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Over the Rooftops, Under the Moon
What happens when a bird doesn't feel like a bird?
Alone with himself, even among his flock, a young bird finds an unexpected connection in the eyes of a little girl. He begins to wonder about the nature of life: What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be a bird? Swept up in his exploration of the human world, he doesn't notice that his flock has already migrated south for the season. Written by JonArno Lawson and beautifully illustrated by Nahid Kazemi, this sparse, lyrical story is about community lost and found, and what it means to know one's self.
Alone with himself, even among his flock, a young bird finds an unexpected connection in the eyes of a little girl. He begins to wonder about the nature of life: What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be a bird? Swept up in his exploration of the human world, he doesn't notice that his flock has already migrated south for the season. Written by JonArno Lawson and beautifully illustrated by Nahid Kazemi, this sparse, lyrical story is about community lost and found, and what it means to know one's self.
56 pages, Hardcover
Published February 12, 2019
2 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
JonArno Lawson
26 books56 followersJonArno is the author of two books of poetry for adults, Love is an Observant Traveller and Inklings, as well as a contributor for The Chechens: A Handbook. The Man in the Moon-Fixer's Mask is his first book for children. He lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 19, 2019
Beautiful illustrated by Nahid Kazem, JoArno Lawson creates a text as enigmatic and lyrical as Kazem's mixed-media illustrations are ethereal and through-provoking. About a pretty anthropomorphic bird who has to face the fact that life is about constant change.
". . . the snow falls, and something changes again."
Actually, at first read I didn't really know so much what it is "about" except nudging you to feel and look closely at pictures "chock full of details" such as the ones Iranian-born Kazem says she enjoyed when she was a kid. Just: Look more deeply and you'll see more, experience more?
Okay, I read it again, a bit more slowly, as the authors would both want me to do. And here's a bit better summary: A bird's flock leaves him and this at first seems like a problem, until he connects with a girl. So with this change there's opportunities to grow and learn, to see you are different and to explore new things and live in that. Over the space of a year he travels a different path with her and then he's alone again, until he reconnects with his fellow birds. He's a bird, but he's a unique one. And in these pictures you see more each time you look at each page; he sees more, we see more.
As with Larson's wordless Sidewalk Flowers, illustrated by Sydney Smith, it is about noticing and appreciating small things, small people, and small gestures in an ever-changing life. Maybe not for wee ones but older children and up.
". . . the snow falls, and something changes again."
Actually, at first read I didn't really know so much what it is "about" except nudging you to feel and look closely at pictures "chock full of details" such as the ones Iranian-born Kazem says she enjoyed when she was a kid. Just: Look more deeply and you'll see more, experience more?
Okay, I read it again, a bit more slowly, as the authors would both want me to do. And here's a bit better summary: A bird's flock leaves him and this at first seems like a problem, until he connects with a girl. So with this change there's opportunities to grow and learn, to see you are different and to explore new things and live in that. Over the space of a year he travels a different path with her and then he's alone again, until he reconnects with his fellow birds. He's a bird, but he's a unique one. And in these pictures you see more each time you look at each page; he sees more, we see more.
As with Larson's wordless Sidewalk Flowers, illustrated by Sydney Smith, it is about noticing and appreciating small things, small people, and small gestures in an ever-changing life. Maybe not for wee ones but older children and up.
April 2, 2019
A white-plumed, sometimes human-like, sometimes avian-like bird is the protagonist of this deeply enigmatic and multi-layered poem. It follows the path, in second voice, of a bird who at one moment feels like a part of the flock and at another, completely alone. He recognises his identity and then, at other times loses a sense of himself in amongst the business of the world. Just as JonArno Lawson very brief very vivid worlds call to mind the grandeur and macrocosmic nature of being so Kazemi's incredible mixed-media illustrations are rich in details and insights about the diversity of our world and who we are. So much is open to interpretation that I think it could be read and poured over at almost any age and someone will take something at a different point in their life. Fascinating.
