Pencil is a wordless book. Wordless books take a moment to appreciate. If young readers don’t have the patience or don’t realize that the book intentionally has no text, they’ll be confused. Author/illustrator Hye-Eun Kim put a page in Pencil called How to Read a Silent Book. It’s a page whose irony is rich in its title, but whose information is needed to help readers appreciate what isn’t there.
Pencil is a very natural, organic book. Again, this is ironic because it’s about the process of a pencil, which is presented in a book, without pulling any sustainable punches. Pencils, their manufacturing, as well as, the process of making paper does not come without effort or waste. Pencil acknowledges all of that in its own special, wordless way.
It starts with a green pencil being sharpened by a precision knife. The pencil’s shavings are fluttering down until they create a small tree. That one tree starts to have dozens, and then hundreds of different trees in various sizes and colors. There are animals in this new forest too; dozens of birds, rabbits, deer and foxes populate the area. The birds suddenly take to the air; a number of the multi-colored trees are felled and put onto the back of a semi-truck.
If there were words to this it would read like an action book, wouldn’t it?
The trucks go to a pollution-belching factory where the multi-colored logs are run through machines that create pencils. We see a young girl at an art supply store. She’s picking out a green colored pencil, not too dissimilar from the hue that was initially shaved at the beginning of the book. Beside the girl, young readers will see a scaled-down version of the forest that looks like the one with hundreds of different trees. The girl leaves the store with her new pencil, goes home, and starts to draw trees and the forests that look just like the ones she had seen before. The animals return to the forest and the girl plants a pencil, which grows into a tree.
Adults with more life experience may view Pencil like a Seinfeld episode. It starts in the same manner in which it ends. It’s circular, but not repetitive because the punch line isn’t revealed until the end, Deloris. There is also a homemade quality to Pencil that adds to its organic feel. Will audiences come to Pencil for the art and stay for the wordless wonder? Will they come to Pencil because it feels like a book they’d enjoy…because of the art?
The book’s cover goes a long way towards inviting readers into its world. There’s a 1” stripped pattern on the left-most part of the cover and wraps around to the back. It’s very small illustration of a stick character with a big head. This identical character is repeated dozens of times and printed in a forest green, diamond outline. The effect of this creates a book that feels like an heirloom. It’s a classic book that my grandmother had and tells the story of a tree she and her grandmother planted. No, it’s just an example of great book design that lets the reader’s imagination think about what the book could be.
Pencil is a very good wordless book that has the potential get young audiences thinking. A wordless book can be a tough sell for some folks. If they engage in the book too quickly they won’t get the point of it. However, for those young reluctant readers who actively avoid books, a wordless book can be a great way to get their minds thinking more critically. Whichever camp your class is in, Pencil is a fine primer for wordless thoughts. It can open up conversations about creativity, colors, waste, hobbies, animals and more, if you let kids experience it at their own pace.
Pencil is Hye-Eun Kim and is A TOON Book, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers.
There are affiliate links in this post.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube