Silent Days, Silent Dreams

Reviewed by: Jill O'Connor - Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School, Brunswick, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 10, 2018

Review

This controversial new picture book from Say is a fictional biography of artist James Castle. Castle was a deaf man who lived in Boise, Idaho his entire life and quietly created art on found items like discarded food containers, receipts, scrap paper, and cardboard. He drew using a mixture of soot and saliva and kept his drawings to himself. His work was discovered when a nephew in art school in Portland, Oregon showed his uncle's work to a professor; the professor insisted on meeting the artist and arranged for an art show of his work. Say discovered the art work of Castle through a childhood friend and was inspired to write this book. The controversy lies in the fact that Say did not work with the family or in conjunction with the Castle Archive to write the book; the Archive claiming that he did not corroborate the facts of Castle's life and made many claims that are possibly not true. Say also did not receive permission to recreate the drawings of Castle's works for his book. A fictional biography is a tricky thing as it is very difficult to read a story about someone's life and not take it as fact. There is an Author's Note that explains how Say came to be interested in Castle, and it explains that he read a biography about Castle, but the story that is written here comes through the connection that one artist (Say) felt that he could infer about another (Castle). Say articulates a reverent kinship with the artist who was belittled and taunted and forced to create art in silence and in secret. A fascinating book, but one that will be difficult to catalogue and use in class. Perhaps its best use is in the message of never giving up, and that it can be placed into hands with the hope that a fictionalized biography will lead a reader to seek out further works about the subject.

Overall Book Score: good