Review - Charcoal Boys

Charcoal Boys
by Roger Mello
Date: 2019
Publisher: Elsewhere Editions
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 46
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

From Hans Christian Andersen Award and Batchelder Honor Medal-winning author Roger Mello, a poetic and sensitive portrait of child labor in Brazil's charcoal mines.

Beautifully illustrated by Roger Mello with sophisticated, highly textural paper cut outs, Charcoal Boys follows a young boy working in Brazil's charcoal mines. The boy's strength and resilience shine through the darkness in this moving condemnation of child labor.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

What an utter waste of time. This is one of those pretentious picture books that's only going to appeal to graduate students who want to prove how smart they are.

This is not a "moving condemnation of child labor". This is an author trying to look clever. The story, such as it is, is told from the point of view of a hornet, who apparently hasn't bothered to learn how to correctly use grammar. The sentence fragments were driving me to distraction! Anyway, this hornet tells the story of a boy and his albino friend who work for the coal mines. There are some plot points about the boys starting a brush fire with a cigarette, the boy stowing away on a truck to go and see a steel mill (which is still narrated by the hornet, even though it couldn't possibly have known what the boy saw), the albino kid and his mother being taken away, a lost key (which is never explained)... and the hornet finally killing the boy with a sting.

What the...?!

I was interested in reading this because I thought it would be an interesting look into child labour or coal mines in Brazil. Instead, all I got was a pretentious story told by a child-killing hornet.

I'd encountered Roger Mello's illustration work before. I wasn't that crazy about it. I don't really like it here, either. The collages sort of fit with the text, but since the text is so weak, I can't really get excited about the illustrations. I doubt kids would find much to enjoy about them, either.

Actually, I doubt kids would enjoy this book at all. It's too heavy on the text, there's no story to speak of (and what's there is so sparse and littered with unanswered questions that it's not going to be very satisfying), and the supposed subject matter is barely even addressed. If you really want to read a book about the misery some children face, I'd recommend a book like Michel Chikwanine's graphic novel memoir, Child Soldier, instead.

Thank you to NetGalley and Elsewhere Editions for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 1/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 0/5

Overall: 1.17 out of 5

Review - Feather

Feather
by Cao Wenxuan
illustrated by Roger Mello
Date: 2017
Publisher: Elsewhere Editions
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: library

A philosophical picture book from one of China's most celebrated children's authors and 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award-winner Cao Wenxuan.

A feather is blown across the sky, meeting various birds along the way, and asking each one, "Do I belong to you?"

Cao Wenxuan tells the story of a single feather who is swept away on a journey of discovery and belonging. Encountering a variety of birds, from a kingfisher to a magpie, Feather is hopeful of meeting the bird she belongs to. Again and again, she is dismissed or ignored. Only when she sees that there is also beauty in being close to the earth does fate offer a reunion... Feather is sure to charm young children with a plot at once compelling, meditative, and quietly moving. Roger Mello’s stunningly beautiful, dynamic illustrations will delight readers of all ages.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

There are some picture books that just wouldn't appeal to children. This is probably one of them. It has the same basic plot as P. D. Eastman's Are You My Mother? but without the cute illustrations or PG story. (In fact, Feather involves blood and death. It's the circle of life, but it's pretty brutal for what's supposed to be a meditative picture book.)

I didn't like the illustrations here. They're dull, simplistic, and often don't make a lot of sense. (We get decorative vases and koi ponds that don't seem to serve any function in the story; they're just there to look pretty.) The colour palette is muted and some of the birds look rather... well, impossible. They're heavily stylized and not very realistic.

A newly hatched baby bird looking for its mother is pushing it, but an anthropomorphized feather is just a step too far for me. If I'd come across this book as a child, I think it would've gone right back on the shelf after the first few pages (which is probably a good thing; I wouldn't have gotten to the poor skylark being eaten).

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 1/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.67 out of 5