A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs

Art by Roy Henry Vickers

Text by Robert "Lucky" Budd

Harbour Publishing

978-1-990776502

28 pp.

Ages 2-6

April 2024 

 

Roy Henry Vickers and Lucky Budd have taken young children on learning experiences into the natural world along the Pacific coast through their First West Coast Book series since 2017. Through colour and rhyme, shape and textured words, kids have been introduced to the concepts of the alphabet (A is for Anemone), animal sounds (Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak), numbers (One Eagle Soaring), colours (Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue) and more. Now they will graduate to a higher concept, that of animal groupings, something with which many adults still struggle to name correctly. (FYI, it's a clowder of cats, and a murder of crows, just to name a few.) But Roy Henry Vickers and Lucky Budd keep us on the West Coast to revisit many animals they'd introduced in earlier books. 

From A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs, art by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Lucky Budd

In easy rhyme, Lucky Budd gives us the terms for groups of orcas and seals, jellyfish and eagles, elk and foxes. They are animals of the air, of the water and of the land.

A jumble of jellies is called a bloom.

Shoals of dolphins zip and zoom.

The words are few, perfect for a concept book, with the grouping name in bold text for easy spotting. And yet, even with few words, Lucky Budd gives us movement and spirit. He carries us to play with the sea otters and fly with the gulls and geese. The text is truly evocative of a natural setting teeming with life, even quiet, resting life. And we learn.

From A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs, art by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Lucky Budd

As always, it's Roy Henry Vickers's art that elevates the amazing text to the divine. With limited colours and spot-gloss in each spread, Roy Henry Vickers's takes us to a natural world of beauty and relationship, between environment and animal. His Northwest Indigenous art style is rich with formlines that give shape to heads and tails, wings and appendages. Even when those lines are at their simplest, as in the earth of foxes or the galaxy of sea stars, they hold forms that are distinct and evocative of heart.

From A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs, art by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Lucky Budd

This may be a board book and a concept book that is aimed at our youngest children, but A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs could more accurately be intended for all ages. Its small size may disqualify it as a coffee table book but, between the information that is relayed through simple rhyme and the expressive illustrations that exhibit page after page of incomparable art, this book could easily spark discussion and uplift a room or library beyond a lovely teaching tool.

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First West Coast Book series, to date

Hello, Humpback! (2017)

One Eagle Soaring (2018)

Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue (2019)

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak (2020)

A is for Anemone (2021)

A Flock of Gulls, a Chorus of Frogs (2024)

A is for Anemone: A First West Coast Alphabet

Illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers

Text by Robert Budd

Harbour Publishing

978-1-55017-947-7

28 pp.

Ages 2-6

June 2021

Don't be fooled by A is for Anemone's genre as a concept book into believing it is a simply book that "just" teaches the alphabet. A is for Anemone is so much more. In the hands of master collaborative duo Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, A is for Anemone is a wonder of the sounds and textures of the West Coast, revealed through breathtaking art and rhythmic text.

 

From A for anemone to Q for the quillback fish and finally Z for the snoring of a sleeping grizzly, A is for Anemone rejoices in the animals, plants and waterways of the West Coast, taking young readers onto and into the water, along on hikes and into the air.

From A is for Anemone, illus. by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

There are dogfish and urchins, geese and humpbacks. There are islands and mountain peaks, rainbows and sunsets. There are totem poles and paddlers, fishboats and clamdiggers. And everywhere, there is art.

From A is for Anemone, illus. by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Robert Budd keeps the text short–most statements are only 5 to 6 words–but impactful, sharing with readers the sensory nature of the West Coast and its elements, both natural and man-made.  Whether it's "Jellies waltz in watery swirls" or "Totem poles tell our stories," Robert Budd walks us into the West Coast, letting us spy on the beauty found in its heritage, its natural history and its landscapes.

