My Steps by Sally Derby (1996) is many things: description of a play area, insight into friendship, recognition of personal responsibility, and tribute to a sacred space. The five steps in front of an urban home are the stage for pretend play when the main character pretends cracks in the concrete are rivers. Crumbles of green paper create “bushes all along the rivers”. The steps serve as desks for coloring, grades for a game of stone school, and a seats for eating popsicles. The main character in this story cares for the steps in every season. The sacredness is revealed when the child refers to them as home. I love Adjoa J. Burrowes’s illustrations, which appear to be mixed media.
The main character is unidentified in this first-person narrative. In 1996, the pigtails may have implied the child female. However, there's no reference to "she" or "her", only the first-person pronoun "I". Therefore, the gender-neutral pronouns “they” and “them” are used in this blog post.
The first page foreshadows the special significance of the five steps ("THESE ARE MY STEPS.") and their value as a play area. Burrowes fills most of this first two-page spread with the steps. Next, we see their location in an urban neighborhood context. Next door is Cyndy's Beauty Salon and Byron's Produce. We also meet a few members of the community, "cars and buses swoosh down the street and people walk by on the sidewalk." This child says hello to familiar adults, but mother warns them not to talk to strangers. Then, the picture zooms in close, and we learn "the top of my steps is the stoop." Again, Burrowes's nearly fills the two-page spread with the child sweeping her stoop and mother smiling in the doorway. Despite the Burrowes's lovely mixed media, the text hints at a more grittier reality. "I sweep away all the dirt and the ants and the bugs and the glass, if some got broken in the night".
The rest of the story transforms the reality of this urban landscape into a cherished childhood haven. (The author dedicates the book "with love and memories".) This is the site of glorious imaginary play. The walls are horses and the cracks in the cement are rivers. Sliding closer to reality, the steps are numbered, "Essie and I like to color. She sits on Two and puts her paper on Three". On sunny days, a blanket draped over the stoop creates a shady cave for intimate conversations. Stepping back a bit, we meet a second friend. When the three children play "stone school," the steps are labeled by grade. When a player answers correctly, they move up a step. "And whoever gets to fourth grade first get to be teacher next." Next, Derby and Burrowes bring us back to a neighborhood perspective on a hot summer afternoon. When the nearby fire hydrant sprays water into the street, "Kids I don't even know come running." The scorching hot summer sun takes us a full page in a brilliant hues of yellow, orange, and pink as the children sit on the steps eating popsicles.
Derby gives a nod to fall and winter. Although our protagonist must go to school, she sweeps away the colorful autumn leaves morning and afternoon. When "winter comes shivering in" they shovel snow. I just love Derby's clever use of the word "hard" when the child scrapes away the ice "but that's hard". So clever -- in this sentence, "hard" describes both the task and the ice!
We get glimpses of this child's mother, and they are all positive. Mother doesn't want her child talking with strangers, doesn't want the children standing on the horses, provides the blanket and snacks for sharing secrets, popsicles after water play, and admiration at the end of the story.
This story reminds me of A Chair for My Mother in which a chair is the window into a child’s world.
When I started looking at children's picture books more closely, I suddenly noticed inconsistencies that I probably wouldn't have noticed in one or two reads. It's become sort of a game. At the beginning of the story, when we're introduced to the neighborhood, the fire hydrant is in front of the beauty salon. When a fireman opens it up and "water shoots out and splashes down the street", the hydrant is on the other side of the steps.
My Picture Book Talk for this story is here here.
