by Sam Juliano
Eleanor Estes won a Newbery Honor in 1945 for a deeply poignant work about bullying, immigration, intolerance and forgiveness titled The Hundred Dresses. The timeless classic, illustrated in striking minimalist watercolors by Louis Slobodkin is as relevant today as ever. The book’s central character is a young Polish girl, Wanda Petronski, whose odd name, foreign accent and impoverishment make her the object of ridicule to the students in her small town Connecticut classroom. Maddie, a fellow classmate realizes, too late, that she has been unkind to one of her fellow pupils. Led by Peggy, Maddie’s best friend and the most popular girl in school, take acute aim at her preposterous mendacious claim that she possess one hundred beautiful dresses, when she wears the same tattered dress to the school everyday. It is only when Wanda wins the class drawing contest, for her one hundred pictures of various beautiful dresses, that Maddie and Peggy realize what Wanda was talking about. Though Wanda’s family moves her to the city because of the bad treatment she received, she wins a drawing contest and demonstrates generosity to her tormentors. The Hundred Dresses suggests that bowing to peer pressure cab lead to profound regret and missed opportunities. In the 1955 Caldecott Honor winning Crow Boy by Yaro Yashima a young boy is isolated from other children but is taken under the wings of his teacher Mr. Isobe, who brings out Chibi’s creativity and knowledge in their Japanese village schoolhouse. Numerous other picture books and young adult novels have examined this theme, with a popular new millennium entry The Brand New Kid by Katie Couric and Marjorie Priceman a soulful study of tolerance in the case of a boy evincing physical and behavioral disparities.
A valuable lesson is achieved in one of the most distinguished picture books of 2018, Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse by Marcy Campbell with illustrations by Corrina Luyken. A boy wearing shoes with holes and securing free lunches at school is seen by his classmates as a teller of tall tales, a modern day counterpart of the perjurer Samantha in Eveline Ness’ 1966 Caldecott Medal winner Sam, Bangs and Moonshine, who declares she owns a pet kangaroo among other deceits. Adrian waxes lyrical about his proud ownership of a horse, often elaborating in wildly descriptive terms, and quickly rallying to mitigate the feasibility of such a claim. Yet, Campbell poses that Adrian’s innocuous contentions lead to inventiveness in this veiled tale about the power of the imagination that transcends it’s seeming insurmountable obstacles. In mostly sedate, autumnal hues master artist Corinna Luyken, whose previous picture book debut The Book of Mistakes won a spate of starred reviews has brought astonishing and controlled resplendence to a minimalist narrative of mutual realization and budding friendship in a terrain where some will never in economic terms have what others do. Young adult novelist S. E. Hinton would assert Adrian’s type comes from the “other side of the tracks” but Campbell and Luyken know well that inspiration can come from the most unlikely of places.
Book craftsmanship reigns supreme in Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse starting with the opening end papers which are white with a single dulled purple-brown bush of flowers to the extreme right which thematically portends the seeds of a friendship and the darkness that eventually turns to light, the ignorance that morphs into imagination, disbelief transforming into acceptance and understanding. Similarly the frontispiece is predominantly white, save for the depiction of flower growth parallels a young person’s coming of age. The copyright-title page double page spread is the loveliest in that department of any picture book published in 2018, right down to the lettering and the upper case orange used to connote the double meaning of “not.” The yellow flowers illuminate the brown foliage during what is seemingly late in the year’s third quarter. Orange-haired Adrian is first seen daydreaming at a long lunchroom table sitting by himself, as all the others find a taker for their chatter. He is animated in the second canvas where he tells other classmates that he owns a horse. Luyken sets him off from this humdrum throng of students and their parents at the end of a school day by his hair and more color concentrated clothes. Two girls, both holding long weed stems, profess a contrary view as top how much honesty one can expect from Adrian discuss the situation. Chloe says Jamie will believe anything after she buys into Adrian’s assertion that the horse goes to the country sometimes and has already figured out his house is way too small to house or allow for a shelter for such a large animal.
