Review #78: Shadow

Dad:  Today we are taking a look at the book "Shadow."  Wow.  What did Suzy Lee do inside these pages?
Gracie (age 10):  She created magic.
Dad:  We are big Suzy Lee fans.
Gracie:  Suzy Lee, you are a marvel.  I never would have dreamed a book could get any better than "Wave."
Isaac (age 12):  But it did.
Gracie:  "Shadow" is outstandingly outrageous.
Lily (age 7):  It's about a girl who makes these shadows.
Isaac:  She's in her basement.
Gracie:  It's her attic.
Isaac:  I think it's a basement.
Gracie:  I think it's an attic.
Dad:  I always thought it was a garage.
Lily:  The little girl makes shadow shapes, and then they turn
alive.  Oh wow.  How does she do that?
Isaac:  See that little bit of yellow!  Everything that comes to life is starting to turn yellow.
Lily:  It's a world of shadows and magic.
Gracie:  Yellow magic.
Lily:  She makes a whole bunch of different characters.  There was a Fox and a Bunny and a Bird and a Princess and an Elephant and a Crocodile!
Isaac:  Then they start seeping into the real world.  See, the Fox is escaping!
Dad:  You guys keep saying Fox, but I always thought he was a Wolf.
Isaac:  I always thought he was a Fox.
Dad:  Actually, he's sort of human.  He looks more like a person wearing a mask and tail.  See, he's got people-hands.  Hmm, do you think it's really actually the girl?
Isaac:  That's what I was thinking.
Dad:  Because the Elephant got made out of the vacuum's shadow.  And the Crocodile got made out of the saw.  But how was the Wolf made?  Do you remember?
Gracie:  (Gasp!) The girl's shadow!  She did it!  That's why it looks so much like a person!
Isaac:  But didn't she make the Princess with her shadow also?
Dad:  She made both -- the Princess and the Wolf.  Do you think that's her two different sides?  She's got a good side and a dark side, and they play with each other?  Or am I reading too much into it?
Isaac:  You're going crazy.
Dad:  Hah ha!
Isaac:  Anyway, the Wolf escapes from the Shadow World.
Dad:  We need to decide if we are going to call him a Fox or a Wolf.
Isaac:  Oh yeah, I just said "Wolf" didn't I.
Dad:  It doesn't matter.  We just need to pick one and be consistent.
Isaac:  Wolf.
Lily:  Wolf.
Dad:  Wolf it is.
Isaac:  The Wolf escapes from the Shadow World.
Gracie:  There is magic between the worlds.
Lily:  The Wolf is evil, but then he turns nice after they scare him.  Then all the shadows come up into the real world, and she plays with them.
Isaac:  The two worlds smash together.
Dad:  That's one neat way Suzy Lee's books are similar to each other... "Wave," "Mirror," "Shadow."
Isaac:  In her books, worlds come together.  And things start coming to life.  And her books are two colors only.  And in the middle of the books there are explosions.
Gracie:  The books explode into colors.
Dad:  Tell everyone about the color in this book.
Gracie:  The pictures are yellow and black and white.  The book starts out with zero yellow.  The yellow appears when things start coming to life.
Dad:  The color is almost like a character itself.
Isaac:  The yellow is getting bigger and bigger, and turning more and more stuff alive.  Then it starts seeping onto the opposite page.
Lily:  It's everywhere!
Isaac:  Then at the end it's all yellow.
Gracie:  Yellow was a good color to choose.  Yellow is like light.  Light from a lightbulb is yellow.
Isaac:  The yellow shows that stuff is coming to life.
Dad:  The light is life.
Gracie:  But the end makes me sad.  The little girl becomes friends with her shadows.  They are having fun, and then...
Isaac:  Then it's dinnertime.  The light comes on and everything is back to normal.
Gracie:  It's so sad.  All her fun adventures and happy times are gone now.  Right when she makes friends with the Wolf.  It's so, so sad.
Isaac:  She turns the light off.  But then you hear another click, and the Shadow World comes back alive and dances.
Gracie:  Everybody down there is partying.
Lily:  Ha ha!  Look at the Bunny swinging on the string!
Gracie:  They all party after she's gone - they are having fun without her.
Dad:  See, so it's not too sad.  The fun continues.  She'll see them again.
Isaac:  Oh!  I never noticed this!  At the end, all the stuff that was cluttered is still on the ground, but the animals are also there dancing on top of them.
Gracie:  Yeah - there's the vacuum.  So how is the Elephant alive?
Dad:  She brought him to life, and now he can live on his own apart from the vacuum.  Maybe they will clean up the mess for her.
Isaac:  I need an elephant to clean for me!
Gracie:  You feel a connection to them all.  It made me so sad when I saw the light turn on and everything was just gone.  You have a special connection to the girl and her friends.
Dad:  Is it going to be fun to do our fan art pictures for this review?
Lily:  YEAH!!!
Gracie:  Dad you have to put up your picture on the blog this time.
Dad:  Mmmm... I don't put my pictures up.
Gracie:  You have to this time.
Isaac:  Let's have a vote.
Dad:  None of the blog readers want to see my pictures.  These reviews are about your reactions.  They come to read about you guys.
Gracie:  They might want to know about you too.  Please?
Dad:  Well...  Maybe I'll share my picture later in a special post.
Gracie:  Yea!  Dad's going to put his picture on the blog!
(editorial comment:  check back this Friday...  I'll put up a post with my pictures...)
Dad:  In closing, do you guys have anything you'd like to say right to Suzy Lee?
Lily:  You make wonderful books!
Dad:  Do you think other people love her books as much as we do?
Gracie:  Not possible.  We love her books more than anyone else in the world could.
Isaac:  Except maybe her mother.
Gracie:  Thank-you, Miss Suzy Lee!
Dad:  Well, she didn't send it to us.
Gracie:  Yeah, but...  Thank-you for just existing... to make this book.  Thank-you for existing.  Because you are the awesomest ever.

Shadow, by Lily (painted and pressed)


Shadow, by Gracie (painted)


Shadow, by Isaac (cut paper)

Author/Illustrator: Suzy Lee
Published, 2010: Chronicle Books
Like it?  Here it is