Chris Gall

America the Beautiful, illustrated by Chris Gall.

Acting on the recommendation of a friend, I recently requested the picture-book presentation of this lovely American song, with accompanying artwork by Wendell Minor, from my local library, only to receive this edition with illustrations by Chris Gall instead. I'm glad the mishap occurred - although I will still be tracking down a copy of the Wendell Minor version - as this is really a lovely book, and a wonderful tribute to one of America's show more most well-known patriotic songs. Composed as a poem in 1893, and published two years later in the pages of The Congregationalist, a Boston-based church periodical, America the Beautiful is a celebration of the natural beauty of our nation, and of the moral beauty of its history of immigration and struggle for freedom. The words of the song - O beautiful for spacious skies, / For amber waves of grain, / For purple mountains majesties / Above the fruited plain!" - provided the text, and are paired with gorgeous hand engravings that have been digitized and presented in color.

I found it very interesting that the artist here, Chris Gall, was the great-great-grandnephew of poet Katharine Lee Bates, who composed these words, and that he grew up in a home with a heirloom copy of the poem, in Bates' own handwriting, framed on the wall. That hand-written copy provides the inspiration for the decorative endpapers here, while the color engravings, which are really just beautiful, capture the spirit of each verse (or piece of verse) in the piece. I appreciated many of the artistic choices that Gall made, and the diverse peoples and time periods - the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Tuskegee Airmen, the steamship immigrants of the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the firemen who raised the flag in the rubble after 9/11 - he included in his work. I grew up singing this song, and it was a pleasure to be reminded of it. Now I'll have to see how Wendell Minor's visual interpretation of these words matches up! show less

What happens when a husband and wife each buy a new pet on the same day, and those pets turn out to be a dog and a cat? Well war, of course. Actually, at first the dog and cat try to get to know each other and get along, but they have very different personalities. Dog is a free spirit who likes things sloppy and comfortable. Cat is an organized creature who likes everything neat and tidy. It's only a matter of time before lines are drawn, literally: they divide the room in half and are free show more to arrange their side of the room exactly as each pleases. It doesn't take long before they start to miss each other, though, and start remembering the fun times they had together. They both take steps to cross the physical wall they built in the room, each in their own characteristic way, with Cat building an architecturally elegant doorway between the wall, and Dog bulldozing a tunnel beneath it. But just when they work out their issues with each other, a new problem arrives in the form of a baby in the house, and Dog and Cat are relegated to the tiny doghouse in the backyard. No challenge they can't overcome: they build that doghouse out into a deluxe condo and make the backyard their territory.

This picture book is a fun story with an original take on the old theme of dogs and cats. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the cat and dog actually try to get along and be friendly, since they know they are stuck together. Generally, the story line is to have cats and dogs take an instant and instinctive dislike to each other. When they the characters in this story do fight, it's because their distinct types of personality clash. Quite cute, really. The story and illustrations are done by the same person, and I need to take a few sentences to discuss the pictures, because they are very attractive and add a lot to the narrative. The colors are vibrant and shiny, each picture is filled with detailed renditions of the setting, and the characters are fun and cartoonish. Both Dog and Cat are distinct and engaging, and the drawings add a lot to their characterization. In addition, each illustration has a lot of details that add humor, like the signs the pets are holding up at the pet store, or the various items that Dog and Cat own, or the quirky memories they share with each other. Our whole family likes this book for its story and illustrations. show less

I thought this book was really funny and creative. The illustrations are very vivid and enhance the story very well. It really shows kids what kind of behavior is bad in a funny way. I also really liked how the story rhymed. I feel like it would help readers pay attention to the story and understand it. This story is very relatable to children in the regard that they have all experienced substitutes and it gives them a chance to reflect on how they treated them and if their behavior was good show more or not. show less

In Dear Fish a town is thrown into chaos when Peter Alan get curious about the sea life at a trip to the beach. He writes the fish a note suggesting they visit him at his house; the seas takes Peter up on his offer. The illustrations are excellent, and this book would be appropriate for a wide range of kids since there is enough going on in the pictures that even non readers would have enough to focus on.
The author and illustrator Chris Gall has included a note at the beginning of the book show more challenging readers to find the 10 visual puns located within the illustrations. I freely admit that it took me a couple of reads to find all of them, but I felt that this was a great interaction within the book.The illustrations also serve to extend the plot and reinforce the text. Dear Fish was a great read, and inspired me to use it for another school/library project. show less