#254 of 1001 · April 11, 2021

Our expectations of reality can shape our appearance, mold our perception. Given enough time, whispered rumor becomes common legend, ingrained in cultural memory. For a shining example of this phenomenon wrapped in an irresistibly entertaining package, see Denise Doyen and @wheelerstudio’s The Pomegranate Witch. An enterprising gang of children longs to taste the pomegranates growing on a tree in the yard of the old house on the outskirts of town. However, in order to obtain the sweet-tart fruit, they must do battle with the tree’s owner, the fabled Pomegranate Witch. The conflict stretches on for weeks, months, years—long enough to pass into neighborhood lore. However, each Halloween a Kindly Lady opens the gate of the old house’s front yard and welcomes the children to share a drink of delicious cider, the frightening witch nowhere to be seen. In ornate rhyming couplets of iambic alexandrine, Doyen combines evocative imagery, poetic word-painting, and rhythmic repetition, hinting all the while at a connection between the Witch and the Lady that the children may not yet understand. Wheeler’s art, executed in India ink with dip pens and watercolors, portrays a touching community tradition of imaginative play that lasts for multiple generations. #pomegranate #witch #tree #children #neighborhood #community #halloween #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks