Picture books manage to convey stories to children often using very few words. To do this successfully, the pictures themselves become a visual narrator of sorts, perfect for their audience of young pre-readers, or children first learning to read independently. Amy Martin’s new oversized picture book, Symphony City, undoubtedly fulfills this mission.
In fact, the story in Symphony City is told primarily through the images, which differ from what I typically find in picture book illustrations. Here, sparse lines and solid blocks of color come together to portray a young girl, saddened about her broken record player and bored, almost to tears. (Yes! An actual record player is shown– fun conversation starter with young children raised on CDs and mp3s!)
An ad for a free orchestral concert catches her eye on the newspaper her father is holding, and they immediately set off for the subway. When the crowd gets large, the girl and her father are separated. Soon the people dissipate and the girl follows the sound of music being played in the subway by a lone flutist. In an attempt to find her way, the girl leaves the subway and finds more music at every turn, from a keyboardist on the street to a french horn player in a window.
Though the illustrations may be realistic in presentation, their form of representation is much more fanciful, for the music itself is represented by such images as small yellow birds, peeping black cats, and falling lines of rain, among others. This lends itself to a reading experience that’s less about plot, and more about the beautiful sights in place of the sounds of the instruments shown. Here’s an example:
And I have to say that I’m incredibly impressed with the ingenuity shown in design– the paper book cover, which is most often removed in our household for ease and protection, folds out to a durable poster of the above image. Perfect for a child’s bedroom or play room!
Symphony City is a sophisticated new picture book, among the first releases from McSweeney’s McMullens, a new children’s imprint of McSweeney’s books. This concise and informative Publisher’s Weekly article from earlier this year gives a good sense of what we can expect from McSweeney’s McMullens. From this first release that I’ve seen, there is much to be excited about.
Dawn’s adoration for picture books is fulfilled in her daily life with her own young children, and her impending return to teaching preschool. Picture book love is shown every week on her blog, my thoughts exactly, in the feature friday’s five.