'Just make a mark and see where it takes you', the Teacher tells Vashti
Sometimes in life, we are lucky enough to find an adult in Institutions who believe in us and invite us along a path towards self-discovery and empowerment. We all know the huge influence adults have in shaping the lives of children in their care, whether directly or indirectly. Children look up to them in their formative years, believe in and hang on to their every word - whether harmful or healing. Of course, there are countless cases of children defying the negativity transmitted by adults to prove they cannot be placed in a box and labelled FAILURE.
This book emerges from the trendy, hugely popular American strain of empowerment books for kids. Kids need to be motivated, kids need to be encouraged, kids need to see light when they are in the dark...and when they do, they will spread this light to others, making our world a better place. What a lovely message..and the dot, a little black mark on a white page can become and assume the dimensions we give to it..if only we dare to try, if only we are given the first nudge in the right direction.
'Well, maybe I can't draw, but I CAN sign my name', thinks Vashti
Little Vashti is hopeless at art. Her teacher believes in her student and encourages her through kindness and support. It's up to Vashti to discover her skill and the teacher is ready and waiting to showcase it to..everyone. Meanwhile, Vashti is now convinced that art and any other talent is there to be discovered and appropriated...yes, by anyone!
'Hmmph! I can make a better dot than THAT!'
...
'If I can make little dots, I can make BIG dots, too.'
A feel-good book, playfully and colourfully illustrated. The drawings stay away from explicitly identifying and limiting the work to ethnicities and skin colour..and the name Vashti is able to free itself from any /foreigner/ethnic undertones. In this sense, the book appeals and reaches out to all kids, without falling into the trap of 'immigrants'=underprivileged or 'immigrants'=disadvantaged, and therefore needing the benevolence of authority and institutions to patronise them.
A simple message that is cleverly illustrated which helps it to soar across and make borders more porous.
When one person is inspired, it never stops there, in fact, we never know where it will end and what it will spiral into. So leave your mark and ...sign it, tells us Peter Reynolds.
Afterthought - This is a simple book introducing kids to colours, frustration, patience, motivation, hard-work and reward. The underlying message is we all have the potential, we just need the nudge and encouragement to explore it or find it. There are so many kids who succumb to pressures of all kinds - class/social inequalities, unrealistic, demanding expectations from adults, peer pressure, etc and who never get the chance or opportunity to find their true calling, if there is really something like that. In this light, the book is a celebration of the free spirit and pays hommage to teachers and adults that encourage children to find their own path.
However, in all honesty, although the message is quite inspirational, the book itself lacks real creativity and this is something that is very common in children's books - creativity becomes a hostage to a message we think kids desperately need - a message of hope, of love, of caring, etc. In other words, while it pays hommage to this one child's creativity, it actually does so in an ...uncreative way-
Children do need positive examples and role models, they do need to see positive self-representations reflected back at them...but I wonder if that's enough, if we are selling them short...
Playing from the Heart - Peter Reynolds
'Could you play a song for me?'
'these notes reminded him of zoo animals peering through bars...wanting to escape'
On the back cover, there is a note from the author, which I reproduce here:
'When I wrote this story, I hoped it would resonate with those who are looking to be reminded to be playful, to channel joy- not perfection. Then it took on new meaning when my father suffered two strokes. Seeing him in discomfort, I wanted to see that sparkle in his eyes again. there were no words. Just feelings. Like music'.
Here we have a writer who comes close to losing his father and explores the use of music as a way to connect people in times when words or actions may seem futile.
A boy named Raj slowly grows up and has all but forgotten the love and passion with which he played the piano. The piano, this instrument sitting in the living room, this connection of joy in silence, without words, between father and son. The son moves out, has his own successful life and receives a call one day informing him that his father is sick. He immediately leaves in the pouring rain to see his old man. Will music - that one thing that stood long ago as a symbol of their bond - be able to revive their connection?
'His father heard the dreamy music floating through the house. He was amazed that his son was playing beautifully without ever having taken a lesson'
... 'Although Raj played better and better he got more and more tired...until the day that even looking at the piano made him exhausted'.
Playing that song without a name
What do you do when you think you see a talent in a child, you invest a lot to nurture this talent, the child goes along, having fun, probably wanting to please you, and after the child has also invested a lot of time and energy and patience and is doing well, (s)he suddenly gets tired and then...stops altogether?
How easy is it to accept this, not label it as resignation, failure, lack of discipline, laziness..and trust that the child has the right to follow the path (s)he has chosen?
Having expectations, becoming disappointed or frustrated or even angry and violent when they are not met, dealing with all these emotions in a healthy environment and trusting that passions are things that never die, they just lie low sometimes, ready to burst back out when we least expect it. Killing or stifling or deforming this passion is one of the great harms we adults can sometimes do to kids, even with the best intentions.
'Finally, Raj closed the cover over the keys. He was finished. The piano was silent'.
Years later, 'Raj found the sustain pedal and dove into a place he had not been in many years. The notes emerged whispery and sweet'.
Afterthought: I like the idea of having a close but silent relationship between a father and a son, one characterised by loneliness and emptiness...which is suddenly filled with music..only to become silent and lonely again. Life drags on, kids grow up, everyone goes their separate ways and then suddenly, this relationship which we have taken for granted, suddenly threatens to rupture for good. Is there still a chance to revive it and how? We are all given little intangible gifts from our parents, some of them we never manage to discover but that doesnt mean they arent in us. Sometimes these gifts (trust, free spirit) rest close to our hearts and come out just when we need them, sparking and reviving something in us.
I respect this book as a hommage to the author's father and the serenity the characters found in music. However, as a story, I think it reads a little flat and the idea of following your passion without the pressure of perfection (the father loved the song with 'no name') could have been more playfully and creatively explored.
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