Jabberwocky

From School Library Journal Grade 5 Up–Jorisch interprets "Jabberwocky" as "a provocative commentary on contemporary media, politics, warfare, religion and gender roles." The stark, dreamlike world shown in his pencil, ink, watercolor, and Adobe Photoshop illustrations is a blend of realism and the bizarre; haute couture and frump; past and future. Huge flowerlike funnels rise from stems in the ground and from pots in a store window. Microphones, video cameras, and a photographer record the quest for the Jabberwock, the ensuing battle, and the kill. The story depicted involves an old soldier who sends his son–a tailor–off to kill the nebulous enemy so that the older man can die in peace; the poem ends with his funeral. Jorisch's visual interpretation of the poem is both provocative and personal, and it incorporates a worldliness and familiarity with human nature that most people achieve only through life experience, making it most appropriate for adults. Joel Stewart's nonsensical illustrations for the poem (Candlewick, 2003) are more appropriate for younger children.