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'Micawber'
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[NOV.
12, 2003]
"Micawber,"
by John Lithgow, illustrated by C.F. Payne, Simon and Schuster for
Young Readers, 35 pages, ages 5 to 8
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Review by Louella Moreland
Micawber is a squirrel. Not just any
squirrel, mind you, but a talented, art-loving squirrel who just
happens to live in New York City and spends every Sunday gazing
though the Metropolitan Museum of Art skylight at paintings by Monet
and Van Dyck. One day his life is changed forever -- he became a
stowaway in a painting supply box of an art student. That night
while the student slept, Micawber "discovered the wonders of COLOR!"
The story of this amazing picture book
runs the gamut from cute to educational to breathtaking.
Micawber is a delightful, fluffy little
character with large eyes and a big smile.
It is not often in a children's story
that readers come across the names of master painters or colors
named cadmium green, vermilion and ultramarine. Even the most
inexperienced will come away from the story with a small
appreciation of the visual arts. Adults may use the story to expand
the adventure into the study of artistic masters or experiments with
color.
However, it is Payne's detailed
drawings that bring us back again and again to
the pages of this book. They appeal to all our senses, as great
children's literature should. As we gaze deeper into them or return
for a second or third look, we are drawn further into the scene as
we discover a new detail.
[to top of second column in
this review]
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 The illustrations fill entire pages,
with text pages of white bespeckled with splatters of paint so
believable one feels it must still be wet and knobby to the touch. A
reader can close his or her eyes and imagine the acidic smell of wet
paint filling the air. Details are everywhere: from the straining
muscles in a jogger's leg in Central Park to the wood grain of a
painter's easel to the individual hairs in Micawber's tail.
The expressions on the characters'
faces are the icing on the cake! One of my favorite pages shows
Micawber with his tiny hands clasped and a look on his face that
shouts, "A-ha! Perfect!" Another page shows him deep in
concentration, clutching his rainbow-colored tail, with the tip of
his tongue showing in the corner of his mouth. I have seen that look
so many times on the faces of children as they "tune in" to their
creations and "tune out" all sound from the world around them.
The book is accompanied by a CD
recording of the author, John Lithgow, reading the story, but in
truth it is not an important component for the storybook. While
John's speaking voice is pleasant to listen to, the recording does
not pause long enough at each page to absorb the marvelous
illustrations, nor does it have a bell sound to alert young readers
when to turn pages.
Young
readers as well as the adults who read the story aloud will find
Micawber a treat to the eyes. To check out this book and other
wonderful stories, visit the Lincoln Public Library at 725 Pekin St.
or call youth services at 732-5732.
[Louella Moreland, youth
services librarian,
Lincoln
Public Library District] |
