Now I See Spring | Your Truck
Jon Klassen is masterful as a children’s book designer and illustrator. He has published several books, first being I Want My Hat Back, which gained him high praise and set his career into motion.
Lately, Jon has been publishing what I consider the most deceptively difficult category of kid’s books—board books. These books are for 3 year-olds and younger. They are also printed on board so they can be chewed without completely destroying them. You might think that making a book for a 3 year-old is easier than, say a 9 year-old, because they are new to this world and have low expectations. This is precisely why they are so difficult.
The audience has a limited, verbal and visual vocabulary, and little world experience. This makes story telling challenging because the subjects and cues are so common and minimal. This is where Klassen shines. He illustrates very simply and foregoes unnecessary frills. Cars, trees, houses, and animals are very basic yet perfectly recognizable. The secret that he performs out with frequency is making his subjects come to life. How? Just add eyes. Eyes as headlights on trucks, chairs with eyes, even trees and rivers with eyes. Of course, horses and dogs have eyes too!
Jon’s text follows the same discipline—spare words that complement spare images. This affinity for simplicity allows lots of room for a kid to interpret, question, and imagine.
The second and most powerful strength of Klassen’s storytelling is his inclusion of the reader. The use of the words ‘you’ and ‘me’ are the difference in reading a story and being in the story. These books feel custom made for every little reader.