Already There

FB Smit reviews Frank Fraser's new picture book about a lost sheep who longs for the eternal paradise of home. 

Already There

by Frank Fraser

Publisher: Sophia Institute Press

Frank Fraser is the author and illustrator of Already There (Sophia Institute Press), a picture-book tale of a lost sheep who longs for home.  As a teacher, writer, and picture-book consumer, I find this genre full of potential and very tricky to execute well. I reviewed this book against my top three favorite features of this genre and found that Already There both delivered and fell short of my expectations.     

Illustrations   

In my mind, an author who can illustrate, an illustrator who can write, is rarer than the triple-threat actor who can act, sing, and dance. I’m in awe of people like Frank Fraser, whose illustrations hit the mark and scratched my good art itch.    

I savor books where the illustrations aren’t outright mirrors of the text but add to or extend the story. In these types of picture books, there’s more to discover about the story beyond the text through the illustrations.      

Already There has at least two separate page spreads where one could get lost discovering details in the illustrations. For example, when the lamb stars in a hit movie as a pirate, he’s wielding a pirate hat and wig with his sword, and the expressions on the pirates’ faces adds humor and interest not expressed in the text alone.        

Read-out-loud-ability, re-read-ability   

Because picture books are read to children by an adult, the audience is both the child and the reader. I easily recall the favorite titles my tucked-in-bed children requested again and again. They ranged from the silly to the funny to the rhythmic because of their alliteration, assonance, consonance, or onomatopoeia. Though my children couldn’t read, they joined in the refrain because they knew the words by heart.      

A winning book is one a child reaches for again and again. While heartwarming and well-written, Already There's read-out-loud-ability and re-read-ability felt very low.   

For the adult   

Sounds and refrains are joyful to read, but the fun of an adult reading a picture book is discovering additional layers of meaning and covert take-aways. If a picture book contains a message, an abstraction for the adult, beyond the literal for the child, or if it’s just plain funny, they become my favorites.       

In Already There, little lamb is lost with His companions, the elder rams — the navigators. The rams argue over which way is home when a shepherd appears.  The little lamb meets the shepherd who promises His home is where there is no hunger, loneliness, or fear.  It’s too good to be true, as the misguided guide rams point out to the lamb.      

I found the rams a clever addition to the parable of the lost lamb, whose antagonism strike a contrast to the shepherd both in mood and illustration color choices. I thought about the rams in my life, the naysayers, the Debbie Downers who pooh-pooh the good and the true and the beautiful, insisting there are no such things. That God’s promises aren’t for us. And we believe them.     

Adults can also relate to the wayward wandering, the glitter and flash of the world's distractions whacking at our compasses pointing true north. It makes one think about the roundabouts, the turnarounds we choose that lead to dead-ends and the empties.       

In this way, this is a story for adults.  Its message rang true and landed in the right spot for me.      

Picture books are fascinating and tricky, and if the author/illustrator hits specific key notes, are pure gifts. I applaud the author for Already There, especially for his illustrations. And the title. The title’s a winner because, when we choose the Good Shepherd, we are already home.  

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Copyright 2024 FB Smit
Images: (top) detail from cover