Genre: Children’s lit
Medium: Hardcover
Synopsis: Every morning, a young boy’s father knocks on the young boy’s door. But what happens when the knocks stop coming?
Review: I read this in my class for a quick project, and wow. It is certainly one of the most powerful things I’ve read this year. Beaty’s narrative is incredible and heartbreaking, but Collier’s illustrations truly take the cake.
The main character’s father disappears one morning, and nobody (read: the narrator nor the reader) knows why. So the boy wonders. And worries. And writes him a letter, to which the father responds. And it’s heartbreaking in the best way.
But it’s Collier’s collages which show just how ingrained a loss like this can be. I remember one doublespread in particular, one that fills me with excitement to discuss and one that just takes my breath away. There are three opaque elephants marching along city streets, nearly as tall as the apartment buildings they’re in front of. But there are three depictions of the father’s face as well–which all get more and more obscured the further towards the recto you look. So what does that mean, to have the animal symbol of never forgetting and the father’s face, obscured? I don’t know, but I LOVE IT. Maybe one day, when I have more time to truly sit down and look at it, a time when I’m not reading it for a project, I’ll be able to decipher the complexity and nuances of this book.
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