April 5, 2019
A beautiful book. The illustrations are wonderful and reveal more and more with each viewing. I don't have any children around who are picture-book age, but I'd be curious how young children would respond to the enigmatic poem.
March 21, 2019
Illustration is 5 stars --wow!
Story not impressive. Attempts at profundity resulted in cryptic one liners.
Story not impressive. Attempts at profundity resulted in cryptic one liners.
March 6, 2020
Spare text. Gorgeous, ethereal, thought-provoking illustrations.
April 1, 2019
3.5 stars. Maybe not a book that kids will understand or like very much, but still beatiful and thought-provoking.
October 9, 2019
Not my thing. Those picture books with minimal, spare text heavy on lyricism are definitely not for me. Beautiful illustrations, but they, too, are exhausting in their details and lyricism.
January 28, 2021
What a beautiful book this is! I admit that at first I only admired the beautiful illustrations together with my children, the words seemed to me like something was missing as if it was too vague. But then I read it second time (literally a minute after the first time) and I was so impressed how I found a bit of myself in this book; how I came to live to another country and stayed and how sometimes I wish I could go back to the place I was born and feel the familiarity I was used to. Still when I’m “back home” I dont feel home anymore, yes, this is definitely a book about belonging. ITS SO BEAUTIFUL
July 19, 2019
A picture book for older readers, Over the Rooftops, under the moon, explores the beauty of finding yourself in a world full of people, colour, loneliness and quiet.
This book is difficult for younger children to enjoy with limited words and lack of story but older readers will be drawn to the simple message it sings out. Be yourself.
We often get caught up in being one of the 'flock' of people. Carried away by what we are told we should be doing.
It is often only when we meet someone, something different happens or we have time to reflect that we realise the opportunity that life can give us to be different and to find out who we really are.
The protagonist in this story is a bird who at the start lives with his flock until he locks eyes with a human girl and discovers the different things life can bring. He travels with her and then alone again, eventually coming back to the birds he loves - but knowing that he is different and life is there to show our differences.
The illustrations are soft yet rich. There is a lot to be gathered from the detail within each picture and the play on colours - adding more depth to the simple story within.
Over the Rooftops, Under the Moon is a picture book to be shared with older readers, to be explored and to wonder what life is about, how simplicity can bring about deep meaning and how a simple change in life can wake us up.
This book is difficult for younger children to enjoy with limited words and lack of story but older readers will be drawn to the simple message it sings out. Be yourself.
We often get caught up in being one of the 'flock' of people. Carried away by what we are told we should be doing.
It is often only when we meet someone, something different happens or we have time to reflect that we realise the opportunity that life can give us to be different and to find out who we really are.
The protagonist in this story is a bird who at the start lives with his flock until he locks eyes with a human girl and discovers the different things life can bring. He travels with her and then alone again, eventually coming back to the birds he loves - but knowing that he is different and life is there to show our differences.
The illustrations are soft yet rich. There is a lot to be gathered from the detail within each picture and the play on colours - adding more depth to the simple story within.
Over the Rooftops, Under the Moon is a picture book to be shared with older readers, to be explored and to wonder what life is about, how simplicity can bring about deep meaning and how a simple change in life can wake us up.
May 31, 2019
تُعتم الحيرةُ قلبَ طائرٍ أبيض حين يشعر فجأة بالغربة بين أسراب الطيور. حتى يرى يومًا طفلة، تثير دهشته، وتحرك في نفسه رغبة في اكتشاف عالمها والتعرف على الحياة من خلاله. وهكذا يعيش الطائر الأبيض بين الناس ويأنس بهم وتغمر البهجة قلبه من جديد. وحين يحل فصل الشتاء ويتساقط الجليد، يجتاحه ذات الشعور القديم وذات الغربة! فيتساءل عن سرب الطيور، ويتفاجأ بهجرتها التي سها عن موعدها بينما انشغل بحياته مع الناس. فيطير باحثًا عن رفاقه، مجابهًا العواصف والأمطار حتى يعثر عليهم، وربما على فهمٍ أفضل لما شعر به ذلك المساء حين كان جالسًا معهم تحت ضوء القمر، فوق أسطح البيوت.
