The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane
C.M. Millen, author
C.M. Millen is the author of Blue Bowl Down: An Appalachian Rhyme (Candlewick), The
Low-Down Laundry Line Blues (Houghton Mifflin), and A Symphony for the Sheep (Houghton
Mifflin). She lives in Toledo, Ohio.
Read more about C.M.
Andrea Wisnewski, illustrator
Andrea Wisnewski is the author and illustrator of Little Red Riding Hood and A Cottage
Garden Alphabet (David Godine). She creates her astonishing papercut prints in Storrs,
Connecticut.
Read more about Andrea.
- Connecticut Book Award (Children's Illustrator category)
- Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award
- Spirituality and Practice's Best Spiritual Books
Booklist
In a small medieval Irish monastery, the monks quietly work side by side, copying and illuminating manuscripts in brown ink. Theophane, the youngest monk, is so easily distracted by the beauty of the world outside his window that he is given an outdoor task: boiling bark to make ink. Inspired by stains from blackberries, he begins to experiment, making colored inks from berries, leaves, roots, and twigs. Soon the monks are illuminating their manuscripts with the brilliant hues of nature. Words and pictures alike are infused with a sense of the monks’ joy in their faith and work as well as Theophane’s delight in the natural world. Written in rhythmic, rhyming, and near-rhyming verse, the simple story unfolds in a satisfying way, accompanied by short poems inspired by the writings of medieval Irish monks. The richly detailed illustrations were created by using a paper-cut design to print bold, black lines and brightening the pictures with watercolors. The book concludes with lists of recommended books and Internet sites as well as an author’s note related to her research on medieval monasteries. Grades 2-4. –Carolyn Phelan
Kirkus Reviews
Brother Theophane copies manuscripts in his monastery in “the mountains of Mourne,” but he also hides crumbs in his sleeve to sprinkle on the windowsill for the birds, and sometimes he gazes too long at the sun dancing on the pages before him. In simple rhyme, Millen conveys how, when woolgathering Theophane is banished to make ink, he finds berries, hazel wood, crocus and cabbage leaves to make many colors. The brown-garbed monks, turned from their brown inks to colors, renew their illuminations to reflect the many-hued world. The text includes a few verses in Theophane’s voice, which are based on scraps of poems written by Irish monks of the Middle Ages. Wisnewski’s gorgeous hand-colored prints are composed of strong black line and interlaced color and pattern. There are echoes of the Book of Kells and other Celtic illumination, but children will especially respond to the borders of apples and berries, the patterned stonework and the black-and-white cat that appears on almost every page. (author’s note, bibliography, websites) (Picture book. 6-9)
Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-58089-179-0
E-book PDF
ISBN: 978-1-60734-230-4
Ages: 5-8
Page count: 32
9 x 11