#180 of 1001 · January 27, 2021

If exploring the gentle subtleties of a child’s realistically drawn emotions against the backdrop of a cryptic metaphysical dimension sounds like your cup of tea, then have a look at La La La by Kate DiCamillo and @jaimekimmy. A little girl paces back and forth, alone in a stark white space. “La,” she sings to herself, and “La La La”.. All at once, maple leaves begin to drift in through a mysterious portal, which leads her to an outside world as lush and verdant as the blank void was barren. Sadly, there are no people out there, no human beings for companionship. However, the call of a mysterious voice soon leads her to make a connection of a most unexpected and otherworldly nature. Is this a wordless picture book? Well, no and yes. Strictly speaking, it’s not wordless, because it does in fact feature words. And yet it functions like a wordless picture book, because the words are restricted to dialogue, and that dialogue is abstract and impressionistic, consisting only of “La” and various elongations and repetitions thereof. The narrative is conveyed not through text but through illustration. It’s something in between, then: perhaps semi-wordless. Collaborations between an author and an illustrator on a book with so little text are quite unusual. Kim’s scintillating visual interpretation of DiCamillo’s pensive story draws on her own childhood memories of the pangs of solitude and the joy of togetherness. #la #lala #lalala #alone #lonely #friend #friends #friendship #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks