Apples and Robins by Lucie Félix (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Apples and Robins by Lucie Félix Deborah Stevenson, Editor Félix, Lucie Apples and Robins; written and illus. by Lucie Félix; tr. from the French. Chronicle, 2016 56p ISBN 978-1-4521-3264-8 $16.99 R* 3-6 yrs In this clever story that layers die-cut pages to make simple graphic images, “the apples hang high on my tree, just out of reach.” Fortunately, “all you need for a ladder are six rectangles: five short” (a separated stack of small white rectangles on a scarlet background) “and one long” (the following white page’s die-cut rectangle, which overleaves the red-bordered small rectangles to create a red ladder on a white background). And so the art continues to create shapes as a bird takes an interest in the worm in the apple, a storm shakes the apples and the bird’s house to the ground, and then the apples are collected in a basket and the birdhouse is repaired; winter sees a little girl eating the stored apples and watching the robin through the window, and spring sees the promise of robin eggs and flowering apple trees. The book politely provides some genuine plot momentum, in a folkloric way, even though it’s the art that’s really the point. And deservedly so: the die-cut creations [End Page 413] are unusually ingenious, playing games both additive and subtractive and switching foreground and background as they reinterpret prior images. Simple planes of digital color, with mostly just one or two elements against a white or contrasting background, keep the focus on the patterns. The shapes are abstract enough in this French import that U.S. youngsters may not notice that the robin is the very different European bird (though the different eggshell color may require some explanation), and they’ll certainly recognize the familiar elements and tropes of apple and worm. This could be an intriguing way to talk about geometry as well as art, and it’ll also be an entertaining early brain-tickler to share on the lap or in a group. Copyright © 2016 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois