On two pioneering
children’s classics that capture very different sides to the challenges that a
new season can present.
In “Spring,” the opening story
in Arnold Lobel’s award-winning first book about his most iconic characters, Frog
and Toad Are Friends (1970), Frog arrives at Toad’s house to announce
the arrival of the new season, only to find his best friend unwilling to emerge
from his long winter’s nap. The story very nicely introduces the two characters’
personalities and relationship: Frog more optimistic and hopeful, pushing Toad
in new directions; Toad more pessimistic and worried, reining in Frog’s
occasional excesses. Yet, like all of Lobel’s deceptively simple (there’s that
phrase again) Frog and Toad stories, it also illustrates a universal and important
emotional lesson for young readers: the ease of resisting change or staying in
our comfortable homes and routines (when we’re lucky enough to have them), and yet
the importance of pushing past that to find the wonders of the ever-changing
world outside our door.
In The
Garden of Abdul Gasazi (1979), the award-winning first book by iconic
author and illustrator Chris
Van Allsburg, young Alan is led by a naughty dog named Fritz (for whom he’s
pet-sitting) into the mysterious, enchanted, and possibly dangerous titular
garden. The book features all the main elements
that have distinguished Van Allsburg’s works and career ever since: stunning,
(usually) black and white illustrations; an undertone of the supernatural, as
experienced by seemingly ordinary young people; an interesting final twist to
add another layer to the book and its effects. Yet, despite not explicitly
identifying its seasonal setting, I would argue that Garden highlights subtly but significantly themes that complement
yet contrast with Lobel’s arguments for experiencing spring: Alan, a cautious
and proper young man content to stay at home, is led into his garden adventure
against his will; and while both he and Fritz escape the titular enchanter
(more or less; I won’t spoil the final twist!), there’s nothing to indicate
that Alan is particularly happy to have had the experience.
It might seem like a truism to note that the
world in general, and every new season in particular, is indeed both of these
things: a wonder to be explored (even if we have to shake off our rest to do
so), and yet a source of potential dangers (many of which we won’t see coming
until we’re dragged into them). But one of the achievements of great children’s
books is to present such truisms in original and compelling ways, and thus to
introduce them to our earliest audiences. Moreover, the very best children’s
books speak to the adults reading them at the same time that they’re speaking
to those young audiences; I would argue that one of the central dualities of
parenting is how much we want our children to explore and experience the world,
yet also how terrified we are of all the dangers that world will throw at them,
making this pair of books and images of spring very resonant for this Dad as
well.
Final spring
connection tomorrow,
Ben
PS.
What do you think? Thoughts on these or other children’s books? Other images of
spring you’d highlight?
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