There's a Griffin on My Back
The Mighty Moods Book Series
The encouraging picture book There’s a Griffin on My Back is about the joy of discovering a hidden skill and the importance of making room for other people’s talents.
In Meredith Rusu’s warm picture book There’s a Griffin on My Back, a soccer-obsessed boy learns a lesson about respect and sharing.
After an outstanding performance on the soccer field, Robby comes to the realization that he is channeling the power of his own personal griffin. Invisible to others, this mythical creature follows Robby and doubles his enthusiasm for the sport. Together, they dribble through supermarkets, kick the ball at home, and never stop practicing.
When Robby’s sister, Katie, takes the spotlight with her upcoming ballet recital, Robby feels left out. He causes a scene at the performance to draw attention to himself. Afterward, dismayed about interrupting the show and being reprimanded, Robby learns that there are ways to accommodate everyone’s talents at the same time.
The story is clear, empathetic, and structured in three thematic sections, making Robby’s internal transition from being absorbed in his own interests to recognizing the needs of others concrete. Its use of rhyming quatrains and couplets that are punctuated with dialogue gives it a sense of movement and energy, too. The integration of the text into the illustrations is subtle, with the words set against monochrome backgrounds like the blue sky and the spotlight at the dance recital. This complements the kinetic images of soccer games and chaotic family moments, as when a soccer ball is kicked into a toilet bowl to the chagrin of Robby’s little sister.
The illustrations have a digital quality, and they are spread across the page in varying ways: Whole spreads are devoted to single images; elsewhere, pages include multiple illustrations of different events. In one illustration, Katie dances onstage in the background while Robby tries to get his parents to watch him kick the soccer ball into the audience in the foreground. These complex framings are matched by the expressive faces of the characters.
Color variations are also used to enlivening effect, with purple tones used for Robby’s fantasy of himself and the griffin playing soccer and bright blues and yellows applied to his blissful practices at home. As he begins to feel ignored by his family, the colors become muted; they turn nocturnal during Katie’s ballet recital. Such nuanced shifts elevate the book’s atmosphere.
A talented boy learns to make space in the spotlight in the energetic picture book There’s a Griffin on My Back.
Reviewed by
Willem Marx
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
