Happy Birthday Chris Raschka - March 6

"His minimalist approach, that ability to say so much with one wild, graceful squiggle here and one loose dab of line there and unbridled, vigorous sweeps of color all over, all which add up to Raschka's inimitable quirky style. His impressionist style leaps off the page with an infectious energy, affection, humor, and -most importantly- what comes across as a keen since of respect for the child reader. " This quote is from the introduction of a must-read interview with Chris Raschka conducted by the amazing, Seven Impossible Things blog. When I read this I felt there was no better way to describe the experience you will have when you read his books. And there are many to choose from including the Caldecott Honor Book he wrote and illustrated, Yo! Yes? and the Caldecott Medal Winner he illustrated for Norton Juster, The Hello, Goodbye Window.

My daughter and I had only read two books by Chris Raschka before this week. Waffle, a story about the emotions of conquering your fears, and The Purple Balloon, a book for families of a child with a life-threatening illness. We reread these two books this week to introduce them to my son for the first time. In Waffle, we loved the smiley faces that were on every turn of the page that appear to be laughing at the man as he struggles with his uncertainty. We loved the smiley faces because they were fun to count not because they were unsupportive of the man as he "waffled"! For, The Purple Balloon I showed them the following video before the reading:

I must have watched this video a half dozen times. I was moved by the emotion that went into creating this book. Watching Raschka use a potato to make prints then add subtle brush strokes to give each balloon feelings was inspiring and emotional. My daughter understands, in a five year old way, the idea of hospice because her grandmother is a nurse at a hospice facility. However, she asked while reading the book, "How can someone young die?" My answer was "Some children are really sick. Some children have cancer." Then, I borrowed some words from Chris Raschka when I said, "And when this happens it is good for the family to have many people there to help."