"Waiting"

This is a recent book from Kevin Henkes. It concerns five figurines who stare through a window. The bear-with-sled waits for snow. The owl waits for the moon. And so on.

Sometimes, the figurines "sleep." (They get knocked over.) Sometimes, one leaves--but the departing figure inevitably returns.

Just when you imagine there won't be a plot, a new figure arrives. A little porcelain cat. And the cat doesn't have an umbrella; she isn't waiting for rain. She doesn't have a kite; she isn't waiting for wind. Baffled by the cat, you wonder if she is without purpose. And, just then: She explodes. She is a "matryoshka doll"; she has been "waiting" to give birth to the four little porcelain cats hidden inside of her.

There is a real sense of wonder when the matryoshka doll explodes; for a moment, you're a kid, able to feel thrilled by a little piece of porcelain.

Other artists wouldn't pay attention to this moment; certainly, other artists would struggle to reproduce the "childhood emotion," when Henkes seems not to struggle.

The work seems effortless, but it's not. For a few minutes, Henkes reminds you--in a visceral way--what it's like to be a kid. I keep coming back to this book; I sense that Josh will like it, too.

(P.S. Henkes--with the lightest touch--seems to be writing about surprise, and about randomness. Life has some treats, if you're willing to open your eyes and listen. This is something kids understand, and it's something that most adults forget.)

 

P.P.S. New book alert. Ungerer has two posthumous titles happening in the next few months. Jerry Pinkney's "Little Mermaid" happens in November. And Sigrid Nunez--the great!--will release a novel at the start of September!