From A is for Anemone, illus. by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Artist Roy Henry Vickers brings that West Coast spirit into colour and shape with his illustrations. His digitally-rendered art is saturated with the vivid colours of rainbows, sunsets and vegetation and the duskiness of overcast skies and cool waters. From mountain ranges and coastal spits to oceans teeming with life, Roy Henry Vickers welcomes us to his West Coast. But in addition to the evident illustration that celebrates the West Coast, Roy Henry Vickers's art is embedded with spot-gloss illustrations that add a glow and textural element to each. There are the multiple totem poles on the "T" page and fish and birds and more throughout the book that invite the reader to touch and feel and discern forms not easily seen. With this spot-gloss art, Roy Henry Vickers has imbued the concept book with more than just the alphabet or the West Coast. He has shared with us his First Nations ancestry and artistry. (Do check out his gallery at https://royhenryvickers.com/.)

From A is for Anemone, illus. by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd's First West Coast books are always a treat for teaching important first concepts like animals, numbers, colours, sounds, and now letters to young children. However, because of the sensory journey that young readers are taken on, the learning is elevated, carrying them over the water and land and into the air to truly see the West Coast as they read or listen.

 

Hello Humpback! (2017)

One Eagle Soaring (2018)

Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue (2019)

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak (2020)

A is for Anemone (2021)

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak: Q & A with artist Roy Henry Vickers and writer Robert Budd

Yesterday, I reviewed Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak, 

the fourth board book in Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd's collaborative series, First West Coast Books.

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak
Illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers
Text by Robert Budd
Harbour Publishing
978-1-55017-904-0
20 pp.
Ages 2-6
June 2020


Today I am pleased to share this Q & A
with artist Roy Henry Vickers
and writer Robert "Lucky" Budd.

HK:  I have been so impressed with the richness of the art and text in your First West Coast books that I’m intrigued how the collaboration between artist and writer arose. Please tell us how your collaboration began.  

Robert “Lucky” Budd: The answer to this question is literally pages long! Here is the short short answer: Roy and I have been working together since we first met in 2011.  He and I connected the first moment we spoke!  I had a vision in early 2012 while working on his still-unfinished biography while I was at a storytelling event at his gallery.  I saw the four books that would be our Northwest Coast Legends series, Raven Brings The Light being the first.  We have a great synergy and the art he was able to create with the questions I asked was… amazing!

We brainstorm, work together and, as soon as he can see it, it comes to life!

Roy Henry Vickers: I was looking for Imbert Orchards audio files at the Royal BC Museum and was finally led to Robert “Lucky” Budd at Memories To Memoirs.  Lucky came to my storytelling sessions and recorded each story I told at the Roy Henry Vickers Gallery. Lucky transcribed each and we co-wrote each story and I put the images together as they came through storytelling sessions.



HK:  Knowing the plethora of West Coast animals and attributes that could have been selected for this concept book, how did you choose which  you would focus upon?

Robert “Lucky” Budd: In the case of Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak, we brainstormed a whole bunch of animals and the sounds the make. I really wanted to focus on onomatopoeias in order to make the sounds really come to life for kids! Once we brainstormed sounds and animals, like a puzzle, I set to work on grouping them around a rhyme scheme. ☺

Roy Henry Vickers: The board books were an extension of the first books. The animals and birds are part of Beautiful B.C. and also part of the legends that have been told for thousands of years.



HK:  Are there plans for additional books in the First West Coast books series?

Robert “Lucky” Budd: Four seems like a good number, but if inspiration hits, we can do more.  I like the idea of a book about animal groupings, like a gaggle of geese or a parliament of owls.  However, we are already super inspired by other books projects we want to do together…

Roy Henry Vickers: I have one book that my children want to see published. Ben the Sea Lion. Lucky and I have another book planned.. I like to follow the flow and run with it.



HK:  Is the artwork used in Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak original for the books or is some of it previously created art for display and/or sale?

Roy Henry Vickers:  Some of the art work was inspired by previous works and some was original works for Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak and is found nowhere else.



HK:  What medium did you use to create the art in Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak and did you make any amendments to the way you would normally create because the art would be in a small format board book?

Roy Henry Vickers:  I work in an old vector drawing program to create the works. I will soon be switching to Adobe Illustrator.



