Skin Again by bell hooks, illustrated by Chris Raschka.
“The skin I’m in is just a covering.
It cannot tell my story.”
bell hooks‘s text is rhythmic, poetic, like music when read aloud. Chris Raschka‘s illustrations are bold and layered, messy and childlike with wonderful color palettes.
The book’s basic premise is that skin tells something about someone, something about you. But that’s not all there is. There’s all the stuff inside them and you and all of us.
“You can find all about me—
coming close and letting go
of who you might think I am.”
I love the eyes, scribbles, onions, snakes, squares, and bars of color. Hands reaching out and grasping one another. Skin and not skin. Outside and in.
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I think the Humans of New York blog might be the perfect extension of this book. Do you already know it?
If not, it’s photos of people on the streets of New York. But more than that, the photographer Brandon Stanton includes one quote from each individual as well. And that quote, it sometimes surprises. Even if it doesn’t, it gives a window into his/her life. And what’s inside.
Here are some recents, taken from Humans of New York facebook page.
“I told her: ‘You know that feeling you get about Dad? Well I feel that way too. About a girl.'”
“I’m gonna be an ice cream man!”
“I’ve been training in martial arts for 24 years. And I’ve never once been in a fight outside the academy.”
“I’m trying to determine how sensors can be used to collect information about soils and plants so that farmers in India can better manage their crops.”
“I tend to be cynical about a lot of things, but Maya Angelou is somebody that no matter how much I pick her apart, she still has integrity. She was a victim of incest and rape, and she worked as a stripper. And now she’s a literary icon and Nobel Laureate. It goes to show that life is cumulative, and you can’t devalue any type of experience.”
“I’m always checking the Wikipedia pages of my idols to see where they were at my age.”
“I’m trying to succeed in real estate without being a douchebag.”
Fireflies (or lightning bugs), as lovely and fleeting as a summer evening. The neighborhood kids grab their jars and run barefoot in the grass to catch as many as they can. But in one boy’s jar, the fireflies’ “light grew dimmer, green, like moonlight under water.” So he lets them go.
The wonderful place children create for themselves as children do: a town, a wilderness all their own. This book is a treasure. (Great pair with Andrew Henry’s Meadow.)
Wonderful and bizarre, this book in the Garmann series deals with the summer before starting school. And fear. My favorite element is the last line. Garmann finishes the book right where he started: scared. Because that’s true. But he’s explored so much along the way.
We all know I’m a huge Shana Corey fan and this book is another reason why. Another bio of an inspiring, courageous, and joyful historical woman who makes big waves in the water! (And has an effect on the progression of ladies’ bathing suits.)
What could be more urban summer than a blackout in the city? Rocco knocks it out of the park with this one. Without light and buzzing things, there are so many lovely things to do—go to the roof, meet your neighbors, play a board game for a few.
Summer camping trips are the best times to see stars in the sky. But in this book, there are many kinds of stars and they will make your eyes sparkle with tears.
This book catalogs and captures all the magic of summer and of a child paying attention to every bit of it. The conversational tone and the light in the illustrations are captivating.
By far the most fantastical of the bunch, a brother and sister embark on a beautiful romp through a summer carnival. Just go along for the ferris wheel ride!
Please add your own summery favorites in the comments!
p.s. If you’re disappointed I’ve left out baseball, don’t worry. I’ve got a baseball-themed post in the works!
I’m starting another series! It’s called “THEIR PICTURE BOOK LIFE” in which I’ll periodically showcase one picture book creator and her contribution to the form. I’m excited!
It’s clear from ISOL’s books that she possesses a unique, creative mind as both artist and storyteller—bizarre, wonderful, edgy. And her books have that special thing I love: they appeal to anyone of any age.
Take It’s Useful to Have a Duck (Tener Un Patito es Útil) for example. It’s a board book. You know, a super simple book for the youngest little readers and hearers of stories. But it’s so well-exectued and so layered and smart that I found myself amazed and delighted when reading it.
ISOL never underestimates her audience and this accordion style book told from two different perspectives—boy and duck—is basically genius. When the boy thinks the duck is giving him kisses, the duck thinks the boy is waxing his beak.
“The skillful way that Isol handles these subtexts allows her books to be read on mulitple levels. The child is constantly discovering something new, while the adult is rewarded on a perhaps more profound psychological level.
It’s incredible. Each spread is a picture of a possible dream. And when you turn out the light, the dream, the picture, glows in the dark. GLOWS IN THE DARK!! There’s even one children can make themselves, “the drawn dream.”
I must also mention Beautiful Griselda (La Bella Griselda, 2011), the book that introduced me to ISOL’s work. It’s so like a traditional fairy tale—it’s strange, dark, and even gruesome, with an ending to puzzle over. And it’s wonderful.
