Passing It On: The Traveler's Gift by Danielle Davison

Liam's father was a sailor. After returning from sea, he'd weave tales for Liam of the faraway places he'd been.

His father's words fire Liam to imagine the glorious adventures, the exotic places, and strange creatures he will see with his father when he, too, is old enough to go to sea.

But one day, his father didn't return.

Liam is lost, his future gone. Other sailors' tales do not fill the void.

But then a very old white-bearded man named Enzo, disembarks.

The other men call him "the Traveler."

When the Traveler spoke of his voyages, a peculiar thing happened. His beard grew.

As Enzo recounts his travels, his beard seems to grow longer and longer like a tapestry filled with fantastic images. And Liam is thrilled when one day the old man invites him along on a final voyage, to be the teller of their adventures.  Liam cannot believe his fortune and his heart swells. It is almost as if he is taking the voyage he always dreamed of with his own father. As they share their experiences, the old man teaches Liam his wisdom.

Enzo taught him to really listen.

He taught him to see truly see things, with more than his eyes.

Time passes and Liam is happy, but when Enzo comes to the end of his days, he asks Liam to become the Traveler, the new teller of stories. Liam is overcome with sadness, but eventually he finds his own voice and he sees the future ahead of him, in Danielle Davison's forthcoming The Traveler's Gift: A Story of Loss and Hope (Page Street Books, 2019). Everyone has his or her own story, and wisdom is really seeing and hearing the story of everyone and everything. We are our own stories and those of others, and this book, whimsically and symbolically illustrated by Anne Lambelet, turns on the value of the work of the storyteller in life.

Storycraft Lesson? Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by David Ezra Stein

Who doesn't love storybook elephants? But this is ridiculous!

Little Red Chicken can't wait to tell Papa what amazing thing she learned at school!

"Papa, today our teacher told us every story has a elephant of surprise. So let's read a story and we'll find the elephant!"

"Chicken, she wasn't talking about an elephant," said Papa.

"She was talking about the element of surprise!"

Papa carefully explains the literary device, but Little Red is too excited about the fun of finding elephants to pay attention. She pulls out the story of "The Ugly Duckling." Papa shrugs and goes along with the elephant hunt and lets Little Red Chicken begin to read.

..."The duckling walks into the water and says, "Surprise! I'm an elephant!'"

Papa resists, insisting there's no elephant in that story. But Little Red insists with the irrefutable line parents dread, "My teacher said...!"

Rapunzel turns out to be an elephant with long braids. The Little Mermaid grows elephant legs.

"Chicken, this is SILLY," pronounces Papa Chicken.

There's an elephant of surprise in every story all right, in David Ezra Stein's Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise (Candlewick Books, 2018). The witty Stein's devoutly comedic story and charmingly comic illustrations hit the sweet spot of silliness, the same one as his Caldecott Honor first book, Interrupting Chicken, achieved, a new high in witty interchanges between parent and child, full of giggles and camaraderie. Says Kirkus Reviews, "Little Chicken is back, and her metafictive editorial impulses are as strong as ever.... Fans of the two loving characters will be delighted to see them again. Unsurprisingly good."

Zen Socks by Jon J. Muth

Leo and Molly sat on the porch of their new home.

"Look," said Leo, "It's going to happen again!"

"Yep," said Molly. "It's almost time."

"What's his name again?" asked Leo. "Mr. Quietpuddle?"

"Stillwater," said Molly.

Of course, their neighbor is Stillwater, the philosophical giant panda, wearing striped socks instead of the Zen Shorts (Caldecott Honor Book) of an earlier book, this time acting as mentor to the new kids on the block, Molly and Leo.

"Hi, Stillwater. This is our cat, Moss!" says Molly.

Moss hops into the basket of Stillwater's bike and the three head off for a spin, Molly just has to tell Stillwater about her ballet lessons, bubbling on about how she's going to be a top star, featured in glamorous, sparkly posters and adored by the public. Stillwater listens in bemused silence and then launches into the Zen parable of Banzo's Sword, in which the gungho young Jiro wants instant results in his swordsmanship. When Master Banzo tells him it will take thirty years of study, he is not willing to wait.

"I want to master the art now!" Jiro insisted.

"I see," said Banzo, "in that case you will have to work for seventy years!"

"I understand," said Molly. "I am not being patient. I will practice as long as it takes."

A few days later, it's Leo's turn to learn a lesson, as he and Stillwater agree to play with his robots.

"I'll be all the good guys, "said Leo, choosing all the best figures, "and you will be the bad guy," he says, taking charge.

"I love being the bad guy," Stillwater announced."

And to illustrate his role, he grabs the biggest cookies with the biggest chocolate chunks off the snack plate. Leo gets the message.

Then Stillwater and the kids happily head for a walk on the beach, but they are saddened to see the beach littered with starfish, left high and dry in the outgoing tide. They rush down and start tossing the beached starfish back into the water, but the task seems endless.

"There are too many," says Leo. "This won't make any difference."

Molly picked up one starfish and threw it back into the water.

"It will for him!" she said.

Caldecott-winning author-illustrator John J. Muth's Zen Socks (Scholastic Press, 2015) brings back his celebrated character in another story of Zen Panda Stillwater and his new young friends. Gentle wisdom bolstered by standout illustrations make this new one a winner as well for Muth, whose stunning draftsmanship and judicial use of colors give his illustrations impact and balance, just like his themes. For a Halloween-themed Stillwater story, pair this one with Muth's Zen Ghosts, (see review here).