The Homie’s Angel – Fernando Krahn’s A Funny Friend from Heaven

This book published in 1977 is truly a rare find. I wouldn’t even have realized who Fernando Krahn was if not for our feature on Wordless Picture Books “When Words are not Enough” our Bimonthly theme for this March and April.

Our Wordless Picture Book Special for March and April 2011

We began our April with Krahn’s A Little Love Story and followed it with a 2-in-1 special of Krahn’s Amanda and the Mysterious Carpet (1985) and The Creepy Thing (1982). Now we do a retro-70s with what I personally dub “The Homie’s Angel.”

Wishes and Dreams served from a Red Suitcase. A bored, elderly angel (outfitted properly with a black hat and holding a red suitcase) just happened to be sitting on the branch of a tree where our hobo/homie is passing the time. With nothing but a few clothes bundled in a stick, the homie seems to have nowhere to go, with nothing to do and nothing to eat. His life was forever changed when this Angel (ok, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he’s really on a mission and not simply bored out of his wits) decided to make a magical appearance.

Our elderly angel has such nice manners.

Book Layout. As could be seen, Fernando Krahn’s color-theme here is mostly greens and reds with all the other images in monochrome. These are full-spreads in the usual portrait-type book. Honestly, I enjoy this kind of variety in presentation and this certain distinctiveness which sets Krahn’s work apart from all other children’s book artists. At a time when digitally manipulated images are unheard of, his capacity to color some while ignoring other images may appear like something done for expediency’s sake – or may even suggest a sense of incompleteness in the picture. However, it only serves to make this a veritable classic – the capacity to go beyond traditional means of illustration and communicate one’s moving ideations with such vivid imageries that once again need no words.

Our Hoboe’s Livelihood Project. After feeding our obviously despondent and hungry hobo with a platter of fruits, a slab of cheese, wine, and a huge chicken thigh – our fairy-godfather err.. angel.. set about the unlikely task of teaching our hobo a few tricks of the trade – what I would like to call the hoboe’s livelihood project.

Now our angel seems to fit right in despite the wings - it seems like something out of a costume bought at a cheap one-dollar store.

Our middle-aged angel was realistic. He didn’t transform our hobo into a surgeon, an airforce pilot, a President of the Republic. Clown would do him just fine. With a few water-based markers and some red dabs of paint in the nose – voila! Clown it is.

Adventures of two middle-aged men and Siberian Ice-cream in a Classroom. The visual narrative officially begins with the hoboe’s transformation to a man-clown who now has a purpose, a life that has meaning. Our curly-haired angel who appeared a little bit like a daredevil proceeded to educate our homie to the wonders of providing mirth, laughter, and cheer.

This angel has showmanship, that you have to give to him

And true to Krahn’s extraordinary gift of making images come alive, he takes us along this awesome journey where our adventurers-slash-clown-slash-hoboe-angel as they climbed through windowsills…

Krahn's trademark - all the images are bursting with vitality and with such animated movements.

… escaped through a kitchen backdoor, flew right into a classical ballet performance (poster outside says Curikov Ballet), and ‘borrowed’ the Siberian ice cream cart to provide free treats to the well-behaved children who welcomed our clown and angel with such gleeful enthusiasm – their hands outstretched excitedly for Siberian treats. Where our hobo eventually ended up in, I shall let you find out for yourself.

I can dream, can’t I? As I was thinking of possible guided activities that can be done in the classroom using this wordless picture book, one phrase keeps recurring to me: I can dream, can’t I?

Ice-cream anyone?

While the first page of the book started with this look of blank hopelessness and lack of purpose in the homeless man’s face, we are taken to this whirlwind tour by Krahn where dreams come neatly packaged in a bottomless red suitcase brimming with wonders and cheese and a clown’s outfit alongside the red wine. It is a light-hearted book that has the capacity to make one think. Educators can ask/play around the “What if?” question. If you were the angel, what wonders would you share with this hoboe? If you were the hoboe, what would you ask for? Where would you go? Each page is likewise bursting with so much images that’s practically begging for a narrative to be written by a young child. Thought bubbles, conversation pieces, acting out possibilities are quite diverse as this book is shared with young kids with bright ideas and siberian ice-cream in mind. To know more about Fernando Krahn and his works, click on this link.

Picture Book Challenge Update: 41 of 72

A Funny Friend from Heaven by Fernando Krahn. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and New York, 1977. Book borrowed from the NIE Library.