SURPRISE

 

 

 

By Mies Van Hout

 

 

(Lemniscaat, 2013)

 

 

I love when I discover a book that’s more than a decade old in a first-run bookstore. So often, shelf life is so short. 

 

It’s a fast read. Fourteen words, including the title. But, reading is not a race—except when I read Green Eggs and Ham. This is a book I have paged through many times, sometimes lingering on every page, sometimes letting just a few stand out. 

 

Surprise portrays various stages or concepts of parenting, each expressed from the vantage point of a mother bird. It begins with yearning as a bluebird imagines so many little birds within her body. Clearly, she wants to be a parent. 

 

As a peacock lays an egg, the accompanying concept is hoping. Each concept conjures its own treasure trove of feelings and associations in the reader, from expecting to comforting to enjoying. 

 

A bird drawn with chalk, pastels or crayons appears on glossy black paper on one side of each double-page spread while the concept is printed in white on deep, richly colored paper on the other side, many of the letters adorned with small, simpler birds, barely more than stick figures. 

 

This is a lovely parent-to-child read. It would make a perfect baby shower or Mother’s Day gift. I don’t have children and still I find the book immensely satisfying. It’s hard not to feel warm, fuzzy and calm after paging through it. 

 

Most definitely, this is a welcome Surprise.