Tag Archive | Insects

A Firefly Named Torchy, by Bernard Waber

Jul15

A Firefly Named Torchy

The artwork is almost surreal. There’s streaks of luminous yellows and greens, but the paints mix together in a colorful chaos. “On a warm night at the edge of a woods, a firefly was born,” writes Bernard Waber at the beginning of A Firefly Named Torchy. But he’s also the illustrator, and he’s determined toshowcase the wild beauty of the night – seen from a bug’s-eye view.

“Eat your dinner,” says the firefly’s mother when he was “just a little flicker.” But the text appears in white letters on a beautiful black background, with splotches of grey and green at the bottom to suggest the leaves around his home. And the next page is filled with wild squiggles of yellow, green and white. Making the trail of luminous light is the small firefly, who’ shown in a simple outline drawing . “Everyone was astonished,” writes Waber enthusiastically, because “his light was so bright.”

Waber enjoys the black backgrounds, and splashes them with strange and colorful patterns. When the fireflies “twinkled and glowed” in the night, there’s a two-page spread with bright circles of colored paint dots suggesting a fireworks display. But he’ll use his colors to convey an important turn in the plot. When Torchy turns on his light, the night disappears. He’s so bright that the background turns white instead of black – and the new light reveals all the animals who were hiding in the forest.

It’s a funny twist which creates havoc in the animal kingdom. “Baby birds, thinking it morning, cried out to be fed,” Waber notes, and the other animals started to object. Even the other fireflies complain that “You are supposed to be softly twinkling…” And when Torchy extinguishes his light again – the backgrounds return to break. “Everyone was happy…everyone but Torchy.”

His mother gives him lessons on how to twinkle softly – but Waber can’t resist repeating the joke. When Torchy tries to twinkle, ever so slowly…the background turns bright white again. There’s the fox and the rabbit, the beaver and the frog, all revealed in the dull green bushes. The baby birds beg to be fed again, and soon everyone is clamoring for the darkness again.

The book switches back and forth between bright backgrounds and the black of night. And when Waber draws an owl, it’s a simple outline with blues, greens, and yellow. But he’s suggesting how the owl would look at night – to a bug – as he works his way up to a satisfying message.

“There are many kinds of light in the world,” the owl advises. “You should be mighty proud of yours…”

Roberto, The Insect Architect, by Nina Laden

Sep15

Roberto, The Insect Architect, by Nina Laden

It’s a satirical story with a technological secret. “No computers were used,” brags Nina Laden, listing out the materials that she used instead to create the mixed-media collages in “Roberto the Insect Architect.” (“[D]ifferent kinds of paper, parts of images cut from old catalogs and magazines, wood veeners, cork veneer, blueprints, cardboard, skeleton leaves, old engravings, stickers, etc.”) It’s an appropriate medium for a story about a scavenging termite, and the bright illustrations give it a retro-modern feel. The other termites may be obsessed with their wood-based status symbols – but Roberto has grander ambitions.

“Don’t you know there are termites starving in Antarctica” says Roberto’s mother, who’s upset that the young termite is playing with his food – wood. (He builds a tower out of the pancake-shaped slices of wood that he’s served for breakfast, and he dreams of becoming an architect.) Laden writes that Roberto is “hungry to start a new life” – and her book’s puns are highlighted in enormous bold letters. But it’s her busy illustrations that steal the focus, dominating every page with bright colors and strange visuals.

On Roberto’s breakfast table there’s a bag of chips – but they’re wood chips. Another termite hoists a delicacy on his fork – a small wooden house. One is eating a skyscraper, while another seems to be salting a church. It’s easy to create anything when you’re cutting-and-pasting images, and when Roberto flees to Bug Central Station, there’s a great pastiche of buildings from the San Francisco Bay Area.

“The city was a place where you could build your dreams,” Laden writes wisely – highlighting “build your dreams,” since it’s another architecture pun. “Roberto beamed hope like a lit-up skyscraper.” But you can bet that the hotel he checks into is full of bugs. In fact, they’re bed bugs – and it’s Roberto who builds them beds!

The snooty city bugs won’t give Roberto his chance, and soon Roberto is “feeling like a pest” – again, highlighted in bold. There’s a homeless fly, and even a ladybug who’s crying that her house is on fire and her children are gone. And then in a beautiful collage of a purple sunset, Roberto vows to prove his skills to the city. He turns a pile of abandoned wood into a street of fancy new homes – then sends the keys to their new owners anonymously.

“Antennae were buzzing,” Laden writes – in bold letters, and “Robin Leech” promises to make the anonymous builder famous. It’s a funny story with a happy ending. But it’s Laden’s mixed-media collages that you’ll never forget.