"The roots that ground us help us soar." (from the back jacket copy of AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE)
The author is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation"The roots that ground us help us soar." (from the back jacket copy of AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE)
The author is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the illustrator is a Tongva/Scots-Gaelic comic book artist making AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE one more picture book written and illustrated by Indian writers and artists from which we we can draw and share with our readers.
Weshoyot Alvitre's artwork seems to leap out of her comic book artistry (this reviewer spent some time at the artist's website to get a feel for the wraparound artistry and the art that we see in this book). Her artwork within SIXKILLER and TRIBAL FORCE and SOVEREIGN TRACES is brought forward with Sorell's verse to create a stunning picture book which features family and tradition and craft as a means of sustaining memory and presenting a narrative.
Alitre's work which was unfamiliar to the reviewer before this review is emulated/echoed (if this is possible in two dimensions) in the larger face of the figure we will come to know within the book as "a grandma." The presentation of "a grandma" sweeps up to the top of cover with hands stretching down a mountain side with what appears to be heavy thread or yarn. The mystical/mythical look of the cover might suggest that the reader will be woven now into this piece and be a part of its messages and themes by the end of the book. The case and the end papers further this suggestion of the weaving that is integral to the book.
Sorell's verse continues with this sort of large to small presentation. Knotted threads wrap/frame:
At the mountain's base/grows a hickory tree (left facing text). Beneath this sits a cabin (right facing text).
As a mentor text to be used in the writing classroom, we see that Sorell is drawing the reader into a scene. The figures of the book have not been introduced to the reader yet. It is as if Sorell and Alvityre are working/weaving together an opportunity to frame this story in familiarity before presenting a family.
We know mountains. We know hickory trees. We can see a cabin. We're weaving in.
Alvitre's threads actually "violate" the edges of the page suggesting a movement down the page and into the page turns.
The reader is led to a kitchen with a stove that "warms well-worn pans." Each of these micro-introductions are framed in Alvitre's thread until we get to the first page where we are introduced to grandmother whose threads extend verso to recto as if to suggest that the threads the reader have seen have been leading to these hands.
The next opening spread depicts grandmother with eleven multi-colored threads extending out in an arc stretching to a sky that must be imagined outside the boundaries and borders of a book.
With the limited consultation I was able to do of Alvitre before reviewing Sorell's words, I see that a spread depicting the family surrounding grandma, "tending and singing" is in the Alvitre style which presents figures face-forward and eyes open. I have noted of Alvitre's work that her figures seem to look directly at the viewer. Wrinkles are presented as wisdom lines and Alvitre is able to present generations with her due care to complexion and a kind of "brightness" among the ages.
In the "back" of this spread is a earth-tone picture of a woman in uniform.
Sorell's work here takes a turn from a presentation of multigenerational women to their song now which is a shift in our being the reader of a narrative to their sharing of the narrative now with the reader. Alvitre's thread frames return in the early presentation of the person of and about whom the women are singing.
An aviator is depicted over finished woven pieces suggesting that this is the woman in the photograph. When we get to the spread of the aviator in the cockpit, we can fully appreciate Alvitre's comic book art background. Sorell's words: "In that plane/flies a pilot,/protecting and defending." The expression of the aviator is one of awareness, concentration, and pride.
When the pilot closes her eyes, Sorell's words appear again over thread frames until the facing page wherein Alvitre sweeps the canvas with a color sky and a plane flying to the right guided by the spiritual hands of an older woman who seems to almost cradle the craft.
The reason for the prayer is the "loop" of the weave of the narrative. A song is being sung for a family member away while that person aloft sends a prayer. There is a connectivity suggested in both visual and verse here that celebrates family and care and connectivity.
Sorell's Author's Note is short but presents a truth regarding Native women who have served in wars in service to country from the early days of a nation's creation to the current service to the United States Armed Forces where Native women comprise a large part of the total military.
Sorell invites the reader to consider these women and their stories by presenting one in Ola Mildred "Millie" Rexroat.
Sorell and Alvitre weave verse and visual in a manner that makes AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE an important addition to the newer picture books featuring First Nations writers and illustrators. The verse is accessible and presents ideas for young writers to parallel in the presentation of a singular scene with a larger scope. Alvitre's illustrations honor the concern and complexity of woman of many generations (the "huddle" at the end of the book is particularly poignant). A quick consultation at Twitter with author Traci Sorell reveals that Kokila gave Alvitre permissions to create a separate case from the dust jacket and that what a reader sees in the unwrapping of the book is traditional Cherokee finger weaving. I wanted to share this with the Goodreads community so you could share with your readers in the room. Of course, this reference sent me on a quick search of traditional Cherokee finger weaving (as you might have suspected it would).
As a secondary classroom teacher, it is a pleasure to add AT THE MOUNTAIN'S BASE to our collection of books that feature with due care, responsibility, and representation the stories of First Nations people.
With it's focus on military service, the book has instant "ladders" to Joseph Bruchac's CODE TALKER, but I really want to put a focus upon the centering and celebration of Native women's contribution to the protection and preservation of country through their volunteer service to our military.
Highly recommended for inclusion within a consciously-curated classroom library. I purchased this book for my classroom library in Room 407 at Silver Creek High School. ...more
"Superman's not brave. He's strong. He's handsome. He's even decent. But, he's not brave. No. He's indestructible. And you can't be brave if you're in"Superman's not brave. He's strong. He's handsome. He's even decent. But, he's not brave. No. He's indestructible. And you can't be brave if you're indestructible." --Chris Crutcher from "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" a short story within his book ATHLETIC SHORTS.
I love TRUMAN.
I mean really. As a secondary ELA teacher who gets to see picture books that might make their way into the room, I came slowly. . .like a turtle. . .to Jean Reidy's TRUMAN. But, now that I have seen and read the book, I am glad that I am a secondary ELA teacher. I'm in a unique position to introduce students to this picture book who might be parents selecting books in the next ten years. And, I have some influence in placing books some ten years below me into the K and 1 and 2 spaces where TRUMAN might best be situated (for marketing purposes).
I've never been one to stay in my lane. Nor, seemingly, is Truman (a turtle).
From the cover art depicting Sarah stretched out on a carpeted floor (and across the dust jacket which will be fun to share with readers. She is face to face with the book's hero Truman, who looking up at his owner, looks part Ed Asner, part Yoda, and part Patrick Star. There is an infant-like roundish presentation of this turtle that presents as an innocence that drives Jean Reidy's picture book.
