Niko draws a feeling by Bob Raczka
Ill. by Simone Shin. Carolrhoda Books, 2017, ISBN 9781467798433
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Emotions. Feelings. Drawing. Writing about
emotions and feelings is always fraught but the author and
illustrator here have presented a book about emotions that younger
readers will grasp. A gentle book filled with line drawings Niko has
made to represent how he feels, children may not understand what
Niko is trying to show with his drawings, but will appreciate that
he loves to draw and each drawing represents something he has heard,
seen or felt. Children will recognise with ease the
misunderstandings between children and adult as each person puts
their own interpretation on Niko's drawings. He draws the ting-
a-ling of the icecream truck, for example and his peers tell him
that it looks nothing like the icecream truck. He explains that it
is the ting-a-ling, not the truck, and still they do not understand.
Moments like this appear throughout the book, causing laughter of
recognition amongst children as they recall being unable to explain
things to other people. They will certainly understand the feeling
of being misunderstood, and of trying to communicate ideas with
other people.
The mix of media used in the illustrations will attract younger
readers, seeing things in the stylised children's art work that they
will recognise and attempt to emulate. I love the spirals and lines
of colour weaving their way from one endpaper to another, covering
the whole of the book from start to finish. Children will love
following the lines as they seem to pull the pictures together, and
they, like Iris will be drawn to Niko's work. A most unusual and
engaging picture book for art lovers.
Fran Knight