posted on 08 Mar 2018

There is a tribe of kids by Lane Smith

Originally published in 2016, Lane Smith’s beautiful picture book garnered plenty of admiring reviews on its release. Picking it up again now, two years on, it’s nice to see it with fresh eyes and equally gratifying to discover that the accolades it got then weren’t just publisher generated flim-flam but were in fact entirely justified.

What Smith shows us here is how a book that uses very few words can deal with very complex ideas in an entirely accessible way for a whole range of ages. The key is the conjunction, the symbiosis, of the words and illustrations and the way they come together to tell something deep and meaningful.

To me, the themes of this book are the essential connectivity of the natural world –and that includes humanity as an active part of the whole. But it’s also about the desire all sentient creatures have for identity and the need to feel you belong. It’s not a new idea for a children’s picture book to feature the idea of collective nouns but I bet not too many have done it to such good effect and so sumptuously in terms of illustration.

The book starts off with a linguistic sleight of hand by showing us a tribe of kids (goats) that has a human ‘kid’ in its midst. Breaking away from the goats the child goes on a sort of journey or quest in search of the tribe he truly belongs to. Along the way he finds himself part of a colony of penguins, a smack of jellyfish, a pod of whales, an unkindness of ravens. He even finds himself able to be part of the inanimate world too – rocks, plants, even the sea itself. Eventually he finds himself following a trail of shells that lead him to his rightful place – a tribe of (human) kids living in harmony with nature.

The book is fabulous for sharing – it lends itself so naturally to an adult and child sitting together and following the journey as it progresses from page to page. Each new collective noun provides not just stunning illustrations but plenty to talk about – how do elephants, whales, turtles and caterpillars live their lives?

There’s plenty of humour here too  – just look at the way our human kid tries to walk the penguin walk or join the parade of elephants. But there’s also tranquillity and moments of deep contemplation as he considers the blue of the ocean or sleeps with the clams.

Books of this outstanding quality don’t come along every day and they need to be savoured when you do find one. Copies of both the hardcover (which I strongly recommend) and the paperback version are easily available and you’ll probably find a copy in most decent independent book shops. Go get one as soon as you can.

Terry Potter

March 2018

 

(click on any of the images below to view them in slide presentation mode)