My Pen

A graceful boy with a fedora and soft curls talks about the power of making art, as finely detailed black-and-white images surround him, like a sketchbook brought to life. Deep in thought, the boy compares himself to people who are rich or famous. "Sometimes I feel small," he confesses. "But then I remember I have my pen." Instead of imagining fortune or celebrity, he pays homage to wisdom and strength, drawing a farmer in overalls who towers over him like a stone monument (and who bears a strong resemblance to the author's late father, Walter Dean Myers). "My pen," he says, "makes giants of old men who have seen better days." His pen creates adventure ("My pen sails to Africa in a newspaper boat") but carries grave concern, too ("My pen worries about all the wars in the world"). Throughout the book, faces--young and old, with dark skin and light skin, with dreadlocks and pigtails--assure readers that this is a book meant for them, as are the freedom, power, and unlimited possibilities that drawing offers: "Let those worlds inside your pen out!" Ages 3-5. (Mar.)

K-Gr 3--Aurelio is a young artist with big eyes, a fedora, and, most importantly, a vivid imagination. In ink renderings on pages that maintain interest by alternating between black on white and the perception of the reverse, the boy contrasts the sense of being small--evoked when he sees rich and famous people--with the power he wields with his pen. The "Dali" headline on the book jacket's folded newspaper boat foreshadows playful bits of surrealism, e.g., an elephant in a teacup, a man who looms large on the left page in the hand of a small girl on the right. This tender composition has a familial, personal feeling. The versatile drawing instrument worries about war, expresses love, and "wears satellite sneakers with computer laces." Myers intersperses literal depictions of the pen at work (creating the child's face) with images that are described in more fanciful terms. Where the artist is walking upside down (no pen in sight), the text reads: "My pen tap-dances on the sky and draws clouds with its feet." The first-person possessive voice wears a little thin, and the connection among the pages is loose. Nevertheless, Myers has assembled a visually arresting array of sketches that will likely attract the interest of children who enjoy drawing themselves. Indeed, the last sentence is an invitation to "Let those worlds inside your pen out!" VERDICT The striking images and important message outweigh any narrative issues.--Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library