I Walk with Vanessa: A Story about a Simple Act of
Kindness.
By Kerascoët (Sébastien Cosset and Marie Pommepuy). Schwartz & Wade.
$17.99.
Wordy Birdy. By Tammi Sauer. Illustrated by Dave Mottram.
Doubleday. $16.99.
Pantomime books – that is, wordless ones –
are among the most difficult to write, and yes, they most certainly require
writing even if they are essentially wordless. The French husband-and-wife team
of Sébastien Cosset and Marie Pommepuy, using the nom de plume Kerascoët, uses pantomime very effectively in the
service of a “message” book about bullying. In fact, the message comes across
far more effectively in I Walk with
Vanessa than it would in a word-filled book, where it could easily sound
preachy and appear to be more a lecture than a story. I Walk with Vanessa, on the other hand, is a story, and a beautifully told one. Readers know Vanessa’s name
only because of the book’s title, and never learn the names of the other
children in the book at all. The story starts with Vanessa and her parents
moving to a new house, continues with Vanessa being introduced in class, and
shows the entirely expected difficulties that any “new kid” would have in
adjusting to a different school in a different place. Vanessa sits apart as the
other children work and play together, and starts her walk home alone as the
other kids gather in groups, smiling and chattering to each other: even though
no actual words are shown, the excellent illustrations show exactly what is
going on. Then Vanessa encounters a boy who appears to be the class bully,
puffing himself up and yelling at her for no reason whatsoever before stomping
away down the street. One little girl, who has already noticed Vanessa during
the school day, sees the bullying, watches Vanessa shed some tears as she runs
the rest of the way home, and herself feels sad. This girl notices what house
Vanessa goes into, and talks to three of her own friends about what happened –
leaving all four kids downcast and dejected. The girl is clearly thinking about
Vanessa all evening, even as her upbeat family goes through its usual routines.
But at breakfast the next morning, the girl has an idea – her whole face seems
to light up, in one of the best pictures in the book. She runs out the door
with her backpack, but instead of heading for school, she goes to Vanessa’s
house, takes her by the hand, and starts walking to school with her. And soon
the two are joined by other kids, and more and more children, until a huge,
happily bubbling crowd is escorting Vanessa to school – and the bully is
nowhere to be seen in the group or the classroom. This is a lovely paean to the
notion that it takes a village (or a school) to help, support and protect a
victim of bullying (although unfortunately in real life, bullies do not just
disappear this way). After the story, there are
some words here, ones for children on helping kids who are bullied (“one small
act of kindness can inspire more kind acts”) and ones for adults presenting and
defining “some helpful words to use when talking about this book with
children,” the list including “ally,” “brave,” “bystander,” “teasing” and more.
A beautifully written – yes, written – book with a lovely presentation of a
difficult subject, I Walk with Vanessa
handles its tough topic sure-handedly and more effectively than do many books
that are absolutely jam-packed with verbiage.
On the other hand, kids given to too many
words need help as well, even when a story uses a bird as a stand-in for a
child. Wordy Birdy is the opposite of
I Walk with Vanessa in its word use –
there are so many words here that the story begins before the pages proper
(that is, on the inside front cover), and does not end until after the last
page has been turned (it continues onto the inside back cover). Tammi Sauer’s title character chitters and chatters
from wake-up time to bedtime, unleashing a torrent of words that complement her
multicolored plumage and the overall bright appearance she has in Dave
Mottram’s lively illustrations. On and on Wordy Birdy goes, exclaiming nonstop
about what she likes (“spaghetti and unicorns and library books and polka
dots…”) and what she dislikes (“tall grass or turtlenecks or long lines or tuna
salad…”), and sometimes asking an unending series of questions – whose answers
she never learns, because she does not stop talking long enough to hear what
anyone tells her. Wordy Birdy’s unending word flow becomes a problem for her
three forest friends, Rabbit, Raccoon and Squirrel – all of whom are given
distinctive personalities through Mottram’s art. When the book’s narrator says that
“Wordy Birdy is not the world’s best listener,” the three object to that
characterization, and the narrator has to change it to, “Wordy Birdy is terrible at listening.” And this becomes
an issue when Wordy Birdy blissfully strolls into the deep woods, ignoring
signs that warn of danger and paying no attention when Squirrel, Rabbit and
Raccoon warn her to stop, go back, and finally, “Run for your life!” It turns
out that there is a very large, very angry bear directly in Wordy Birdy’s path,
and Wordy Birdy is – well, actually, she is rescued by her three friends, who
band together (Mottram makes them look like the Three Musketeers) and get
themselves and Wordy Birdy to safety.
Now, none of this changes Wordy Birdy’s propensity for nonstop babbling most of the time – Sauer makes it clear
that a bird does not change its plumage just like that! – but what does happen is that Wordy Birdy learns
to listen some of the time, and that
certainly represents progress. In other words, things are better at the end of
the book than at the start – a worthy (or word-thy) outcome.
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