Cave Paintings

by Jairo Buitrago, Rafael Yockteng (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)

Overview

A young space traveler discovers art painted millennia before by a human being—just like him.

Our hero travels all alone on a spaceship, through the universe, past galaxies, comets and planets to go visit his grandmother on Earth for the summer holidays. She takes him to visit an ancient cave, where he discovers handprints and drawings of unknown animals made by human beings, just like him. To top off his wonderful holiday she gives him mysterious objects which once belonged to his grandfather — paper and crayons. On the way home he draws what he saw on his travels — to the amazement of his fellow passengers.

Jairo Buitrago’s thought-provoking story reminds us of what remains as everything changes. Rafael Yockteng’s fabulous art, a tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, presents us a wonderful, diverse future in which space travel is common, though knowledge of the past is still a secret treasure to be discovered.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773061726
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	10/27/2020
Pages:	52
Product dimensions:	9.75(w) x 9.75(h) x 0.45(d)
Lexile:	AD420L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Author JAIRO BUITRAGO has collaborated with Rafael Yockteng on several picture books, including Jimmy the Greatest! (six starred reviews), Two White Rabbits (three starred reviews), Walk with Me (three starred reviews), Lion and Mouse (two starred reviews) and Wounded Falcons (two starred reviews and named a USBBY Outstanding International Book). Jairo has also won the Hispanoamericano Castillo prize for children's literature and the Antonio García Cubas Award. He lives in Mexico City, Mexico.

RAFAEL YOCKTENG has illustrated many highly acclaimed children’s books, including Afterward, Everything was Different: A Tale From the Pleistocene; Wounded Falcons (two starred reviews and named a USBBY Outstanding International Book); Jimmy the Greatest! (six starred reviews); Two White Rabbits (three starred reviews); and Walk with Me (three starred reviews) by Jairo Buitrago. Rafael’s books have been included on IBBY’s Honor List, the Horn Book Fanfare and in the White Ravens Catalogue. He lives in Bogotá, Colombia.

ELISA AMADO is a Guatemalan-born author and translator. She has written My Friend (Mi amiga), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano; Un Barrilete para el Día de los Muertos / Barrilete: A Kite for the Day of the Dead; Cousins (Primas), illustrated by Luis Garay; and Tricycle (El triciclo), illustrated by Alfonso Ruano, which is on the Américas Award Commended List and is a USBBY Outstanding International Book. She lives in Toronto.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for author Jairo Buitrago and illustrator Rafael Yockteng for Cave Paintings:

Commended CCBC Choices, 2021

“Celebrated collaborators deliver another thoughtful delight, revealing how ‘making marks’ links us across time and space.” — Kirkus Reviews

“An ode to the endless possibilities of art, a celebration of open borders, and a reverence for the contributions of our collective ancestors.” — Horn Book, starred review

"Cave Paintings is an intergalactic triumph sure to inspire wonder and creativity.” — CM Review of Materials

“This book… demonstrat[es] that there is both joy to be found in the mundane and wonder to be found in the infinite expanse of the universe.” — School Library Journal

“[A] subtle message about conservation for the next generation.” — Foreword Reviews

“Yockteng juggles different styles of artwork with ease—magisterial views of whirling galaxies, pen-and-ink-style drawings of the boy’s time with his grandmother, the cave art itself, and childlike sketches on the new pad all offer scope for the imagination.” — Publishers Weekly

"As with their other picture books … the team of Buitrago and Yockteng, with Amado translating, have created another outstanding story that will resonate with the youngest readers and listeners." — De Colores Blog

“If the goal of reading books is to transport you to another world and to broaden your understanding of your own, this book is a hit.” — Mr. Alex’s Bookshelf Blog

“This accomplished and thoughtful team continue to create wonder with their stories.” — Sal’s Fiction Addiction Blog

Praise for author Jairo Buitrago and illustrator Rafael Yockteng for Lion and Mouse:

“Jairo Buitrago’s retelling of the classic fable “The Lion and the Mouse” is likely to have early readers giggling with glee …. The entertaining text and superb illustrations combine to spark new life in this old tale of kindness, compassion and friendship.” — Shelf Awareness, starred review

“An intelligent glimpse at how a friendship between unlikely candidates might be possible. A stellar addition for all collections.” — School Library Journal, starred review

“A grand, morally opulent retelling with a message for our age.” — Kirkus Reviews

Praise for author Jairo Buitrago and illustrator Rafael Yockteng for On the Other Side of the Garden:

“Simply outstanding” — Kirkus, starred review

“Buitrago and Yockteng (Walk with Me) imagine the kinds of comfort that might console Isabel most, and readers share in the beginning of her healing.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A subtle and affecting journey to resilience.” — School Library Journal, starred review

Praise for author Jairo Buitrago and illustrator Rafael Yockteng for Walk with Me:

“Emotionally resonant in the loveliest of ways.” — Kirkus, starred review

“With guided discussion, youngsters can see beyond the deceptive simplicity of this poignant story. A strong choice for all collections.” — School Library Journal, starred review

“The duo behind Two White Rabbits returns with another compassionate portrait of a child negotiating difficult circumstances with grace.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

Editorial Reviews

11/02/2020

The pale-skinned child who narrates this story by previous collaborators Buitrago and Yockteng (Two White Rabbits) isn’t fazed by the trans-galactic spaceship trip he takes in these pages; he does it all the time, “always traveling alone.” At his destination planet, which readers will recognize as Earth, a small saucer flies him straight into the arms of his grandmother. Every spread juxtaposes natural and futuristic elements: in one, the boy and grandmother travel in a glass-domed vehicle to a preserve-like area, where she leads him into a cave full of paintings. A print of a human hand and images of animals impress him, and so does the grandmother’s present of a family heirloom, a box of colored pencils—“They were my grandfather’s, and before that, his grandfather’s.” Making marks on paper has power that eons can’t diminish; en route home, even the four-eyed passenger in the seat behind the protagonist is riveted by his sketching. Yockteng juggles different styles of artwork with ease—magisterial views of whirling galaxies, pen-and-ink-style drawings of the boy’s time with his grandmother, the cave art itself, and childlike sketches on the new pad all offer scope for the imagination. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This accomplished and thoughtful team continue to create wonder with their stories.

Sal’s Fiction Addiction Blog

[A] subtle message about conservation for the next generation.

Foreword Reviews

As with their other picture books … the team of Buitrago and Yockteng, with Amado translating, have created another outstanding story that will resonate with the youngest readers and listeners.

De Colores Blog

An ode to the endless possibilities of art, a celebration of open borders, and a reverence for the contributions of our collective ancestors. STARRED REVIEW

Horn Book

Cave Paintings is an intergalactic triumph sure to inspire wonder and creativity.

CM: Canadian Review of Materials

If the goal of reading books is to transport you to another world and to broaden your understanding of your own, this book is a hit.

Mr. Alex's Bookshelf Blog

Cave Paintings is an intergalactic triumph sure to inspire wonder and creativity.

CM Review of Materials

10/16/2020

Gr 1–3—In a future in which space travel is the normal way to get around the universe, a young boy embarks on a trip to visit his grandmother on Earth. Waiting at the space port to board while surrounded by all manner of alien creatures, our protagonist's travel anxiety will be familiar to any child who has traveled alone or set off on a new adventure. The variety of aliens (including tentacled beasts with odd-numbered eyeballs, anthropomorphic animals, and spooky humanoids) are fascinating, and worthy of exploration. Amazed at the infinite breadth of space, the boy arrives at his beloved grandmother's Earth, which is part technological wonder as travelers disembark the spacecraft on hoverboards with futuristic architecture in the background, part natural paradise filled with waterfalls and wildlife ripe for exploration and adventure. On one of their adventures, the boy and his grandmother enter a stalactite-filled cave, discovering paleolithic-style art from long ago. The boy contemplates the shadow of his own hand over an ancient imprint, leaving the strong impression that all are connected regardless of the passage of eons or distance across the galaxy. Longtime collaborators Buitrago and Yockteng, like Anthony Browne, are masters at creating seemingly simple tales which, upon closer consideration, conceal sophisticated themes and emotions. This book is no exception, demonstrating that there is both joy to be found in the mundane and wonder to be found in the infinite expanse of the universe. VERDICT A work at once both limitless and grounded, the imaginative illustrations will be especially appealing to lovers of science fiction and fantasy.—Alyssa Annico, Youngstown State Univ., OH

School Library Journal

2020-09-15
A trip to grandmother’s launches light-years beyond the routine sort, as a human child travels from deep space to Earth.

The light-skinned, redheaded narrator journeys alone as flight attendants supply snacks to diverse, interspecies passengers. The kid muses, “Sometimes they ask me, ‘Why are you always going to the farthest planet?’ ”The response comes after the traveler hurtles through the solar system, lands, and levitates up to the platform where a welcoming grandmother waits: “Because it’s worth it / to cross one universe / to explore another.” Indeed, child and grandmother enter an egg-shaped, clear-domed orb and fly over a teeming savanna and a towering waterfall before disembarking, donning headlamps, and entering a cave. Inside, the pair marvel at a human handprint and ancient paintings of animals including horses, bison, and horned rhinoceroses. Yockteng’s skilled, vigorously shaded pictures suggest references to images found in Lascaux and Chauvet Cave in France. As the holiday winds down, grandmother gives the protagonist some colored pencils that had belonged to grandfather generations back. (She appears to chuckle over a nude portrait of her younger self.) The pencils “were good for making marks on paper. She gave me that too.” The child draws during the return trip, documenting the visit and sights along the journey home. “Because what I could see was infinity.” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.8-by-19.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 85% of actual size.)

Celebrated collaborators deliver another thoughtful delight, revealing how “making marks” links us across time and space. (Picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews