Noel

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

For Susan Cohen, true friend, true believer —T.J.

To my children, their children, and children of the world —C.K.C.

TONY JOHNSTON ART BY CHENG-KHEE CHEE BY

t CAROLRHODA B OOKS , I NC . / M INNEAPOLIS

Noel, Noel, Noel! Christmas is a bell, chiming far away in an icicle-pointed steeple. Chiming an old song. Calling people.

And people come.

They leave their homes under low skies holding snow. They breathe a dark snow-smell as they go bundled to their eyes in coats and muffs. Blowing snow into the air like little trains in little puffs.

Fathers and mothers hear the bell. Children too. And old people. And in-between people. And cold people.

Wherever they are, they stop to listen, their ears red with cold, like snowmen frozen still. Noel! Noel! Noel!

Dogs and cats and rats hear the bell, hear the whisker of song sweet and chill. They tip their noses up to smell. They know this night of nights. Noel!

And small bright birds, like small bright leaves, peck for seeds and hear the bell. They cock their heads. They stop a time to listen to the old sweet chime.

A brass band blows a brassy song, squeezed through the halo of a horn. The big bass drum booms RUM-TA-TUM, which is NOEL in big-bass-drum.

The brass song blasts the frozen sky, shakes the gathered snowflakes down, perfect wheels of frozen lace. In a hymn of silence every place they fall. Noel, Noel, Noel.

A long, sleek sleigh goes ringing by, stuffed as a stocking full of people, pulled by horses stepping lightly. Their sweet bells ring through flocks of trees, spreading white and angel wings.

A tree! A tree, festooned with lights, flickers red and blue and green. Angels hover on its boughs and bend to peer at candy canes and little sheep and little stars and ginger men with raisin eyes that glow and glim and gleam so bright upon this calm and holy night.

Aglow in yellow sleeves of light laid down by streetlamps on this night, people stretch their arms like trees to catch upon their woolen sleeves snow that stays a long white while.

Then they smile.

They hold each other’s mittened hands, sweet with the wet-wool smell of lambs, and stamp their boots and shuffle and dance.

And the snow comes down. And the brass band plays. And close, oh close, in the icicle-pointed steeple, a bell is ringing still.

Soon everyone sings into the deep and angel night a song of tidings, old and abiding— Noel! Noel! Noel!

Artist’s Technique Renowned watercolor artist Cheng-Khee Chee, AWS DF (American Watercolor Society Dolphin Fellow), created the paintings in this book by using a method called the “saturated wet-paper technique.” Before Chee began to paint, he completely saturated his paper with water, either by soaking it or applying water to both sides with a hake, or wide, brush. He kept the paper moist throughout the painting process for easy lifting and repainting, and to allow the colors to combine in their own ways. Timing is extremely important in this process. If the surface is too dry, the colors will not blend; if it is too wet, the colors will run. First, Chee applied paint for the sky, and then he blocked in the buildings and trees. When the glistening wetness of the surface disappeared, he used a dry, clean brush or sponge to lift (or “wipe-out”) forms and shapes off the moist surface. He then painted people, animals, and birds. When the bulk of the painting was done, but the paper was still moist, he sprayed the entire painting with clear water to create the effect of snow. After the paper was dry, Chee refined the details and added new shapes using stencils or sponges. Chee generally takes an improvisational approach when using this wet-paper technique for single paintings of fish and flowers. The complex scenes in this book required even more thoughtful planning and composition—yet the result is one of spontaneity and great beauty.

Text copyright © 2005 by The Johnston Family Trust Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Cheng-Khee Chee All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Carolrhoda Books, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Carolrhoda Books, Inc. A division of Lerner Publishing Group 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnston, Tony, 1942– Noel / by Tony Johnston ; artwork by Cheng-Khee Chee. p. cm. eISBN-10: 0-8225-6301-0 1. Christmas—Juvenile poetry. 2. Children's poetry, American. I. Chee, Cheng-Khee, ill. II. Title. PS3560.O393N64 2005 811'.54—dc22 2004031102 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 – JR – 10 09 08 07 06 05