14 May 2014 THE SCRAPS BOOK: NOTES FROM A COLORFUL LIFE by Lois Ehlert, Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane Books, March, 2014,  72 p., ISBN: 978-1-4424-3571-1

“...Skit skat skoodle doot.

Flip flop flee.

Everybody running to the coconut tree.

Mamas and papas

and uncles and aunts

hug their little dears,

then dust their pants...”

There are two picture books whose texts I inadvertently memorized a quarter-century ago, during my years at the childcare center.  One is THE BIG FAT WORM by Nancy Van Laan and Marisabina Russo, which I would regularly narrate at circle time while varying quartets of kids would get up and act it out.  The other book I knew (and still know) by heart--because of reading it aloud so often--is CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM which is illustrated by Lois Ehlert.

Back then, we had lots of Lois Ehlert’s distinctively-illustrated books in our book collection at the childcare center including GROWING VEGETABLE SOUP, the Caldecott Honor book COLOR ZOO, PLANTING A RAINBOW, EATING THE ALPHABET, FEATHERS FOR LUNCH, and FISH EYES,

After I transitioned to working in retail children’s books, there were new Lois Ehlert books to learn and share.  And after library school, there were yet more new books, including Ehlert's illustration of MICE, a fun, old poem by the late Brit poet Rose Fyleman which had been a favorite from my poetry recipe box back in my childcare center days.  

I’m sitting here with my copy of MICE, admiring it anew after reading and re-reading THE SCRAPS BOOK: NOTES FROM A COLORFUL LIFE by Lois Ehlert.  In THE SCRAPS BOOK, Ehlert brings together short tales about her life and her art.  In sharing her story of becoming an artist at a very young age, THE SCRAPS BOOK is a book that challenges and encourages young people to get their hands on materials at hand and create their own art.  

We are given an intimate look at how Lois Ehlert creates her books and we read snippets of how she came up with ideas for many of those books.  In this picture book memoir, we are treated to photos of her book dummies, her raw materials, and illustrations from the nearly three dozen books she has illustrated over her career.  

Now when I re-read MICE and look at her illustrations, I see more clearly how Ehlert combines her collaging and her papermaking with found objects.  I also see visual allusions to some of her early books.  

THE SCRAPS BOOK concludes with a two-page spread of the cover images of Lois Ehlert’s books.  I've somehow  missed a few of them and am going to make a point of tracking those down.

Richie Partington, MLIS
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