Family Book Review: The Seekers

The Seekers by Hari and Deepti (Hari Panicker and Deepti Nair) is one of the beautiful books our family has been enjoying recently. This story of Mio and Nao and their adventure is told through words, yes, but more important are the gorgeous papercut illustrations.

The people have long told the story of the silver fox and the fire wolf. Nao believes the legend, and he is right, and the people restore balance in the end. This book is about the illustrations: the turquoise of the silver fox, the focus on purples on one page and golden on another, the layering and the precision of the tree roots, the fish in the water, the gloom, the luminescent beauty. The stylized paper cut illustrations match the story and tell it well. 

This is a story of storytelling and the destructive consequences of exploitation, clearly but not (for me at least) overwhelmingly. Part of what makes this work is that the elusive idea of balance underlies the moral. It’s no more moralistic than any other fable or in fact your average children’s story. 

This is obviously for those who want to enjoy the art. It is a story suited for reading aloud to young children and complex enough in its themes for older children, probably with guidance. It’s also a great (meta) illustration of the power of storytelling in a culture and leads easily to questions about the power of stories in raising children and in passing along knowledge and values. 

Collaboration and Creative Freedom

Collaboration can be a great way to jolt your creative process. Sharing control can be frustrating, but knowing that you have to let go is freeing.

Also, for the purposes of creative exploration, I’m not focusing here on collaboration where one person follows another’s directions.

I recently have been inveigled into a number of this sort of collaboration by my kids. One of them will start a drawing, and then firmly request my assistance. Sometimes my job is to “add ten caterpillars,” each with a red head like the quintessential very hungry caterpillar. Sometimes my job is to “add a touch of blue to the brown soil so it’s wet.”

I’ve tried to assert myself a bit here. Collaboration is a back and forth, a conversation: I made a floral pattern and let one of my young artistic partners have at it. The result is whimsical and better than you’d think possible under the circumstances, and the process was a pleasure. Collaboration is letting yourself communicate creatively, letting yourself go, and letting yourself get inspired.

Sidewalk Chalk Walk

My kids invited me to take a sidewalk chalk walk recently. I was tired, but they were enthusiastic. They had a container full of big pieces of low-pigment sidewalk chalk. This is not a medium I find inspirational, but when a determined preschooler asks you to draw a tulip, “please,” with a winning smile, what can you say, really? I drew tulips. I drew daffodils. I drew unidentifiable flowers in pale pink, washed out orange, and barely yellow yellow. They a really nice bright blue and some beautiful teal, but those were too popular.

Working with imprecise tools that doom you to failure is typically annoying. But taking a sidewalk chalk walk is amazing.

My pre-K-er did not compliment my efforts at drawing, as instructed, “a fluffy yellow chicken.” She asked: “Why does that chicken look too much like a person? Or a duck?” I kind of wanted to draw a chicken person, but I was hoping she wouldn’t notice. I was not trying to draw a duck.

The medium, low quality chalk left out in a storm last fall on rough sidewalk with scattered leaves, is a quintessential blunt instrument, and is the perfect scapegoat. I can joyfully forget that I rarely draw, don’t remember what little I used to know, and forget what baby chicks looks like.

Working with imprecise tools that doom you to failure might be the most freeing of possibilities. It’s the perfect antidote for people like me who tend to want things to sort of work out. It’s also perfect because when the rain comes, my chicken person will be gone forever, and I can take another sidewalk chalk walk.

Chicken duck person. Chalk on sidewalk.