Elise Hurst

Storyteller's Handbook

Neil Gaiman sets the stage for Hurst's imagination-sparking collection of illustrations with his introduction, which describes an old man single-mindedly drawing the fragments of earthly wisdom gleaned during his life--the implication being that those drawings comprise the book the reader holds. Fifty-two double-page, dream-touched scenes fill the book with a beguiling mix of whimsy, surreal elements, fantastical touches, and realistic details, all finely rendered in black pen with crosshatching and strategic splashes of watercolor. Each spread stands on its own, holding a hundred stories and possibilities in its wordless details. A pair of koalas float through the air in a large leaf; luminous jellyfish drift near a hot-air balloon in outer space; a giant tabby obstructs a city street as it naps. With every page turn, the reader can become the storyteller and invent a tale for each image or simply soak up the illustration's wondrous details. This gives the book larger-than-usual reach, from prereaders admiring the artwork to elementary students using the illustrations as writing prompts. Imagination-stoking sentiments are interspersed to encourage youngsters in their storytelling pursuits.