Thinking Different(ly)

I’m way behind on my Saturday reviews, so it’s time to catch up—with a Tuesday review tagging off of last Friday’s Steve Jobs post. Jobs was known more for his insights than his inventions—he never really invented anything, but he could see how new technology could be adapted to new uses. “Think Different” was one of his ad slogans. Some like to call such thinking “creativity.” Creativity is an idea imperfectly understood– “I’m not creative,” I hear people say. But everybody is, one way or another; it’s part of being made in the image of God.  Creativity is not primarily a matter of artistic ability but of imagination.  And right now I hear people thinking, I don’t have any imagination.  Yes, you do!  The whole subject interests me greatly and is worth a whole series of blog posts.  In the meantime, here’s a roundup of picture books (and one beginning reader) I’ve read over the last few months that have nothing in common except a celebration of creativity.

Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen. Balzer & Bray, 2012. Age/interest level: 4-8

“On a cold afternoon in a cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the slack soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color.” Annabelle is a lightning knitter. After making a sweater for herself and her dog Mars she offers to knit one for Nate and his dog. And when her teacher complains that her multi-colored sweater is too distracting in the gloomy school room, she offers to knit one for everybody n the class. “Impossible!” said Mr. Norman. “You can’t.” But it turned out she could.

No project exhausts her box of yarn. After knitting for everybody in town, “Annabelle made sweaters for things that didn’t even wear sweaters”: houses, barns, silos, pickup trucks. Word of her magic box spreads far and wide until a haughty archduke “who was very fond of clothes” sails across the sea, determined to have the box of endless yarn. Annabelle won’t sell it—ask your kids if they can guess why—so the archduke will have to be thwarted. The illustrations are Klassen-style basic shapes and penstroke faces, with the yarn in glowing pastels against the dark sepia of walls, trees, doors and windows. Creativity is endless, splashing color across a workaday landscape.

Balloons Over Broadway, by Melissa Sweet. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, 32 pages. Age/interest level: 5-12. (Winner of the 2012 Sibert Award for excellence in informational books for younger children.)

Tony Sarg once claimed he “never did a stroke of work in his life”–at the age of six he rigged up a system of ropes and pulleys that allowed him to feed the family chickens without getting out of bed. So ingenuity was one reason for not working a stroke. The other reason was that for him, work was play. He parlayed a fascination with marionettes into a successful career, first in London, then in New York City where his puppets caught the attention of the owners of Macy’s department store. After Sarg had created eye-catching displays for Macy’s Wondertown holiday windows, a bigger job awaited him.

The management thought it would be nice to hold a special parade for their employees, many of whom were European immigrants who missed the festival days and street dances of home. Using street carnivals as a theme, Tony put together an extravaganza of costumes, floats, clowns, horses, and animals from the zoo. The first parade was on Thanksgiving day, 1924. It was such a hit, Macy’s decided to make it perennial, and include the whole city. The management wanted to forgo the animals—too scary for the kids—and asked Tony to come up with a substitute. His mind turned immediately to puppets—but how could he make them big enough? Enter Goodyear, and inflated rubber, and bigger puppets, and . . . a tradition is born.

For her story Melissa Sweet uses watercolor and collage: her own illustrations enhanced by newspaper clips, old city maps, word cuts, and photos of toys and puppets made by herself. The vertical two-page spreads of some of the first balloons are spectacular. The result is delightful, a jaunty tribute to human ingenuity and community celebration. It might even spark some homegrown creativity: see her Balloons Over Broadway activity kit.

Mooshka: a Quilt Story.  Written and illustrated by Julie Paschkis.  Peachtree, 2012.  Age/interest level: 4-8.

“Karla had an unusual quilt.  She called it Mooshka.”  What makes it unusual was that it talks to her.  It’s full of the stories Karla’s grandmother used to tell as she sewed the patchwork pieces (schnitz) together.  The yellow schnitz speaks in a “soft, cottony voice,” blue is sturdy, red is cheerful.  Each scrap has a memory to tell, such as the blue kerchief around grandpa’s neck as he proposed to his sweethear.  But one night, Mooshka falls silent.  that’s when the new baby Hannah moves into Karla’s room.  Does Mooshka feel the intrusion?  Karla does: Unfair! My room! 

Than came the night that Hannah cried.  And cried.  Until finally Karla carries Mooshka over to the crib and lets the quilt gently fall on the baby.  Mooshka finally speaks: “Sister.”  Karla tells a green story, from the pjs she wore as a baby.  “Hannah was quiet, and Mooshka was quiet, and Karla went on and on,”  bringing quietly to an end this lovely, crafty story about how we stitch our lives together with art.

Crafty Chloe, by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Heather Ross. Atheneum, 2012, 32 pages. Age/interest level: 4-7.

Macaroni, glitter, googly eyes, pipe cleaners—all kids love crafts. But Chloe doesn’t just love them—she’s good at them. She’s not so good at sports or video games, and at dance class “she had the grace of a camel on roller skates.” But she’s an ace at making things, with more than one trick up her sleeve. While shopping for a birthday gift for her best friend Emma, Chloe finds the perfect present—but it turns out that snobby London has already bought it. Chloe has to put on her thinking cap and open her craft closet and come up with an alternative perfect present. Will she succeed? Or will she have to fake a case of chicken pops and skip the party? Her solution will cheer the hearts of crafty kiddoes everywhere, but looks a little more professional than most 5-7 year-olds could manage. Adult help recommended. The cartoon-style illustrations will make little ones laugh–be sure to compare the dream party pony with the actual beast.

Sadie and Ratz, by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Ann James. Candlewick, 2012 (US edition), 60 pages. Age/interest level: easy reader.

Creativity isn’t necessarily a matter of making things.  First, it’s a matter of imagining things, and Hannah has an interesting imagination.  Sadie and Ratz are her best friends, and they’re not entirely imaginary.  They, in fact, her two hands.  “Sadie is the boss.  She is the same size at Ratz, but she is meaner . . . Together, they make a good team.  This is what they do: crush things up/ twist and scrunch/ scratch! scratch! scratch!  When Sadie and Ratz are on the rampage, look out!”  Hannah also has a mom, a dad, and a brother: “Baby Boy.  I wish he was a dog.”

Baby Boy is a typical little-brother problem, especially when he learns to blame mishaps on Sadie and Ratz.  From there, it’s one tiny step to causing mishaps to be blamed on Sadie and Ratz.  What’s Hannah to do?  Mom thinks the hands could try some yoga positions to calm down, like “Starfish” or “Snowflakes in winter.”  Sadie and Ratz have other positions in mind, like “The Shark’s Teeth.”  But whenever they threaten Baby Boy, he screams like a banshee bull (whatever that is) and the hands get the blame.  Should Sadie and Ratz reform their ways and become (gasp!) nice?  The very thought sends them into a tizzy.  Maybe they should go on vacation for a while . . .

Remember the Sunday-school song, “Be careful little hands what you do”?   Even though Sadie and Ratz is for beginning readers, meaning they can read it themselves, it can be a creative (there’s that word again) opening for discussion.  Such as, Do you think Hannah should reform her hands?  Where would that start?  What do you think about the ending?  Why is Hannah happy about it, and what do you think will come of it?  What would it take for Sadie and Ratz to become peacemakers instead of mischief-makers?  And finally–The next time you break something, do not blame it on your hands!