Zero Local: Next Stop: Kindness

by Ethan Murrow, Vita Murrow, Ethan Murrow (Illustrator), Vita Murrow (Illustrator)

Overview

Board the train for a story of art, diversity, and community in a near-wordless tale told through masterful, sumptuously detailed black-and-white illustrations.

Train riders are used to stressful delays on the Zero Local line. But when a new passenger shows gratitude to the driver on their daily commute, tensions begin to ease. Eventually the artistic traveler stops riding the Zero Local line, and discord begins to creep back into the train car. Will the regular passengers find a way to restore the sense of camaraderie they once felt? Inspired by a true story, Ethan and Vita Murrow share with us a tender ode to the power of art and its ability to foster friendship and community in the most unlikely of places.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763697471
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Ethan and Vita Murrow work collaboratively on a variety of artistic projects, including writing, video, film, drawing, and photography. In addition, Ethan Murrow shows his illustrations in exhibitions internationally, and Vita Murrow is the director of a literary project in Massachusetts. They live in Boston with their two children.

Editorial Reviews

03/16/2020

Taut pencil drawings by married collaborators Ethan and Vita Murrow (The Whale) show how art can forge community in public spaces. Meticulously drafted spreads capture the action on an urban train: daily commuters representing a range of ethnicities are already seated when a figure in a skirt and a loud hat steps aboard, a yellow bird perched on one shoulder. “Monday,” reads a date tag in the corner—“Major delays.” The passenger starts drawing, and the girl in the next seat, a child of color in a yellow shirt, is entranced. When the train stops, the artist hands the drawing to the driver, who beams, their vest turning yellow, too. Tuesday and Wednesday (“On time”), similar scenarios unfold, but on Thursday (“Delays”), the artist’s seat is empty, and the girl wilts, then has an idea. On Friday (“Major delays”), she cuts and folds paper creations to dispel tension in the car, and her work produces smiles—and the spread of yellow across the city. Detailed portraits of passengers by the Murrows value each one as an individual. The initial artist, cued as gender fluid, is portrayed as a hero whose powers depend on creativity and loving-kindness. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Where words so often fail, the wordless breathes life into people's smallest actions and deepest impacts, as the Murrows' spreads uplift the mundane. It's a positive love letter to community (even among commuter-train regulars), diversity, and paying it forward...Timely and timeless, as kindness always is.
—Kirkus Reviews

The artwork is the star of the piece. As in the Murrows’ The Whale, the photorealistic pencil drawings are expertly detailed and textured, while the gray palette creates a subdued tone, initially fitting to the theme. The illustrator later adds hints of bright yellow to characters who are literally touched by art—which will help younger readers unlock the meaning behind the story. A touching addition.
—School Library Journal

Taut pencil drawings by married collaborators Ethan and Vita Murrow (The Whale) show how art can forge community in public spaces. Meticulously drafted spreads capture the action on an urban train...Detailed portraits of passengers by the Murrows value each one as an individual. The initial artist, cued as gender fluid, is portrayed as a hero whose powers depend on creativity and loving-kindness.
—Publishers Weekly

The second collaborative wordless picture book from the Murrows (The Whale, 2016), this evokes city life through beautiful pencil drawings...The amount of detail in each illustration is astounding—one spread features the artist’s arm and hand drawing a picture, and careful crosshatching gives it an impressive photorealistic effect...children will continue talking about the artwork long after the book is closed.
—Booklist

From the Publisher

03/01/2020

K-Gr 2—In this wordless picture book, a young girl riding a train is inspired by an artist's impromptu drawing to show some appreciation to the driver. She and the other passengers soon come to anticipate the artist's daily creations, but when they suddenly stop showing up on the train, it's up to the girl to fill the train and the world with beauty. The message of creating art to reduce hatred and stress in the world is simple but effective and may lead to discussions about what's happening in each scene, as some pages are more open to interpretation. The artwork is the star of the piece. As in the Murrows' The Whale, the photorealistic pencil drawings are expertly detailed and textured, while the gray palette creates a subdued tone, initially fitting to the theme. The illustrator later adds hints of bright yellow to characters who are literally touched by art—which will help younger readers unlock the meaning behind the story. VERDICT A touching addition.—Peter Blenski, Hartland Public Library, WI

School Library Journal

2020-01-26
Kindness is contagious in the Murrows’ latest wordless picture book.

The week starts on the Zero Local train the way so many do—with delays. Landscape and figures alike are subsumed in the grays and shadows of textured pencil drawings, capturing the haze of passengers’ Monday frustration. Only two riders break up the gray—a white adult with a yellow hat and a shoulder-riding yellow bird and a young person of color wearing a yellow shirt. The passenger with the yellow hat pulls out pencil and paper to draw a funny picture of birds as a thank-you card for the train driver, a simple act of kindness marked by the driver’s vest’s turning from gray to yellow. The artist’s drawings and kindness continue through the week, until a day comes when they do not board the train. As delays and tension sharply rise, the young rider also decides to create some art and cuts out paper birds to offer to fellow passengers. Where words so often fail, the wordless breathes life into people’s smallest actions and deepest impacts, as the Murrows’ spreads uplift the mundane. It’s a positive love letter to community (even among commuter-train regulars), diversity, and paying it forward. A lack of contrast in the predominantly gray palette may present an obstacle for readers with low sensitivity.

Timely and timeless, as kindness always is. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews