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 Jon Klassen's "The Skull" has a sensational opening:


As she ran....Otilla began to hear her name being called. She couldn't tell if it was someone's voice or the wind in her ears. Otillaaaa....Otillaaaa....

The narrator never explains what the heroine is fleeing. We only sense that the danger is severe. After running for a long while, Otilla stumbles on a palace, owned by a friendly skull. Otilla and the skull become companions, taking walks, dancing, snacking together. But the skull has a secret of its own. Every night, a headless skeleton emerges and begins a chase. "Come to me!" screams the skeleton.

Otilla cannot repress her own painful memories, but she can make life easier for the skull. She throws the headless skeleton from a cliff. Then, she gathers the scattered bones and grinds them into a paste. She dissolves the paste in boiling water, and she dumps the mixture into a bottomless well.

Klassen has a remarkable talent for taking children seriously. He knows he doesn't need to explain Otilla's past; a child can fill in some details. Klassen also understands that he doesn't need to underline a moral in thick, black ink. He doesn't have to give a sermon about found families. The beauty of the "found family" is right there on the page, in between the lines.

Klassen has revealed in today's NYT that he will be releasing his first "board book" soon. In characteristically sharp prose, Klassen praises the two gods of the board book, Taro Gomi and Sandra Boynton. He is especially insightful in his discussion of Gomi's use of elapsed time. I also like his observation about Boynton's little animals; they always seem slightly surprised/distressed to discover that they are standing within Boynton's spotlight.

Looking forward to more from Jon Klassen.





















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