Experiencing the World in Book Form

How would you describe what color the wind is to someone who can’t see?

How do you illustrate a trick poem from 17^th century?

How do you say and illustrate, “I am different! Can you find me?” in 16 different languages?

With the help of some translated picture books, of course!

I’m back today with three more titles for our “Outside the Box” category.  In these books, I was most struck by certain illustrative aspects of the book and how it “plays” with the text.  Each of these books took unique approaches to answering the questions I noted above through the use of texture, cut-outs and seek-and-find elements.  These unconventional means make them memorable, but these elements are so much more than gimmick to sell a book.  Each serves a unique purpose and cultural connotation.  They make reading an experience for multiple senses.  Let’s jump into these three titles right away and I’ll elaborate as we go.

 What Color Is The Wind?

By: Anne Herbauts

Translated by: Claudia Zoe Bedrick

If you were reading closely above, you may have noted that I ended the first question about the color of the wind to someone who can’t see. I didn’t specifically say blind because nowhere in the text of this book by French author Anne Herbauts is the term used. (Kristi’s note – the jacket flap states “one day a blind child asks a grown-up” and I did read an interview with Herbauts stating that she was working with a blind child who asked her the question, thus inspiring the book.  But the text of the story never states the “Little Giant” is blind.  He is illustrated with his eyes closed, though). In fact, Herbaut, who won the France’s 2012 Prix Sorcières, children’s literature award for the book, leaves many points of the book’s plot open to the reader’s interpretation. 

The story is of Herbauts’ “Little Giant” wondering what color the wind is. To answer his question, he goes on a walk, interviewing the animals and objects he encounters, asking them “What color is the wind?” Each has a different answer based on their own perspective. For example, the wolf replies “the wind is the dark smell of the forest” while to the bees it is “the color of sunshine.” (My personal favorite is the rain, who “knows nothing.” It stands out among all the other very specific answers.) At the end of his walk he comes upon someone “he senses is enormous” who tells him the wind is “everything at once. This whole book.” The enormous someone then takes the book and thumbs through its pages, allowing the Little Giant to feel the wind and its gentleness.

While all the simple text is beautiful and thought provoking, as the enormous someone suggests, it is the whole book that brings the story to another dimension. This isn’t just a readable book, it’s a touchable book. It begins on the cover, where the braille alphabet letters for the word WIND has been punched into the cover. The tactile reading experience continues through the entire book with cut-out shapes, embossed pages, raised textures, glossy smooth pages and rough textures to give an illusion of the feel of what or who the Little Giant is speaking to. 

  

Herbauts uses textual elements to include references senses beyond sight and touch; answers to the Little Giant’s questions aren’t said they’re murmured, sighed and rumbled, the wolf mentions the ‘dark smell’ of the forest, sugary is used to describe the apple the Little Giant bites into. By combining all of these sensory elements the book transcends the idea of color being directly tied to sight. Whether the Little Giant is blind or not doesn’t truly matter – Herbauts' story gives him other ways to answer his own question from a myriad of different sources. It is the combination of the text, the illustrations and the tactile elements of the book that make the book unique. All of them are special on their own, but together they create an experience for the reader.

 I Saw a Peacock witha Fiery Tail

Source: 17^th Century English poem (Anonymous)

Illustrated by: Ramsingh Urveti

Graphic Design by: Jonathan Yamakami

Before anyone calls me out, I will readily admit that this is not a translated text.  In fact, the actual text comes from an anonymous source, dating back to England in the 17^th century.  But this book was published by Tara Books in 2011 and the work of Gond tribal artist Ramsingh Urveti and Brazilian graphic designer Jonathan Yamakami certainly, at the very least solidifies, its status as an international picture book that deserves recognition here in the United States.

The text is a trick poem, or what Margaret Atwood refers to as a writer’s version of trompe l’oeil.  

Consider the opening lines of the poem:

I saw a peackock with a fiery tail

I saw a blazing comet drop down hail

I saw a cloud with ivy circled around

Here’s the “trick” of the poem, each descriptive clause (ex: with a fiery tail) is written for the subject of the line below (ex: I saw a blazing comet).  If you do the same thing for the next line, you end up with a “I saw a cloud drop down hail.”  The entire poem in this same fashion if the observant reader picks up the trick. 

Playing on this idea, Yamakami came up with a die-cutting technique to create a way to deceive the reader’s eye in relation to the illustrations as well.  Holes are cut into strategic places in the page allowing the reader to “peak” through to the next page.  The holes connect the two lines and break them at the same time.

Fortunately for you, I’ve tracked down a video so you can see this beautiful book in action.  Take a minute and check it out here.