The outer case looks like birthday confetti and the end papers are done in a nice concentric circle pattern suggestive of a turtle's shell pattern. From under and around the case the lighter, muted color schemes remind me of softer picture books like A SICK DAY FOR AMOS MCGEE.
The title page reveals that the case may, in fact, be how something as small a Truman might see a frosted donut shared on any given morning with a friend.
Truman was small, the size of a donut-- a small donut-- and every bit as sweet.
Jean Reidy has introduced us to the archetypal INNOCENT. Innocents driven by sweet and naturally-inclined safety seekers. Perfect that the main character presents like Pooh. And comes with a shell. He lives with Sarah and this points to the fidelity of the INNOCENT. Presented in contrast to the noisy, boisterous vehicles and machines further settles Truman into the INNOCENT archetype.
He was peaceful and pensive, just like his Sarah.
Not only is our main character sweet, peaceful, pensive, we're beginning to see a sense of identification with "his Sarah." And a developing fidelity (which is the INNOCENT archetype response to a task).
There is a visual depiction of Truman's size as demonstrated by his placement with a donut or lying on the carpet near Sarah, dwarfed by the paper and the crayons surrounding him.
Truman lives in an innocent world filled with innocent activities. It is the world outside that honks and growls and shrieks.
Jean Reidy's picture book is shaping up to become mentor text in archetypal presentation and discussion. Reidy has created a character who is the model of Dr. Carol S. Pearson's INNOCENT archetype. Paired with the ORPHAN archetype for the interplay between the two, there is something in TRUMAN that goes beyond the limitations (perceived) of the thirty-two page picture book.
And the interplay between INNOCENT and ORPHAN plays out as it most often does in stories:
"One day. . ."
When Sarah puts on a brand new shirt and a backpack that could have fit thirty-two small tortoises inside and places two more than usual green been in his dish (both are opportunities to count along with younger readers making this book a One Book Four Hands selection), he thinks nothing of this and begins to munch on the beans.
Psst. . .over here. . .with the reviewer. . .an INNOCENT'S response to danger or to a dragon is to "deny it" according to Pearson. Two more green beans than usual. No big deal.
Truman's ORPHAN archetype is immediately awakened when he realizes that, while Sarah has left before, her backpack was larger, and she had a banana and a bow. . .and the extra beans.
Let's take a moment to review literary terms. Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound. Add the two word imperative from Sarah to Truman, "Be Brave," and you have enough Bs to create a colony.
Truman's awakening ORPHAN is demonstrated within this spread and his awareness is splashed over the sprinkled-frosting backdrop of the case. Whether Reidy intended this juxtaposition of orphanage over a ghostly reminder of INNOCENCE lost is discussion worthy as all of the symbols of his past relationship with Sarah are presented as ghostly white outlines.
Are we getting the sense that this picture book would work well in your unit on archetypes yet? And, if we were able to tap into this aspect/element of the picture book's potential in all grades, this book would be earning that fifth star all over the place (and why I am awarding the book its rightful fifth star).
It's in this moment. This call that Truman begins to become aware of an outside world. A world outside of glass enclosures and beans and rocks.
A Call to Adventure is met with the natural Refusal as Truman waits "a thousand hours" for Sarah's return before Crossing the Threshold to enter into the Belly of the Whale (this time an "endless rug" wherein our hero, Truman, encounters the sucking and the sharp and the hulking and the menacing of other figures on the rug).
Reidy is hitting all of the markers of the Hero's Journey now that Truman has been "orphaned." Even the road of trials has gone silent underneath him.
Older readers will recognize that the deepest part of the Hero's Journey is the Symbolic Death. But this step is also called "A Dismemberment" which is what has occurred between Truman and Sarah.
But, Campbellian's will also remember that right after this low point (depicted by the dark door with light streaming underneath) is when our hero makes contact with the Goddess. In Jean Reidy's picture book, we have already met this Goddess and her voice comes back to Truman is a moment of epiphany and apotheosis as Truman remembers to be be BRAVE! (the spread cast in yellow is reminiscent now of light and illumination signifying that our tortoise friend is now in a state called apotheosis, drawing deep for the innate gift that has been suggested/placed inside of him).
The ultimate boon is the end of the book (no spoilers), but we do see a Magic Flight/Rescue in Sarah's "scooping" of Truman. And by the end of the book, we see Sarah and Truman sharing a story that features a brave (and now proud Truman). The Master of Two Worlds. Free to Live with an acceptance that his Sarah will sometimes go south.
By the way. . .remember that part in OF MICE And MEN when Slim asks George which way Lennie might have gone. George's response:
"Well. . .we come from the north, so he would have went south."
I know you remember. I just thought of that. Hmmm. . .south.
Jean Reidy's TRUMAN is a delightful look at a relationship between a little girl and her pet turtle (perhaps this is how we should have started this review).
"Five Stars for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story"
From the start, I want to tell you that I could get this review completely wrong. But, I not"Five Stars for Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story"
From the start, I want to tell you that I could get this review completely wrong. But, I note that a number of friends are giving the book five stars and moving on. Their endorsement with the full five stars says that they loved the book. Found it to be amazing. . . I would love to know the what and the why of those five-star ratings. Let me try to share my what and my why of five stars for Fry Bread.
The reason I could get this wrong is because of my markers. So, I will put those out for you here: White. Male. Cisgender. Straight. All of these create a bit of a disconnect coming into books of any genre or format that center upon diversity and representation. So, while I might get elements of this review wrong, I want to get as much "write" as I can for this book.
First of all, I think we do right by this book when we reference the book for title and subtitle together. How easy it would be to ask if a friend has seen Fry Bread? With a little more effort, we can center the book and its representation by asking, "Have you seen Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story?"
With a little more effort, we reference the full title and add author Kevin Noble Maillaird (Seminole Nation, Mekuskey Band) and illustrator, Juana Martinez Neal (Caldecott Honor: ALMA AND HOW SHE GOT HER NAME).
The dust jacket to case reveal presents Martinez Neal's fuller-faced characters. We see an older matriarch holding a small baby who is nibbling what we might assume is fry bread suggested by the title. The woman holds a bowl finished fry bread suggesting a sort of continuous communion between generations, one offering to the next the gift of tradition by way of shared foods. The woman's glance and the toddler's return look of wonder suggests connection between the two that happens over the bowl. The case reveals multi-colored hands reaching forward toward finished fry bread which serves to continue with the idea of a shared experience in the tradition of creating and baking fry bread.
