Hey, Wall: A Story of Art and Community

by Susan Verde (Author), John Parra (Illustrator)

New
Picture Book
2018
$19.35

Verde's unique style and simple yet increasingly important messages of peace, mindfulness, and community make her stories a must-share...A must-purchase. --School Library Journal (starred review)
Walls do not just create barriers and divide spaces. They can be canvases for artmaking; opportunities to shape a community. --The Horn Book
This story of urban renewal sends a welcome double message by Verde: neighbors and neighborhoods are more than the way they look, and ordinary people can band together to transform big things. --Publishers Weekly
A boy takes on a community art project in order to make his neighborhood more beautiful in this empowering and inspiring picture book by Susan Verde, stunningly illustrated by award-winning artist John Parra.
One creative boy.
One bare, abandoned wall.
One BIG idea.
There is a wall in ngel's neighborhood. Around it, the community bustles with life: music, dancing, laughing. Not the wall. It is bleak. One boy decides to change that. But he can't do it alone.
Told in elegant verse by Susan Verde and vibrantly illustrated by John Parra, this inspiring picture book celebrates the power of art to tell a story and bring a community together.

Synopsis

Verde's unique style and simple yet increasingly important messages of peace, mindfulness, and community make her stories a must-share...A must-purchase. --School Library Journal (starred review)

Walls do not just create barriers and divide spaces. They can be canvases for artmaking; opportunities to shape a community. --The Horn Book

This story of urban renewal sends a welcome double message by Verde: neighbors and neighborhoods are more than the way they look, and ordinary people can band together to transform big things. --Publishers Weekly

A boy takes on a community art project in order to make his neighborhood more beautiful in this empowering and inspiring picture book by Susan Verde, stunningly illustrated by award-winning artist John Parra.

One creative boy.
One bare, abandoned wall.
One BIG idea.

There is a wall in ngel's neighborhood. Around it, the community bustles with life: music, dancing, laughing. Not the wall. It is bleak. One boy decides to change that. But he can't do it alone.

Told in elegant verse by Susan Verde and vibrantly illustrated by John Parra, this inspiring picture book celebrates the power of art to tell a story and bring a community together.

$19.35

Quantity

12 in stock

More Information

Format: Picture Book
Pages: 40
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Published: 01 Sep 2018
ISBN 10: 1481453130
ISBN 13: 9781481453134

Media Reviews

The wall of the title belongs to a city building, its expanse broken only by a straggling vine, some graffiti, and a torn poster for some long-ago event. A boy addresses it: Maybe once you were full of style, / but no one has taken care of you./ You are nothing to look at. In textural, mural-like paintings by Parra (Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos), friendly-looking, folk-art-style children play on matte pages. Though the landscape is bleak ( We cheer for the tiny flowers pushing through the cracks in the sidewalk ), the neighborhood's families--of all colors--eat, dance, and laugh together ( there is love; there is joy ). The boy realizes that if something is to be done about the wall's uncared-for expanse, it's up to him: I've got my pencil, / I've got my paints, / I've got my dreams. The boy organizes his neighbors, and with paint, ladders, and smiles, they create a beautiful mural. This story of urban renewal sends a welcome double message by Verde (The Water Princess): neighbors and neighborhoods are more than the way they look, and ordinary people can band together to transform big things.--Publishers Weekly July 7, 2018
Walls do not just create barriers and divide spaces. They can be canvases for artmaking; opportunities to shape a community. A little-boy protagonist directly addresses the neglected wall that faces his house: You are nothing to look at. / You are cold, / old, / empty. In a community whose better economic days seem past (the boy's grandma talks of a time when our neighborhood was beautiful ), where the children cheer for the tiny flowers pushing through the / cracks in the sidewalk, reaching for sunlight, the boy decides to take action. I am a writer, a creator / a game changer, / a wall changer, he declares, which sparks a community effort to turn the wall into a public mural. Now you tell the real story of us. Parra's acrylic illustrations are in a similar palette to and display the same warmth as his work in Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos (rev. 3/18). A range of skin tones is represented; the children's clothing is shown in deep reds, greens, and oranges; and the wall itself evokes the texture of bricks that have been painted over with a shade of cornflower-blue. Author and illustrator endnotes explain the impetus for the story and place murals within a larger context of art history, public art, and activism. -- The Horn Book --The Horn Book
This book tells the story of how one voice, one child, truly can make a difference. Told in simple, brief statements, a young boy speaks to the plain blue wall of lonely concrete on the street of his community that otherwise goes unnoticed. Indoor festivities in the community include delicious cooking and eating, colorful stories resulting in belly laughs, and exuberant salsa dancing. Outside, however, the wall stands in bleak contrast. The boy decides to take this matter to the streets. With art supplies in hand, he announces with confidence that he is a writer, creator, and wall changer. Joined by his friends, the wall is transformed from a blank blue canvas into a lively depiction of their loving community. Illustrated with a blue background throughout, Parra's soft acrylics harmoniously detail the children designing the mural, then painting on ladders, and finally bringing the wall to life. Back matter by both author and illustrator includes the distinction between graffiti and street art as well as a description of where their love of street art comes from. This is an excellent choice to inspire classroom, school-wide, or even community art projects. Highly recommended.: School Library Connection --School Library Connection November / December 2018

Author Bio

Susan Verde's first picture book, The Museum, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, was a Bank Street Best Book of the Year. Booklist praised, The rhymed text captures the excitement of a being sparked by art. Her other books include You and Me, I Am Yoga, The Water Princess, I Am Peace, and Rock and Roll Soul all illustrated by Peter H Reynolds; as well as My Kicks illustrated by Katie Kath; and Hey, Wall illustrated by Susan Verde. Susan is a former elementary school teacher with a Master's degree in reading remediation. In addition to writing books Susan teaches yoga and mindfulness to kids (and adults) of all ages. She lives in East Hampton, New York, with her three children. Learn more at SusanVerde.com. John Parra's illustrations for Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, written by Monica Brown, earned the book a New York Times Best Illustrated Book designation. He also illustrated Green Is a Chile Pepper: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong, which received a Pura Belpr Honor and the Am ricas Book Award: Commended, and Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner, which won the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration and was a Bank Street Best Book of the year. He was inspired by murals in his childhood home of his Los Angeles and he current home in Queens, New York, while working on Hey, Wall. Learn more at JohnParraArt.com.