Author: Jen Bryant
Author Website: http://www.jenbryant.com/
Illustrator: Melissa Sweet
Illustrator Website: http://www.melissasweet.net/bio_full.php
Media Used: Collage
Publisher: Eerdmans Grand Rapids, Michigan
Year of Publication: 2008
ISBN: 9780802853028
Annotation: Young William Carlos Williams discovered a love for poetry but practicality he knew that this passion would not support a family. He trains to be a doctor, marries and establishes a practice in New Jersey but always found time to write his poems.
Personal Reaction: I loved this book. The story of Williams’ passion for poetry and the way he found a way to combine it within his life is an inspiration to any reader. The poetry on the front and back plates drew me in immediately and made me want to know more about this person’s life. I had never read his poetry but will seek it out in the future. I loved the collage method and feel like it gives the story and original and unique feel to the book. The chronological timeline at the end is an excellent way to put the author’s life in a historical context that is easily interpreted by the reader.
Illustration: The use of collage by using historical documents gives the subjects’ life a chronological context. There is one page that combines an old report card, illustration of a writing book with the beginning of a poem and a world map. The next page continues following the narrative with a portion of a poem and a drawing of the moon and treetops adjacent to it. The collage method for this book is brilliant and takes the story beyond just a biography but makes it a masterful visual accounting of a life and enhances the storyline. Because of the illustrator’s collage “layers” I wanted to slow down and examine every page.
Use of Media: Collage, drawing and vibrant colors in painting.
Use of literature device: Metaphor-“The gentle sounds and shifting rhythms of the poems were like the music of the river.”
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