Hidden Treasure

Written and illustrated by Elly MacKay

Running Press Kids

978-0-7624-6301-5

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

June 2021

 

There's magic here. It's the magic of Elly MacKay's artwork but it's also in a child's wonder of discovery, finding treasure which most would overlook and appreciating a day of togetherness. It's in a lazy summer day on a beach and we're invited to watch.

 

From Hidden Treasure by Elly MacKay

A child and her Papa stroll down to the bay with their dog, past stores that claim to sell treasures, though she knows better.  She knows what true treasures are, and it's not the stuff sold in stores or the kind lauded by pirates in movies.

From Hidden Treasure by Elly MacKay

She finds treasure in the beach stones that are different with each visit. This day she picks up one that looks like a whale tooth, a perfect match for the whale she envisions in the clouds.

Dipping into the water, she discovers more treasure including shells, a speckled rock, a bubble wand, a rusty key and a marble, all which she lays out on the dock for her dog to see. Some she will return to the water to revisit another day and some treasures she will admire from afar, like the cocoon on the swamp milkweed.

 

From Hidden Treasure by Elly MacKay

Deciding what she will choose to add to her treasure box–“ones I can borrow, keep for a while”–is an important part of the process and one she shares with her Papa.

When I’m here, I feel like a queen.
So I think I know what treasure means.

And she knows that treasure goes beyond the things she picks up or sees on their outing.

From her debut picture book, If You Hold a Seed, Elly MacKay has been wowing young readers and their teachers, school and home, with her expressive illustrations. Because she blends drawings with ink and cut paper into scenes which she photographs–her Twitter handle is appropriately @theaterclouds–Elly MacKay melds layer upon layer of colour and texture and shape into an evocative landscapes of life and setting. The water produced from iridescent wrapping paper shimmers with movement and warmth and the beach radiates summer heat and softness with natural quiet. There's connection between people and with place but there is solitude as well. This is treasure in itself, as the child recognizes. 

 

I suspect that there will be, as there always have been, children collecting hidden treasures from walks in forests, along beaches and in urban settings on this very day. They will see the extraordinary in the ordinary. With Hidden Treasure and her ethereal artwork of theatre, Elly MacKay has reminded us all of the magic that comes from the ordinary and to see the treasure that is too often missed.

The Word Collector

Written and illustrated by Peter Hamilton Reynolds

Orchard Books (Scholastic)

978-0-545-86502-9

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

January 2018

Kids love collecting things: shells, stones, coins, marbles, stuffies. Like most, collecting starts quite naturally, one here, another there, and soon the collection grows.  What they do with that collection is as variable as the items collected.  The lovely Jerome of The Word Collector takes a unique perspective on his collecting and one to which all collectors should aspire.

Jerome loves picking up words wherever he finds them: those he hears, words he sees and some he reads.  Why he is drawn to a word ranges from those that grab his attention because of their sounds or their meaning.  Regardless he amasses quite a collection of words which he needs to organize.  But while transporting a colossal stack of books and boxes of his organized words, he slips and they tumble into a chaotic mess.  But Jerome sees beauty in the unusual combinations of words which he translates into poetry and music and by expressing to others.

From The Word Collector 

by Peter Hamilton Reynolds

By recognizing the profound impact his words can have on how others think, feel and dream, Jerome expands on sharing his growing collection.

Jerome 

had no words 

to describe how happy 

that made him.

Squirrelling away a collection of treasures brings a certain joy but Peter H. Reynolds recognizes that a shared collection is a better collection.  No longer is the collection the realm of the individual but instead it becomes part of a community of aesthetes who appreciate the collection's elements in the myriad of ways.  The illustration of countless and diverse children grabbing words like "honor", "resilience", "hope" and "promise" supports Peter H. Reynolds' message of appreciation and creativity and empathy. Words are powerful and all the more for being shared in thoughtful texts like The Word Collector and illustrated with cheerful artwork of Jerome and others amongst the fluttering murmurations of words.

I'll leave the final words to author-illustrator Peter H. Reynolds whose own words inspire readers to more.

From endpapers for The Word Collector 

by Peter Hamilton Reynolds