by Sam Juliano
U boats are sailing once more. -The Producers
Dazzle Ships: World War I and the Art of Confusion by Chris Barton and Victo Ngai is an avant garde masterwork. If the American Library Association had a separate category for Most Distinguished Picture Book Cover, I’d imagine this would be one of the finalists. Of course, with Dazzle Ships it is a package deal from end papers, through the initial double page spread (sneaky, stripy camouflage ship) and the arresting multi patterned and colored art, it is quite the visually captivating experience, and quite unlike any First World War book yet published. Though I do personally adore 2017 non fiction picture book works by Katherine Roy, Molly Bang and Jason Chin, I have a hunch that if a non-fiction ends up on the winners circle this year it will probably be this one. Ngai’s art is original, unique, visionary, and frame-worthy. I do see the studied preparation to the source and a glowing future career for this gifted illustrator. The final Metropolis canvas (Times change; Technology changes) is really spectacular. I appreciate the sustained motifs and the mastery of scale and find this as a book that certainly rewards repeated visits.
One of the biggest problems for British and American ships during the war was submarine attacks from German U boats. A Royal Navy officer named Norman Wilkinson realized that deception by way of camouflage might be feasible in confusing the enemy on speed and direction. The first double page spread showcases a fleet of ships including one painted in stripes. A note explains Britain’s world dominance, when it’s famed empire was made possible by their Royal Navy and their vital role as one of the allies during the First World War, which lasted four years, beginning in 1914. A God of the Seas is seen in gold-red ruling regalia. An ocean canvas depicts a submarine closing in on an allied vessel committed to oceanic subterfuge. A stunning military canvas denoting armed soldiers in a European map supplements Barton’s text, explaining Britain’s dire straights with so many ships sunk and food supplies running low. A U boat is defined as an “Unterseeboat” or undersea boat. British losses are shown in a canvas featuring downed vessels and a periscope, which Germans employed to look above the surface, before launching their deadly torpedoes. Though the British achieved at least a fair measure of success in dealing with the submarines with depth charges, the long-shot idea of camouflage came to him after a weekend away fishing from his job as mine sweeper:
I suddenly got the idea that since it was impossible to paint a ship so that she could not be seen by a submarine, the extreme opposite was the answer–to paint her, not for low visibility, but in such a way as to break up her form and thus confuse a submarine officer as to the course on which she was heading.
Ngai’s patterned art in the camouflage tapestries, showing the idea was practically ancient is as brilliant as the one showing showing workers conforming to government orders to prepare the newly-named “dazzle ships” which were meant to confuse Germans with design reinvention. In a subsequent double spread spread the Queen of the Seas is seen again with her children enjoying food and drink in symbolic reference to the effectiveness of the new strategy, when Germans wasted much of their torpedo supply because of the deception. The government ordered the design of many other ships, and enlisted some young woman to apply the designs. Even the King of England, a veteran of the high seas, came aboard to look through a periscope to set directional course. Nagai’s magnificent multi-leveled model display is followed by a close-up of the King who is astonished that his expectations were wrong, that he was “dazzled” too!
Dazzle became all the rage stateside, even as far as to draw attention to a ship-shaped New York City naval recruiting station. When the war ended it was inconclusive as to how many ships were thought to be saved by the ruse. The United States thought the effectiveness was clear, but the British weren’t as sure. Still they were told the sailors on the ships painted “felt better knowing that something had been tried to keep them from being torpedoed. Ngai’s final futuristic canvas is the book’s most artistically superlative after the cover. Of the non-fiction picture books released in 2017, Dazzle Ships is in the opinion of this writer the most extraordinary in both conception and execution. Barton’s text is captivating and Ngai’s art is sublime and creativity wrought. There shouldn’t be any question it deserves to be weighing prominently in the Caldecott deliberations commencing this weekend.
Note: This is the fortieth entry in the 2017 Caldecott Medal Contender series. The annual venture 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 in the neighborhood of around 30 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 in mid-February, hence the reviews will continue until around the end of January or through the first week of February.