What is a colored pencil? Is it just an artist’s tool? In Pencil, debut author-illustrator Hye-Eun Kim wordlessly—and beautifully—conveys to readers all the possibilities that a pencil can signify.
As Pencil begins, curly green shavings tumble down a stark white backdrop, transforming into leaves on a tree that is eventually joined by more trees of different colors, textures, shapes and sizes. Together, they form a forest rife with intricate details: tall spiky green trees, smaller rounded red ones, trunks of purple, leaves of blue. A gray pig, blue and pink bunnies, a yellow bear and more revel in their wonderful woodland home.
When the trees are chopped down, a host of exquisitely rendered winged creatures sallies forth: Sparrows curve here, mallards soar there, crows swoop by, and an owl flaps along, too. This multifaceted flock follows along as the logs are transported to a factory that Kim depicts with a grayscale palette and angled edges that stand in sharp contrast to the curvy organic shapes of flora and fauna.
At the factory, hard-hatted workers run machinery to remake the logs into pile after pile of colored pencils that eventually take up residence at an art supply store, which is patronized by an expressive little girl who uses her new pencils to decorate tree stumps. Thus rejuvenated, the stumps magically transform into a forest—and a home for the animals—once again.
In Pencil, Kim artfully blends the fanciful and the practical as she invites readers to ponder cycles of destruction and renewal, creativity and inspiration. Her focus on a pencil’s life cycle—its origins, transformation and return to something akin to its original form—casts an everyday object in an interesting new light while prompting reflection on what can happen when nature is not nurtured.
A list of helpful tips at book’s end titled “How to read a silent book” offers strategies for helping readers approach and immerse themselves in a wordless tale like this one. “When you close the book, have a moment of silence to give everyone the space to reflect on the experience,” Kim suggests, offering the perfect segue to further contemplation and creation.
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