Tulip Sees America: A Reading Response

     Tulip Sees America by Cynthia Rylant and Lisa Deisimini is the story of a child's growing desire to escape where he is from and see their country.  The desire to leave home, experience other areas, and the consequent feeling of insignificance that can felt in the face of the expansive grandeur of unexplored landscapes is a poignant message that resonates with many adults albeit an unfamiliar concept for children.  It is perhaps the variety of differences that can be found in states across the United States and the author's focus on one feature that is predominant of those states that will be focus for children in the story as they read.
     From the cover we see the end of a young boy's journey with his dog Tulip, a beach with crashing waves, enclosed by tree-lined cliffs.  The back cover shows a smaller illustration that shows the little green beetle traveling through forest once again.  The end pages are textured green papers that reflect the landscapes the boy will see in the future; rolling green hills of farmland in Iowa, waving green grass in Wyoming, green valleys in Colorado, prickly green cactus in Nevada, and the forests of Oregon.  On the title page, a single tulip lies across the page symbolic of the child's best friend and travel partner, Tulip.
     The illustrator Lisa Desimini uses bold, bright colors and images with sharp outlines to share this journey across the United States that gives us the distinct feeling of beauty that each state has to share.  The full bleed illustrations share the importance of each peek into a new destination, while the words rest in corners to be unobtrusive.  The use of full bleed reminds us of the expansiveness of the world there is to explore.  As the young boy travels in his small car across plains, farmland, through storms, into mountains, and through forest to the beach we are aware of his size compared to the areas he travels through.  Throughout his journey, he is shown on the right of the pages, a position that denotes adventure.  It is only when he arrives at the beaches of Oregon that we see him seated on a sand dune on the left page in a position of security and the page turn reveals the words, "And this is where we stayed."
     Although the topic may be one that young children are unable to identify with, the vivid pictures and distinct features of the states that are shared can be an important focus: There are no farms like Iowa's; There is no wind like Wyoming's; There are no mountain's like Colorado's; There is no desert like Nevada's; There is no ocean like Oregon's.  Perhaps one strange, uncomfortable moment in the book that needs to be addressed is when the boy arrives in Nevada and is shown in the desert clothes strewn while he stands naked behind a cactus.  The text states, "Tulip and I did silly things we would only in Nevada.  I took all my clothes off.  I don't know why."  This image is awkward and makes you wonder what the intent of the author was.  While Nevada is known for its deserts, it is also known for its peculiarities and this gives a hint at that even if it was not the intent of Rylant.  It is strangely out of place and as the idea behind it may have been in a children's picturebook.