This week, the instructions are to talk about a book that is some way extra-exciting. And, honestly, the book I've chosen for this class would be a great fit for that prompt. That is, if I hadn't been telling everything interesting about said book for the past 10 weeks. Instead, I've chosen one of my favorite childhood books, The Escape of Marvin the Ape by Caralyn Buehner. First of all, it was illustrated by Buehner's husband, Mark, which is just a fun little tidbit, but obviously not a remarkably standout quality.
What makes this book special is Mark Buehner's use of his illustrations. Not only is he a fantastic artist, but all of the images in the book feature little Easter eggs, if you will. For example, there is an ostrich that apparently has escaped the zoo with Marvin, who can be found somewhere in every scene, along with a cat of unexplained origin. Caralyn's words may be sparse, but each one counts as she is clever and concise with her captions. Yet part of the magic of this book is that the pictures truly tell the story.
The pictures are filled with details. Not only are there the ones that I've already mentioned, but also many more. It'd be nearly impossible to notice absolutely everything that goes on in every image without paging through the book on numerous occasions. I've been endeavoring to locate a PDF of the book, but so far, the best I've come across is the following video, which has some fairly annoying children's voices narrating the story, but at least shows all the pictures. For some reason, the video doesn't show up when I attempt to embed it, so click here to view it on YouTube.
I highly recommend this book to absolutely everyone, whether they have kids or not. It is a beautiful piece that can be appreciated by all ages. The story is delightful and the pictures are simply magical. If you ever come across this book in a store, don't hesitate to pick it up and flip through it. Though you'll certainly be hard-pressed not to end up purchasing it.
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