HK:  I know that some illustrators are not always happy with the colour reproduction of their artwork once it goes to print. Did you have any concerns about translating your art into book format?

Roy Henry Vickers:  I had no concerns about colour as I got to preview the colours. I am partially colour blind to all colours, but it seems to work.



HK:  As with all the First West Coast books, the text is very simple yet powerful. Here it is evocative of  sounds of water and land, animals and activity. Coupled with the artwork, Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak is a very sensory experience. How much editing did you have to do to find the perfect words that you did for all the sounds within?

Robert “Lucky” Budd: Oh my goodness!  As with all of these books, it starts with finding the melody.  Once I have that, I play with it and play with it, draft after draft, until it is just exactly perfect!  I remember, in the case of Hello Humpback, I did 11 drafts! 



HK:  Now that the book has been published, are there some sounds that you would have liked to include but didn’t make it in?

Robert “Lucky” Budd:  Good question!  I tried to fit in all the sounds that I couldn’t fit into the text into the very last page!  I am so very happy with all the sounds, animals and natural sounds we were able to bring together into this experience.  I hope children resonate with it as much as I do!

 •••••••••••••••••••••
Many thanks

to

Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd
for answering my questions,
revealing a little more about their collaborative process
and
the creation of their master works of First West Coast board books


Thanks also to

Ariel Hudnall
Communications Manager at ZG Stories,
for arranging this interview
and review copies of Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd's  
First West Coast Books

 

Hello, Humpback (2017)

One Eagle Soaring (2018)

Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue (2019)

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak (2020)

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak

Illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers
Text by Robert Budd
Harbour Publishing
978-1-55017-904-0
20 pp.
Ages 2-6
June 2020

If you’re going to introduce the mooing of a cow and the quacking of a duck to young children, be sure to expose them to the symphony of the Northwest Coast’s landscape for a sonorous sensory experience evoked by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd in their fourth book in their First West Coast book series.

From Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak, art by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

As in their earlier concept books in this series, Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd have blended rich graphics with simple words evocative of a beautiful British Columbia environment. There are rivers that rush with whisper and splash; drummers that beat with boom, bang, and pound; cedars that rustle with a murmur and a creak; and geese that fly high with honk, hiss and flap. There are people and places, animals and nature: living, moving, resonating with energy, both subtle and blaring.

From Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak, art by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

If you close your eyes, Robert “Lucky” Budd’s words embed you on the BC coast, hearing, sensing, experiencing its many, many glorious attributes. (In my interview tomorrow with the author and artist, Robert Budd tells how their final double spread was used to pack in the sounds of another twelve animals under the text “with Nature Singing all around”.) The rolling water against a boat or a shore, the overhanging trees, the animals on land, in water, and in the air, while people interact with the natural environment–it’s the life and sound of this place.

Artist Roy Henry Vickers does more than do justice to the text; he conjures it with depth and layers and authority. From the coniferous forests and snow-capped peaks, to waters still and turbulent, and creatures engaged with their worlds, all enriched with spot-gloss elements, Roy Henry Vickers uses strong lines and shape to transport the reader to this place. The art reflects and honours his First Nations heritage and shares it with readers.

From Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak, art by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Whether the readers are the very young who will recognize the images, rich in their simplicity, and vocalize sounds depicted within, or adults who will revel in the heart of the art and words, Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd have brought the spirit of the West Coast to the page once again.

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Look for my interview with Roy Henry Vickers and Robert "Lucky" Budd tomorrow here on CanLit for Little Canadians.

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Check out all four books in the First West Coast book series which includes:

 Hello Humpback! (2017)

One Eagle Soaring (2018)

Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue (2019)

and now

Raven Squawk, Orca Squeak

Hello Humpback! and One Eagle Soaring

Hello Humpback!

Illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers
Text by Robert Budd
Harbour Publishing
978-1-55017-799-2
20 pp.
Ages 2-6
2017

One Eagle Soaring

Illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers
Text by Robert Budd
Harbour Publishing
978-1-55017-828-9
20 pp.
Ages 2-6
2018

After my last review in which I applauded the recently published Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue, the third book in the A First West Coast Book series by Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd, I thought it imperative that I give some attention to the first two books. Published in 2017 and 2018 respectively, Hello Humpback! and One Eagle Soaring focus on their own concepts–these are concept books after all–but still with a Pacific Northwest flavour and honouring First Nations.

From Hello Humpback!, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Hello Humpback! celebrates a variety of West Coast features in Robert Budd's subtle rhyme and Roy Henry Vickers's illustrations. From animals such as the humpback whale, the salmon, the raven and a myriad of sea creatures such as the steelhead, ratfish and sea urchin, to plant life but also the land and the water, Hello Humpback! is a salute to the Pacific Northwest.

From Hello Humpback!, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Counting in One Eagle Soaring also becomes an homage to the wildlife of the British Columbia coast. In rhyming text, children can count one eagle, two moose, three orcas, four bees, five sea lions, six bears, seven swans, eight robins, nine frogs, and ten owls. But the text is far more sophisticated, emphasizing the actions undertaken by the wildlife and the development of vocabulary with words like pollinate, wander and serenade.

From One Eagle Soaring, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers, text by Robert Budd

Robert Budd's text is as fluid as Roy Henry Vickers's art. One puts forth important ideas in understated rhyme and the other conveys it in rich colours and line that embed readers in a West Coast state of mind and heart. The effect is heartfelt but informative, with the stunning artwork both calming and still emotionally charged, incorporating both the traditional and the contemporary to full effect.

I urge all parents, grandparents and teachers of the very young to share the West Coast environs through Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd's trio of board books. There will be  learning about animals, numbers, colours and more but the discussions about place will teach even more.

Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue

Illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers

Text by Robert Budd

Harbour Publishing

978-1-55017-870-8

20 pp.

Ages 2-6

May 2019

By their very nature, concept books i.e. those that teach concepts such as letters, numbers and colours must be simple in order for very young children to grasp the concept being highlighted. By simple, I mean straightforward and transparent, though some concept books embrace the idea of simplicity by being meagre and plain. Not Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue.  It may focus on presenting a basic palette to children but it proclaims its artistry in a brilliance of sophistication and heritage.

The colours of silver, blue, yellow, purple, red, orange, grey, black, white and green are clearly identified in each illustration but they are so much more than "just" a colour. They are part of the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Its flora and fauna, its mountains and ocean, and its seasons become part of the art. From the "sockeye silver" of the adult salmon at sea, glorious under a silver moon, to the blue of the saltchuck waters flowing into a river and the yellow of the spring salmonberries, Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue becomes a journey of place and seasons. Young readers will spot the purple sea stars resting on a rock, the red of the sunset, the sandhill cranes flying across an orange sky, and the whales in the grey mist of heavy rains. There are ravens black and a white ptarmigan in the snow, and the finale spread of "green lights aglow on a wintry night."

From Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers, words by Robert Budd

 

The words are those of Robert Budd, accomplished author and champion of British Columbia's stories and history. They are concise but impactful, and any child living far from the BC coast will want to visit.

But the art makes Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue the masterpiece it is. There is movement and richness in the colours, and the spot-gloss art is significant and memorable. Sometimes the glossy entity is bold and unmistakable, as in the black of the raven or the wolves howling beneath the northern lights. Other times, however, it almost can only be discerned by touch such as the thunderbird against the white snow or the totem poles hugging the coast of the saltchuck.

Roy Henry Vickers is a multi-talented Tsimshian artist who has excelled at printmaking, carving, music and leadership. His accomplishments have earned him many honours and even more accolades at home in British Columbia and around the world. With his gorgeous prints providing the art for Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue, this concept book is elevated from teaching tool to showpiece.

From Sockeye Silver, Saltchuck Blue, illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers, words by Robert Budd

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Look for my next post which will highlight the earlier two books in this series, Hello Humpback! and One Eagle Soaring.

First West Coast Books