The end papers which have been celebrated in the social media spaces reveal the many names of the First Nations from, of, and before what we would know of America. Those First Nations that are still recognized today are front-and-center over the spread of the end papers. Turned into thoughtfully, this moment can be one of entering into a liminal space of past and present to the story that will be shared in the book.
As with a number of picture books right now, Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story begins with the title page as the woman presented on the cover now moves toward a group of children with finished fry bread to share.
Noble Maillard's text begins with a sense of rhythm like that of the heart of the art of making and baking fry bread. The "er" sounds at the end of the list of ingredients is a mentor text in how half and slant rhyme work to create an effect without the words getting in the way of the sentiment of this page: "Fry Bread is Food." The reader is reminded that this is something of sustenance that will carry the story. How important may this be to younger readers to be situated in a story that centers food as tradition passed down from generation to generation? And this is achieved in a short list of ingredients coupled with images of the gathering of these by the hands that were introduced on the case of the book.
In the next spread, flour clouds the images of the hands coming together to mix the dough. "Fry Break is Shape" presents in three distinct similes that suggest pancakes and balls and "Nana's" soft pillow. The natural tendency of the person is to categorize and it is the basic stuff of definition to classify before setting differentiae. Here, younger readers are able to conceptualize that fry bread is probably like something they have seen before and has a shape and feel that is familiar.
Noble Maillard continues with expert word choice in "Fry Bread is Sound" with verb choices that include, "clang," "blazes," "sizzle," and "pop" which presents the food product of something that would come of real heat and present warm in the hands. The back matter of the book points to the idea that a patriarch is handling the skillet and his wrist is adorned with tribal patterns of lightning bolts and trees. The multicolored and gender-diverse children in this spread are following the suggestion of the sensory in the handling of dough, the covering of ears, and the closed-eye taking in of the scents in the kitchen coming from the stove. From the early work that I have done to try to understand of First Nations-centered story is to watch who is presented with eyes closed and in a suggested dream state. Here, it is the white child who is taking in the smells with eyes closed.
In the next spread, fry bread becomes the backdrop of the illustration and comes forward, too, in the hands of those who will consume the bread now. "Fry Bread is Color" continues with the flow of Fry Bread is ________ which serves as a mentor text now for vetting out what a subject is and what it means.
The formula becomes, X is _______ and how we see it might be ________ and this means ________.
This book is a marvelous example of listing as a means of vetting out the subject of a story or a full-length book. With FRY BREAD: A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY STORY presenting in this manner, we might suggest that this would be a good formula for approaching subjects for how they are seen, depicted and what this might mean.
"Fry Bread is the Flavor" sees the bread held in the hands now of the patriarch as it makes it way from stove to table. Now, its versatility as a bread, a staple, can be seen for the number of ways it might be used with other ingredients. A bounty of tomatoes and cheese and honey and sorghum and cherry compote suggest flavors that might be enhanced by their being atop warm fry bread.
"Fry Bread is Time" presents a character from the book not seen prior to this spread. This seems to be the mother of the family and she is introduced to us with tattoos that run up her arm and onto her shoulders. Her hair is braided and she cradles a small child and the baby from the cover of the book. The character from from the cover of the book is now revealed to be another older child and not a matriarch which suggests different levels of roles and responsibilities within this group of characters enjoying fry bread. We readers are invited to a type of gathering. Noble Mallaird intimates the fry bread is common fare for "supper or dinner" or "powwows and festivals." The reader is able to see this traditional bread as suitable for daily and celebratory use and eating.
FRY BREAD: A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY STORY takes a turn now from the kitchen to the idea of fry bread as an art wherein our group of children now observe and take part in traditional art forms centered on fry bread. Basket weaving and doll making are featured here. For this reader, it is as though author and illustrator wanted to assure that the readers were part of the making, baking and eating (being fed) before advancing into the back part and back matter of the book.
"Fry Bread is History" present elders (a woman and a man) who are depicted as though they are presenting a history. The motherly elder now cradles the baby while the fatherly elder leans upon a walking stick, eyes upon the suggested drawings that are being created by the woman's words. The children listen attentively to a story woven:
"The long walk, the stolen land/Strangers in our own world/With unknown food/We made new recipes/from what we had."
There is concern and wonder depicted upon the faces of the five young people taking in the tale and it struck me that this is what we might look like when we are first made aware of a history we were not brought to by way of our instruction. That the elders present this story is an important piece of this books multigenerational approach.
The author presents Fry Bread is a Place and continues with "Fry Bread is a Nation" wherein the end papers now present as a sort of wall to which the mother and father characters point the children. That the end papers are now integrated into the book as feature artwork centers the importance of the "hundreds and hundreds of tribes" that might be shared and celebrated in the children's literature we select, shelve, and share.
Toward the very end of the book, all characters come together in "Fry Bread is Us." Suggestions of those not with us in the composite are seen in a character holding a black and white picture of another character we do not meet. We have down-cast closed eyes here in two of our First Nations characters, one of the mother and the other our senior elder, but these depictions seem to be more in the savoring of a moment than their not being a part of that moment in each and every way sensory.
"Fry Bread is You" invites the reader to commune at least by way of being a part of the book. The back matter of the book celebrated by reviews includes the author's recipe for fry bread along with more information underneath the titles of the spreads throughout the book.
FRY BREAD: A NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILY STORY is an essential book as inclusion within larger units focusing on Native American History and Culture. What's more, a setting that includes a Foods or a Family and Consumer Sciences course could craft and bake its own fry bread as a means of looking into and communing with a culture and tradition.
Family. History. Heritage. Traditions. Moments. Stories. This books pulls all of this together and makes suggestion that we, too, can be a part. Inclusion is the heart of this book as much as inclusion and integration of ingredients are necessary to make bread. Reading and the sharing of stories is how we break that bread and Fry Bread brings us to a table where we can begin to listen and to share from our collective experiences. I am so happy that the publishers wanted to send me a finished copy of this book for review. Even if I missed something in the midst of reading and reviewing, I bring this book to you now so that we can share together what we see.
