Musical Prose: Jonathan London

Occasionally, I discover an exceptional picture book at a library sale. It’s the only place to locate books with illustrations that are fine art paintings nowadays. Red Wolf Country (1996) with pictures by Daniel San Souci was such a book, and so I took it home. Thank goodness because it introduced me to the sound of Jonathan London.

In his book Tell Me a Story (1998) London offers up an abbreviated autobiography for young readers. The illustrations are photos of his family and his writing process. Here was the answer to why his words flowed unlike any other picture book that I’ve encountered. He’s a poet.

While he was in college, London started writing poetry. “For twenty years I wrote for no money,” he writes. When his children asked for stories, he started to make a living as a writer. So, before his first children’s book, Froggy Gets Dressed (1992), he had already practiced writing for a very long time.

Jazz music sometimes influenced his writing. “I love the cool, jazzy rhythms…I write musically, listening to the sounds and rhythms of what I write. I read my stories out loud to hear how they sound.” Perhaps this helps explain why when I read Red Wolf Country I said “Wow!”

London chose his words carefully. The first line of Red Wolf Country is “Two red wolves roam”. Try saying that three times fast! Alliteration and assonance elevate his plot to an art form. In his setting “a rare snow has fallen” and “icicles glitter”. When “a small dark animal ambles along”, the wolves pounce. The violence of wild life is somewhat hidden by London and San Souci. After all, this is a children’s book. Even when “A nervous farmer raises a rifle”, bullets miss their mark.

I requested Crocodile Disappearing Dragon (2001), Giving Thanks (2003), and The Eyes of Gray Wolf (1993) from the library. The latter was another masterpiece to my mind with prose such as “Gray Wolf floats over the snow, drifting through the woods, flowing like water.” The rising action was subtle, the moon repeatedly indicating a brightly lit night and the passage of time, and the happily-ever-after ending.

The Froggy series slowly filled my bookshelf for years as I scooped up titles at library sales. I loved those books too, and I had to laugh when I learned these were also written by Jonathan London. He was prolific.

My Picture Book Talk resource for Red Wolf Country is here.