptions and artwork are amusing to grown-ups and children alike. After listening with that well-loved skeptical Lola expression, Lola, in turn surprises him at the end when she asks Charlie to “pass the moonsquirters, please- they’re my favorite!”
Child, Lauren. Guess Who’s Babysitting? Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2001.
In this charming sequel to Clarice Bean, That’s Me., Mom and Dad have to leave town suddenly and have no one to baby-sit Clarice, her younger brother Minal, teenagers Kurt and Marcie and wandering Granddad. Enter Uncle Ted: a youngish, movie-addicted, bachelor firefighter, who spouts sayings like “Gotcha baby”, and “Go ahead, make my day.” Mom is reluctant to leave her younger brother in charge, but when no one else will do it, she is forced to accept him as caregiver. Of course, mayhem ensues, but it all rights itself just as Mom gets home. As in all of Child’s books, the writing is true to how a child would speak and hilarious because of that nearness to the truth. It is great when an adult manages to remember how incongruous and just plain silly the adult world can seem to an extremely bright and observant child.
Child, Lauren. Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent. New York: Hyperion, 2005.
This is a somewhat lengthy but truly fabulous “riches-to-rags” story about a frightfully rich boy whose parents are so obsessed with social dinners, cocoa-drinking and board-game playing that they have no attention left to turn to matters like generating income or paying the household help. Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent, or “H’ for short, takes it upon himself to save the family estate but in the end is only able to do what he can. The readers get the strong message that one does not have to be frightfully, frightfully rich in order to be happy and that also, if one does not see the excellence required in any given situation, then one must step up and be that excellence. I think this book is aimed at older preschoolers and primary-grade readers. If read in a delightful British accent with proper emphasis ( as in, on the “nard” in Ber-nard - read the book!) then I think it will captivate any child’s attention.
Child, Lauren. Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Book? New York: Hyperion, 2002.
This book opens with Herb telling the reader about his love of good books and how he reads them anywhere and everywhere. Child includes in her illustrations the odd squashed pea between the pages, in her cluttered but pleasing collage that combines ink line drawing, cut paper and photographs. Herb describes how he fell into a book of fairy tales one night and the following misadventure. This book is lengthy, like the Hubert Horatio one, but I think it could be broken up and read in bits. Younger readers will simply LOVE the imagery! Older readers will thoroughly enjoy the spoof on traditional fairy tale characters. All ages can easily appreciate the book’s message to treat books with care and respect. As I “test-drove” the book out on different ages, what I noticed most was how many children were unfamiliar with characters like Prince Charming and Hanzel and Gretel. Children familiar with some of the characters found Child’s ad-libbing in this improbable scenario totally hilarious. We were so thoroughly entertained in one segment where the wicked stepmother’s page had been torn out then carelessly placed back in the book upside down by a younger Herb. Whenever Cinderella’s stepmother spoke to Herb, her dialogue text was upside down and one had to literally upend the book over in order to read her lines- it was great- we were all laughing so hard. One could feel the joy that the artist must have had creating that part of the book experience. My children were laughing so hard as I turned the book upside down to right-side up just to read the story to them. The ending resolves itself quite nicely: Herb sees the error of his youthful carelessness with his texts and Goldilocks gets a little something special coming to her…
Titles Authored and Illustrated by Mo Willems
Willems, Mo. Time to Say “Please”! New York: Hyperion, 2005.
The target audience for this book ranges from toddler through older preschooler. I suspect parents will enjoy it as well, as it is just one more voice reinforcing their own efforts at the development of proper etiquette. The mice characters are cute, and as in all of Mo’s works, their actions revealed in the drawings become more amusing upon closer scrutiny. The text is simple and conveys a very simple message: use one’s polite words. Children already familiar with Willems’ work will enjoy pointing out the pigeon and duckling who make cameo appearances as inanimate objects. There is also a simple board game included in the book- which makes for a fun, short way to put the book’s message into practice and stimulates conversation, which is the whole point of books anyway, right?
Willems, Mo. Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! New York: Hyperion, 2006.
This book is aimed at ages “three to thirty-six“, as is printed in some of Willems’ tomes. I think your toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy it to varying degrees. It is similar to Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus in that its protagonist, the Pigeon, wants to do something that it ought not do, and it is up to us, the reader, to set the limits and enforce the “good choices”. It puts the child in the position of the parent, hopefully, allowing them to see why a choice is a smart choice. Children will also happily point out the appearance of Knufflebunny, as the pigeon’s bedtime bunny of choice. As almost all of Willems’ books, this one is also dedicated to Trixie, his daughter. As a parent and teacher I love that because, historically, great art is always inspired by and based on an experience or someone that is very close to one’s heart. As an artist I love his dedications because in 2006, an artist, male or female can still be turned down by a gallery because his or her work depicts children and that is not a “serious” art theme. Finally, the “kid” in me loves the pigeon, and thinks his antics are hilarious! My nine-year old hungrily reads anything by Mo Willems, although I think it is also, in part, to the thick, Queens accent that I read the pigeon’s lines in…
Willems, Mo. The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! New York: Hyperion, 2004.
