Learning | Collaboration

My friend, Julie, showed me a fun book today.  It's a picture book, designed to be read out loud to children.  Chloe and the Lion is written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Adam Rex. 

Both of these men are introduced at the beginning of the story, along with Chloe, the main character. That should have been the first clue that this was an unusual book; I can't recall any other books that make a point of introducing the author, illustrator and main character right off the bat.

So the story about Chloe begins to unfold.  Chloe looks for coins everywhere she goes, on sidewalks, under furniture, in coin-operated machines.  She saves the money she has collected and uses it to buy tickets on the carousel in the park on Saturdays. One day, she wanders into the forest and encounters a scary lion. But the picture doesn't show a lion; it shows an enormous dragon.

Mac (the author, remember him?) interrupts and tells Adam (the illustrator) he put the wrong animal in the picture.  They argue. It doesn't take long for Mac to fire Adam and replace him with a new illustrator, Hank. Hank has a completely different style from Adam. At first, this seems like a good thing. Hank thinks it would be better to have a dragon in the story than a lion. Pretty soon, Hank is gone, and Mac tries to  draw the pictures himself.  He realizes he needs Adam back. It isn't going to be easy to get him back; Adam is now in the lion's stomach.  He also expects an apology.

Mac and Adam work things out just in time to get back to Chloe's story: lions! Coins! Merry-go-round rides!  The final result shows that the book is better because of both men's talents.