Wemberly Worried

 

Henkes, K. (2000). Wemberly Worried. New York:  Greenwillow Books. 

 

Wemberly is a young mouse who is constantly worrying about every little thing.  She worries about the smallest to the biggest things, and with everything fun or normal she finds something to worry about.  This story is absolutely one of the cutest that I have read because it shows the things that children may worry about on a day to day basis.  The characterization that the author uses for the reader to know the character is on point.  While reading this book, I got a feel of how this little girl was reacting to situations and could understand why she was worrying.  She couldn't help but worry, it was her personality.  Wemberly is a great

example of character development.  In the beginning, she worried about everything that she encountered, and by the end she was a little bit of a different mouse.

 The page layout for this particular book keeps me interested.  It uses the whole page with no boundaries, which I like.  The author tells the story and adds little blurbs of what Wemberly would be thinking in a different font so that it is distinct that it is her thought.  These blurbs add more character than just telling the story with words and illustrations alone.  The creators of this story used each page to it's fullest by placing the illustrations at different places on the pages and the words went along.  This book is a new favorite of mine for the use of color alone.  The illustrator uses watercolor and a black pen to add detail.  The artist has great control of the water just as much as the use of color.  The value adds just the right amount of detail and then coming back in with a pen to add a little more gives the story the character that it needs.  I can always get myself stuck on paying attention to detail when it comes to the pen work in a book.  I literally can get my face in the book to see the types of strokes an artist may

have used to create that particular look.  Amazed! 

As I continue to read Kevin Henkes books, I notice that his “mouse” books all have the same type of characterization when it comes to the illustrations.  The mice in Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and Wemberly Worried use the exact same style of watercolor usage and pen work.  The colors in each also compare very well.  Even though the stories are completely different, they relate in so many ways because of the artist. 

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone because the characterization is so relate able.  I would hope that this would help children see that they are not alone and that there are ways to deal with fears. 

Big Question:  How would you, a friend of Wemberly, help her to overcome her fears?