“Princess Griselda was so beautiful that almost everyone she met fell
head over heels in love with her.”
Literally, men’s heads fell off when they saw Griselda. Their heads fell off! The book deals with vanity and being loved versus being feared.
Doggy Slippers is a series of poems by Jorge Lujan developed with the contributions of Latin American children aged 5 to 13 talking about their pets. (ISOL and Lujan have collaborated on two books so far.)
The poems are so very childlike and delightful and rich. And ISOL’s illustrations really shine with her characteristic bold shapes, hand drawn lines that can’t be contained, and her own childlike quality that manages to convey so much emotion. Darkness, then light, confusion, then comfort.
Not to mention this book is completely hilarious.
“My bunny understands me.
When I’m sad she can tell right away.
And though she walks on four feet
and she likes to bite,
she’s nicer than the nicest people.”
What strikes me most about ISOL’S work is duality and things in opposition. Take the dual perspectives in It’s Useful to Have a Duck. The dark and light of Nocturne. In Petit, the Monster, the opposition of good and bad and the way ISOL plays with and morphs them. Her illustration style as well: bold shapes and intricate patterns with her hand drawn and coloring out of the lines quality—simple and childlike while at the same time sophisticated.
How cool is she? Wouldn’t you know it, she’s not just a writer, illustrator, and designer, she’s a singer too. ISOL’S about to release release a new album with her band SIMA called “Novela gráfica.”
A big shout out has to go to Groundwood for publishing ISOL’s work in English and to Elisa Amado for translating it.
Based here in Southern California and providing books for kids in Spanish, LA Librería is a treasure. They host events and sell the most beautiful books from Latin America and Spain.
I first learned of them at their LA Times Festival of Books booth and it was those very beautiful books that drew me in. Their books are perfect for Spanish speakers and/or Spanish learners. For parents of either. For bilingual teachers of bilingual students. For anyone who appreciates wonderfully crafted books.
Chiara & Celene are giving away 4 Spanish language books by ISOL to one reader of This Picture Book Life for our very first giveaway! (It’s been hard for me to contain my excitement while cooking this up!)
Ladies and Gentleman, that’s a literary allusion to that older picture book. The one in which a tiger comes to tea and eats and drinks everything in the house, including Sophie’s father’s beer.
It makes such perfect sense Iris would read that book to her lion. It’s about a friendly tiger. It’s just as, if not more, absurd than the book in which Iris appears.
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I love the hunt of finding children’s books that allude to other children’s books. Recognizing a literary allusion is a bit like being in on a private joke. It adds new, deeper meaning. It’s a fun game. So here we go.
In When You Reach Me, main character Miranda’s favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time. You have to know the story to recognize those clues about it. But it’s more than an allusion for allusion’s sake. Both books share main character names that start with M, people they care about who start to change, a mystery, and a big dose of science fiction. One informs the other.
Classics The Runaway Bunny (1942) & Goodnight Moon (1947) are by the same team, Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd. There’s a scene in The Runaway Bunny with Mama and Baby in a room, Mama rocking Baby to sleep and that spread forms the whole setting for Goodnight Moon. Even the painting of the cow jumping over the moon!
Picture book characters Herman and Rosie (2012) both watch and adore the underwater films of Jacques Cousteau.
Virginia Wolf (2012) by Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault pays wonderful homage to the historical Virginia Woolf and Bloomsbury.
I adore the kinds of picture books that can be interpreted as either fantastically real adventures or dreams that didn’t actually happen but are flights of fancy instead. Either way, it’s magic.
Peeking out of the polar bear’s saddle, a hint of paper.”
The first page has the word “paper” in it. It’s a note from a carousel polar bear. And paper is also what makes the illustrations in the book so unique. They’re collaged and pasted together with bits of papery stuff—notebook paper, a doily, maps.
The carousel polar bear wants balloons to fly. To fly with the girl. To fly with the girl all the way to the North Pole to dance with other polar bears. (To rumpus with them, in a shout out to Where the Wild Things Are.)
It’s wild and magical, but my favorite line in the book is pretty down to earth:
“Emma was thankful she had worn her boots.”
(Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu comes to mind as an excellent pair to this one. Both have that dreamlike quality and a fabulous white bear leading the way.)
My turn. For my latest birthday, my dude, who is kind of a balloon guy, surprised me this way. (Now you know my age and what my bed pillows look like.)
by bell hooks, illustrated by Chris Raschka.
“I’m gonna be an ice cream man!”
“I’m always checking the Wikipedia pages of my idols to see where they were at my age.”
“I’m trying to succeed in real estate without being a douchebag.”
I adore the kinds of picture books that can be interpreted as either fantastically real adventures or dreams that didn’t actually happen but are flights of fancy instead. Either way, it’s magic.
