Aesthetic Experience Picture Book

Inventor McGregor by Kathleen T. Pelley and illustrated by Michael Chesworth. (2006 - Farrar Straus Giroux)

A fun picture book on the Best Children's Books of the Year 2007 list put out by Bank Street College of Education. It is categorized as humor, but I think it's much deeper than that. Hector McGregor lives with his cheery and eccentric family (including a hen named Hattie who travels on Hector's head) and is well known for his inventing and helping devise things to help the townsfolk out - from mending broken things to "concoct(ing) some thingamabob or thingamajig to make their world a little better or brighter." I personally appreciate the helping hands gizmo that gets strapped to the shoulders that he invented for Mrs. McIver who has triplets. With her 7 mechanical arms, she can now wipe noses, feed children and provide them with what they need without challenge.

Hector is very creative, and this creativity is fueled by his devotion to keeping the arts in his and his family's life as "in between his ideas simmering and sparking," he spends time with nature, taking in the sights and sounds, painting and playing his fiddle. Each night before the family goes to bed, Hector plays his fiddle and his family dances and makes merry.

All is well and good until one day he is approached by the President of the "Royal Society of Inventors" and encouraged to take a job in the city where he could invent all day in his own laboratory. After some hesitation, he takes the job. Sadly this means long treks into the city by train and long days of sitting alone dressed in his new white lab coat and badge in a sterile and silent lab. It also means getting home too late at night to spend time playing and dancing with his beloved family. He is unable to do any inventing...the creative well is dry. Looking out the window one day, he sees workers repainting the sign of the toy store across the street. In a flash of creativity he runs over and borrows the paint. He decorates the massive white walls of of his lab with huge pictures of his family engaged in fun activities. Doing this, he realizes where he really wants to be and dashes out to join his old daily life with his family at home.

Finally, back at home, his ideas and creativity again flows. New inventions pour out of him. He is happy to be where is most creative "just as long as he could sing and paint, and fiddle and fling, and love all that he had to love."

Love the idea of this book. It really speaks to the creative process. It's hard to be creative if you aren't in a place where you feel comfortable and open. I know this feeling myself.

The illustrations look to be watercolors. Whenever Hector is happy and feeling creative, the colors are bright and alive. From the bright red shock of wild hair on his head to bright colors of his natural surroundings, the mood portrays energy and happiness. When the story and Hector are unhappy, the colors are dull--such as when the president of the Royal Society of Inventors pays a visit - the sky pours down rain and the colors are drab blues and purples, signifying the upcoming doom. Hector's lab in the city is depicted on a double page spread that bleeds off the pages, done in neutral colors including Hector's white lab coat - again, showing the drab feelings he is experiencing.

Fun book!