Life is what we’re given. A life is what we’re to make of it.
Kids, they find quickly that some things go well — and many things go wrong. It’s the “wrong” that Norfolk scrap artist Sam Hundley explores in his new book, because mistakes bring possibility (a perspective not quite allowed him when he was the senior page designer for The Virginian-Pilot).
“Gifts of the Magpie” draws on his offbeat eye and his delight in found objects to present a joyful, deceptively simple kids’ story: that of a generous magpie and her friends, and creativity and resilience.
The characters here are foundling creations, photographed. The magpie — her wings are combs angled end to end. A goat — his long face and goatee are a paintbrush; his nose, a skate key. A squirrel — his mouth is a rusty open-end wrench. The words, understated, pack in multiple meanings.
The story: The magpie asks her friends, “What can I find for you?”
The goat, weary of winter, says, “Spring!”
The squirrel, hungry, says, “A nut would be nice.”
A boy who loves baseball says, “I could use a bat.”
The magpie delivers. A … spring (and it’s metal!). A nut (but it’s iron!). A bat (but it flies! Like crazy!).
Oh.
And so it continues, with owl and hog and mouse.
What to do?
The magpie’s friends get to thinking, and get creative. By the end, they’re happy, kid readers get some tips on magpies, homonyms and scrap art, and adults ponder fresh eyes, second chances, and whispers of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi.”
Because after all, with combs you can fly. And because it’s almost spring.
— Erica Smith, erica.smith@pilotonline.com
About the book
“GIFTS OF THE MAGPIE”
Sam Hundley
Capstone Editions. 32 pp. $17.99.