The pigeon finds a hot dog and is ready to eat it up all by himself when the very bright-and-cute duckling arrives to question him: what does a hot dog taste like? The rest of the book shows us pigeon trying to enjoy the first bite of his find and duckling stopping pigeon each time. The ending of course, shows us what “pidge” should have offered to do in the first place and leaves us to question, as my daughter so aptly put it, “...if he’s never had a hot dog before, then how does [the duckling] he know it needs mustard?” The book is enjoyed by toddlers through primary-grade readers. The words are simple enough for a beginning decoder to figure them out and the artwork is memorable enough that a beginning reader will easily recall each line when presented with its corresponding art image. Mo Willems was an award-winning screen writer for Sesame Street and the creator of a Cartoon Network cartoon. While I am totally in the dark with regard to his televised creations, I can guess as to why they are huge successes. Willems takes a simple message and creates characters to which children can easily relate to somehow get the simple message across. He throws in some comedic tidbits that appeal to the adults and-voila- we’re all up late reading Mo Willems- again!
Willems, Mo. Knuffle Bunny. New York: Hyperion. 2004.
Daddy takes Trixie to the laundromat with him to give Mommy a break and everything is okay until they head back home and Trixie realizes- then tells Daddy- that they forgot someone! The rest of the book shows us Daddy trying to understand Trixie who by now, left with no choice, has begun to bawl and has also “gone boneless”. Anyone who has ever dealt with a toddler in the throes of a whirlwind tantrum with a hailstorm of unintelligible prosodic speech will have tears in their eyes when they see Willems’ drawings of Trixie and her Dad who just doesn’t “get it”. When they arrive home, Trixie is in a bedraggled, mid-tantrum state, and Dad’s not doing much better. Of course, Mom just asks, “ Where’s Knufflebunny?” and the Dad finally figures it all out, Trixie gets Knufflebunny back and all ends well.
Willems, Mo. Leonardo, the Terrible Monster. New York: Hyperion, 2005.
Leonardo is a terrible monster: he can not scare anyone. One day he determines that he will find the “scardiest” boy on the planet and scare the tuna salad right out of him! He chooses Sam as his victim. Trouble is, Sam isn’t even frightened- Leonardo just happened to be the last straw in a very, very bad day. Young preschoolers will enjoy the long rant when read in proper exasperated tone. Try and remember life as a preschooler, when you were so small and life could just be so trying. I think the book teaches the importance of empathy and the value of a friend just saying “it will all be okay” without ever being preachy. It works.
Titles Authored and Illustrated by Leo Lionni
Lionni, Leo. Frederick. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1967.
This book is intended for the very young, but I know many adults who still love it to this day. Frederick appears to be daydreaming or lazing about while his family works in preparation for the winter. They are all very grateful for the warmth and cheer that Frederick is able to give them due to his artistic musings and observations. On the one hand, I love the message: inspired contemplation nourishes the soul as much as grain feeds the body. On the other, a part of me feels it wholly unrealistic because while we live in a society that may spout that belief, our actions show we believe otherwise: look at Federal education budget cuts, accepted monopolization of time to dream, and pervasive over-scheduling of children’s time to be children. Were Frederick a real person with children to feed, I wonder if his poetry would pay the rent, fill tummies, and warm a Nicor collection agent’s heart in the middle of winter. Would a teacher trying his hardest to get his classroom’s standardized test score up to par accept a response of “I am gathering words...” when a child is truly busy enjoying the creative process in his or her own thoughts? I appease myself by reading it to as many children as I can in the hopes of populating our society with folks who honor and respect the creative process.
Lionni, Leo. Little Blue and Little Yellow. New York: Astor-Honor Publishing, Inc., 1959.
This book is amazingly simple in that its illustrations are comprised solely of anthropomorphized torn paper collage “splotches” of color. Little blue likes to play with little yellow. So one day they played and played until they merged and became little green. Their “parents” were frightfully upset for neither set of parents could identify their own little splotch of color. It is wondrous how children instantly begin to identify with little blue and little yellow. I found it reassuring and affirming to witness the conversation about “abstract” ideas that ensued in circle time after reading this book. Lionni is a master at conveying concepts without ever hitting us over the head with the moral.
This was one of Lionni’s first books.
Lionni, Leo. Matthew’s Dream. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1991.
A mouse lives in a rubbish-filled attic with his family. On a field trip one day he visits an art museum. He is so inspired and has amazing, colorful dreams. He never looks at his rubbish heap the same way again. Soon it becomes apparent to Matthew’s parents that he is an artist. The book ingeniously demonstrates the power of art to transform our perceptions. What is our “life” but our perception of the environment, its persons and circumstances and what we do with it? I think this book will appeal to preschoolers and primary-grade readers. The artists’ self-discovery as artist is a recurring theme in Lionni’s work.
Lionni, Leo. Flea Story. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1977.
This book is intended for preschoolers. The simple collage illustrations are meant to represent the travels of two fleas who begin the story on the hindquarters of a dog. One wants to travel the world ("The ear! I have never seen the ear!") while the other wishes to stay put where it is comfortable. I was in stitches the first time I read this aloud as was my audience of kindergarteners. And as always, with Mr. Lionni, I loved the artwork.
Lionni, Leo. The Biggest House in the World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1968.
With very simple text and exquisitely beautiful renderings, Lionni gets a basic message across: bigger and more grandiose is not always better. Children possibly as young as three will enjoy the artwork and experiences that befall the snail as he describes his perfect house. They undoubtedly comprehend the moral of the tale.
Other Favorite Lionni Texts
Lionni, Leo. Alexander and the Wind Up Mouse. New York: Alfred A. knopf, Inc., Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1969.
Lionni, Leo. Swimmy. New York: Knopf, 1963.