Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

A few months ago Jerome Pumphrey, an Artist, Writer, Designer and Illustrator who I had been following on Instagram, posted that he and his brother Jarrett would be publishing a children's book in January of 2020. I am a writer and an avid reader and have been all my life, and though my days of reading children's books might seemingly be over, I still love them when they are good ones, and I had a feeling that this one would be something special because the artwork I had seen on Jerome's Instagram posts was spectacular. When he posted that there would be pre-orders available through BookPeople, I put in my order immediately, and as part of their thank you to their customers, over time all kinds of added perks became available, including lovely hand signed limited edition prints, a very sweet pin, and a beautiful canvas bag. During the months that followed, he and his brother posted regularly about the book and its progression, until one day last week it arrived in my mail and I was able to finally see it in hard cover, and as I had thought, it's stunning in every way.

Both Jarrett and Jerome are members of SCBWI, the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Jarrett Pumphrey is a Storyteller, Writer, Artist and Illustrator, who has served as Creative Director for multiple technology companies and was the Co-Founder and CEO of a startup in the high-tech world of clear removable orthodontics. Jerome Pumphrey is an Artist, Designer, Illustrator and Writer who studied graphic design at the Art Institute of Austin and has worked as a technical writer, freelance graphic designer, and illustrator, and he is currently a graphic designer at The Walt Disney Company. Together they formed a company The Pumphrey Brothers, and "The Old Truck" is their second co-authored book. A tale about a family of farmers over the generations, it follows the life of the family's truck as it follows the family on their own hardworking but also joy-filled life. In its seeming simplicity, it goes deeply to the core of important messages and life lessons - hard work, perseverance, caring for one another and caring for the environment around us, and being grateful for the things we have and the time we share with others.

There's so much that is so lovely in this book. The strong women the brothers were influenced by growing up and the messages they shared are at the heart of this story, and it is their legacy of persistence and working hard to make dreams come true, often in the face of adversity, that gives the story its driving force. Add to that the inspiration of a common sight the brothers see in Texas of old trucks set out to pasture and overgrown, and they began to wonder what the experience of a truck might have been if it had the experience of watching a young girl on a farm growing up with big dreams. The illustrations in "The Old Truck" were created by using over 250 individual hand-cut stamps. The brothers use a combination of traditional and digital media in their creative work, and the traditional highly skilled process of making the stamps can be seen in short videos on their website. Each page is a work of art and the overall story is a masterpiece of life-giving, deeply moving and inspiring words and images, simple enough to reach into a child's mind and powerful enough to awaken the heart of an adult.

"The Old Truck" is a book to be treasured, read and re-read in the way that I have always read great books, from the time I was a child first learning to read to this day, deeply enjoying each word, each moment and each image while taking in the whole and letting it resonate and take root. This is a book for anyone to enjoy, young or old, at the start of life or nearing the later part of it, because The Old Truck could be any one of us as we travel on our own journeys and live our lives.

"The Old Truck"

Written And Illustrated

By Jarret Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey
https://thepumphreybrothers.com/

Book Cover Illustration
Photograph Courtesy of Jerome Pumphrey