by Sam Juliano
The last time the surname of Robert received titular misrepresentation was only a bit over a year ago when a nasal distortion caused by a nasty cold resulted in a stricken boy repeatedly voicing it to alert his “Mom” in Audrey Vernick, Liz Garton Scanlon and Matthew Cordell’s irresistible Bob, Not Bob! That is until early 2018 when talented Pacific Northwest author-artist Elizabeth Rose Stanton’s wildly popular classroom favorite Bub made its debut. A green, pointy eared humanoid markedly androgynous, “Bub” inherited his identification via a seemingly innocuous spelling error. On the very first day of school he handed in an arithmetic assignment, and failed to close the top of his “O”, and after his teacher calls him “Bub” the name took hold. As it is Bub is the middle child in a family of civilized monsters physically distinguished by a protruding bottom front tooth, and the only male offspring. Hanging on a living room wall are framed photos of some favorite family monsters like Frankenstein and a green-eyed cyclops and in a delightful homage the esteemed protagonists of Stanton’s last two best-selling picture books, Henny and Peddles. The oldest of the children is Bernice. On a page giving young readers a maiden look at the family dynamic, “Maw” is partial to sunflowers and wears a red necklace, “Paw” is white collar minimalist, while Bernice, who had taken up the guitar is a straight A student. She is also smitten with red bows, which dot her dress and tie her hair in a pigtail. Bob sports a blue apron and favors toys, crayons and paper airplanes. The toddler is a girl who is referred to as “The Baby” bereft of any agreement on a name. A pink head band features a pastel red flower and her cut dress is multicolored. Mind you the parents in this loving household could be rambunctious when they couldn’t firm anything up and their debates on a name, Gertrude! Gisell! Gabriella! Gladys! were deafening. In a splendid touch that would surely win approval from the late picture book humorist James Marshall (The Stupids Step Out) even the characters on the wall frames can’t take the bombast. Some wear headphones, ear plus and bolts, and the others muffle the sound with their fingers.
Meanwhile, Bub isn’t in the best of spirits, as he suggestions are ignored and his parents’ affections are expended on his older sister, the real apple of their eyes. Stanton asserts: He (Bub) noticed when Maw and Paw made a fuss over Bernice and her homework, and how they were extra quiet whenever she picked up a bow. In a marvelous double page spread Stanton, a former architect took up creating picture books, deftly juxtaposes The adoring parents who rejoice their eldest’s A pluses while in the background the “under-performing” Bub , holding a yellow test sheet graded with a B plus, is clearly persona non gratta. In the adjoining line-up Maw and Paw tells Bub to remains quiet and stop playing his harmonica while their darling Bernice is on performing mode. The canvas framed as And there was always something going on with The Baby depicts Maw trying to get baby to stop crying as Bub’s helpful overtures are ignored. He is further relegated to the back burner as Maw takes a photo of baby blubbering on a chair. Things went from bade to worse when this Maw told him if he didnt stay silent “big, ugly monsters” would abduct him. Poor Bub envisions a scary scenario based on Mom’s warning in a thought bubble. But Bub practically breaks down when he hears his Maw refer to him as a “bubbly brain” and further framing his homework effort as hopelessly tardy. Even the baby joins in the derision, calling him “Blub.” And still the parents wrangled over the name for The Baby, which finally drove the unappreciated Bub to enact a change. In another marvelous canvas He is seen across the gutter of the page with his arming shooting forward.
Stanton takes up the matter of how to visualize Bub’s decision to steer clear by drawing his outline in blue, and much like the character Patrick Swayze played in Ghost he is cognizant of all that is going on, but remains unseen by the family. Upholding the age old adage “absence makes the heart grow fonder” Bub is dearly kissed by the family who now vividly conjure up Bub’s once overlooked gestures (blowing a whistle, suggesting a name, offering up a pacifier to calm the noise). Then in a note that for some children’s literature aficionados might recall the one the chickens sent Farmer Brown in the Caldecott Honor book Click Clack Moo, Maw and Paw tell Bub they love and miss him and want him back. Bernice and the Baby are included on the written plea.. They then try shouting BUB!! and look under, over, around, everywhere (their striped cat is shown negotiating these searches in another charming series of vignettes. Bob’s response to their impassioned appeal is to send them a paper airplane which arrives in their midst from above. It includes a scene-specific response to all their assertions. He tells them he loves and misses them all too. But he makes some pre-requites to this returning to their realm. He wants the domestic bickering to cease, he wants them to settle on a name and he wants Bernice to be nice to him from now on. In short order the house returns to gleeful camaraderie (much as it did in Vera Brosgol’s Caldecott Honor book Leave Me Alone, after the AWOL grandmother returned to a high maintenance house of kids) and all seemed poised to learn well from taking so much for granted. Stanton opines things are even better and again the cast of characters on the wall are ecstatic, offering up peace symbols and thumbs up gestures. Stanton reveals on the final page that academically this reformed household is also on the upswing.
Stanton’s handsome pencil and watercolor pastel illustrations as always are her forte and they captivate children in every reading. Her use of violet on the creative in side cover, dust jacket titles sublimely frame the more myriad color usage throughout this book about monsters who display every emotions of a human family. the specter of the great William Steig hovers over this story of love reaffirmed, but only after tearful absence. Bub is surely a protege of Sylvester. The Caldecott committee will be convening in the early evening of Sunday, January 27th to decide on the winning books from the 2018 calendar year. Once again Stanton is there in the mix with a work destined to sit alongside her Henny and Peddles in the pantheon of beloved picture books. The lovely art well deserves recognition.
Note: This is the twenty-sixth 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.
Author-artist Elizabeth Rose Stanton