Twelve years ago a young very introverted girl in our neighborhood gave me a drawing of the first horse she drew. She didn’t think it was very good, and I thought it was incredible. She moved away, but recently came to town to look at a college and stopped by to see me. I showed her the drawing I had had framed on our wall, she couldn’t believe it. I recently won the book “Pencilvania” on the #FridayNightRaffle hosted by Cindy Schwind, a K-12 retired reading interventionist, and I don’t know if was because of this drawing I had, but from the moment I opened this book, I felt a connection.
Pencilvania, written by Stephanie Watson and illustrated by Sophia Moore is a very imaginative middle grade chapter book. Two sisters, Zora the older, and Frankie the younger, lose their mother to cancer and have to adjust to living in a new city with a grandmother they hardly know. In addition to all the changes, they are also processing their mother’s death.
Zora’s mom had always encouraged her creativity. “Voom. That’s what Mom and Zora called the warm, tingly spark inside that said draw, draw, draw. Zora had felt it for as long as she could remember. Mom had Voom too.” Unfortunately, Zora felt she lost her “Voom” after her mom’s passing.
Zora and Frankie find themselves in the imaginary world of all of Zora’s drawings, called Pencilvania, after Zora scribbles over many of her drawings in frustration and anger about how she is feeling. Before their mom died, Frankie who loves horses was promised riding lessons for her seventh birthday. Zora had been taught a lesson from her mom on how to draw what you see during a trip to stables with Frankie, so she is more determined than ever to get those riding lessons for her sister.
The author cleverly created Airrol, the seven legged horse that Zora drew from the lessons with her mom, who becomes her guide in Pencilvania. Of course, Airrol also imparts lessons to Zora as they have to fight off the villain in their imaginary world (another horse called Viscardi). In the imaginary world of Pencilvania Airrol helps Zora finds peace with their mother's death and Zora regains her "Zoom".
There are many black and white illustrations throughout the fantasy/adventure book and they look just like a kid would have drawn them. I thought this was a nice touch for this particular story, as they seem very attainable for any budding artist. I loved how drawing and using one’s imagination saves the day in this story.
There might be a few advanced vocabulary words, but that's great as it might lead to a visit with the dictionary. The book also allows for great discussion about any child feeling or experiencing a loss.
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