King of the Sky

 

From King of the Sky by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin (Walker Books 2017) | Illustration © 2017 by Laura Carlin

 

“A good picture book can carry as much in it as a great novel.”

— Nicola Davies I have recently moved to a town by the sea.

I’m enjoying exploring the area and becoming acquainted with the local birdlife. As expected, there are various gulls and shorebirds - like oystercatchers and turnstones, egrets and curlews. And I’ve had some enviable encounters with one of my favourite birds of all: Ravens.

But there’s another, often overlooked urban resident of the feathered kind that never fails to thrill me when it passes overhead in tight formation - the humble pigeon.

Not those fat, swaggering woodpigeons that I left behind in the Dorset fields. Instead, swirling flocks of feral pigeons, performing aerobatics over the rooftops below my balcony.

I think some of them are homing pigeons. Regardless, I’ve watched a sparrowhawk attempt to help itself. (It missed.) Pigeons make my heart sing - and reminded me of a poignant picture book, the award-winning King of the Sky by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin (Walker Books 2017).

King of the Sky is a multi-faceted book. Like Town is by the Sea, it’s the story of a boy in a mining town. Unlike the protagonist in Town, the narrator of King of the Sky did not grow up in the mining town. He’s from a migrant family, starting a new life in a Wales in the 1920’s - leaving their Italian home far behind.

He’s a total outsider.

Davies uses poetic language to tell her story, which makes it a treat to read aloud. She ‘considers the strangeness of new places, especially their smells, and the simple acts that can make us feel part of a new community.’

 

It rained and rained and rained.

Little houses huddled on the humpbacked hills.

Chimneys smoked and metal towers clanked.

The streets smelled of mutton soup and coal dust

And no one spoke my language.

All of it told me this is not where you belong.

 

Just one thing reminds the boy of home - the racing pigeons belonging to his neighbour, Mr Evans (a retired miner).

There’s a gorgeous illustration of the boy crouched down, surrounded by pigeons (dreaming of his home back in Rome). Using warm pencil outlines, Carlin captures the boy’s thoughts - of sunlight, fountains and St. Peter’s Square in Rome - with a light touch. 

 

From King of the Sky by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin (Walker Books 2017) | Illustration © 2017 by Laura Carlin

 

In this way, the imagery doesn’t overpower the Welsh street’s reality, which feels heavy, solid and concrete. “I’m trying to sort of match them up, as opposed to outweigh one another,” explains Carlin in an interview.

Later, the same device is used to separate the past from the present when Mr Carlin describes the boy’s pigeon as a hero, likening it to the messenger pigeons of WW1.

When we first see Mr Evans, he is separated from the boy by the book’s gutter. 

 

I stood beside [Mr Evans] and watched

As his pigeons soared above the chimneys and the towers,

Up to where the sky stretched all the way to Italy.

 

Over the following spreads, the two characters become physically closer, symbolising their growing friendships as they bond over the racing pigeons.

The birds link the boy with home - a connection that deepens when the old man gives him a pigeon to hold.

 

I felt its small heart racing underneath my finger,

And the push and power of its wings.

It’s head was whiter than a splash of milk, its eyes blazed with fire.

“Name him and he’s yours,” the old man said.

 

Their friendship is cemented - and the bird is christened Re del Cielo (King of the Sky).

Together, the boy and Mr Evans train Re del Cielo and the rest of the flock by sending them to stations up the rail line - a little further every time.

 

“They don’t need a map like we do,” Mr Evans told me.

“They’re born knowing how to find their way. All they want is a bit of practice.”

 

Eventually, Mr Evans decides that the boy’s bird is ready for the ultimate race: ‘King of the Sky would go to Rome by train, then race back a thousand miles and more!’

Illustrator Carlin depicts the boy’s long, agonising wait for his bird to return from Rome by using repeated imagery - the boy sat at his window. These are interspersed with wordless spreads depicting the bird’s journey home: clattering from its basket at St. Peter’s Square, past the gelateria, over the Alps and finally back across the moonlit sea.

I admire Carlin’s work enormously. Her illustrations are naive and have a child-like quality (which ironically makes them rather sophisticated). They are reminiscent of Lowry and the Cornish Primitive, Alfred Wallis.

 

From King of the Sky by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin (Walker Books 2017) | Illustration © 2017 by Laura Carlin

 

Two Steamers in St. Ive’s Bay by Alfred Wallis | From Alfred Wallis: Cornish Primitive by Edwin Mullins (Pavilion 1994)

 

The boy’s special pigeon finally makes it safely home:

[I] squinted up into the clouds.

A speck… A blob…. A bird.

A pigeon with a milk-white head,

A hero and a champion!

 

King of the Sky!

The ending (though quiet and calming) is uplifting and left me with a deep sense of connection.

Connection between the boy and Mr Evans.

The connection between the boy and his bird, resting in his arms.

The connection between distant countries (borderless to a bird) linked by the big, open sky.

And finally a sense of belonging, as the boy realises that he is home.

Because home is where the heart is.

 Perhaps you’re wondering where all the fluffy bunnies and bears are in this week’s Good to Read recommendation?

I hear you - I also invite you to expand your understanding of what a picture book can be (and who they are for). King of the Sky will resonate with anyone feeling excluded or out of place. It will expand your child's understanding of the world, and promote deeper thoughts about the meaning of home, friendships and belonging. 

As Davies herself explains:

 

I feel very strongly that there is no issue which cannot be presented in a picture book. Children are enormously emotionally aware and sophisticated, even if they don’t have the ability to articulate their feelings. To a certain extent, I feel it is my job as a writer TO articulate the feelings and experiences that children - well, people in general really - don’t have the ability to express. Both The Promise and King of the Sky work well with the very young and adults. That is the power and wonder of a picture book - they can tell universal truths to universal audiences.

- The Author at Foyles: An interview with Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin

 

STORIES WORTH SHARING: King of the Sky by Nicola Davies & Laura Carlin

Good to Read because:

It’s a powerful story about the meaning of home - chosen by Amnesty UK for its positive representation of human migration.

It will encourage and reassure children struggling to fit in - from those feeling worried about starting a new school to refugees from another country, making a new life in a strange place.

It invites curiosity.

It expands children's knowledge of the world - use it to explore immigration, maps, bird migration, mining, WW1...

It develops empathy in your child.

Shortlisted for the Greenaway Medal

 

Good to Read

Picture Books exploring the themes of Home and Belonging

The Day War Came by Nicolas Davies & Rebecca Cobb

The Snow Lion by Jim Helmore & Richard Jones

Toot & Puddle by Holly Hobbie

Lost & Found by Oliver Jeffers

The Suitcase by Christian Naylor-Ballesteros

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

There is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith

BUY THE BOOK

‘[This] sensitive, uplifting tale about find your place in a new strange new land could just as well be about a refugee as it could any child moving to a new town.’

- The Times * Children’s Book of the Week BUY UK buy us* I EARN COMMISSION FROM THESE LINKS #AD  SOURCESKing of the Sky by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Laura Carlin (Walker Books 2017) Nicola Davis & Laura Carlin - Authors at Foyles (Foyles) Laura Carlin talks about King of the Sky (Vimeo, 2018) King of the Sky (Booktrust)Alfred Wallis: Cornish Primitive by Edwin Mullins (Pavilion 1994) Nichola Davis - Children’s Author (Nicola-davis.com)© 2020 BY TIM WARNES(UNLESS OTHERWISE ATTRIBUTED)**** USE OF THIRD-PARTY COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL FALLS UNDER FAIR USE/FAIR DEALING PRACTICE.