The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon

The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon

By Mini Grey

I have to admit that I’ve never had the change to read Mini Grey before. Somehow I managed to miss her numerous books. But after reading The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, I’ll be looking for more of her creative titles.

The book follows Dish and Spoon after their very famous running away. They start a career doing vaudeville and become incredibly popular. The money rolls in and the duo become used to the finer things in life. When the money runs out they turn to knife gangsters to borrow more. The gang soon want their money back and intimidate the pair. The couple turn to a life of crime to pay back the debt and end up on the lam. In their hurry to escape from the cops, Dish becomes broken and the Spoon allows himself to be captured when he finds that she can’t go on. He serves his time and is finally released. He gives himself to a crockery and silverware shop, only to run into the recovered Dish. They run away (again!) and live happily ever after.

I love reinventions of classic stories, and this one has to be one of the more inventive ones that I’ve seen. Grey tells a subversive tale, that takes a sweet and silly nursery rhyme and makes it into a darker tale about greed and crime. Grey does it very tongue in cheek, never taking the story too seriously. “Someone put a record on the new record player. It was playing our tune. How could we resist?” The words swoop out the window along with the dish and the spoon, as you see two cat paws putting Hey Diddle Diddle on the record player. In fact the cat, the fiddle, the cow, and the moon appear throughout the book, even showing up in the crockery shop at the end or the lost cow sign posted after Spoon gets out of prison. In fact not only does the whole story play around with the nursery rhyme, but Grey spends most of the book playing around with us. There are little jokes throughout the book.

Grey uses a mixture of collage and paint to create frenetic images. With the mad caper going on, these illustrations are simply perfect. There are tons of things to look at, to read, and to savor. I found myself going back through the book over and over to try to catch all the little visual jokes. And each time I saw something new. The running away image is the perfect example. The scene includes collage cows jumping over a painted silver dollar moon. The dish in the spoon float in a painted sea. On either side, there are panels that show the pair’s dive into the ocean and their arrival in New York. Most of the book is told in two or three panel spreads, showing how frantic and wild this story really is. Things feel crowded and rushed but at the same time wonderfully silly. You want to linger on these illustrations but the story forces you to move faster. I’ve reread this little book at least six times since I first picked it up. And I’m sure I’ll read it again and again. A wonderfully subversive tale, filled with humor and fantastic illustrations. I must find more of Mini Grey’s work.

Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse

The first time I ever really recognized a children’s book illustration as art was when looking at Leo Lionni’s work. Before that, I had always loved the images in my books but never really seen the full beauty of them. Never seen them as anything more than just illustrations. But Lionni’s collage work was and still is some of the more inventive and beautiful illustrations out there. I am constantly drawn into the images to see the textures and types of papers that he uses in his artwork. From a felt mouse to a wallpaper background, there is a variety of colors and textures that combine beautifully. Lionni is a master of taking torn scraps and making memorable scenes. The Caldecott honor book, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse is a perfect example of these fantastic spreads.

Alexander is a regular mouse. He scrounges for food and lives in a hole in the wall. The people in the house chase him away every time they see him and he is sad that no one seems to love him. Then he meets Willy, a wind-up mouse who is a favorite toy of the girl in the house. She takes Willy everywhere and loves him. Alexander wants to be a wind-up mouse and be loved too. One day Willy tells him of a magic lizard that can turn one creature into another. The lizard tells Alexander he will need a purple pebble to work the magic. When he can’t find the pebble, he returns to Willy who has been thrown into a box. The family is getting rid of some toys including the wind-up mouse. Just then, Alexander finds the pebble. He rushes to the lizard and asks to change Willy into a real mouse. When he goes to find the box, it is empty. Alexander is crestfallen until he returns home and finds a familiar friend in his hole in the wall.

The story, like a Prince and the Pauper tale, is based on the idea of wanting to be something you are not. Like many of the mouse books I’ve read, Alexander is tired of being hated. He wants to be loved. And although Willy cannot move without being wound, Alexander sees that a wind-up mouse’s life would offer him love. But like all toys, children lose interest in them. Suddenly Willy’s life doesn’t seem so grand. Alexander sacrifices his own interests to help a friend. This is a sweet story about friendship but also about being happy with what you have. Lionni keeps the story and wording pretty simple, but the concepts are much deeper. I have to wonder how much of that I gathered when reading it as a child.

What I remember from my childhood was the images. I remember the matryoshka doll on the cover made from different types of wallpaper. I remember the two mice, one with its smooth gray finish and the other made from felt. I remember the night scene when Alexander makes the wish to change his friend into a real mouse. The sky is covered with tissue paper leaves and the strange gravel path. When I found the book for purchase, these were the things that I flipped to immediately. I didn’t remember the story, but I knew the images. I've stated many times before how much I love collage work for illustration. Successfully done collage can be far more interesting to me than painting. And Lionni is an artist. He takes various materials and creates images that can stay with me from my early childhood until adulthood. They remind me that illustration work doesn’t have to be painted. Like Ezra Jack Keats, Eric Carle, Lois Ehlert, and others, Lionni uses the materials at hand to bring some of the most memorable and lovable characters to life.

The Last Badge

My nephews are both in Cub Scouts. They enjoy the activities and hanging out with friends but they love to get badges. They go camping and learn new skills and sew those badges on to their sashes. They've collected quite a few from what I know. Although unlike the narrator in George McClements, I'm not sure whether they will collect them all. But this was so much more than just a story about scouts. It was a wonderful story whose ending captured my heart.

The story foll0ws Samuel Moss, a scout who is looking to make his family proud by collecting all the merit badges available. All the men in his family have been scouts and each has contributed to the "Album of Scouting Greatness". Samuel wants to be in the album badly and he decided that he needs to perform a great feat to get in. That is when he learns about the toughest possible badge to get, the "Moon Frog Badge." In order to get the badge you have to find the Moon Frog a very rare amphibian. In fact, the Moon Frog only appears once a year, under special circumstances, in a very specific spot. And to make things worse, nobody knows where this spot is. But Samuel is not discouraged. He reads up, researches, and calculates. And finally after moths of work, he finds the location where the moon frog will appear. He and his father set out to find the frog but when he gets to the spot, Samuel is faced with a choice that will effect whether or not he gets his badge. I won't tell you the ending mostly because it is a wonderful surprise that I can't bring myself to spoil.

This was a surprisingly cute story for me, even though I have never been a scout and never been interested in merit badges. Samuel is such a great character, one that we really want to succeed. He works hard to achieve his goal and make his family proud. But it was the ending that made me happiest. It was not just the dedication that Samuel put into finding the frog but the decisions that he has to make. I love that McClements has created a good upstanding young citizen who makes responsible choices. And he does it without being pedagogical. This is a fun story that children, particularly boys will enjoy. But the end makes a larger point.

If I enjoyed the story, the illustrations were icing on the cake. Using collage, digital art, paint, and plenty of silliness, McClements creates an energetic book that keeps the eyes moving. I sped through the book the first time, and then went back through to look at the illustrations a bit more. I was just hooked the first time, and the pacing of the illustrations makes this a quick read. The colors are bright and energetic. The collage work stands out, making those images the most memorable. The character of Samuel, who I assume is done digitally and with collage, is realistic and cartoony at the same time. He dresses like a real child but his large round head and huge mouth remind us me of animated characters. The Moon Frog is an interesting mix of color, ugly and silly at the same time. The book is an odd mix of illustrated images but somehow the hodgepodge of styles makes sense for the book. Very inventive.

This was a book I picked up but wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasant surprised by the story, which included some very grown-up themes along with some silly images. McClements creates a great character with Samuel and I practically wanted to stand up and cheer at the end. A fun story, interesting images, and a pace that kept me hopping. Good find.

Feathers For Lunch

I've become a bit of a birder in the last year so Lois Ehlert's Feathers for Lunch was a treasure to find. I again judged a book by its cover and picked it up based on the beautiful illustration on the front. And that was only the tip of the beauty that is this book.

Ehlert works in collage, creating brightly colored spreads filled with action and beauty. The book follows the adventures of a cat who slips out the front door and attempts to eat the birds in the yard. But the cat is wearing a bell and the birds fly off before he reaches them leaving just feathers behind. The book is told in simple rhyming phrases which would be easy for any child to read by themselves. The first time I read it, I took so much time gawking at the gorgeous art that I didn't even hear the rhyme. On the second time through I noticed the poem-like quality to the book. Ehlert mixes just enough white space in that we are not overwhelmed by action and color and there is a sense of peace to the book, even with its hunting theme.

The birds are what caught my attention in the book. Using bright colored paper Ehlert brings a number of different birds to life. There are warblers, cardinals, blue jays, and more. And each are stylized beautifully. These paper representations are better than some guide books I've seen. Ehlert includes the birds chirps and alarm calls and has a section at the back which gives information on each bird. This is a perfect book for a young child who is interested in birding. They will marvel at the beautiful illustration, enjoy the fun rhymes, and learn a bit about birds in the process. This would be a great book to use before going on a birding field trip with little children. They will get more from this than any field guide. Most pages include the cat and one or two of the birds he is hunting. I can't say enough about those illustrations. Gorgeous. Stunning. They pop off the page. I'm a huge fan of collage work and Ehlert is a master. I'll be checking out more of her work. A gorgeous find. And one that I will be on the lookout to purchase.