Author and illustrator come together to create a book I know we will see during award season this year....more
"Make your courage so big/it brightens your heart,/fills your fingers, and flows to your toes" (from the back dust jacket copy).
Many times, as encoura"Make your courage so big/it brightens your heart,/fills your fingers, and flows to your toes" (from the back dust jacket copy).
Many times, as encouraged by reader-leaders like Michigan's Travis Jonker (who gives us The Undies), we are quick to take the dust jacket off of a new picture book in order to see if the case is presented differently or with a unique design or touch. I, not a reader-leader, am going to try to convince you to wait until the end of Pat Zietlow Miller's WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE (if you can). The reveal of the case after the reading the story is a breath-taking moment that you will want to have for yourself and for the readers with whom you share this special 2019 title.
The author and illustrator, Aliza Wheeler, are the creative team behind WHEREVER YOU GO, which has been my go-to gift book for my senior teacher aides who come back to the room to assist our incoming AP English Language and Composition students. I often write my letter inside of the book on the end papers (which is really ironic, as for these students, what we might call the "end papers" are the beginning of a new story's opening titles).
The truth of any text is found when holding it up to the light (however we might define this light). Little, Brown's design of the book presents something special in holding the book up to the light. A spread pair of ethereal wings extend from our main character's back as she stands akimbo in the middle of the road of some neighborhood marked by four houses. Her attire is that of the everyday neighbor child in a zippered sweater and striped shorts with loosely-tied shoes (the daily uniform of the young with a world ahead of them waiting to be discovered and claimed). All of this first image is framed in twilight with sparkling stars scattered about the cover. As a One Book Four Hands choice, this feature will delight young readers with whom the book might be shared by an adult looking for a book that centers new experiences as opportunities to express resolve and to experience bravery.
The end papers of this new title from Pat and Eliza call to mind "Starry Starry Night" with the swash of gentle colors suggesting twilight and the end of the day that will come over the course of the story to come. Sharing the book with younger readers, older reading partners might note that WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE actually begins with the title page spread with a depiction of a family loading belongings into, and onto, what looks like a VW Bug. On verso, a motherly-figure if offering a hand motion to "come" to a character whose face is half-hidden by an upper room window in the recto image. There are opportunities for discussion regarding what is not being said but being shown in this first spread as we see that the mother might be expecting a new child and the presence of more people who could fit inside of a small car. Might these be other family members? Friends of the family? Neighbors seeing our family off? All of this scene is presented in the colors spilling from cover art and end papers suggesting this story begins in the early, early morning of the story to come. Picture books provide opportunity to talk into the story before it unfolds and Pat and Eliza come together in this opening to provide a chance to really pull from the potential of the picture book as a shared discovery and chance to talk and to learn between mentor and learning reader.
"Some days, when everything around you seems scary. . .you have to be brave."
These are the first words we see in the book. Separated by the ellipsis, the recto reveals our main character from the cover standing and looking at an empty bookcase holding a book under her arm. The verso presents "you have to be brave" on a mostly-darkened page with a partially open door. Again, as reviewer, I suggest that the mentor reader spend some time on this page. Teachers using the book as an introduction to the Hero's Journey might be able to identify this spread as "Crossing the Threshold" and what this means for our main character. What is the book she is holding? Why did this one not get packed away with the others that might have been upon the shelf?
The next spread depicts the main character stepping out from house with the box from the previous spread. It is now evident to the reader that there is a clear separation from the family who is moving from the other characters who have gotten up early to see them off. Two similes are presented on the facing pages which start to show us Pat Zietlow Miller's gift for using simple wors to present beauty in comparison of our potential bravery to that which we might see around us if we were to look. A suggestion that we are called to be brave as others are called is a strong message early on in WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE.
The next spread continues in simile but creates a real turn from the expectation of momentous bravery to a suggestion of the more ubiquitous variety: "Because some days are full of things you rather not do." Now, WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE begins to become suitable for moments big and small, extraordinary and quotidian. In this spread, the illustrator shows us the book our character was cradling is a scrapbook photo album. Stuffed animals in the box accompanying the character in the back seat of the car now seem to be glancing at the book with our character. The absence of some facial detail suggests the companions in the seat are looking along with mix of interest, nostalgia, and concern.
The reader gets a character's eye view of the book in the next spread and the suggestion of invitations and opportunities to come are anchored by images suggesting the character has done some of these things before. Readers might be invited to draw and create similar past experiences to a new one with the book as an anchor and guide from past to present.
"At times like these, the world can seem. . .Too big. Too loud. Too hard. Too Much." The use of ellipsis again provide an opportunity to put words in that space for feelings that are ready to present and to be shared or discussed. Here, older and younger reader might need not have had a moving experience but can draw some similarity of new experiences and what the bring to the surface. "When you feel. . .Too Small. Too quiet. Too tired. Not enough." For older readers with whom teachers might be sharing WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE as an introduction to The Hero's Journey, leader-readers might talk about how the difference between the stems, "Never _______ enough" can often generate more responses than when the stem reads, "__________ enough" (an invitation for a potentially-powerful invitation to write.
Wheeler depicts the family car as very small within these images of urban setting cast in darkness with two small headlights illuminating a path through "The Belly of the Whale."
A next spread reveals a soft rain beginning along the journey. In recto, the family covers the belongings with a tarp. Inside the car under the text, "It might be hidden away (describing courage)" as the reader sees the main character, wide-eyed, seeming to dig deep for what has been hidden (or "packed away"). Hands are wrapped about a blanket the hero of our book has fetched from her box and it appears that she is bracing herself for this moment. In Room 407, we talk about where gifts, talents, and treasures lie. Deep. Inside. They always have. They still do.
This is where I have to pull back a little bit on reveals as the book begins to reveal its (and our) inner gift of magic and transformation. I could reference E. T.: The Extra Terrestrial here, but I would have said too much. But. . .I might suggest that leader-readers pull out or cue Neil Diamond's "Heartlight" which was scrapped for that film but provides an opportunity for a wonderful musical "ladder" (Teri Lesesne) for WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE. If you don't, I will have already with my readers.
Our family car is now covered and coated with the "star stuff" (PETER AND THE STAR CATCHERS) becomes a potential "ladder" for WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE. Are you beginning to see how these "ladders" work?
"Think about what you're good at." "Something you love." "Or someone who loves you. . ."
WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE is not only an invitation to consider moments when we must call upon our inner reserves to be courageous, but an opportunity to take inventory of our stores sustaining us in those moments when we are pre-brave. . .or simply being.
As the sun rises fully in the book, the character returns to the scrapbook and revisits more moments from her past experiences. The creative team of the book reminds us in words and image that a return to our story is a return to the start. . .and guides us to new beginnings of stories to be written, and shared, and revisited.
No spoilers, but finishing pages of WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE position or character now as one that has visited fear, found a center, and now presents before a new opportunity. Similes from the beginning come back at the end and present, now, our character as "brave."
And suggests, "As brave as. . .you."
For everything that is not said in the ellipses there is powerful symbolism. I am not sure if this were Pat Zietlow Miller's WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE, but I see something of story in those three dots.
You. Me. Them.
As we enter into new callings and encounters, we enter into the ellipsis of our past experience, our current position and understanding, and our want (and need) for shared bravery: mine, yours, and theirs.
This year, our Room 407 students will share WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE as a reflection upon our reading of Chris Crutcher's "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune" and our consideration of the feature-length film, ANGUS. We will explore bravery and what it means for us. As teacher. As students. As room. As community members. And citizens.
WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE is a continuation of Pat Zietlow Miller's work in affirming young (and old) readers by meeting them where they often find themselves and helping them to navigate a path ahead in accessible language that is universal. Even when we are in ellipsis, we are still experiencing (and beginning to narrate) our stories.
And, now, having experienced WHEN YOU ARE BRAVE, remove carefully the dust jacket to consider the case. And see that the creative team has given us a "mirror" of what it means to be a human: a "dust jacket" with a "case" inside. ...more
Now, if you have followed me for some time, we can stop right there. Mr. Hankins is adding the latest children's poetry anFirst. Lee Bennett Hopkins.
Now, if you have followed me for some time, we can stop right there. Mr. Hankins is adding the latest children's poetry anthology from the most prolific curator of children's poetry in this contemporary era in appreciation for verse written and designed for young readers.
And you would be right. I have been waiting for I AM SOMEONE ELSE: POEMS ABOUT PRETENDING for a long time. And now it is here. And it will speak to the quiet role-playing that so many of did when we were children.
As a child, one of my favorite cartoons was from Warner Bros. A character, "Ralphie" got himself into trouble for travelling away from the moment into the world of his dreams where he was cast as hero of his own narrative. In Lee Bennett Hopkins's new collection, we see children entering into more of a hope, dream, and goal-oriented state as they imagine who they could be in the moment and in the future.
First, some features that belong not to the poet or the poets in meeting, but to the artist, Chris Hsu. There are a lot of things to see and to process in the early part of the book. Many times the title page is glossed over in the interest of entering into the collection, but I want to take pause here to present some things Hsu has tucked into the title spread: a classroom not where students are already seated, but coming into community. It is the beginning of a day and of possibility with morning sun peering into the room from the left. It is clearly nine o'clock in Hsu's learning community, a better time to begin the school day according to a raft of research. A brown boy carries a pink backpack and a bulletin board in the back of the room has a hand print in the same number as those present in the room which suggests that these are the children we will follow through their day in the presentation of the poems. The hand prints are presented in ROYGBIV but moving upwards (I wonder how many reviewers will pick up on this small detail that seems to allude to other works like this years Hand's Up?).
An extension activity for the title page alone might be to have children identify the imaginations and goals of each of the figures/children depicted on the title page as we encounter them in the pages of the collection. Who imagined what? Who did what? Who hopes or wants for something specific to them?
And this was just the title spread.
In an introduction to the reader, Lee Bennett Hopkins (Dear One) leads from the heart to tell the reader, "There is nothing better than being yourself! You are unique and special in every way." I want to take a moment here to suggest that we often see the special and unique, and most human, traits in our media posthumously. Jim Henson. Bob Keeshan. Fred Rogers. Let's not miss what LBH has brought to us over the course of over four decades by way of loving care of children's poetry and how it presented to its intended readers. What an affirmation. Might I remind the reader here that we have not entered into the collection of poems at this point in the review?
After his introduction, Dear One takes on a quiet role of the guide into the three sections under which the poems will fall in the collection. Under the headings of Wish! (Be a Storybook Character), Support! (Be a Person Who Helps), and Invent! (Be a Person Who's a Maker) come the invitations to consider how each comes into fruition through a series of questions followed by the encouraged charge to imagine!, to serve!, and to create!
Balance is brought to the collection with the presentation of five poems under each category. For the Writing Studio, these poems could be presented in mini lesson style with a feature poem for each day of the week which invite possibility for this collection of poems to become an anchor text for up to three weeks of exploration of hopes, dreams, and goals for the classroom community and its members.
Each of the three categories has poets who will be familiar to those who read children's poetry. I present this observation because one of the gifts of Lee Bennett Hopkins's anthologies is the ability to "ladder" (Professor Teri Lesesne) out to the poets and their own work in children's poetry. On the first opening of the first category is an example of this. Here we see J. Patrick Lewis's "Wild Child" paired with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's "For a Little While." Both poems here celebrate a girl's ability to be a wizard of magic and to be a queen in the moment all the while recognizing the innate "girl power" that exists within both "pretenders." Both Lewis and VanDerwater have a number of titles that are classroom ready covering a variety of subjects. Showcased within a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology is an opportunity for the classroom teacher to see what the poet does best: present poems for young readers.
Janet Clare Fagal's "A Mermaid's Tale" presents a surprise within the verse and vision within the opening. I don't want to offer spoilers here, but think Jessica Love award-winning titles here. The designers of the book do a very nice job of letting this poem and imagery live within their own spread of the collection and both shine in the presentation.
Rebecca Kai Dotlich's "A Pirate's Life for Me" gives us a hint at one of the classmate's names within the collection, Ollie. Dotlich is an Indiana treasure for children's poetry and her poem within the collection reads like a pirate's song with its breaks and stops and rhythmic presentation. That Ollie wears eye glasses here might call to mind for readers George Ella Lyon's THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN. Dotlich and Hsu work wonderfully-well together as the reader begins to see how the poet has created a personality where as Hsu begins to present his "play space" in faint beige and blue-gray outlines that present a sense of the imagination that is being built in by the child and the poem.
