By Dan Santat
Roaring Brook Press
(2017)
In After the
Fall, Dan Santat takes classic
nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty and imagines that all the
king’s men managed to put him back together again. Give or take a
few bits and
pieces.
In
truth, poor Humpty, who loved sitting atop walls—to be closer to
the birds—is a little broken. There’s a heartbreaking image of
the bandaged egg sleeping on the floor in his room. Seems
he’s too scared to climb
the ladder to his bunk. Moreover,
he dares not reach for the
upper shelves in grocery stores where the truly tasty cereals like
Just Marshmallow and Sugar Elf are stocked. Sadly,
that leaves him to the bland
brands on the lowest shelf—cereals with names like Fiber Flakes and
Grown-Up Food. (Poor Humpty, indeed!)
Santat’s
lovely, whimsical illustrations are cast in darker, muted colors with
a range of perspectives
from over-the-shoulder shots to aerial views. Every page invites the
viewer to pause and study the images.
In
time, Humpty Dumpty makes do, making paper airplanes. If he can’t
reach higher altitudes,
at least his creations can.
And then one day, dear Humpty must face his fears. Something precious
forces him to consider ascending a ladder and being atop the fateful
wall once more. Can he do it? And will nursery rhyme history repeat
itself?
This
is a wonderfully endearing tale
of resilience with a surprise ending that makes the reader want to
immediately reread the story now
that he is in on some nuances of the story that should have been (but
weren’t) obvious. By golly,
Santat manages to shed light on both the classic story and his
reworked sequel of sorts. The result is absolutely delightful!
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