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[CCBC-Net] CSK Illustrator Books: Poetry of Langston Hughes
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From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:30:43 -0500
This morning I was just talking about the CSK illustrator books to a group and was struck once again by some of the powerful images created by Benny Andrews for Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes.
One particular image that never fails to take my breath away is the one he did for "Dream Variations"--it's the figure of a boy or young man standing up on tiptoe, curved shoulders hunched as his arms extend straight out in front of him. His hands curve downward, and cascading from/between his draped and angled fingers and spreading down in a funnel and across the bottom of the page and beneath his feet is the word "Dreams" repeated over and over again. The word extends up the facing page as well. It's as if he is casting a transformative spell, and it conveys the power of both words and dreams to me. The colors are also striking: blocks of orange and blue--complements (like the power of words and dreams?)--with white for stunning contrast.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608-262-9503 fax: 608-262-4933 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 23 Mar 2007 11:30:43 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:30:43 -0500
This morning I was just talking about the CSK illustrator books to a group and was struck once again by some of the powerful images created by Benny Andrews for Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes.
One particular image that never fails to take my breath away is the one he did for "Dream Variations"--it's the figure of a boy or young man standing up on tiptoe, curved shoulders hunched as his arms extend straight out in front of him. His hands curve downward, and cascading from/between his draped and angled fingers and spreading down in a funnel and across the bottom of the page and beneath his feet is the word "Dreams" repeated over and over again. The word extends up the facing page as well. It's as if he is casting a transformative spell, and it conveys the power of both words and dreams to me. The colors are also striking: blocks of orange and blue--complements (like the power of words and dreams?)--with white for stunning contrast.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608-262-9503 fax: 608-262-4933 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Fri 23 Mar 2007 11:30:43 AM CDT