In a small clearing near hedges, disbelieving Chloe tells her mom that she has already figured out that Adrian does not and cannot own a horse. Her mom, repairing a bicycle rejects her daughter’s presumptuousness, telling her “And how would you know, Ms. Smarty-Pants?” Chloe reiterates her certainty based the free lunch and worn shoes as well as information she has from a friend’s cousin that it is “super expensive” to own one and its not realistic to attend to it at one’s home. Chloe takes note that Adrian’s cluttered desk is a modest workload he can’t manage, enforcing her belief that owning a horse is well beyond his means in more ways than one. Again Luyken etches a striking view of Adrian, this time from the back as he’s seated, and the orange hair stands out from spread. Chloe’s patience with Adrian tall tales was nearing his limit after the boy told a more gullible audience near the swings more specifics to conform his ownership: “A beautiful horse with its white coat and golden mane” and “the biggest, brownest eyes of any horse, anywhere.” Unbeknownst to Chloe but perhaps sensed by the riveted audience Adrian possesses a degree of drawing aptitude, employing blue chalk to confidently document what his horse looks like. Though the group is seduced Chloe remains unfazed as she disembarks from a swing, taking up the monkey bars on the following tapestry when she finally decided to call Adrian out on what she perceives to be a big fabrication: He’s lying! Adrian Simcox does Not have a horse! Chloe was hanging upside down but was still able to see that Adrian was very saddened by what she said. Still, Chloe stays the course and later that night again tells her mother there is no truth in Adrian’s claim. Mom ignores Chloe, advising her that it time to take their dog Chompers out for his walk. Luyken’s paints a picture of comfort and order in Chloe’s home, a sharp contrast of course from Adrian’s poverty.
Without revealing her destination Chloe’s Mom diverts right at the corner where they normally turn left, leading her to a run down section, which Chloe observes as a place where everyday looks like trash day, though they meet a friendly fellow dog walker. Luyken’s darker hues accentuate the poverty-level homes, captures here by increased saturation. Chloe spots Adrian near a little house further down the street and she points her out to her Mom who confesses she knows who he is after running into his grandfather at a school picnic. Luyken’s more expansive embrace of ravishing color blends bring a happier ambiance than one would expect, a place with flower pots, trees and outdoor decorations. Mom and Grandpa converse and a turn of the page features an enlarged profile sketch of the classmates with Chloe suppressing a strong desire to utter six words: You. Do. Not. Have. A. Horse. Chloe can’t speak them after looking at Adrian’s face which resembled the one he sported the day she embarrassed him in front of those little kids. They face each other in facial expression contrast, but Chloe’s look on the following canvas is one exhibiting compassion. They play ball and the girl revisits the matter of the horse coaxing Adrian to again describe his prized possession in the most descriptive and hyperbolic terms: “…with a white coat and golden mane and the biggest, brownest eyes of any horse, anywhere…..”
Chloe’s realization of what Adrian is all about strikes her light a lightening bolt, and Luyken responds with a cathartic tapestry of astounding beauty, one of spiritual resonance where a long term tormentor sees the light And then I thought Adrian Simcox had just about the best imagination of any kid in our whole school. The depiction of Adrian, bowed head with orange hair in a tumult of yellow bleeding and autumn branch fever packs an emotional wallop and is at its essence a triumph of imagination. It is my favorite illustration in any 2018 picture book release. Luyken follows up this rapturous tapestry with a stunning encore, depicting Chloe making the ultimate concession: I also thought, he had the most beautiful horse of anyone, anywhere. The illustrator comes full circle with revelatory resplendence, which is concluded on the sublimely sketched end papers where color says a thousand words.
Author Marcy Campbell
There are some days of the week when I count this stirring and beautiful work as the finest picture book of the year. the books dust jacket cover and replicated inside panel are a feast for art lovers. When the committee convenes, Luyken, an amazing new illustrative talent, and Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse should be sitting front and center. Marcy Campbell’s shattering minimalism should be under the Newbery microscope too.
Artist Corinna Luyken
Note: This is the fifth entry in the 2018 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 25 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 late January, hence the reviews will continue until around the middle of that month.