The "Art" of Reading

Hello beautiful people! Today I would like to share with you some features, of a certain Caldecott Honor Book Winner. The name of the book is called: Leave Me Alone!, by writer and illustrator, Vera Brosgol.

I have always had a fascination for Russia and its culture. This book has an "Eastern European" folktale vibe. I absolutely enjoyed reading this story through all of its illustrations. This book is about a grandmother that is trying to knit, but is constantly interrupted by several people and things. Therefore, she feels irritated, and migrates from one place to another, in order to "try" to get some knitting done. The colors in this book have an amplitude of intensity. The colors evoke a sense of energy, vibrancy, and excitement. The facial expressions of all the characters look as though they are living beings, and will soon jump out of the book's pages. The illustrations demonstrate various geometric shapes, as the grandmother wanders from setting to setting, in deep frustration. There is definitely a form of balance in the design of the illustrations. The artist draws attention to specific objects, in order to emphasize the specific placement of the main character. This element forces the viewer's eyes, to focus on a specific place within the illustration. Without a doubt, the illustrations convey and give meaning to the story. They help give completion to the words in the story. The style of Russian folk art is evident throughout the illustrations. Russian culture oozes out of these drawings, and I love it! I totally recommend this book, and it is a potential candidate for a read aloud in my classroom!

About the illustrator:

Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. She received a diploma in Classical Animation from Sheridan College, and spent many years working in feature animation but now she is writing and drawing books full-time. She likes that very much.

She has storyboarded for Laika on the feature films Coraline, Paranorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings, as well as for Cartoon Network, Frederator and various commercial projects.

Her first graphic novel, Anya's Ghost, was published in 2011 by First Second Books and won an Eisner Award. Her first picture book, Leave Me Alone, was published in 2016 by Roaring Brook Press and won a Caldecott Honor.

https://www.verabee.com/about


Being Mindful,

Evelyn Portillo