On the Wing with William Joyce

“Every story has its upsets,” as one man discovers in William Joyce’s radiant new picture book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.

It didn’t take a hurricane for the title character to appreciate reading, but the storm does uncover a world where books show their true colors. Ironically, this lively, expressive book about books began as an animated short, which garnered the Academy Award in that category.

While I love the imaginative little film, I am also in awe of the lovely language in Joyce’s picture book. “Each book was whispering an invitation to adventure,” it says. And what an adventure for us  readers. The man whose books are blown away by a hurricane (echoes of Katrina and The Wizard of Oz) traverses a bleak land until he encounters a woman flying with books in the bright sky. It seems he, too, can wing it with the book he’s picked up.

Joyce has packed this book with literary references (Mother Goose’s Humpty Dumpty and Pop Goes the Weasel), film references (the protagonist strongly resembles Buster Keaton), and fully develops the idea that books enable us, like birds, to travel far and wide. It’s a beautiful, life-affirming message for all ages, a theme that promises to sustain our continued literary feats, as the book reassures us that “everyone’s story matters.”

Either the book, the interactive app, or the 15-minute film (or all) would make for an inspiring classroom experience. After seeing the film, children could discuss the many ways in which books enrich our lives. Whatever the format, this story lovingly explores such significant roles as …

1. Books inspire us.

2. Books comfort and heal us.

3. Books are companions.

4. Books help us develop intellectually, spiritually, emotionally.

5. Books help us discern, clarify, and appreciate our own emotions and beliefs.

6. Books help us perceive our relationship to the world.

7. Books help us see the wider world — including its geography, its ethnic and racial diversity, its colors, climates, and conceptions.

8. Books enrich our experiences — past, current, and future.

9. Books transcend time by connecting us to a range of people, places, thoughts, theories, events, and eras.

10. Books give us a silent space for wild growth. For freedom.

All that in a silent film! But don’t miss the book, either!

Also see these fanciful books by William Joyce:

Hark, the Water Calls

My family and I just returned from a week at the beach, and I’m ready to hear those waves again. Some sparkling books, though, offer that possibility — at a price far less than another week’s rent! If you’re headed to the sea, or just longing to, these books make for refreshing read-alouds.

Dip your fingers into Kate Coombs’s debut poetry book, Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems. Lovely to look at and fun to hear, this collection of 26 brief poems displays a fine range of forms and word play that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Consider, for instance, the opening poem, “Song of the Boat”:

“Push away from the stillness of the nut-brown land,
from the road that leads to the shore.

Push away from the town with its tight tree roots,
from its closed brown shutters and doors.

Push away—heave-ho—from the heavy brown pier,
from its pilings huddled and dull.

For the water sings blue and the sky does, too,
and the sea lets you fly like a gull.”

Don’t you love the rhythmic repetition of the phrase “push away”? And the clean contrast between the blue watery images and the “nut-brown land” and the “closed brown shutters” exudes an elegant simplicity. Then, too, the compactness of the poem lends itself well to both antsy seven year olds and their older siblings.

I can say that’s true for most of the poems here, from the lovely haiku “Jellyfish” to a poem written from the perspective of Frank Hermit, realtor of beachfront property. Water Sings Blue will appeal not only to wordsmiths but also to animal and nature lovers. And the gorgeous, azure-rippling paintings by Meilo So are enough to make you want to pack your watercolors and head to the shore to stir up your own imaginative creations.

One of my favorite summery poetry books for ages 10 and older is Ted Hughes’s The Mermaid’s Purse, especially the edition illustrated by Flora McDonnell. (While most of these poems are included in his wonderful Collected Poems for Children, the size and appearance of  the former is more child-friendly.)

A fun way to read some of these aloud is to omit the title and ask listeners if they can guess the subject of the poem. Here’s a stellar one:

“When my chandelier
Waltzes pulsing near
Let the swimmer fear.

Beached and bare
I’m less of a scare
But I don’t care.

Though I look like a slob
It’s a delicate job
Being just a blob.”

Did you guess “jellyfish”? Some poems won’t work quite as well for this kind of game, but all feature fresh, often startling images sure to stimulate minds.

Also see …

my prior post on Kate Coombs’s delightful retelling of the Grimm’s fairy tale “Hans My Hedgehog.”

And for ages 8 to 12, consider

The Way to a Child’s Heart

“A house without a cat is like life without sunshine!” Taking those words right out of Julia Child’s mouth (by way of her memoir), Susanna Reich has whipped up a refreshing biography light on conflict but filled with humor and sensory appeal. 

The nation’s most celebrated chef, whose passion for food shone in her quirky yet authoritative cookbooks as well as on her television show, did, in fact, take in a tortoiseshell cat when she and her husband Paul Child lived in Paris in the late 1940s. The author picks up on this angle to craft a child-friendly story of Julia Child and her picky feline, which displays a finicky taste—for mouse, rather than for gourmet food.

Cat lovers will be tempted to paw the cover of Minette’s Feast, which frames Julia smiling and stirring some stock in a copper pot with one hand and with the other, offering a tasty spoonful to the cat perched upon her shoulders. Ms. Bates infuses her watercolor and pencil illustrations with spirited lines and warm colors such as egg-yolk yellow, mustard, and rust, and with touches of French blue and slate gray. Her full menu of other delectable touches includes end papers with a homey pattern of red-and-white checked tablecloths and a mélange of cozy scenes of the kitchen, the outdoor markets and, of course, atmospheric cafes.

Ms. Reich’s pleasant plot captures the energy and curiosity of the tall, big-boned Julia, as well as the loving relationship between her and her shorter, affectionate husband, Paul. The couple shared many simple joys as they made themselves at home in Paris: “They munched on baguettes in bistros where birds warbled in cages. They dined on rolls in restaurants where little white poodles nestled at ladies’ feet.

‘You are the butter to my bread,’ Paul told Julia.”

After they adopt the cat they call Minette, Julia shares the leftovers of the splendid lunches she makes in their apartment near the Seine. Minette turns up her nose at a platter of fish heads in broth, as “mouse and bird were much preferred.” Even after Julia enrolls in classes at the famous cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu, the cat persists in her preference.

With her delicious use of quotes from Julia Child’s memoir, My Life in France (2006), and from the couple’s letters, the author provides a savory little slice of life for young readers. Ms. Reich provides added value with her afterword, notes, bibliography, a crisp black-and-white photo of the chef and Minette, and a glossary with a pronunciation guide.

Julia Child (1912–2004) no doubt would have chuckled upon reading this charming biography. This reviewer can’t help but echo her with a hearty “Bon appétit”!

Reprinted with permission of New York Journal of Books.