Pencil

Gr 3-5–A unique, elegant wordless book that portrays the transformation of trees into pencils. The narrative begins and ends with some artistic embellishment. On the first pages, a pencil is sharpened and the wood shavings magically become leaves that grow into a tree. This tree expands into a forest, which is subsequently sawed down. The logs are transported by truck to a dour, smoke-emitting factory. Inside, the trees are whittled into pencils and sold at an art supply store. A young girl, possibly a depiction of Kim, buys the pencil and draws a new tree. The cycle renews. The artwork—rendered in colored pencil, of course—is remarkably intricate. Virtually every color is employed in a way that feels vibrant and harmonious. The author makes deft use of almost every color in the box to depict trees, birds, and other living creatures, while the factory is portrayed as oppressive and gray. The grim factory and the young girl’s act of redrawing trees onto their stumps, thus resurrecting them, implies a theme of conservation, which is muddled by the fact that the book itself is printed on paper and illustrated with tools made from felled trees. Back matter includes a list of tips for enjoying wordless picture books.