Blog #11 Micawber

Micawber

Written by John Lithgow
Illustrated by C. F. Payne
Simon & Schuster
2002
35 pages

Poetry

            I chose this book because I was immediately captured and intrigued by the squirrel on the cover holding a painter’s pallet and his tail like a brush. In this story, a squirrel that lives in Central Park goes to an art museum every day. One day as the squirrel is admiring the paintings, he looks down to see an artist painting a picture. He is so intrigued that he climbs down after she is finished and sneaks into her bag. Later that night while the woman is sleeping Micawber creeps out of the painter’s bag and explores its contents. He discovers the pleasure of painting and returns each night to paint a picture. 

            This book is such a work of art! The illustrations are in mixed media and immerse the reader in the world from the squirrel Micawber’s perspective. The bright coloring of the book gives the reader a sense of Micawber’s fast paced and free life. The illustrations are formatted in an informal style with the text on the same page as the pictures but still in stanza-ed lines. The cover is a single image with an illustration of the main character on the front and a picture and description of the author on the back. The illustrious detail of each page reflects the main character's love of art and how beautiful it can be. For example, in the picture below Micawber's tail is so detailed it seems as though one could reach out and feel how fluffy it is. 

            This book was such an enjoyable read. It would be most appropriate for upper level elementary students due to the high level of vocabulary used throughout the book. An excellent way to use this in the classroom may be as an art study project. Students could choose from one of the artists mentioned in the book and do a presentation on a painting of that artist’s that Micawber might have seen in the book. Another way to use this book would be as a robust vocabulary builder. It could also be used in several different types of word sort lesson including compound words or vibrant verbs. This book could even be used as high up as middle school due to the vocabulary and the text to text connections that students could make between Micawber the squirrel and Wilkins Micawber from David Copperfield. This book was a New York Times Best-Seller.

Below is a video of how the author John Lithgow feels about reading aloud to children.