"The book begins with a prologue about a fictional Parisian artist/author who showed his drawings to children and asked them to write their own stories to go with the images. Those who did were then given the precious gift of realizing their dreams. When the artist was very old, he wrote his own story to accompany a set of drawings, leaving the last page empty, asking whoever found the story to write their own dreams on the page and tell others to do the same." — J. Chambers
The Moth and the Sun by Gary Bernard (hardcover Year Twenty) is one of the most delightful, charming, and intelligent books for children seen by me in many years. The book is a must for all school libraries and home school students alike. It is beautifully designed and executed from cover to end-papers. Supplemented with Your Story after reading with the fifteen illustrations perking the child's imagination. It is also an exercise in language arts from the books text in French, English, and Spanish. With several preliminary sketches by Mr. Bernard which demonstrate "another way of doing". These sketches are alive and singing in their looseness and freedom of thin curving lines like kite strings.
Gary Bernard's exquisite illustrations for his text are full page and expressive of an intimate knowledge of the traditions of Western art. They remind one of the graphic work of Georges Seurat and especially the use of arabesques of Felix Feneon. His richness of black and its depth as subject matter also recall Lee Bontecou for further investigation for teacher and student.
As a teaching tool, Mr. Gary Bernard's "Moth and the Sun" excels in putting John Dewey's pragmatic education methods into practice - in a most charming way for children, and for those who are sensitive to works of art as experience.
former Director of the Art Department of The Barnes Foundation, former Director of the Arboretum of The Barnes Foundation
This is an unusual and engaging book that presents a loose, graphic story that purports to relate the experience of a moth’s travels in Paris as imagined by an artist and a community of Parisian children several generations in the past. The restrained, pointillist illustrations provide compelling mythic images that challenge the reader to “connect the dots,” with rich opportunities for all levels of reader. This book deserves equal consideration as an excellent work of graphic art, a stimulating reading experience, and a valuable educational resource.
