OFF THE WALL

Friends make art about friends making art.

Brown Kraft paper provides the stolid backdrop for this tale of artistic creativity and free expression. A cast of seven (five children, one dog, one cat) all sporting color-adjacent names (and based on the creators’ own kids) come together to make art. As they did in I Don’t Care (2022), Idle and Martinez-Neal mix and meld their artistic styles so seamlessly that it becomes impossible to say where one starts and the other ends. Color anchors the book; characters have skin the same hue as their names, and dialogue is similarly color-coded. Initially Vermillion creates a tic-tac-toe board on which to play with Robin. More friends arrive, and while at first they happily create chalk drawings together, soon fights break out and kids are hoarding supplies. Will they ever be able to work together? A clever mash-up of cut paper and hand-drawn characters drive home the message that art is for everyone (and sharing is caring) without coming across as pedantic or didactic. The art is consistently appealing, though some of the colored fonts (particularly the orange) may prove to be difficult to read for those with visual disabilities.

There’s room enough for every reader—and every hue—in this charming ode to creativity.