A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson; illustrated by John Hendrix

Last February marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens and what better way to celebrate than with a picture book to introduce him to a new generation of young readers. A Boy Called Dickens chronicles Charles Dickens' early childhood working in a factory and living on his own--while the rest of his family was living in a debtor's prison. Taken out of school and forced to sell his books to a pawn shop, Charles is so obviously desperate for more of these stories that he becomes a storyteller himself. He gets through his rather bleak days by telling stories to his fellow coworkers and dreaming up new ones at night in his bed. And Deborah Hopkinson does a great job evoking this very same storytelling feel. Throughout the text she addresses the reader and asks us questions (although most are rhetorical) which gives the book a very obvious and present narrator. This book makes for a great read-aloud in a classroom for this very  reason.

© 2012 by John Hendrix

In addition to the appropriately pitched voice, John Hendrix's illustrations are completely spot on. The characters are all varying levels of gritty and the streets are all grimy, which paints a (thankfully) much more realistic picture of the 1820s than I would have expected in a picture book. Hendrix also has a great way of illustrating the characters and stories floating around in Charles' head. He draws them as these wisps of ghastly blue that I can only imagine are meant to evoke the ghosts from Charles Dickens' own A Christmas Carol.  In addition to the wonderful illustrations, Hendrix also incorporates some of his beautiful typography throughout the book too. As you can see from the cover, Hendrix has a great eye for type design and including this "word art" adds a lot to the mood of a picture book about an author. You can see my favorite spread of the entire book above and, as you probably notice, it has everything: dirt & grime, ghoulish inspiration, and words leaping off of the page.

UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: The Cat in the Hat & The Lorax illustrated by Dan Santat



© Dan Santat

In honor of the anniversary of Dr. Seuss's birthday and the upcoming release of The Lorax, I thought I would bring up these wonderful sketches by the talented Dan Santat. Santat is one of my favorite illustrators (if you haven't already, do yourself a favor and pick up Sidekicks)! Now don't get me wrong, I'm obviously a huge fan of Dr. Seuss' work, but there's just something about the three-dimensional/cinematic quality of Santat's art style that's so appealing. I'd be really interested to see what how these would look in color.

© Dan Santat

Apparently these sketches are for an upcoming Dr. Suess themed show at Gallery Nucleus, so I'm looking forward to seeing what other artits are contributing. And if you're interested in seeing more sketches by Dan Santat, he has a wonderful blog--A Slow Growing Mass of Tangible Thoughts--where he occasionally posts work from his sketchbook.

UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: The Hobbit illustrated by Maurice Sendak?

Maurice Sendak's "The Hobbit," in pen and ink, 1967
(Credit: Maurice Sendak/Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University)

What if Maurice Sendak, creator of the timeless Where the Wild Thing Are, had illustrated J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy The Hobbit ?  It's not as far-fetched as it sounds. You can check out an enlightening essay by author and illustrator, Tony DiTerlizzi, on the version of The Hobbit that almost came to be here. 

And stay tuned for more unexpected, unforgettable, unmistakable artists interpreting some of your favorite children's books in the next installment of Unusual Suspects.

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Jon Klassen

Mac Barnett is one of the funniest children's book authors that I've had the pleasure of reading. In fact, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem and Oh No! Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World are two of my favorite picture books, comedy or otherwise.  However, as you can probably tell from the soft-spoken cover, Extra Yarn is not another laugh-out-loud story. Instead, Barnett and Klassen have crafted a beautifully quiet and whimsical story that has as much charm as it does yarn.

Like the very pages of the timeless fairy tales that this story harkens too, Annabelle lives in a world that is "either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys." One day, this crafty little girl stumbles across a box of yarn that seems to have no end. Instead of questioning it or trying to gain anything from her marvelous discovery, Annabelle simply knits and knits and knits until everything is as colorful as the endless yarn in her magical box. But as you'd expect, for anyone who has something as truly amazing as Annabelle's box, there is always someone else who would do anything to get their hands on it. And soon Annabelle discovers that making her world a brighter place isn't as easy as kitting a sweater or a hat...or is it?

© 2012 by Jon Klassen

Barnett's droll and somewhat anachronistic (you'll understand what I mean when you give it a read) story is beautifully complemented by Jon Klassen's deadpan illustrations. From The Incorrigble Children of Ashton Place to I Want My Hat Back, it's clear that Klassen has mastered creating seemingly simple illustrations that are both quirky and charming. The pairing of these two talented guys was a brilliant idea and I believe the result was an enchanting and timeless tale. Annabelle's story could easily join the ranks of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and the like.

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

I've been a fan of Oliver Jeffers's picture books since I interned for his publisher, Philomel, in 2008. Stumbling across his books while organizing their book closet, I was instantly drawn to his unique art style. But what made me a die-hard fan were his incredibly inventive stories and his lovable (and often hilarious) characters. Jeffers's books are like Pixar movies. They are charming, visually stunning, and although I know I'll love them before I even start reading, I am still surprised by how great they are when they're done. And Stuck is no exception.

When Floyd gets his kite stuck in a tree, he knows the only way to get it down is to knock it out. However, when the shoe Floyd throws to dislodge the kite also gets stuck, he starts down a slippery slope that has him chucking everything from his mailman to a blue whale at the tree. Without giving too much away, I'll say that, despite the seemingly repetitive nature of the book, Jeffers manages to keep the story engaging with ever-increasing stakes (unlike the shoe, the mailman can't stay stuck in the tree because he needs to get on with work), several near triumphs (what if he tried using a ladder?), and one statisfyingly hilarious ending.

I was fortunate enough to see Jeffers do a reading of his "tale of trying to solve a problem by throwing things at it" at Bank Street Books last week.  When someone in the audience asked him how long it took him to come up with a book, he said that he came up with Stuck (as well as The Incredible Book Eating Boy--another favorite of mine) in a day. That might have to do with the fact that, as he admitted, Stuck is actually based on the time his own kite got caught in a tree and he had to throw things to get it lose (only without that part about the whale). But now all I wonder is if he's ever tried eating a book.