I had the pleasure of reviewing Fireworks for the Horn Book this year. Soon after I submitted the review, I reached out to the Calling Caldecott team and asked, “please, oh, please can I write about Fireworks for the blog?” This was even before talks about this year’s Calling Caldecott series officially began. I was that excited to rave even more about the title. Spoiler alert: they said yes, and I am so happy they did. When I think of the Caldecott Award’s terms and criteria, I think of all the ways Cátia Chien’s explosive and evocative visuals in Fireworks more than honors them. This look at two young city children enjoying an eventful summer day that ends with an epic fireworks display “provides the child with a visual experience” that “displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations.” Chien’s “individually distinct” art is “marked by conspicuous excellence” and excels when presenting a “pictorial interpretation of story, theme, and concept.” 

Although I will focus on the book’s illustrations in this post, I must also praise the beautiful poetic words written by Matthew Burgess. Thanks to his crisp, crackling language, Fireworks makes for an outstanding read aloud in storytime. His playful text bounces from one indelible description to the next, slipping in tongue-twisting alliteration and thrilling sound effects that invite audience participation.

Employing a wide array of mixed media (pastels, pencils, paint, scratch board), Chien builds on the text with inventive abandon and a sense of child-like wonder. The book emerges as an immersive sensory experience. Sights and sounds of course, but also taste, touch, and smell. It also works as a tender, charming sibling story, with the opening moments showing a pair of children greeting the morning (one with wide-eyed anticipation, the other with a yawn that somehow looks like an excited yawn). Chien then zeroes in on their indelible bond in an adorable breakfast scene that shows the older kid feeding the little one. Chien emphasizes warm round shapes and colors in this kitchen tableau as Grandmother watches in the background. 

When the children step out into the summer day in an urban landscape, Chien effectively evokes the heat that surrounds them. The buildings, cars, and other people look blurry, as if in a haze. She uses the book’s wide dimensions to grand cinematic effect as the children walk from one adventure after another. Sweat drips down the heads of stylized figures who pass by the tykes. Chien excels at depicting body language. The children splash in water bursting from a fire hydrant, their bodies leaping with giddy joy as blues and greens trickle down the page. They dance to a saxophonist in a delightful overhead shot of a busy park. The duo munches on slices of "plip plop plip" drippy watermelon almost as big as they are and bounce along to some salsa music that makes them "shooka-shooka."  

Just when the reader thinks Chien cannot top herself, along comes the  fireworks sequence. In an off-kilter surreal moment, the siblings climb a seemingly endless ladder to a roof. Chien effectively bathes them in the sunset’s fiery reds, oranges, and purples as they eagerly await the first kapow. And then the fireworks display starts. And wow, Chien serves up an unforgettable one. She fills the pages with explosions of colors dancing across the page. Words such as “POP!” and “Tizzle-ting” and “Poof!” become art themselves, zipping with blissful onomatopoeia-packed zest. A beautiful moment shows the fireworks reflected in the river. Then comes the grandest moment of all. A gatefold that the reader pulls up to reveal the epic finale, enormous "KABOOM"s filling the sky, dwarfing our elated heroes. The children in my storytimes say “whoa” in unison when witnessing this brilliantly rendered moment.  

One of the most impressive things about Fireworks is that, even after the last hiss and fffsssss, Chien tops herself one more time. After all that excitement, the children head home where Grandmother guides them through their bedtime ritual. As they fall asleep, they smile. What are they thinking about? The fireworks, of course. And how does Chien show us? The glorious final image presents their silhouettes, filled with the effervescent colors of the fireworks. This expressionistic ending is pure perfection.  

When I read the book to children, I ask them about what they see and feel. And children thoroughly understand what this book is doing, thanks to the art. They get it. How experiencing things, both small and big, can leave an impression and stay in the memory long after the last kaboom. Chien taps into something joyous with her art in Fireworks that resonates with young readers. And that makes the book a perfect candidate for Caldecott consideration. 

[Read The Horn Book Magazine review of Fireworks]