Raul Colón's (Bookjoy, Wordjoy) Imagine! is a joyful, wordless exploration of artistic discovery.
As a young boy leaves his apartment, helmeted and with a skateboard under his arm, a journey of possibilities begins. He rides his skateboard through a series of paneled spreads, bringing him past hallmarks of big-city living. Muted beige buildings and bridges--destined, we later find out, to be canvases for more vivid colors--are illustrated with great attention to depth, with Colón's use of Prismacolor and lithograph pencils creating fingerprint-like designs in the watercolor art.
Upon reaching his destination, New York City's Museum of Modern Art, the boy checks his wheels and enters a new world. More panels show the boy's intensity as he encounters different artists and their work, but when Henri Matisse's Icarus literally leaps off the walls, the real fun begins. The boy dances and sings his way out of the museum with Icarus and a parade of figures from Pablo Picasso's Three Musicians and Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy. As the art breaks free of its frames, Colón's illustrations move from paneled scenes to full-page spreads, showing the jubilant group riding the subway, eating hotdogs and hanging out in Central Park.
Although these activities are seemingly mundane (especially to New York City residents), they give voice and make visual the experience of finding wonder and community in art. Colón's author's note gives background on his own experience with museums and provides names for the artists and artworks in the book, adding layers for exploration for anyone who cares, or dares, to imagine more. --Breanna J. McDaniel, author, freelance reviewer