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The Warlord’s Puzzle, by Virginia Walton Pilegard

Aug1

The Warlord's Puzzle, by Virginia Walton Pilegard

The Warlord’s Puzzle is a children’s picture book that actually grew out of the author’s master’s thesis! Virginia Walton Pilegard was raised on a Nevada cattle ranch, and grew up to be an elementary school teacher – but she wrote her thesis on “strengthening Visual Perception through Informal Geometry.” In “The Warlord’s Puzzle,” she tells a story which teaches presents a challenge using those same informal geometric shapes. And tying it all together, she dedicated the book in part to “all teachers who help students solve life’s puzzles.”

Pilegard’s book tells the story of a fierce Chinese warlord who receives a blue tile as a gift – which is then dropped and shattered into six pieces. She’s establishing the high stakes for solving the geometric puzzle. (Anyone that can reassemble the tile will be given a reward and allowed to live in the warlord’s palace.) Soon there’s a line of people waiting to enter the palace, each hoping for a chance to win the reward. And in a clever twist, the line grows so long that it reaches the fishing hole of a poor peasant and his son.

The poor fisherman becomes a character to root for, since the crowds have frightened away the fish that he’d feed his son for dinner. But the story still seems to drag. There’s the obligatory description of the gold dragons on pillars that are carved inside the palace’s entrance. And then Pilegard suddenly switches characters, to the artist who fears the warlord may punish him for the broken tile. “Master, look at these fine people,” says the artist. “Surely one of them will mend your beautiful gift.”

The characters seem cliche, like the pompous scholar who boasts of his learning, but then isn’t able to solve the puzzle. And there’s something obvious about the implacable warlord, who lacks any personality beyond impatience. But the worst character is the monk, who’s solution is to stack the pieces, then announce “Some riddles are meant to have no answer.” This depiction seems a little unfair to monks – and predictable, the furious warlord vows he’ll also punish both the monk and the scholar.

There’s some cartoon-ish illustrations by Nicolas Debon, but he’s responsible for the book’s greatest oversight. After gushing over the rewards of this tricky geometric puzzle – the reader is never given a chance to solve it themselves until the story is already over. Debon draws it in various states, but it’s meant to remain a mystery until the final page of the book.

Still, it’s satisfying when he draws the fisherman’s son, absently entertaining himself by lifting the blue tile pieces and assembling them into a square.

When Dad’s at Sea, by Mindy L. Pelton

Jun17

When Dad's at Sea, by Mindy L. Pelton

When Dad’s at Sea has an obvious message: a little girl will miss her father during his time away in the Navy. The realistic illustrations (by Robert Gantt Steele) try to dispel the mystery, showing exactly where the Navy pilot goes. But it’s really the story of the pilot’s daughter, and it describes all her feelings throughout the long absences of her father during his service. And in telling her story, Mindy L. Pelton sends a message to other children of military personnel: that they are not alone.

The book is dedicated “to Katherine and Meredith, and to the children and families of our United States Armed Forces,” but it still finds a fanciful tone. To help his daughter keep track of his days at sea, the father builds a long paper chain which they hang on the living room wall. “Take off one circle every night,” he tells his daughter Emily. “I’ll come back when the chain is gone.” The book finds a way to make the girl’s feelings tangible. The little girl hides the chain under her bed, and hopes that will make her father stay home.

It’s a dramatic story, but all the drama comes from the little girl’s sadness over her father’s departure. He says he doesn’t want to leave “the two most special people in the world,” but even when he was still at home, the girl remembered that “I missed Dad before he even left.” Some days he lives with the family in “a blue house with an American flag on the porch.” But other days he lives “with pilots, like himself, and sailors on a U.S. Navy ship carrying rows of airplanes.”

And despite the sad subject matter, there’s also some sweet moments. The little girl discovers her dad was on TV – since her mother had videotaped the father reading a bedtime story before he left. In the first circle on the paper chain, the father had written “I love you.” He sends the family an email every day from the ship. And the girl even discovers a new friend in town who’s father is also away on a long Navy cruise. “Suddenly, I didn’t feel so alone…”

The girls trace their father’s journey on a map of the world. And perhaps fittingly, the end of the journey seems to arrive surprisingly fast. The girls paint “Welcome Home” signs to hang for his return. And of course, there’s a happy ending. “There he is , Emily!” yells the little girls mother. The father removes his helmet and strolls out of his airplane, and he’s carrying a bouquet of flowers. The end is predictable, but it’s still very satisfying.

He says to his daughter that “The chain is gone, and your dad is home.”