هناك الكثير الكثير من الحب في هذا الكتاب. ابتداءً من نصّه الشاعري التأملي، عن معنى الانتماء، للنفس والمجموعة، والخط الفاصل بينهما، والاغترابات، والهجرات التي نتكبدها والمسافات التي نقطعها، وغواية التجربة وبهجة الاكتشاف، والمزيد المزيد من كل تلك النجاحات والإخفاقات التي تصنع منا ما نحن وما نمثله في هذا العالم. ثم هناك الرسم! اللوحات البديعة الضارب في العمق بتفاصيلها المثيرة ومساحاتها الزرقاء الشاسعة التي تدعوك لمزيد من الغوص ومزيد من الإبحار ومزيدًا من التأمل
February 28, 2020
I wanted to love this book after seeing the evocative cover, and potentially evocative title. As a visual journey it is like a soft hazy drift through a Chagell-like world, with colors gentle, but never any clarity. And like a dream with meanings just beyond reach when one wakes, the story line is simultaneously simplistic and on the edge of a deep-dive, but I never felt satisfied.
I would be curious to see kids who like this story. I think it is possible, because as a child I pored over many illustrated books that were a mystery to me. However, the child looking for a story with a beginning, middle, end, related to their lives, will not likely find it here. Not even the adult will find this here.
I was left wishing for something that eluded me in the wafting winds and gentle waves. I suppose it might be a good bedtime story, where one can drift from this to actual sleeping dreams.
I would be curious to see kids who like this story. I think it is possible, because as a child I pored over many illustrated books that were a mystery to me. However, the child looking for a story with a beginning, middle, end, related to their lives, will not likely find it here. Not even the adult will find this here.
I was left wishing for something that eluded me in the wafting winds and gentle waves. I suppose it might be a good bedtime story, where one can drift from this to actual sleeping dreams.
June 7, 2019
This book is mysterious and other worldly. I saw illustrations from this book from a presentation that illustrator Nahid Kazemi did at the library. The text in this book is sparse but powerful, it is a psychological journey. The illustrations portray urban city life but also seem reminiscent of Iran, Nahid's home nation. The emergence of birds and colours seemingly created with coloured pencils creates a unique feel.
July 6, 2020
This book has very interesting and dreamy illustrations. The story, in a few words, is about change on the outside and on the inside, although I'm not sure a child will realize that. In fact, the blurb about the book explains what my own brain just didn't understand. Perhaps it is a story parents and children would enjoying discussing and figuring out together.
February 5, 2023
Each of us is a mystery, to each other and to ourself/overselves. We are alone when together. Together when alone. Another mystery? Why such a deep and beautiful book about the meaning of life is on a library discard pile next to Walter the Farting Dog?
March 28, 2019
How should i review this...surreal-beautiful illustrations to match a poetic narrative on fitting as a community yet being an individual while the passage of time moves around the community.
April 8, 2019
A dreamy meandering in which the illustrations are the star.
June 7, 2019
2.5 stars; Gorgeous, if slightly busy, illustrations, but the text itself is a bit too existential. Feels like a book written for adults more than children.
June 28, 2019
The illustrations in this book are meant to be savored.
July 8, 2019
Beautifully illustrated
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September 12, 2019Elegant & beautiful imagery
October 24, 2019
A preschool and up book about the sights seen around a town.
December 27, 2019
This was a beautiful book but the text was minimal and kind of out-there so I don't know if I really got it.
January 20, 2020
Lovely illustrations.
January 21, 2020
Birds journey towards self understanding
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November 24, 2020The illustrations are beautiful!
February 18, 2021
I enjoyed this book.
I don't know if it would entertain a child.
But I guess it all comes down to how you read and talk about it.
I don't know if it would entertain a child.
But I guess it all comes down to how you read and talk about it.
July 11, 2021
Gorgeous, both in sentiment and illustration.
September 4, 2021
understated, metaphorical journey of hope through and out of depression
December 27, 2021
4.5☆'s
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews