I will make Miracles

Illustrated by Jiang Hong Chen
Written by Susie Morgenstern.


The pictures and the words both work together to present the message of the book. It is not so much a story, but more so the deceleration of a little boy. In all of the illustrations through out the book, the little boy is present. He looks very influenced by the style of Maurice Sendak; simply depicted yet with facial expression and body language. He is constant and realistic in every scene, but the backgrounds are wild and turbulent, always changing, exaggerated and abstract.

In a further comparison, I thought that the lyrical style of the text is similar to that penned by Dr. Seuss, and in fact the book could be likened to Oh the Places we will go. Morgenstern applies rhyming couplets throughout the book, and the average line length is of 8 syllables. There is a rhythmic flow to how the words run together

I'll meet everyone on earth,
and ask about their dreams.
Because life is more,
so much more than it seems

My giant loaf of bread will cure the world of hunger,
and the people who eat it will feel ten years younger!
And then for the child who has nothing to wear,
I'll sew her a dress. That will answer her prayer.


Through the above verse may not show it, there is a very exaggerated mood in the book. It encourages a child to change the world and even to physically raise the sun and to stir up the waves in the ocean. However, as the books conclusion is intended to be moralistic, it comes across as slightly contrived and in a unbalanced contrast to the rest of the book. I do not disagree with the message-  that learning to read and write will unlock unfathomable worlds for a person-  but this simple recommendation either itself needed to be more exaggerated, or the rest of the book needed to be even crazy to make the contrast so absurd that it was normal.

The style of  art work, however, is a huge success. It lends itself to the amplified mood of the book. For example, the two page spread of I will stamp out earthquakes, floods, and fire- / The world will stop shaking, be cooler and drier, is illustrated fantastically with strikes of blood red water color, and overlain with slashes of black, bleeding due to excess water. Of course, amongst this is the realistic portrayal of the watercolor boy running through the melee with arms outstretched and a defiant look on his face.