Hey, Al by Arthur Yorinks is the story of Al, a janitor, and his dog Eddie. Their adventure from New York to paradise and back again instills the value of home in the reader. Illustrations by Richard Egielski flow with the story and go beyond the box. Written in 1986, this book contrasts the urban setting with a jungle utopia, which allows children from both urban and rural backgrounds to find something to which they can relate.
Al and Eddie live in a small, one bedroom apartment on the West Side. Man and his best friend are itching to get into the wide, open spaces. Both fantasize about roomier lodgings when a colorful bird makes them an offer to live with him. Al is incredulous and Eddie is desperate so they accept. The bird from the window flies them to an island in the sky, where Al and Eddie forget all about the city…that is, until they too turn into birds. They make their escape and end the story with the line, “Paradise lost is sometimes heaven found.”
Richard Egielski’s illustrations are brilliant! The art is compressed into a box when Al and Eddie are in New York and a little of the illustration leaks out of the box, depicting the overflowing conditions on the West Side. When in paradise, the illustration consumes the whole page. Regardless of location, the illustrations are detailed and have potential to spark a lot of discussion among readers.
This sounds like an incredible picture book! Your description suggests that the illustrations do alot of telling! Sounds like this would be a great book for teaching children to use picture cues when reading. I think I've got to put this one on my list! It has birds in it too!
ReplyDeleteYour excitement over the book's illustrations makes me want to check out this book. Perhaps I can borrow your's when you're done with it. What kind of ideas or questions do you think young students will bring up in relation to this book?
ReplyDeleteThe page showing paradise must be awesome consuming both pages! It also seems urban students could really relate to and empathize with Eddie and Al. However, this would also give rural students a glimpse of urban life.
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