Doodleville by Chad Sell
Drew loves to draw. Pencil in hand, she has created her own collection of doodles, an assortment of charming and often mischievous characters who dwell in her imaginary world. Drew shares her passion for drawing with other students in the school’s Art Club. Their advisor plans a field trip to the local art museum. This expedition will serve as inspiration for an upcoming project: create a superhero world. There is one complication. Drew has discovered that her doodles can escape the pages of her sketchbook and travel into the “real world.” At the museum, her creations Jump off the paper and wildly explore the art displays, absconding with a hat featured in one of the paintings. Although Drew manages to collect all her runaway doodles plus an additional purloined hat, it is apparent that her creations are out of control. They begin to inhabit the drawings of her fellow students, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. |
| Drew’s father helps her understand that her creations are a part of her and that the Leviathan is an extension of the darkness that she sometimes feels. Once she acknowledges the duality of emotions she possesses, Drew is empowered to formulate a plan of action that benefits her fellow artists, the doodles, and even Levi. This leads to an inventive and satisfying conclusion. Sell’s art cleverly delineates the black and white one-dimensional world of Doodleville and Drew’s fully realized colorful world. The blending of the two worlds is masterful. |