Between the Wish! and Support! categories, the designer of the collection has built in a transition for the room that moves from everyone bringing in an individual wish to a sense of belonging under a call to work. The children link hands in a kind of ring play as the elements around them change to representative badges and boxes and hydrants and stethoscopes and goggles. In the Writing Studio, a classroom teacher might share the image and ask what kinds of work might be done by the person who carries or uses ___________? In order to gauge where children might be by way of gender role limits and possibilities, an invitation might be to draw lines without judgment between the children and the symbols related to work.
Matt Forrest Esenwine lends "The One" to the collection with the common desire of young boys to be firemen. What the poet presents here is an affirmation to a new awareness and appreciation of the workforce as the reader discovers the mentor for the would-be firefighter. The synthesis of image and verse here works very nicely as the boy depicted has invented as much as he can of the dream with what is available in the room with Hsu filling in the facades and flames.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes (please look up her Today's Little Ditty resources out there in web and book forms) offers "Bellies, Bones, and Paws" to encourage the budding veterinarian or one who might volunteer in the care of animals. What I really like about this poem from the Writing Studio standpoint is how the poet works the title into the poem, a model for young writers who might try the same approach. Hsu's weighing of a penny bank by our classmate is a playful touch that belongs to the child on the page while the artist fills in elements of an office space and a waiting room.
Heidi Bee Roemer takes on the imagined role as a police officer which presents our classmate as as one whose motivation lies here: "More than anything,/I want to make people's lives better/and neighborhoods safer." This from a comment made by the child's teacher who says, "sometimes police officers/make mistakes." This is the one time within the collection that we see/read the presence of a teacher and it is reserved for a time where a lesson in contemporary social issues has made its way into the play and into the planning. The line break at the end of this poem reveals the child's goal within the dream.
In the visual interlude between Serve! and Invent!, Hsu guides the children into another transition where the ring of serve has become a circular table of making (while she appears earlier within the collection, I want to give a nod to VanDerwater's WITH MY HANDS here so that you might go and look for it as an extension to the poems featured in this review). What I like about this depiction is that the children are in various states of "making" with different materials at the table. It does not appear that a project has been assigned and the illustration suggests the sharing of materials and ideas vs. working alone and in isolation. The inventing here at the table suggests the kind of making that might happen outside of the classroom as we see a construction worker's hat, a chef's hat, a hammer, a giraffe, and books (our friend, Dear One, suggests that there is a most special means of invention of which we can all be a part if we are invited and encouraged).
Prince Redcloud (a regular figure within LBH anthologies) presents the possibilities of making pastries and pies in the traditions of one's father while gender neutralizing what is means to be a "chef" and this is the standout feature of this poem for me as a girl wishes to be a chef like her father. That the room provides enough physical materials for this young child to play reminds me of the older, larger wooden play sets of the 60s and 70s that used to invite kitchen play (tell me these are still a thing because I used to love them as a child).
Ollie, our would be pirate, returns in LBH's "What a Poet Can Do" and we see our classmate working feverishly at a laptop to present new poems in the interest of showing his classmates themselves through the words he is typing. There is a small Hsu detail here not to be missed in a piece of paper by Ollie that has early attempts at listing and rhyming to vet out the words that might eventually come together to be a poem.
Michele Krueger's "Dancing Child" presents the reason for Hsu's giraffe in the interlude as a boy shows us how music makes his body move. Again, the designers of the book have been purposeful in the presentation of pretend having no gender specificity. Krueger's poetic description of dance is mentor text in how we might write about our hopes and dreams in the Writing Studio via description and listing.
Douglas Florian's "Video Game Hall of Fame" takes a classmate into the world of gaming as a real and ever-changing platform for invention in both authoring and and programming. And our classmate? A girl who has already begun to imagine through her virtual reality headset the very real possibilities for a working lifetime.
Play is the prologue to the people we might become and the work we might do as a citizen of a larger community outside of ourselves. Pretend as play and pretend as planning toward purpose are both presented in this new Lee Bennett Hopkins collection.
I have another of Dear One's titles in my own collection and I all the better for it as I have been with each release. I am proud of my distant poetic friend and source of enlightenment and encouragement. I am also proud of each person within the community of children's poetry for their piece within this new book. ...more
"For every WHAT IF, the imagination creates a possibility, and in that possibility lives a story."
From the creative team that brought us ONE DAY, THE "For every WHAT IF, the imagination creates a possibility, and in that possibility lives a story."
From the creative team that brought us ONE DAY, THE END: SHORT, VERY SHORT, SHORTER-THAN-EVER STORIES comes a new mentor text in possibilities that follow the ubiquitous "What Ifs" of life and the quietly lurking "What Ifs" of our hearts' fears and longings.
Rebecca Kai Dotlich mastered micro-fiction in her companion text with illustrator, Fred Koehler four years ago. Now, she brings it back in its expanded view to create a mentor text for readers young and old.
In the new book, Indiana treasure Dotlich sneaks in internal rhymes into what appears to be micro-prose allowing two characters to do the "heavy lifting" of the "What Ifs" that present to them as they float adrift into adventure.
Koehler pulls out every stop as a seeming imagery-laded allusion to the best picture books of the day. We have sailing. We have ice. We have crayons. We have octopus. And we have rockets.
Our polar bears ship looks remarkably like a shoe fastened to the tip of an iceberg (an illustrative metaphor about stepping out on the ice if I have ever seen one). The "What Ifs" begin getting lost and the clocks that stop tick-tocking. Dotlich is taking us on a journey to see how we might respond to these questions facing both the bears and ourselves.
As the iceberg becomes a small chunk of ice, it is traded off for an origami sailor's hat reminiscent to classic picture book lovers of Sam Reavin's 1971 title, HURRAY FOR CAPTAIN JANE!
Towering crayon skylines greet our travelers who sail with origami birds and fish to come ashore to ask questions of words and language and hopes and dreams. And when words fail our heroes, new languages appear filled with paints and turtles and music and maps and laughter.
This book is about the "Then Wes" of being brave and having no bedtimes and fishing and whistling and holding hands and sharing something amazing in response to the "What Ifs" that will come and the "What Ifs" we conjure.
As a possibility for readers of all ages, think about using WHAT IF. . ." THEN WE. . .as a "Proposed Problem. . .Poetic Possibility" stem to invite writing. The classroom teacher might use this stem to present clear and present problems or conflicts from the text the class is considering and have students write possible solutions both practical and poetic (get that critical thinking going). Point the problem at the group from the text to build lessons and explorations into empathy and opportunity.
