PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY
* "Spectacular paintings... dynamic presentation." "School Library Journal, starred review""
PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY
* "Striking visuals . . . The choice of setting is brilliant." "Kirkus Reviews, starred review""
PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY
* "Full of energy, this radiant version of 'Jabberwocky' commands and rewards attention." "Booklist, starred review""
A boy describes everything his pen can do, from the literal to the metaphorical. A thoughtful boy wearing a fedora opens with a pensive, poetic assertion. "There are rich people who own jewels and houses and pieces of the sky," there are people who are famous worldwide, and sometimes he feels small in comparison-"[b]ut then I remember I have my pen." This extraordinary nib pen hides an elephant in a teacup and X-rays the boy's chest, revealing a butterfly with a pen body. It has tender abilities ("My pen makes giants of old men / who have seen better days") and cryptic qualities ("My pen is smart as a snowflake"). Myers uses nib pen for his excellently skilled, shaded and detailed drawings in black ink on white background. The boy's pen "draws [him] a new face every morning," shown only partially finished. When text says the pen "wears satellite sneakers" or "tap-dances on the sky," illustrations show the boy doing so; when the pen "worries about all the wars in the world," the boy shelters from tanks and warplanes. This pen is the boy's tool but also his heart, self and strength, and maybe it's not so unusual: "There are a million pens in the world / and each one has a million worlds inside it." Highly sophisticated concepts and art invite the long and close examination of older readers. Poignant, vulnerable, wise. (Picture book. 7-12) Kirkus"
A graceful boy with a fedora and soft curls talks about the power of making art, as finely detailed black-and-white images surround him, like a sketchbook brought to life. Deep in thought, the boy compares himself to people who are rich or famous. "Sometimes I feel small," he confesses. "But then I remember I have my pen." Instead of imagining fortune or celebrity, he pays homage to wisdom and strength, drawing a farmer in overalls who towers over him like a stone monument (and who bears a strong resemblance to the author's late father, Walter Dean Myers). "My pen," he says, "makes giants of old men who have seen better days." His pen creates adventure ("My pen sails to Africa in a newspaper boat") but carries grave concern, too ("My pen worries about all the wars in the world"). Throughout the book, faces-young and old, with dark skin and light skin, with dreadlocks and pigtails-assure readers that this is a book meant for them, as are the freedom, power, and unlimited possibilities that drawing offers: "Let those worlds inside your pen out!" Ages 3 5. PW"
Like a more sophisticated Harold and the Purple Crayon, celebrated children's book illustrator Myers builds whole worlds with only the pen in his hand. After admitting that he sometimes feels small compared to powerful people, he says, "Then I remember I have my peen." From there, he demonstrates how much power his pen gives him. First he draws a giant man in work clothes; then he shrinks that man down to fit in the hand of a girl. A tiny version of the artist, depicted as a young boy in a big hat, rides a huge T. rex, then sails across the ocean in a boat made of folded newspaper. Myers' imaginative and realistic black-ink drawings, each one full of detail and made lively with crosshatched shading, are scattered over each page, some appearing as ordered compositions while others look like playful doodles. In straightforward lines, Myers mentions his worries, the people he loves, and the realities of failure, depicted in page-covering ink splotches. Imaginative kiddos will appreciate this empowering ode to creativity. Sarah Hunter Booklist"
PRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY * "Full of energy, this radiant version of 'Jabberwocky' commands and rewards attention."--
Booklist, starred reviewPRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY * "Spectacular paintings... dynamic presentation."--
School Library Journal, starred reviewPRAISE FOR JABBERWOCKY * "Striking visuals . . . The choice of setting is brilliant."--
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Christopher Myers has exhibited his work at MoMA PS1, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Goethe Institute in Ghana. His illustrations for Harlem, written by his father, Walter Dean Myers, were awarded a Caldecott Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor. He has also won Coretta Scott King Honors for Jazz and Black Cat, and he is the critically acclaimed illustrator of Jabberwocky and Love: Selected Poems by E. E. Cummings, as well as the author/illustrator of Fly! Christopher lives in Brooklyn, New York.