Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 

Author-illustrator Matt Forsythe visits today to share some early images from his newest picture book, Pokko and the Drum (Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, October 2019) — his first book as both author and illustrator. (AND with a fabulous opening line: “The biggest mistake Pokko’s parents ever made was giving her a drum.”) I’ve also got some final spreads to share from this droll and beautiful book, one that I love so much and one that looks a lot like … well, like Arnold Lobel meets the Over the Garden Wall universe in a bar and buys it a drink.

Pokko is a frog, as you can see here in these images today. She lives with her family in a mushroom. She is a talented drummer, but her parents see it as their “biggest mistake” — giving her a drum, that is. The noise from the drum is mighty loud, not to mention Pokko’s mother is often too busy reading to pay much attention to her daughter anyway. At her father’s urging, Pokko agrees to drum outside. (“It had just rained, and the forest was sparkling like an emerald,” we read.) It’s all too quiet for Pokko, but eventually she’s joined by a parade of animals — even a wolf, who eats the rabbit. “No more eating band members or you’re out of the band,” says Pokko in MY NEW FAVORITE PIECE OF PICTURE BOOK DIALOGUE.

Pretty soon, a loud band has formed, Pokko in the lead. I won’t give away the ending, except to say everyone agrees — even Pokko’s parents — that Pokko is “pretty good.”

Tragically, this plot description does nothing to convey the book’s glorious tone, which is one of a restrained kind of quirkiness. But, mind you, it’s never trying to be quirky. (Picture books like that usually fall flat on their faces.) Take Pokko’s relatively inexpressive face, for one. Her face rarely changes; neither, in fact, does her mood. Despite her parents inattentiveness, she keeps on keepin’ on, always a staid, determined look on her face. It makes for some very funny moments, especially when Forsythe (in one particular spread) zooms in and lets merely her head and her side-glare take the stage.

There’s a lot to love here — the illustrations (watercolor, colored pencil, and gouache) that play beautifully with light and shadow; the compelling page turns, particularly as the band marches along in the deep forest; the band members themselves (hello, rabbit in striped PJs!); Pokko’s magnificent determination of spirit (“we don’t like drawing attention to ourselves,” says Pokko’s father, but she’ll have none of that); and the visual humor (frog on a llama!).

Here’s what Matt has to say about the book:

Pokko started out as a set of three coaster paintings for a gallery show in Portland. [See below.] When it came time to write the book, I had just finished reading The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller. And I was stirred by this idea that neglected children have to go out in the world and find their own way. One version of the book had Pokko making a lot more noise at home — for a lot longer. I also riso-printed a minicomic, Pokko and the Soup, as a way to get to know her family better outside of this story.

Here are some of Matt’s early images from the book, followed by some final spreads. I thank him for sharing.

 

POKKO AND THE DRUM. Copyright © 2019 by Matthew Forsythe. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster, New York. All other images reproduced by permission of Matthew Forsythe.