I fell in love with Crispin’s Rainy Day by Forrest Dickison from Cannonball Press on the first page.
Crispin is in such a hurry he can’t even be bothered to sit down to put on his rain boots. He certainly doesn’t have time for his sister’s silly picnic.
I’m captivated by Dickison's brilliant representation of movement hanging in the air a split second after Crispin’s disappearance.
Crispin is in a big hurry because he’s going to meet his pirate crew and go on a quest for the Lightning Blade. Wait! His crew are frogs? Of course – who else wants to play outside on a rainy day? Well, his little sister does. But girls are decidedly NOT welcome on this quest. Not welcome by Crispin, anyway.
His crew isn’t about to say no to Rose’s cooking, and it turns out her penchant for cleaning and decluttering is a significant factor in the success of the quest.
Dickison’s illustrations are so expressive they could almost tell the story without words.
It’s obvious the artist knows the personality of each frog.
In their search for the Lightning Blade, some of their stops echo Scylla and Charibdis of the Odyssey. We also have the descent into hell, essential to the hero’s journey. I love that Dickison thought to put salamanders in the fire, as, according to legend, salamanders can live in fire. It lightens the mood if you notice this adventure is a particular problem for Pegleg.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose,—words in their best order; poetry,—the best words in their best order.”
I cringe when I read children’s books written in sing-song rhymes for the sake of rhyming, as though children won’t notice the lack of depth or beauty. Dickison has told his story with the best words in the best order for telling it. Who knew “umbrella’d” was a verb? But that is exactly what Rose did.
The art and poetry make the story attractive and fun to read. But a book can be beautiful and not have a story inside that is good and true. The author comes right out and tells us that Crispin learns to value each member of his crew. The most important truth is one that often gets turned on its head these days. Crispin and his crew have to fight an evil dragon in order to rescue the fair maiden. Crispin and his crew don’t decide the dragon is just misunderstood and would try to do better if they made friends with it. Evil must be vanquished!
I was so engrossed in the story that, by the end, I had forgotten the entire adventure was entirely imaginary for Crispin. This is the best kind of fantasy–the kind any child can have with a bit of imagination and perhaps some time to get bored. Once the mission is accomplished, we’re reminded, in the end, it was just rainy-day fun.