Vessel of Promises: A Bookish Fable

by Stephen Cowan, Ed Young (Illustrator)

Ed Young outlines the life of a library and the impact that books and reading can have on people throughout the world.

Genres: Picture Books, Fiction, Childrens

26 pages, Hardcover

Published November 10, 2020

Reviews

[Shaye Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a most unusual picture book in the way it was created that you flip through one direction and then halfway through begin reading in another direction. It’s difficult to explain without showing you, but trust that it’s a pretty nifty experience. In rhyming text, the storyline is of an old woman who dreams of an impending flood. So she seals up any cracks in her home and begins gathering promises “in pairs” for safe keeping. Strong, small, mysterious, light, sad, slow… they were all set aside for safe keeping. When the rains came down her house floated until it landed on dry sand, keeping the promises safe and dry. And can you guess what these precious promises were? The illustrations are mysterious and dark in color with the handwritten text going in all directions. And the author’s note and illustrator’s note give very special shout out to the importance of libraries in their lives. Ed Young gives a thank you to the help of a Photoshop artist named John Hudak and a Calligrapher named Ellen Cohn for their help with the artwork.

For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!

[Michele Knott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the fable.
This is an accordian style book that can be read folded, or pulled out for the full effect.
Even after reading the illustrator's note, I think I am missing something in the abstract illustrations.

[Tayler K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the title, especially when I saw the subtitle.
Then I realized that the whole book spreads out into a giant strip. Once I realized how it works, you can read it in 2-page spreads like a regular book, but if you've got the space and care, you can spread the whole thing out in a line and then flip it to the other side, which I liked. I was checking this in with the new books at work and when I realized what it was, took it out and spread it behind the front desk for Chella and whoever to look at.

I was so caught up in the format that the story didn't sink in with me the first time I read it. It wasn't until I saw the Becoming Story in the back that I caught on to the Noah's ark theme and understood the animal silhouettes. Some of them I never managed to make out, but there's otters and a giraffe and birds and bees and an anteater.

I'm not sure what else to describe. This is really a book you have to see for yourself.

As a librarian, I'm torn between being pleased that this is sort of a love letter to books and reading, and a bit indignant that we're described as endangered in the first place.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's exciting layout is what makes it offbeat but also magical in the hands of any reader-- it is a bookish fable celebrating the library and the books that reside in it with rhyming lines as the reader moves through the accordion-style thick pages that move one way reading left to right and once at the end, go back right to left to finish the story.

The layout is its greatest asset and a bit of its downfall depending on how it can be used/read on the shelf based on the style. Otherwise, it's a celebration of books, what's not to love?

It's a bit dark for many of the background art and with the stick-like font choice, the words are sometimes hard to read on the page.

[Zahnii (Suzanne) Artis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the premise of this book, but I think to make it more engageable, it would really take some time and some special activities to do with this book. It is a single extendable sheet of paper with illustrations on both sides that sort of feel like a journey with lines connecting like threads. The idea behind the book is to support libraries as an endangered species. There’s a suggestion to find books using the clues in the story and the example they use is “a tall one that can reach the top of the trees” might be a book about giraffes, or monkeys or kites…

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accordion-style picture book framing the Ark narrative into an ode to the power of stories. Pretty clearly best for adults.

[Y.Poston]

love the beautiful abstract art & book layout

[Karen Glass · Rating 5 out of 5]

creative,

the best library book!

[Earl · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accordion style book that takes a literary twist on Noah's Ark. This was an intriguing read but it was only after I watched the book trailer that I fully appreciated the illustrations.