Caldecott Medal Contender: The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

by Sam Juliano

Suffused with dreamy surrealism and the creative spirit present in the work of Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, Dan Santat’s The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend is easily one of the most imaginative picture books of the year.  It is also to date the most accomplished work yet by an artist who for the past few years has been delighting school children with his cheerfully subversive and unique watercolor paintings in beloved books like Crankenstein, Carnivores and Ninja Red Riding Hood.  The former work was chosen by first grade consensus as one of the three favorites of 2013, and has led to a just released sequel that again gave Santat the opportunity to work with Samantha Berger.  The depth and scope of his vision in The Adventures of Beekle should have Caldecott committee members staying up late with their own visions of a cuddly white blob wearing a gold paper crown who for all purposes is the most benign alien one would ever conjure up.  In the tradition of venerated children’s book icon Maurice Sendak, Santat has moved out of the box to spur the minds of adventurous children, while bolstering the opinions of many adults who already believe some of the best art being produced in the country today is appearing in picture books.

It is not at all surprising that Santat has opted to depart from his striking dust jacket art to offer up a different front panel on the hard cover that metaphysically suggests our lovable codger is from another dimension.  He is seen full front in a maze of dark and light, round and square and nebulous and concrete in trans-formative mode, ready to make the imaginary and realistic ends meet.  Our hopeful specter was born on a faraway island, one of many apparitions who played together waiting for the kind of recognition by a young child that would transport him from his nameless limbo.  He imagines his potential sponsor is engaged is a bevy of age-related activities like winning athletic trophies, reading books, playing the guitar or baking a cake, and is convinced the only way to enter the world of the mortals is to embark on a potentially dangerous journey, the kind that even the heroes of Greek mythology would find daunting.  But the goal validates the mission, and our resilient hero reaches the big city.  Nothing is as anticipated.  Adults, not kids, are eating cake, a subway platform accordion player is ignored, and people inside the cars are catching some shut eye.  While getting mixed in with a mass of people he notices the tail of a fellow imaginary shape, and follows him to a playground, where merriment is running rampant.  Yet his friend still eludes him.  He climbs to the top of a tree with star shaped leaves, but is left alone to lament his long journey that yielded failure.

A bespectacled young girl suddenly calls out to him, and she hands him a picture she made of the exact meeting they were just having, a meeting thoroughly imagined.  An immediate connection is made.  Initially, in series of charming vignettes that echo Chris Rashka’s Yo Yes! they both are at a loss of how to proceed.  With a few tee-hees, the girl identifies herself as Alice, and our mini-monarch ecstatically declares his name is Beekle, after Alice voices his name.  They realize they are perfect together and hug.  They then bond, sharing snacks and funny jokes.  The world was no longer anomalous.  Then they launch the ultimate journey that brings this splendid story full circle.

Santat’s art is imbued with the colors of the rainbow.  It is bold, phantasmagorical, and astonishingly diverse.  It is multi-textured, buoyant and wholly ebullient.  It brings together elements of netherworld camaraderie, menace, loneliness and romance in a way that will spur the minds of children.  It is funny and festive, with its glorious colorful design utterly exquisite.  A number of set pieces are ravishing.  The first, when Beekle is born on the cascade of a rainbow, showcases an array of forms that includes the living and inanimate under the canopy of wooded darkness.  Then, an octopus, teddy bear and airborne cat await with Beekle under the stars for that defining moment of imaginative recognition.  The scene, a nocturnal cloak,  is atmospherically crafted with blacks and dark blues; the silhouettes of what the kids might be doing instead of being imaginative is painted in muted white on inky background:  the radiant, polychromatic dragon encounter; the wonderful first glimpses Beekle experiences in the city of people stoically existing done in three-color comic style; the grand assault of color in the playground scene, which is arguably the most magnificent in the book; the two panels of the tree with the star-shaped leaves, all bathed in mahogany tones; and of course the aforementioned twelve vignettes of becoming friends, with those charming facial expressions.  The irresistible end papers, gray on powdered blue challenge the kids who have not read the book to figure out the reason why one figure is solitary, but at the end will no doubt feel euphoric to see that same figure with his new friend.

The Adventures of Beekle runs the full gamut of emotions, ferrying its young participants into a world that they can only wish they could spend some time in.  Santat is one of our most enterprising author artists, and in concept and execution his adorable Beekle is one of the year’s most marvelous creations.  A Caldecott Medal or Honor would be a joyous event in kiddie land, and a most heartening development for art-loving adults.  Many of us are hoping Beekle will again be raised from the recesses of the imagination to engage in more indelible earthly activities.

Note:  This is the sixteenth entry in the 2014 Caldecott Medal Contender series.  The series does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running.  In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration.  It is anticipated the series will include at least 30 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender.  Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end.  The awards will be announced on February 2nd, hence the reviews will continue to the end of January.