Literary Road Trip and Review: The Lonely Shadow
A small shadow is lonely because he doesn’t know who he belongs to. He begins to search for his mate so that he’ll be happy. He stops by a door and a chair and even an old grandfather. He keeps walking and looking for his mate and eats with a deer, drinks with a duck and sneaks with a snake. Finally, a wise old owl tells him he should look at the playground where all the children are. He finally discovers his mate and they have fun playing together. At the end of the book, they say:
I have you,
you have me.
Together
we will always be.
The Lonely Shadow by Clay Rice is a sweet book about friendship, for children ages 4 to 8. The illustrations and the cover of this book are remarkable because they are all silhouettes cut out by the author. The silhouettes are cut from black paper and placed on a background.
Clay is from the lowcountry of South Carolina and has fond memories of growing up in the area. He learned the art of cutting silhouettes from his grandfather. I had the pleasure of meeting Clay at SIBA and he even cut a silhouette of me and it only took about a minute. I asked him how often he has to sharpen his scissors and he said he doesn’t – he just buys about 30 pairs at a time. Here’s a video about Clay and The Lonely Shadow:
I always wished that I could write something simple and pure like this.
I bet the boy would enjoy this book. I can’t believe his skill with scissors! I’m lucky to cut a straight line!
Those silhouettes are gorgeous! I’m a sucker for great illustrations.
Judging by the cover alone, it looks like the illustrations are fantastic!
You ask the best questions! I guess the follow-up would be, what do you do with them after: trash or recycling?!!!
It sounds like it is beautiful just in its simplicity. How cool that you have your own shadow now! Reminds me of Peter Pan!
Sounds like not only a great story, but a beautiful book. It’s fascinating that he can create those silhouettes.
Helen
Straight From Hel
🙂 Our son recently discovered his shadow and is completely amazed and entertained!
Fun review. ~ Wendi
Oh my! I loved the video and I love the idea of the book. How absolutely wonderful for a child to have his own silhouette in his own book. And how cool that you got your own too!
What a pretty cover! I love silhouettes. Thanks for sharing this book with us.
I love the concept of this one. I have to get my hands on it. My daughter would love it.
I just love the cover of the book!
Sounds like a great book, I love the idea of cutting silhouettes.
Great cover! I’ll have to show this to Daniel.
I really love that story line!!!
What an interesting way to illustrate the novel! It sounds like he’s got all sorts of different talents.
I’ve seen picture books before done entirely in cut-out silhouettes, they were so beautiful. I think it was a different artist, though.
Are you going to post a pic of your handmade silhouette?!
When I saw the book cover (and before I read your post!) I thought “what a beautiful woodcut” 🙂
This sounds like a great book….simple yet profound…a combination that is really hard to pull off.
Marta
Marta’s Meanderings
What a great story about the silhouettes…I love that he learned it from his grandfather!
Very cool! And you have your own silhouette which is even cooler.
I think the book looks and sounds really good. 🙂
That quote is so good! And the book sounds so cute!
What a simple but beautiful story line. One I’m sure all children can relate too. I love the cover and am so glad that you got your own silhouette.
Sounds like a sweet little book and I love the cover, too.
This sounds like a such sweet premise for a book. And I love paper cutting! I think it is so amazing and what a great idea for illustrating a book.
Love the cover and it sounds like a lovely story. Oh, great video!
I adore the cover of this book! What a wonderful find for the road trip and video to boot. Fabulous 🙂
The cover drew me in right away. Sounds like a great story.
–Anna