Aaron Slater, Illustrator

December 21, 2021
Grades 1-3 This fifth entry in the Questioneers series (Sofia Valdez, Future Prez, 2019) departs from the STEM and career focus of its predecessors to highlight neurodivergent Aaron, who loves hearing stories and drawing pictures but can't make sense of written words. Depicted in the illustrations as a brown-skinned lad growing up with two moms, Aaron is crushed as he struggles to read. His efforts to hide the issue (identified in the afterword as dyslexia) by blending in fail when a new second-grade teacher asks everyone to write a true story. Suddenly he visualizes a flower--a magical flower--and launches into an epic original yarn. He comes to realize that "His art leads the way / and helps him discover what he wants to say." The connection between telling stories and drawing them may seem tenuous both to budding artists and to audiences with reading and writing difficulties but no attendant artistic gifts; still, celebrating differences is an ever-worthy theme. Even better, an endnote states that the rhymed narrative is printed in a dyslexic-friendly font.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from November 1, 2021
The latest book in the Questioneer series centers an African American boy who has dyslexia. Roberts' characteristic cartoon illustrations open on a family of six that includes two mothers of color, children of various abilities and racial presentations, and two very amused cats. In a style more expressive and stirring than other books in the series, Beaty presents a boy overcoming insecurities related to reading comprehension. Like Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas, the boy's namesake, the protagonist loves to draw. More than drawing, however, young Aaron wishes to write, but when he tries to read, the letters appear scrambled (effectively illustrated with a string of wobbly, often backward letters that trail across the pages). The child retreats into drawing. After an entire school year of struggle, Aaron decides to just "blend in." At the beginning of the next school year, a writing prompt from a new teacher inspires Aaron, who spends his evening attempting to write "a story. Write something true." The next day in class, having failed to put words on paper, Aaron finds his voice and launches into a story that shows how "beauty and kindness and loving and art / lend courage to all with a welcoming heart." In the illustration, a tableau of colorful mythological beings embodies Aaron's tale. The text is set in a dyslexia-friendly type. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Empathetic art and lyrical text blend for a touching and empowering tale. (author's note, illustrator's note) (Picture book. 5-8)

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.