The Dreidel Tosser

IMAGE OF THE WEEK
from The Dreidel That Wouldn’t Spin

One of the cardinal rules of children’s book illustration is “show, don’t tell”.  In the spirit of keeping the text as simple and concise as possible for young readers, nothing that can be shown in the art is described in the text.  If a boy is restless and disobedient, it is the illustrator’s job to find a way to show that.  Few words describe this mischievous boy in The Dreidel That Wouldn’t Spin, so it was up to me as the illustrator to flesh out his character visually.
I imagined this pudgy little fellow to be about nine years old – old enough to help his mother carry the bulky packages they’ve accrued on their shopping excursion – but not old enough to care.  Thus he crawls on fountains and railings and tosses things in the air while his mother struggles along.  The shopkeeper, of course, is horrified by this little devil – but at least the bratty boy becomes a customer, as he orders his mother to buy the dreidel for him.  I wanted this boy to be restless and self-absorbed without becoming truly despicable.  He’s not a bad kid – just a spoiled one – which the dreidel itself seems to know, along with the toys in the toyshop.

I painted numerous spot illustrations for this book to reveal the characters.  Children love to look at little illustrations, just as we enjoy looking at postage stamps.  Storytelling images make wonderful miniatures.

Stay tuned to meet the next boy who comes into the shop – in next week’s post.

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