Meet the Illustrator David Wisniewski

Publisher blurb: Parents are always spouting these rules. Do they really care about nutrients and mattresses, or are they hiding something? Luckily, one fearless grown-up will risk his neck and his dignity to find out. Disguised as everything from a chocolate milk scuba diver to a giant nose, this counterspy uncovers the disturbing truth. And what he learns will shock you like nothing before. ... Dangerous digit gangs! Powerful sumo cells! Those are just some of the secrets revealed in this book by Caldecott medalist David Wisniewski. But don′t let anyone catch you reading it-especially grown-ups. Who knows what could happen if they knew that you knew?

Until this week I had no idea there was a second book from this series. I loved sharing the first book The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups with teachers and students in my school library. This book is also perfect when classes are talking about persuasive language. Now I have seen David Wisniewski wrote a second book and that makes me smile.

The library I visit each week also has three other very different books illustrated using paper cutting by this US author/illustrator. Even though I had seen the first book above David Wisniewski is a new discovery. His sixth book Golem won the Caldecott Medal in 1997.

His first children's book was The Warrior and the Wise Man written in 1989 which I talk about in detail below. Sadly David Wisniewski died in 2002 aged only 49. He originally worked in a circus and then he and his wife formed a puppet theatre which toured schools. "Shadow puppetry was our speciality, wherein flat, jointed figures move against a screen illuminated with rear-projected scenery. Although I didn't know it at the time, shadow puppetry trained me to do picture books."

The wonderful thing about the library I visit is that clearly the Teacher-Librarian has had the time and the interest/passion to explore amazing illustrators such as David Wisniewski. As I said, my library had a copy of The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups but it never occurred to me to investigate the illustrator. Perhaps this was because back in 1998 I was not "Googling" every new book in the way I can now.

Here is a partial list of books by David Wisniewski:

• Elfwyn's Saga New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1990.
• Golem. New York: Clarion Books, 1996.
• Rain Player New York: Clarion Books, 1991.
• The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1998.
• Sumo Mouse San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2002.
• Sundiata: Lion King of Mali New York: Clarion Books, 1992.
• Tough Cookie New York: Clarion Books, 1999.
• The Warrior and the Wise Man New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1989.
• The Wave of the Sea Wolf New York: Clarion Books, 1994.

Blurb: Sam Spade, move over! In his years on the force, Tough Cookie Busted the Ginger Snaps and broke up the Macaroons. Now living as a private eye at the bottom of the cookie jar, he learns that Fingers has gotten his old partner, Chips. With his best girl, Pecan Sandy, at his side, Tough Cookie sets out to put Fingers away, for keeps! This hilarious spoof will have readers rolling in the aisles.

From the library I borrowed The Warrior and the Wise man; Rain Player; and Sea Wolf. 

The Warrior and the Wise man is a Japanese folktale-style story. "When I had the idea for a story that would dramatise the contrast between two approaches to solving a problem, one relying on blind force and the other on reasoned action, I chose to set it in ancient Japan, a society that had clearly defined classes of warriors and wise men."

In this book we meet Tozaemon who is brave and fierce while his twin brother Toemon is thoughtful and gentle - the greatest wise man in the land. The emperor sets his sons a challenge to bring him the five eternal elements - fire, water, wind, earth and cloud. Tozaemon is like a bulldozer. He rampages through the land upsetting the demons while Toemon follows behind apologising and repairing. Each time he has to give away each of the elements  and so he arrives home almost empty handed but his brother Tozaemon has angered the demons and so they arrive with a huge army. Luckily the wisdom of Toemon saves the day and the Emperor learns an important lesson:

"Today I have learned a great truth ... Strength, though vital, must always be in the service of wisdom. For that reason, Toemon will become the next emperor of this land."

See inside this book here and also here.

Rain Player is a story from the Mayan civilisation. Fans of games like soccer and even quidditch.

