Coppernickel Goes Mondrian (Artist Tribute)
Relegating specific biographical details to the afterword, van Reek pays tribute to the spirit of painter Piet Mondrian by focusing on his quest to catch up with the future. The tale features two anthropomorphic birds with small canine sidekicks. Energized by a brief encounter with aptly named, smock-clad Mr. Quickstep (standing in for Mondrian), Coppernickel (introduced in Coppernickel: The Invention, 2008) and four-legged Tungsten follow behind—first through increasingly abstract landscapes in which tree branches transform in stages into knots of faux Asian-style script and then through a jazz-age city whose busy, geometric subways and skyscrapers presage the flashy abstractions of the artist’s mature work. Quickstep’s own dog, Foxtrot, makes the final historical connection by spinning a platter of boogie-woogie that sprays from the record player in a cloud of square and rectangular chips of color and impels Quickstep (himself suddenly transformed into cubist blocks) to crow: “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! This is what the future looks like!” Some sophisticated themes and concepts, conveyed in text and pictures simple enough to draw fledgling readers. Grades 4-6. --John Peters