When Pencil Met the Markers

March 15, 2020
A group of pens banishes one of their own in this companion to When Pencil Met Eraser (2019). All members of this pack of markers love to color, but Purple's technique stands out. Purple colors "everywhere"--"all over the place." This means several things: Going outside the lines of the coloring book these markers seem to inhabit; coloring in entire scenes purple, including things that aren't naturally purple, like a dolphin; and adding shapes or ideas that weren't invited by the pre-drawn outlines, such as dots to a rainbow or a face to a hot air balloon. Huffily, the marker group ejects Purple. Purple meets an outsider--or two outsiders, for what first looks like a pencil with two faces is in fact a pencil with a ride-atop eraser who sometimes hops off. The pencil and Purple supposedly create a whole new approach that satisfies everyone and enables group reconciliation. Blanco's uninspired illustrations (pencil, marker, and digital) give areas colored by the step-in-line markers a rote smoothness that evokes machine coloring, not child-applied color. The improvised, collaborative technique finds Purple making abstract shapes that the pencil transforms into realistic objects, so while Purple does get to color free of outlines, the rule still privileges realism. Tepid prose--"There are no mistakes, only happy accidents!"--is further slowed by an odd choice of placing an ellipsis in the middle of sentences that cross a spread. Conceptually murky, visually dull. (Picture book. 3-5)

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