Instant classic that I hope all of my friends find to share with readers of all ages.
"A boom box-toting homey blasts a hot track on the corner./Passerby four-deep surround a street performer."
Frank Morrison's "drips"coming off of the l"A boom box-toting homey blasts a hot track on the corner./Passerby four-deep surround a street performer."
Frank Morrison's "drips"coming off of the letters on the dust jacket of Carole Boston Weatherford's new book seem to indicate that both Coretta Scott King award winner and honoree are coming together to tag children's literature with some fresh and unique: a closer look at hip hop and rap that we don't often see in the picture book format.
Morrison's characterization are a kind of a "I Know That Artist" invitation for those growing up in the 70s and 80s and the early incarnations of rap. Brown, Latifa, Tupac, Grandmaster Flash, L.L., and Biggie look out from the dust jacket from around the fresh ink on a brick wall inviting the reader to come and take a look at the roots of rap.
Morrison's end papers depict the "steel wheels," the "one and the two" of deejaying. And from these end papers, the mixology of Morrison's vision and Carole Boston Weatherford's verse creates a nice introduction for a new generation who might not have had an opportunity (or invitation) to consider the origins of one of today's most popular musical genres.
A forward by Swizz Beats will have you. . .looking for albums by Swizz Beats (which I did well in advance of seeing this new picture book). The deejay/rapper celebrates the book as an introduction to the music and I agree with his assessment.
Well before WHEN THE BEAT was born, I fell in love with the picture book, QUEEN OF THE SCENE with Morrison's depiction of a young girl come larger than life in her own sense of self and Latifah's voice reading the text.
Every figure on the page comes at the reader with boomboxes, cardboard squares, spray paint cans and attitude to spare. Face-forward figures present with all of the swagger of the street to present the text to the reader as the reader sees how rap comes to be.
Carole Boston Weatherford, without the aid of a mixer and fader, provides a mentor text in the punctuation of verse with deft (or def) use of slashes and semi-colons and stops that inform a rhythm for the reading. Even in the succinct presentation of the history, the poet shows us how to incorporate listing elements into the text:
Sugarhill Gang, Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, Biggie, and the Fat Boys jamming on the radio. Nas, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Tupac, too. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; "The Message" ringin' true.
One spread of the book presents two early rap trios that provide some necessary nostalgia within the book for older readers who might share with the younger. Salt-N-Pepa on one page, TLC on the other (Chile and T-Boz flanking a centered Lisa Left-Eye Lopes who presents in the baggy overalls and floppy hat like she has never really been away from us.
To have another book available to young readers means not only opening a door to the history but providing an opportunity to see and to hear the music they hear in the car on the way home from school. In their homes after school. Carole Boston Weatherford also provides a mentor text in how to take a nonfiction subject and distill it down into something that is both accessible and celebratory at the same time.
The book becomes a portal, a chance to go back into the stacks. To dust off the records or to swipe clean those CDs. This book will have forward-thinking and diversity-minded classroom teachers combing resale shops for old rap music (if it is not in the room already). I cannot wait to read this book aloud in the room "rapped up" in a musical framing of Grandmaster Flash and The Sugarhill Gang. ...more
The working formula to get someone to open up and learn about something unfamiliar reads like this:
HA HA
AAHH
AH HA
In MEET THE LATKES, Alan Silberberg hThe working formula to get someone to open up and learn about something unfamiliar reads like this:
HA HA
AAHH
AH HA
In MEET THE LATKES, Alan Silberberg has the reading laughing before they have even had an opportunity to stop and think, "Wait, what's a latke?" The working magic of this new picture book seems to be in the ability to get the reader to look at another reader and say, "Wait, you don't know either?" Now, those who know will be on the reference, and this is where Alan Silberberg shows us what's up the other sleeve by making these Jewish potato-based delights into characters who a part of a family.
Genius. Absolute picture book genius.
Those who don't know are invited in and those who don't are invited to be the residential expert and in on the joke. Both have something to glean from this new book.
The end papers serve as the family portrait "wall" where the reader is first introduced to what (who) they will come to know as the Latke Family.
Readers join the story in media res. It is the first night of Hanukkah. Mama and Papa are in the kitchen making friend jelly donuts. I am working on the pronunciation of these. Despite the author/illustrator's help, I am hopelessly tongue-tied (the proper term is Sufganiyot as seen in Papa's speech bubble). Teenage brother, Lex, the ironically-detached teen in the family reads comic books while the cooking is happening.
When Lucy announces the first night of Hanukkah, it is Grandpa who corrects the punctuation as "Chanukah." And this where my confusion set in. And perhaps yours too if you are invited into this book. But, lucky for the us (and the reader), the family dog, Applesauce is here to clarify the terms for us.
As Grandpa begins his story of Hanukkah (Chanukah--which the computer wants to keep underlining in red), the reader can tell that Grandpa is not quite getting the whole story entirely correct. The running gag of the book is Applesauce's frustrations, interruptions, and clarifications.
And the reader should be thankful if there is a wanting to learn about Hanukkah from the book as Grandpa's story begins with "bees" and culimates in "alien potatoes from Planet Chhhhhhh." And one begins to sense right away that Alan Silberberg is having a lot of fun embodying the character of Grandpa Latke and his long-suffering dog, Applesauce.
Honey, oil, trojan dreidels carry the reader into a tongue-twisting moment involving tyrannical taters.
All is cleared up by the end of the book with Applesauce's explanation of the celebration of Hanukkah that brings together a new knowing in company with residential expertise. This is what a picture book can do by way of bringing in a subject for which we might be a little "closed off" for our own sense of mythology and expression to take in the story from another side. And find that the shared side is in the picture book and the text from which the picture book draws its characters, settings, and scenarios from.
As a side-by-side or "laddered" book with other titles that feature the origins and the celebrations of Hanukkah, Silberberg's MEET THE LATKES provides an example of using humor to share information and to instill new knowledge into the reader who finds the book (of with whom the book is shared now by an adult reader).
