Liars and Saints

Children's literature didn't die with Maurice Sendak. There are many living artists who work on great picture books, and my "contemporary-writer pantheon" includes: Kevin Henkes, Jerry Pinkney, Christian Robinson, and David Ezra Stein. That last name--Stein--had a hit with "Leaves," about a silly (but gentle) bear who enjoys the fall. Stein writes at home in Brooklyn, often with a small child clawing at his lap. I am not very well-versed in Stein's works, but a title I keep returning to is "Honey." This is the sequel to "Leaves." In this one, the bear wakes up from hibernating and dreams about honey. But it's not time yet. The bear delivers an ode to honey and its properties: visual ("clear"), olfactory ("spicy"), tactile ("thick"). The bear would like to distract himself, but the mind has other plans: Everything in the world begins to *resemble* honey ("the stream clear as honey," "the...

  Josh and I like reading "Leaves," by David Ezra Stein. (Marc likes it, too.) This was one of DES's early books, and it made waves. It won an Ezra Jack Keats Award (more on EJK soon), and it was named, by Tomie dePaola, "the best picture book in years." It's simple. A bear, new to the world, has fun in the late summer. But he sees a falling leaf. He doesn't understand. He asks the leaf, "Are you OK?"   More leaves fall. Bereft, the bear grows sleepy, and he spots a hole for hibernating. When he awakes in the spring, he sees new leaves and welcomes them. "And he thought the leaves welcomed him, too." I think it's right that this book won the Ezra Jack Keats Award because--like "The Snowy Day"--this book centers on a young being with gaps in his knowledge. ("Save a snowball by storing it in your pocket." "A falling leaf is a leaf in trouble.") I also like the way that joy is dramatized at the end...