A small pig brandishes a stick, while a voice warns: ‘Hey, be careful with that stick.’ The pig goes on consistently to deny that what he’s holding is a stick, and each turn of the page reveals how it imaginatively becomes a fishing rod, marching baton, paintbrush, dumbbell, cowboy’s horse, caveman’s spear and knight’s sword.

Review: Portis’ original book, Not a Box, was a perfect example of a simple idea beautifully executed, and this follow-up uses exactly the same format. A limited palette and simplified line drawing bring a look of sophistication and clean simplicity to the book, but from an overall design point of view, Not a Stick is slightly less satisfying than the earlier book. Whereas a square, brown card cover and bold screen-print style title made Not a Box look very much like a box, (giving the title Magritte-like humour), this second book does not and cannot possibly look like a stick. Instead, a brave attempt has been made with a wood grain effect cover, and the title page is used imaginatively to show a simple vertical tree trunk filling the gutter, with a single broken branch seeming to offer itself to the pig.

 From the point of view of content however, Not a Stick is every bit as satisfying as the earlier book. The beautifully concise text is a dialogue between the child (a little pig) and the (presumably adult) narrator. The narrator’s voice shows that the child is constantly supervised and hints at a realistic concern about the pointy thing being waved about. However, the child is very much in his own world, and happily, the more violent sword and spear scenarios are carefully designed, so that the stick is never actually depicted hitting anyone!

 Pig and stick are drawn in simple black lines on each page, while pig's imagined play-scenarios are drawn around him in blue, on alternate pages, showing the endless possibilities available when a stick becomes ‘not-a-stick’. For modern children who apparently indulge in too little imaginary play, this could be an inspiring book. Perhaps more importantly though, it might remind adults reading with them, to step back and give children more opportunities for the freedom to pretend.

2009-04-09