Published by Arthur A. Levine Books
Summary: James Castle was deaf, mute, and autistic. He never learned to read or speak. He spent a good portion of his childhood in the loft of an unused icehouse, and later lived in an abandoned chicken coop. His parents and teachers actively discouraged him from art, but he kept creating it any way he could. He would collect scrap paper, and use a burned match and saliva to draw. The people and animals he created from cast-off cardboard became his friends. His nephew, Cort Conley, loved to watch him draw. When Cort went to art school, he showed one of his teachers his Uncle Jimmy’s work. The professor was so excited, he drove to Boise, Idaho to meet James, and later organized an exhibit in Portland, Oregon. Other exhibits and sales followed, and when James Castle died, he left behind over 15,000 pieces of art. An author’s note explains how Allen Say came to write this book after being asked by his friend Cort to create a portrait of his uncle. 64 pages; grades 3-7.
Pros: A sad but fascinating story of a man who was pretty much treated like trash by everyone who knew him, including his own family, yet continued to create art whenever and wherever he could. Much of Allen Say’s art is done in the style of Castle’s, and may very well be considered for a Caldecott.
Cons: I wasn’t sure if the illustrations were done by Castle, or by Say in Castle’s style. If they were the originals, some captions would have been helpful; if they weren’t, I would have liked to see some of the originals at the end of the book.
A Kids Book A Day 