A Picture Book Is a Dance
I wrote an article for Moonbow (my newsletter about children’s books) about the radically playful and accessible art of Remy Charlip—one of my favorite artists of all time. Here’s an extract:
Not long ago, I took a walk to clear my mind, but instead of listening to my own thoughts, I listened to Ali Smith’s. Smith is a brilliant contemporary author who, as one New York Times critic put it, “has a beautiful mind,” so I was in good company. On my walk, Smith talked about art and how it provokes and “unfixes” us, that “art opens a hole in that fixity” and creates space for us to question things we think we know. Smith believes curiosity fuels connection, engagement, and aliveness. This idea — that art has the power to radically alter fixed forms — immediately made me think of one of my favorite artists: Remy Charlip.
Remy Charlip was a dancer, choreographer, designer, and teacher, but I know him best for his work writing and illustrating children’s books. I can’t remember when Charlip’s books first entered my world, but I remember the feeling I had when I first read what is now his most famous book, Fortunately (1964). It was exhilaration, not only for its silly humor but in anticipation of what wild surprise would come next. The story is about a boy named Ned, who receives an invitation to a surprise birthday party in Florida, but he’s miles away in New York; fortunately, he has an airplane; unfortunately, the motor explodes; fortunately, he has a parachute — and so begins a series of chaotic mishaps for Ned. The use of repetition and contrasting spreads in vibrant color and back and white propel the reader in every direction as Ned’s luck continues to change.''It is a flying, falling in space, diving in water, swimming, running, digging himself in and out of a cave and into a ballroom dance,'' Charlip told The New York Times in 1999.
It was while reading Fortunately that I recognized the power of the page turn. With each turn of the page, the anticipation builds: Will poor Ned be eaten by a ferocious tiger? Knowing it’s a book for children, it’s unlikely, but there’s still a chance—and you can’t wait to flip the page over to find out. Turning a page in a Charlip book is like opening a door, not to some fantastical far-off land, but to new experiences where pictures and words dance together unexpectedly.
Read the rest on Moonbow.
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