"The favourite game of the Maya was pok-a-tok, a fast moving combination of present-day soccer and basketball, played with a sold rubber ball on a walled court. Opposing teams tried to send the ball through the stone rings above their heads. Hands and feet were not allowed to touch the ball; it had to bounce off padded hips, shoulders and forearms. The winning team was allowed to collect the jewellery and clothing of the spectators, who quickly ran away once the match was won. Losers received nothing, and sometimes lost their heads as well as the game." 

Chac, the Sun God hears Pik boasting and so he challenges him to a game of pok-a-tok. If Pik loses he will be turned into a frog. As a baby, Pik was given some special gifts - a planting stick, a ball, a jaguar tooth, a quetzal feather and water from a sacred cenote or well. Pik needs a team for the game so he visits the animals and places associated with his baby gifts. the story feels like a legend to explain drought and rain because when Pik wins the game he is taken up into the heavens by Chac and given an enormous gourd filled with water which he then pours over a thirsty world. 

This is the illustration of the quetzal. You can see inside this book and others on this Russian blog site.

The Good Luck Cat by Joy Harjo illustrated by Paul Lee

Each week I work with a small group of Grade 5 girls. These girls are struggling with reading but of even more concern is the struggle they have with comprehension. This surely is the reason we read.

This term our novel study is Aristotle by Dick King Smith.  Last week I came across The Good Luck Cat and it seemed like the perfect picture book partner. I thought I would use The Good Luck Cat as a warm up exercise before we started our reading of Aristotle. Both books explore the idea that cats have nine lives.

Before we started I asked the girls about cats and the idea of nine lives. This was a totally new idea to one of the girls. We make so many assumptions about general knowledge and I am not sure if I successfully explained the idea of nine lives to this student. Adding to this The Good Luck Cat explorers the culture of North American Indians. There is a reference in the book to a bustle. Native American Indians wear the bustle as part of their dance routine at the Pow Wow. They are made from eagle or hawk feathers. You can see one here:

Image Source: http://www.native-american-beadwork.net/english/English09What_is_Pow_Wow.htm

Our time was short so I didn't really spend enough time with this group talking about North American Indian traditions such as the pow wow and tee pee.

In The Good Luck Cat our narrator recounts the story of Woogie and how each of her nine lives was lost. Some are funny (in the clothes dryer), some are obvious (falling from a tree) and a couple are a little disturbing (shot with a BB gun by some young boys). 

The Good Luck Cat is not a new book - published in 2000 - but it made a good link text with Aristotle. Here is a review of The Good Luck Cat where you can see inside the book and read more plot details.

The Crow's Tale by Naomi Howarth

The Crow's tale is a pourquoi story. It could have the title Why the Crow has black feathers? or Why Crows croak? This story of the crow was inspired by a Native American legend called The Rainbow Crow. For the Lenni Lenape Indians and for readers today it contains messages of perseverance, bravery, truth and friendship.

It is winter. It is freezing cold. The land is covered in a thick blanket of snow. The animals are tired, starving and frozen. The wise owl asks for someone brave to visit the Sun. The only one with the ability to do this is Rainbow Crow. The Sun, grumbles, but gives the crow a long branch of fire. As crow flies home he becomes:

sooty and croaky
scorched, singed and blackened,
Crow was unrecognisable from his beak to his backend.

Crow is so sad about this change in his appearance and voice. But the animals, who are now warm from the fire, remind him of something important.

"Pretty or ugly, slim, thin or fatter, your beauty inside is the heart of the matter."  

Is this a message for everyone? Perhaps this is a story with a moral as well as the story of how the crow became a bird with black feathers.

Image source: https://animals.net/crow/

The library I visit each week like to attach labels to their books. They have one special set of labels for books loved by the staff called "our picks".  I can see why this beautifully illustrated picture book has this accolade. Take a look at Playing by the Book where Zoe shares so ideas for using this book with young children and you can also see some of the wonderful illustrations. Here is the web site for UK illustrator Naomi Howarth.