Image of the Week: Never Say A Mean Word Again
© 2014 D. Yael Bernhard
When illustrators design a children's book, they have to choose what parts of the narrative to show. My illustrated picture book Never Say A Mean Word Again (Wisdom Tales Press, 2014), was an especially gratifying design project. This unique story set in medieval Spain is based on a legend about Samuel Ha-Nagid (993-1056) – an esteemed scholar, accomplished merchant, statesman, military leader, poet, and most of all, vizier to the Muslim caliph (or king) of Granada for nearly thirty years. In an era of widespread anti-Semitism, Nagid rose to the highest position of power of any European Jew.
In this clever retelling, author Jacqueline Jules split the character into father and son, with the elder Nagid challenging the childish version of himself to learn a deeper sense of responsibility. The boy comes crying to his father, complaining of a bully in the royal court who he wishes to see punished. Instead, the vizier masterminds a lesson for his son, informing Samuel that he must be the one to solve the problem. "See to it that Hamza never says a mean word to you again," he orders.
Young Samuel is astonished, for it seems that he, the victim, is being blamed for his persecutor's crime. Yet he dare not defy his father – the most powerful man in all the kingdom apart from the king himself. Though I don't usually illustrate dialogue, this is the moment I chose to show in the above image, for it reveals the title and the crux of this unusual story.
Samuel sets about in his childish way trying to devise a punishment for Hamza that will force him to stop being mean. He tries to plug Hamza's mouth with a sour lemon, but the boy sees an opportunity to play ball with the lemon instead. He tries to make Hamza sign an agreement, but instead the two lads end up drawing pictures together. He plans to gag Hamza's mouth with strips of cloth, but only ties his own brain in knots in the process. He even envisions training a monkey to sit on Hamza's shoulders and clamp his lips shut – but where would he get a monkey? As he pursues these ill-conceived strategies, Samuel slowly discovers a boy who needs a friend – and friends they become by the end of the story, so that when his father asks "Did you do as I asked?", Samuel can truthfully answer yes.
Would that our adult grudges could melt away so easily, and our boundaries be so soft and pliable!
Never Say a Mean Word Again won seven awards for its message of nonviolent conflict resolution. I had a great time designing and illustrating the book, for it gave me an excuse to learn about the life of Samuel HaNagid, to research medieval toys, and to delve into medieval Spanish art and Jewish illuminated manuscripts, both of which are rich in decorative iconography. I was like a kid in a candy shop, allowing myself one delicious form per page, which functions as an architectural element that contains image, text, or both. The quadrilateral shape on the cover is one example.
You can order a signed copy of Never Say A Mean Word Again from my webstore, buy it directly from the publisher, find it on Amazon, or request it from your library.
A good week to all!