by Sam Juliano
What often seems to get lost in the shuffle is that the two initially intrepid protagonists of Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s exceedingly popular Sam & Dave Dig A Hole are a model duo of ineptitude. Like a good stage mystery where the audience knows more than the interacting characters, readers get the advantage of seeing what Sam and Dave continue to barely avoid, even while their wily dog is on to what its masters, farcically missed by earthy inches. Diamonds are above, below and to the side of them. When they get really close to shoveling into them dead-on, they take a snack break and dubiously change directions, while their ever-astute pooch easily enough senses what they continue to avoid. As the folly of their The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Shoot Straight-style exploits become more pronounced Klassen gives visual enhancement by making the diamonds bigger and bigger. In one instance when their treasure is just about staring them in the face (three-quarters of a double page spread is occupied by a colossal sized jewel) they re-direct their focus, while the canine friend looks squarely at the find, no doubt thinking “How stupid can you guys be?” Eventually these dirty faced prospectors’ arduous excavation forces them to take a rest that soon enough leads to deep sleep.
This leads to the year’s most controversially captivating finale of any picture book of 2014, and no doubt one that has made this unique picture book a serious front runner in the field. Without warning the book takes a surrealistic twist when the boys fall through the dirt and plummet through open space to end up exactly where they started, though some small details indicate they are not at all in the same place but in some kind of alternate dimension, one that on the bare surface recalls The Twilight Zone or Star Trek’s “Mirror Mirror.” Sharp eyed readers will pick up the disparities, which include different flowers, an apple tree that is changed to one that offers up pears, the weathervane how features a duck, whereas at the beginning it was a chicken. Some color changes on the cat’s collar and the flower deepen the mystery, which still remains unsolved by book critics and fans.
Travis Jonker, an enterprising educator and past member of Caldecott committees recently penned an exhaustive analysis of the various possibilities in trying to sort out the ending that Barnett and Klassen so far are understandably mum about. The fact that a picture book can invite such multiple interpretations speaks to both the brilliance of the concept, and denouement. First off, Jonker poses “The Dog is Jesus Theory,” which suggest that the dog is a symbol of Christendom’s most revered figure, always trying to lead the kids in the right direction. The kids, so this proposition goes, end up in purgatory at the end, and to boot the Garden of Eden is suggested by the apple tree seen at the outset. For sure a very persuasive interpretation, and one of my own favorites. The “Truman Show-esque Civilization Theory” is explained as such:
“The boys fall into an underground world built to resemble their own. The only problem? The details are off. Basically if you’ve seen the movie The Truman Show (I have many times!) it’s exactly like that. The sky isn’t the sky–it’s a giant dome with lighting orchestrated by Ed Harris. The cat is an actor cat. Sam and Dave have entered a giant reality show. Proponents of the Mount Weather conspiracy (who believe there is a shadow government operating in a mountain in Virginia) will likely be drawn to this interpretation.”
Definitely a thoughtful interpretation, but one that for me is way over-the-top, though Jonker pretty much admitted so as well. Then there is the “Epic Journey” suggested by Jonker’s wife, which by way of experience changes the way the boys see the world. This is an interesting idea. The fourth, “The Other Side of the World Theory” is the one that my own wife and I both supported after the first reading. Things are different indeed, as a result of their reaching through to the other side.
However, I have long since embraced Theory #5 and Theory #6, and keep going back from one to the other. The former is a popular one with fellow teachers and the majority of my students: “It Was All a Dream, Man” Theory, which is boosted by Jonker’s dead-on observation that the close aren’t as dirty at the end. The fact that Sam and Dave fall asleep would immediately lend persuasive credence to this argument. The Alternate Reality Theory (#6) is the one I am now leaning towards. It supports the subtle changes in the establishing landscape. I have been unable as of yet to come up with a mitigating flaw in that interpretation, so it is really just a matter of which idea floats your boat.
Klassen, like Christian Robinson is one of children’s literature’s hottest properties. He pulled off a remarkable feat several years back when he won the Caldecott Medal for This is Not My Hat, and one of that same year’s Caldecott Honors for the even more impressive (to this writer) Extra Yarn, and then just year provided Lemony Snicket with magnificent art for The Dark. Klassen is one of the great minimalists, who brilliantly uses empty space to perspective effect. The colored pencil/digital illustrations in Sam & Dave Dig A Hole are strikingly applied to cream colored panels, and the subterranean tapestries of wide and sharply turning tunnels, and blackened faces have a coal mining ambiance. The art, design, concept and of course Barnett’s spare dialogue-generous text are all top-drawer. Sam & Dave Dig a Hole certainly doesn’t need my seal of approval to be considered one of the supreme front runners in the Caldecott race. But it has reached a point now where if the book doesn’t end of on the podium for one of the awards, most will be mighty shocked.
Note: This is the forty-eighth entry in the 2014 Caldecott Medal Contender series. The series does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running. In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration. It is anticipated the series will include at least 40 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender. Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end. The awards will be announced on February 2nd, hence the reviews will continue to the end of January.
