Shadows are almost always presented with negative connotations: When people are shady they can’t be trusted; when a place is shady danger is lurking there; to throw shade is to speak disparagingly; to cast a shadow over something is to ruin it. Which is why it’s so refreshing to find two picture books that present shadows for what they are: the non-nefarious interplay of light and dark.
THERE WAS A SHADOW (Enchanted Lion, 52 pp., $18.95, ages 5 to 7), written by Bruce Handy and illustrated by Lisk Feng, follows a young girl as she leaves her storybook cottage at sunrise (when she sees her own shadow, “a new shadow”) to wander through mountains dotted with vibrant flowers. Ultimately, her shadow is joined in a meadow by those of two other children and a dog (the four of them now “friendly” shadows). The children dance and fly a kite, accompanied by their jubilant doubles. By midday, elation turns to exhaustion, and they end up in a shady place — that is to say, under the canopy of a tree, where shade equals sanctuary.
In the distance, a lake promises additional respite. But the sun’s reflection on the gently rippling water proves painful. The girl squints. It is in the presence of harsh light — rather than the depths of darkness — that the story turns somber. “There was a shadow. It was a thinking shadow, a shadow you could feel but not see. It was worry.” Then just as quickly, with the reappearance of a visible shadow — cast by the dog suddenly licking the girl’s face while wagging its tail — the “thinking shadow” darts away and balance is restored.
Feng’s soft-lined illustrations visually articulate the essence of Handy’s “stretching shadows,” easing day into night. It is a gentleness not often found in modern landscapes dominated by lightbulbs that jolt light-dark/dark-light without warning. Here, readers can adjust to illuminative changes incrementally, moving slowly, as children often need to when they’re processing experiences.
Night arrives as “an almost everywhere sort of shadow.” In darkness, moon-dancing shapes are assigned emotions: “happy, sad, and other feelings, too.” The flowers of daylight are replaced with hints of luminescent creatures in tall grass. These scenes leave room for mystery and suggest to us that we don’t always need to avoid the shadows we encounter or the complicated feelings that arise within us.