“Our Fort” by Marie Dorléans

admin July 10, 2022

0 4 minutes read

Children in the forest, Matt Myers
Draw the outdoors, Jairo Buitrago; Illustration by Rafael Jokten.Translated by Elisa Amado
Our fort, Marie Dorleans; Translated by Allison Waters

One summer, when I was a single mother raising second and fourth graders in Brooklyn and a few weeks without childcare were approaching, my friend Catherine and I rented a farmhouse in northern New York for a month. She brought in nine-year-old twins and had the children explore the forest while we were working. We gave them big whistles and generous boundaries (distant stone walls, winding streams, adjacent fields) and sent them out to run wild.

Alone in the woods, they also caused their imagination to run wild, so what they actually did was to establish order. They called their land Mimos. They built houses, ran businesses, named landmarks and created maps. They held a controversial town meeting in Flat Rock, issuing disastrous warnings about the dangers of the evil Snakey Forest, threatening in all respects. Like three new picture books where children unleash their imagination in the wilderness, this threat was enchantedly amplified and essential to the thrill of the experience.

In Matt Myers’ “Children of the Forest”, it is the beasts, dragons and invaders that threaten the boy and his sister who declare the children of the forest raised by wolves. Immersed in the wilderness story, the boy bravely protects his sister, despite being “on the verge of starvation.” He leads her to the art of her survival, they search for food, repel dangerous animals, and set up a night camp. There is a fun tension between the text and the image, and what we are saying is at odds with what we are seeing. Older children enjoy joking. Beasts are domestic cats and dogs, dragons are lush trees with Twiggy teeth, and intruders are mothers of children.

However, the mother’s visit breaks the spell of a girl who is flawed in the comfort and safety of the house with a shout of “Mom!”. Left alone in the deep dusk, the boy succumbs to his brilliant imagination and runs back home. There you can see the children being pushed into the bunk bed. The soft, nostalgic pencils and watercolors of the soothing green and mauve Myers contain adult details (sleeping dad is reading Thoreau), but kids are also in their backyard. As I am planning an adventure, I have a lot to discover.

Rafael Jokten’s “Drawing Outdoors” by Jairo Buitrago is between two mountains “in the middle” where students of all ages arrive on foot from all directions and pee their dogs. It’s a little confusing story that begins at school. In the bush. We learn that there is “almost nothing” in school. Blackboard, some chairs. But it has a playful teacher who guides the kids outside to explore the landscape that has a mysterious similarity to the dinosaurs they are studying. Children draw what they see. Brontosaurus follows the curve of the hill, and Stegosaurus lurks behind the rocks.

Except for the somewhat confusing details of a student with a tablet holding up to shoot a scene, it’s a fantasy mix of art, science and nature. What do you make with this? The camera doesn’t lie: we can clearly see the dinosaurs on his screen. And what about the fact that children are equipped with easels, canvas, binoculars, and their extraordinary tablets, despite repeated mentions of school resource shortages? Perhaps it’s a point about imagination that transcends technology, creativity that transcends material reality, or a nod from the illustrator to the digital media in which the drawing of this book was created. , With just the right amount of details.

This story of an unusual school day (also available in Spanish) has a lot to like, especially when it’s windy, kids crouch down, and Tyrannosaurus Rex bumps through the trees. .. Brave younger children stay and attract. Two scared older children run back to school. And it gives their up-and-coming romance the opportunity to bloom.

“Children of the Forest” are playing with words that convey one thing and pictures that convey another, but “Drawing Outdoors” is to represent a wonderful sight by Marie Dorlean (the winner of the new 2021 game). Uses simple words for. The York Times / New York Public Library Best Illustrated Award for “The Night Walk”) can be read without words. An exquisite illustration reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints tells the story of three friends who revisited a fort built in the woods across the meadow.

In the opening spread, you can see the kids tying the laces and wearing sandals. From the open door, you can see the dirt road they are about to take. This is some epic bookmaker. I turned the page and found them a little further down the road, leaving behind a greedy sister sitting on the fence. The only suggestion for adults is the shadow of a neighbor hanging a sheet on the clothesline, and we know we’re on an adventure.

Everything about painting advances us into the book. Rippling grass pencil lines as children pass through the fields. The winding road they leave behind. Clouds swelling over these now-looking small (still clear) children as they climb the hills. The drama arrives in strong winds. I feel that strong winds lift the children from their feet and enjoy the horror. When the storm subsides and the blue sky returns, we can smell the almost damp fields. And as they discover the fort they are still standing on, we cannot help sharing the relief of the children.

It’s a simple story. Still, we can imagine that “our fort” will have a big impact on children. One day a child may enter the woods with friends and spend weeks of happy summer building a fort and establishing order. Storms, raging winds, and evil serpentine forests.

Sophie Blackall has won the Caldecott Medal twice. Her next picture book, “Farmer,” will be published in September.