Max and the Dumb Flower Picture

June 8, 2009
Before her death in 2006, Alexander (the Blackboard Bear series) left her manuscript and sketches in the hands of James Rumford (Beowulf: A Hero's Tale Retold
). The tender result honors both Alexander and the children for whom she wrote for 40 years. Asked by his teacher, Miss Tilley, to color in a picture for Mother's Day, the scowling, carrot-topped protagonist refuses: “Max didn't want to color the dumb flower picture.” Despite the teacher's repeated insistence, Max knows his mother “would rather have his very own drawing.” After some stomping, sulking and hiding in the bushes, Max reveals the beautiful flower picture he has drawn on his own––which inspires his classmates to do the same. Alexander is spot-on with her understanding of the pressures children feel to conform (“You'll be the only one without a nice picture for your mother,” says Miss Tilley) and her respect for their individualism, which to the uninformed, may appear like acting-out. Framed by white space, the soft sketches are color washed digitally and by hand, and with Rumford's collaboration, still bear Alexander's simple, expressive style. Ages 4–7.