The Curled Kitten
Warm is a Circle
Written and Illustrated by Hilary Thompson
Hantsport, Nova Scotia: Lancelot Press, 1979
It was the title that attracted me to this book, I thought it had something to do with synesthesia. What I discovered is true artistic accomplishment. The words are not grand but they are not simple repetitions one expects in children's books. They can appeal to readers of any age — they provoke the imagination. And the pictures are in shades of gray and sometimes they offer stark contrasts of black and white. They always invite the viewer to look again.
I like how over the last two sections one is immersed in a nocturnal wandering followed by an awakening.
When it is dark I rest.Such a rich invitation to the play of the imagination from the very start at the title page…
Dark, where the walls make patterns.
And when I wake I see
my window.
Light is a square in the wall.
A window is a place.
It is full of other places.
The copy I viewed came to me all the way from the University of Calgary. Sad to see it leave my hands but happy that I have a scan of that curled kitten to remind me that warm is circle.
And so for day 1974
09.05.2012
