Kerascoët. I Walk With Vanessa. New York, Schwartz & Wade Books, 2018.
I Walk With Vanessa is a story created by Kerascoët. It is a 2019 Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Notable Book recipient. It is designed for children ages 4 to 8, but really could be read to children who are younger than 4 years of age. It could also be worked into curriculum for children who are older than 8 years. The lack of text can foster interesting and open dialog.
The readers meet Vanessa; she is new to the school. She is uninvolved in the classroom, at gym, or in the school yard. On her walk home, a young boy stops her and says things that clearly upset her. Another girl sees this and the impact it has on Vanessa. She watches Vanessa run into her home. She tells her friends what happened. They all walk away looking despondent. The girl is pondering what to do throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. The next morning, she gets an idea. She stops by Vanessa’s house on her way to school. She takes her hand and the two walk together. Children join them along the way. By the time they arrive at the school, the readers see dozens and dozens walking with Vanessa. In the end, Vanessa is shown in the classroom engaged.
The print book is tall and wide which makes the images pop in the white space. The story is told over 17 spreads. At the end of the story, the creators include notes for children on how to help someone who is being bullied and adults with useful words and definitions when talking about this book with children. Additional activities related to the book are available online.
I Walk With Vanessa is a wordless story told by the ink and watercolor images. The illustrations are realistic depicting small children in school, in neighborhood, and at home. The book opens to a sea of dots in varying shades of gray. The layout varies; the creators use multiple snapshots to full spreads. They also use the images to control the pace. More specifically, there are three horizontal images, one below the other, used to show the effect the bully had on Vanessa. This draws the reader to look at the emotions shown on Vanessa’s face and the girl mirroring those emotions in response. The creators beautifully depict feelings and emotions through the images. It is evident when the characters feel left out, angry, or hurt, when they are unsure, and when they feel accepted and happy.
The use of color is very powerful. An instance of bullying is shown over a red background. After the bullying, the images are shown in backgrounds in varying shades of gray/blue. This continues until the girl has an idea of how to help, then we see pink, yellow, and green appear throughout the neighborhood. The end pages mirror the sea of dots at the beginning but are in varying, bright colors.
I Walk With Vanessa is a beautifully illustrated story about how one act of kindness response can have a big impact. This could be used as curriculum support during either Kindness Week or around Random Acts of Kindness Day (2/17).
Book Notes 