The Snail

by Emily Hughes (Illustrator)

Overview

Award-winning illustrator Emily Hughes offers a luminous picture book about the life of renowned Japanese American artist Isamu Noguchi.

Isamu Noguchi is one of the most important sculptors of all time. His Akari lamps changed the way modern buildings light their space. But before he was important, he was a kid. This is his story.

Noguchi was a Japanese American artist who gave the world light. The world, however, was not always so giving in return. Growing up mixed-race, born in the United States but raised in Japan, Noguchi found himself perceived as an outsider who did not belong in either country. Unable to identify fully as either Japanese or American, he conceived of himself as a snail, capable of retreating into his creative shell when the world did not embrace him. Through his art, the Snail could shape, hold, and create light—to conquer the darkness without.

Poetic and searing, heart-wrenching and exquisite, Emily Hughes's paean to creativity explores emotions ravaged by a history of Japanese incarceration, the effects of personal isolation, and the power of art to heal those wounds.
 
RENOWNED ARTIST: Isamu Noguchi's art is everywhere. You have likely seen it without knowing he was the artist—or even that it was art!

IMPORTANT TOPIC: This book uses art and history to discuss mixed racial identity, making a difficult topic more accessible to young readers.

STUNNING VISUALS: Hughes's illustrations are rich and evocative of the grace, power, and ephemerality of nature. Light and dark, complex yet simple, her art and storytelling echo the dual identity of Noguchi himself.

PERFECT GIFT FOR ART LOVERS: The subject and the beautiful visuals make this book the ideal gift for art students, art enthusiasts, and museumgoers of all ages.
 
Perfect for:

Parents and grandparents
Fans of Isamu Noguchi
Fans of contemporary art
Teachers and librarians

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781797208763
Publisher:	Chronicle Books LLC
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	88
Sales rank:	614,663
File size:	145 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Emily Hughes is the illustrator of the beloved Charlie and Mouse series and Everything You Need for a Treehouse. She was born in Hawaii and lives and works in the United Kingdom.

Editorial Reviews

10/24/2022

Interspersed with full-color spreads that mark crucial moments in the life of sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), diaphanous grayscale illustrations by Hughes (the Charlie and Mouse series) give this picture book a sense of visual calm. But emotion roils underneath as lines describe Noguchi, the son of a white American mother and a Japanese father, as an artist whose work was rejected by both countries. Asked as an old man to represent the U.S. in an exhibition, he declines: “America never wanted me!” Attentive spreads describe the way “Isamu felt like a snail and called himself one.... In the shell, Isamu was safe with his memories and dreams and worked with complete focus.” Toggling back and forth between the figure’s youth and old age, the text portrays Noguchi’s feeling of profound alienation from both cultures, his shortening both his hair and his name in an attempt to fit in with peers (“No cut, no change could bring him closer to others”), and, much later, his creation of akari—“sculptures that held light within”—en route to participating in the exhibition. Though the text sometimes proves confusing, relying on abstract phrasing, Hughes pays careful attention to the surfaces of Noguchi’s sculpture—the heavy grain of wood, the dark gleam of polished stone—to create a visually elegant telling. Ages 8–12. Agent: Stephen Barr, Writers House. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

With Hughes’ own skill, the complexities of Isamu’s life and art are thoughtfully designed and exquisitely rendered.” — Booklist, starred review 

“Hughes pays careful attention to the surfaces of Noguchi’s sculpture—the heavy grain of wood, the dark gleam of polished stone—to create a visually elegant telling.” — Publishers Weekly 

“The illustrations…delicately render his life. An ambitious attempt to chronicle the life of a complex artist.” — Kirkus Reviews 

“Hughes presents an impressionistic picture-book biography…[an] emotional journey.” — The Horn Book Magazine 

“[D]etailed and fascinating…The book will beguile older readers.” — School Library Journal 

From the Publisher

12/01/2022

Gr 2–4—An enigmatic book on the life and art of Isamu Noguchi, the artist and landscape architect whose work included stage sets for productions by Martha Graham as well as furniture and lighting pieces that are still being manufactured and sold. Opening with him shouting into the phone, "America never wanted me," Hughes sets the central theme as his struggle between acceptance and rejection in the United States and Japan. Noguchi grew up between these two countries in the early 20th century and readers will see and feel the pull of the two cultures throughout the book. The illustrations are detailed and fascinating, a blend of black-and-white drawings and full-color renderings highlighting the art-making process and the places Noguchi lived and worked. Longer than most picture books, lacking back matter, and told in three parts, this title will all but force interested readers to do further research: the facts shared are somewhat spare about this life well worth knowing. The book will beguile older readers who are interested in artists and their creative process and who will treat this book as a stepping stone to knowing more about Noguchi. VERDICT Not a straightforward biography of the artist, this is recommended for collections where other materials on the life and work of Noguchi are available.—John Scott

School Library Journal

2022-11-16
A glimpse into the life of an iconic sculptor.

The son of a Japanese poet and an American writer, Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) struggled for acceptance in both Japan and the United States; he "felt like a snail and called himself one," most at home in his own shell. Hughes uses Noguchi’s creation of an akari light sculpture for an exhibition as a device to dive into the artist’s development. Curves are a motif throughout—as Noguchi works on the curves of the sculpture, he recalls being ostracized in Japan as a child for his curly hair, but he also remembers the fern tendrils of his beloved garden. He remembers the tension between his parents, each believing his future was in a different land, and he’s reminded of World War II and its destruction, when he was seen as the enemy by both America and Japan. But the akari’s paper brings comfort. Noguchi emerges from the creative process anew, at peace with himself and with the knowledge that he and his creations can’t be categorized—that they are astounding, new, and uniquely him. Though the illustrations, which use graphite to delicately render his life, are effective, the text jumps across time and space and may at times confuse readers unfamiliar with the artist. In particular, it isn’t clear why Noguchi was able to leave an imprisonment camp while other Japanese Americans remained. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An ambitious attempt to chronicle the life of a complex artist that falls short. (author’s note, photo) (Picture-book biography. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews