My Friend the Paintbrush: The Colorful World of Marcus Pfister

Pfister (the Rainbow Fish series) offers up both a playful survey of his work and a sly look behind the creative curtain in this self-referential picture book. Rhyming lines open with a riddle: “I’m going to tell you about my friend/ Who’s always full of surprises./ Its talents simply have no end,/ And it comes in all shapes and sizes.” Though the answer’s not revealed until later, the volume’s title gives it away—it’s the paintbrush, which the creator champions for expressing endless emotions and forms, firmly rejecting digital alternatives (“No!/ It’ll only work in my hand”), and more. Spreads show how a paintbrush can produce wildly different styles: laughing corvids rendered with bold black ink are expressionistic silhouettes across the gutter from a jolly little bird in flight who’s a bouquet of tutti-frutti colors. On another page, Rainbow Fish, crafted from insets of “special shiny foil,” greets a whale rendered in thick blue paint. Elsewhere, a naturalistically rendered crowned lion is juxtaposed with a cubist interpretation. Offering a brief retrospective, closing pages describe the varied techniques used in the creator’s titles. It’s a craft-forward work that affirms the infinite worlds that spring from brush, hand, and imagination working as one. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)