Fun, right?  And unique!  What stood out to me (and why I wanted so much to include it in this post) is that it shows what a trick poem is.  Let’s be honest, even my English major self had to stop and really think about what was the descriptive clause and subject line.  Poetry often gets a bad rap, it feels distant and unapproachable when presented in such stark terminology.  If you described a trick poem that way to a sixth grader then asked them to write their own I have a feeling most of them would feel overwhelmed and lost, defeated before they even try.  But what if you read them the poem in this fashion?  What if you had the ability to show them as Urveti and Yamakami have so succinctly done?

Part of my hope with “outside the box” is that these books present a new way of looking at something.  When I first got my hands on a copy of this book that is exactly how it made me feel.  It made something from four hundred years ago new.  I also appreciated the English text being paired with Urveti’s Gond illustrations.  We’ve come across a few other Gond artists in other books I’ve mentioned.  What fascinated me even more was this interview with Yamakami, in which he explains how the process to create a book that presented both ways the poem could be read without actually printing the poem twice took over two years to create.  Further, and we’ll get back to this with author and illustrator relationships, he did not even work with Urveti during the book’s creation and has yet to hear the illustrator’s reaction to the finalized product.  There are so many things to explore in this book, and before I get too long-winded (another post, another day on this one) let’s take a look at one last book today.

I Am Different!  Can You Find Me?

By: Manjula Padmanabhan

This book as well, in full disclosure, was first published in India.  Technically then, it falls into the international picture book category and is not actually a translated text.  But, it contains translation!  And not just from one language, but from sixteen different languages!

As the first page of the book states “This book celebrates differences.”  Not a unique concept right now, especially with the cry for diversity and true representation of EVERY child in the children’s literature community, but it is the way that Padmanabhan blends text and illustration to represent differences in language makes this an ideal choice for my outside the box category. 

Padmanabhan, who was born in Dehli, and spent her childhood in Sweden, Pakistan and Thailand, has written children’s books, plays and a comic strip, Suki.  (Kristi’s note: the strip started life as Double Talk, was then published under the name Suki, and is now called Sukiyaki in case you are interested in checking it out further.)  The strip found new life in 2016 after a hiatus following its initial run in the 1980’s and 1990’s.  I point all this out because I often find it fascinating to consider all the different mediums authors and illustrators often work in.  Plus, I found her adult-geared comic strip enlightening and strikingly different than this book.  See, even Padmanbhan’s work celebrates differences!

As I mentioned, the book features sixteen languages; English, Hebrew, Hawaiian, Cree, Arabic, Filipino, Gullah, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, Nahuatl, Italian, Navajo, Swahili, French and American Sign Language.  Each two-page spread asks the question “Can you find me?” in each of the aforementioned languages with a pronunciation guide underneath.  One page of the spread is the name of the language and an illustration of objects, one of which is different than the others, whether it be in shape, size or color.  Answer the “can you find me?” question, the reader is tasked with finding the different object in each spread.  On the opposite page is an explanatory paragraph on the language itself, featuring facts such as its origins, where it is the official language, in which direction the script is read from and a few words an English speaker may know that actually originated in the featured language.  Some also have additional words the reader can learn in the language, such as the colors of the rainbow in Swahili or how to count to five in Cree.

This book fascinated me. I can honestly say that I was not familiar with a few of the language it highlights.  What I also appreciated was that the illustrated differences that go with each language are not stereotypical representations of those languages and the cultures they are associated with – they’re really just everyday objects.  In that way Padmanabhan celebrates the language itself while adding an interactive feature to the book.

I also want to point out that this book is a Global Fund for Children Book. According to their website, as of 2016, The Global Fund for Children has awarded over $34 million in grants to more than 600 grassroots organizations in 78 countries. Further, the Global Fund for Children Books has produced more than 30 award-winning titles for children from birth to age 12. Each book exposes children to diverse cultures around the world and in their own community. In this way, the books teach children to respect differences as well as appreciate the values and ties that bind us together as human beings. Global Fund for Children books integrate children’s perspectives, present positive images of children, and help to raise a new generation of productive, caring citizens of a global society. You can find more Global Fund for Children Books at their store here. Also, when I was perusing their website, I found their wonderful resource list to help teach children about diversity, tolerance and global citizenship.


Hopefully I’ve been able to show that these books are not just about their illustrative gimmicks. They are unique in the way they blend those illustrative tactics with textual elements to create an entire experience for the reader. Also, I found this information that was announced in Publisher’s Weekly a few weeks ago about Macmillan Children's Publishing Group new yet unnamed imprint extremely relevant to the type of books I’m including here. Macmillan stated the imprint would be "centered around imaginative and innovative books that inspire kids to explore, learn, and have fun while helping them develop the skills to do so." They went on further to say “our vision as an imprint is interactive books, playful books, substantive, useful, and informative books in formats kids have never seen before.” Seems to me like they may consider looking at some of these international and translated texts that are already doing that!

Here’s to hoping your day is filled with treats and not tricks, readers. We’re going to finish off the Outside the Box category with one “stinky” post I guarantee you won’t want to miss.