The back matter of the picture book includes a one paragraph retelling of the Hanukah story without illustration or interruption from the characters. In this light, the book becomes two texts in one. One sharing the original story and the other serving as a means of how we share our stories with others through familiar characters and humor. A glossary of terms accompanies the story and provides information about the principle figures in the Hanukkah story. ...more
I love this picture book that celebrates the importance of the singular (and connecting) story within us and within us all. Everything comes together I love this picture book that celebrates the importance of the singular (and connecting) story within us and within us all. Everything comes together in perfect synthesis in this picture book (visual and verse work together so very nicely). This is the one classroom teachers will be celebrating as beginning-of-the-year read-alouds for years to come (beginning with this one). ...more
Beautiful book. Definite "ladders" to MOBY DICK if one were to be overtly-literal with their connecting of texts, one to the other. No, this one is abBeautiful book. Definite "ladders" to MOBY DICK if one were to be overtly-literal with their connecting of texts, one to the other. No, this one is about devils and how they are created for the purpose of attraction and the chase until. . .we've said to much.
I am reading the ARC of this book without the finished artwork but I can only predict (perhaps prophecy that the finished artwork are really going to bring all of this to a life that is already breathed into the work; the artwork will be the bubble-bridge that invites the reader to breathe along). ...more
Each year, I ask my 11th graders to list ten poets. By the time we have exhausted Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss and Just in time for back to school.
Each year, I ask my 11th graders to list ten poets. By the time we have exhausted Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss and a short list of traditional poets shared in classrooms, we are collectively-stuck. If we gave a score out of ten possible answers, many students would score a six. . .or a D. A D in poetry/poet recognition.
Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have done so much over the years to make poetry readily-accessible to the classroom teacher and the readers in the room.
With GREAT MORNING, they bring the same gift of daily poetry to the the administrators and thought leaders of the building. Packaged in a way that suggests sharing during the morning annoucements (after all, don't we make time for tater tots). Introductory material in the book make a strong case for building leaders to share poetry with students and to be the figures leading this effort.
Performance tips for reading poetry are most concise and make it possible for even the most wary of reading poetry aloud can do this (think. . .if it is difficult for us, what does it look like for younger readers).
There's so much to celebrate in this new anthology, I wish I could put a copy on the desk of every administrator with whom I have a connection.
Poems listed by Topics specific to the life of a school year. Extensions to Take 5 activities. Introductory Poems. Community Building Poems. Funny Poems. Course-Specific Poems. Poems that follow the arc of the life of a school year.
Resources, resources, resources which include a list of poetry publications, people, blogs, and a glossary of terms that the administrator is bringing to the microphone or the camera each day the poems are shared with the students in the building. This anthology is the quiet answer to the question, "What is one small think we can do to boost literacy in our building this year that would not be cost-prohibitive?"
Each poem in the anthology is anchored by an introduction to the subject and theme of the poem and ties it back to something that might be happening in the building the moment (Did You Know?). In this regard, the early poems are about establishing routines, and returning forms, and introducing key figures in the support services of the school (I really like the personalized introduction to the school nurse which invites insertion of the school nurse's name into the poem).
Each poem also has a follow up that invites the person sharing the poem to have a natural segue back into the announcements for the morning. Vardell and Wong call this "Follow Up."
In order to invite students to dive deeper into poetry, each poem of the day has a "Connect" piece found in the back of the book that students can access themselves or teachers might use as a springboard for shares in the classroom after the announcements.
One of my favorites that appear early on in the book is Janet Wong's "Report Cards" which invites and encourages students to think about what report cards look like and say about us by way of feedback. The "Did You Know?" for this poem is a history and word origin of the word, "grade" which builds in vocabulary to a share that would take no longer than a minute or two. Mary Lee Hahn's "Compliment Chain" is the extension, or "Connect" piece for this poem encouraging student-to-student compliments which could not only buffer the marks received for the period but provide opportunity for community building within the classroom.
Kenn Nesbitt's "New Year is Here" invites an opportunity for students who are coming back from their separate breaks to celebrate together. The bonus of this piece is, again, the "Did You Know?" which features commentary on how other countries observe and celebrate their own "new" year.
Vardell and Wong have brought together a diverse list of poets and poetic voices. Introductions to poets like Joseph Bruchac might be the opportunity to lead young readers to his picture books and works for middle grade and young adult readers. Bruchac's "Your Teacher" is a celebration of the people in the building who are going to spend the day and the year with the students. The nice thing about the position of this poem is that it is not listed in proximity to National Teacher Day (though a coin insert at the top of the page makes this recommendation, administrators).
Each of the day-to-day poems listed have the feature, "Poetry Plus" which makes it easy for administrators to perhaps list a poem and on their desk top calendar.
If you know Vardell and Wong's books; you know you want this book. If you want to boost literacy and poetry appreciation in your building while introducing your young readers to the poets they may read in school, this is your book.
Love this celebration of interest in music even if the particular talent for any one instrument or vocalization may not be there. This picture book reLove this celebration of interest in music even if the particular talent for any one instrument or vocalization may not be there. This picture book reminds me of the LET'S MAKE MUSIC compilation from Sesame Street with its inventive music and Stomp inserts. Our main character here celebrates her interest in all types of music and the reader gets to see via Cordell's familiar style in a number of musical settings and styles which might invite classroom teachers to have that kind of music cued up under the reading for little taste or "samples" of the musical styling encountered within the book. ...more
Pretty. I love the whole feel of this picture book from its heavy paper. Tactile feel puts the reader in a place of "touch" and "feel" for the idea ofPretty. I love the whole feel of this picture book from its heavy paper. Tactile feel puts the reader in a place of "touch" and "feel" for the idea of a mystery surrounding an older, seemingly abandoned house. ...more
On the share and recommendation of friend, Pernille Ripp, I went to go get this book quickly. And, I am so glad that I did. This book would fit in theOn the share and recommendation of friend, Pernille Ripp, I went to go get this book quickly. And, I am so glad that I did. This book would fit in the tradition of BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR for it's ability to be read aloud with the pacing of a heart beat. Evan Turk's illustration style is beautiful and thoughtful (don't miss the Author's Note on this one, older readers).
Take your time with this one and practice the pacing and the emotional stuff before reading to the room. I would love to try, this summer, to get a read-aloud of this book with ocean sounds, war sounds, and space sounds in the background before going live. In Room 407, we'll be pairing this book with Brian Doyle's essay, "Joyas Voladoras."...more
Review closer to release date, but. . .this is Sharon Creech. You're already heading away from this post to pre-order. I won't keep you any longer. Review closer to release date, but. . .this is Sharon Creech. You're already heading away from this post to pre-order. I won't keep you any longer. ...more
