Vanilla Ice Cream Bob Graham (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Vanilla Ice Cream Bob Graham Jeannette Hulick Graham, Bob Vanilla Ice Cream; written and illus. by Bob Graham. Candlewick, 2014 38p ISBN 978-0-7636-7377-2 $16.99 R 4-7 yrs A young sparrow looking for a meal in a dusty Indian town finds one in a bag of rice on a truck headed to port. The sparrow burrows happily into the bag, which is hoisted onto a freight ship, and travels across the ocean to an apparently Englishspeaking big city. The sparrow flies into this new environment and crosses paths with Edie, a toddler in a stroller out at a café with her grandparents. When the family’s dog lunges for the sparrow, the grandfather’s ice cream cone goes flying, and ends up on young Edie’s lap: “Edie Irvine, also young and curious, for the very first time … discovers the taste of vanilla ice cream.” The seemingly random trajectory of events actually makes for an intriguing and imaginative story, and Graham’s brief, spare text (some spreads are in fact wordless) and expansive, trademark ink and watercolor illustrations keep the action tightly focused. Series of panels are effectively deployed to build drama and depict the progression of the action; as the ocean liner travels further and further away from India, for example, gradually decreases in size from panel to panel. This could spark an interesting discussion about unintentional animal stowaways or trigger some thoughtful musing about the ways in which one small action can result in a domino-chain of events. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois