children's book

Where Do Birds Live?

tina — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

There are few things in life better than large, hardcover, richly-illustrated children’s books. As a child, these were the books I most often pulled from the library shelves. Beautiful visuals invite the eye to stay for a while, while skilled writing engages and challenges the mind. Even today, I sheepishly browse the children’s sections of libraries and bookstores, in love with nearly everything in sight.

In Where Do Birds Live?, Claudia McGehee works as both writer and illustrator to inform and enchant us about the habitats of American birds. This large, hardcover book has full, two-page spreads dedicated to each bird featured. The left pages include: illustrations of the bird itself, basic information about its traits, habitat, life challenges, and how humans can help keep the particular bird from becoming endangered. The right pages feature a full page illustration of the bird’s habitat and neighbors. I must add that every illustration in the book is a scratchboard piece; a difficult medium to work with, but gorgeously performed by Claudia McGehee.

The birds represented in the book are limited to those that live in the United States. Common varieties such as hummingbirds, bluebirds, gulls, and ravens are presented, as well as less commonly noted birds such as tanagers, flycatchers, roadrunners, and oystercatchers. I was inspired to do research on my own after reading this book; I wanted to listen to bobolink prairie birds sing and see photos of the Pacific rain forest. Now I’m considering visiting that area someday, if possible.

People of all ages would appreciate and benefit from this book. The writing is informative and accessible and the illustrations were a labor of love. The entire book is inviting and engaging, with interesting tidbits on bird behavior and helpful advice on how humans can conserve bird habitats for years to come.

Written by: Jacquie Piasta, January 31st 2011

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth

mandy — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0000

By Jeff Kinney

Amulet

My ten-year-old son, Elliott, has several distinct laughs in his repertoire, each precisely tuned to the subtleties of the situation. An under-the-breath snicker connotes mild amusement, like the punchline to a Laffy Taffy joke; a nasal, high-pitched giggle is a response to inspired silliness, like a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip; a deep, hiccuping guffaw from his lower belly signifies his highest level of appreciation, and is usually reserved for gags involving bodily functions. I heard all three laughs, and a few new ones, in the sixty minutes it took him to devour Jeff Kinney's The Ugly Truth, the fifth installment in his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Elliott's speed in this case is due not only to his considerable reading talent but the fact that the book is half-text, half-cartoon. The latter are rendered in the kind of primitive stickfigures that one would expect in the diary of a less-than-macho middle-schooler like Greg Heffley, the series' titular hero. Though I enjoyed the book, it took me considerably longer to read, as the Wimpy Kid phenomenon is not one that holds great appeal for Gen X moms who were once uptight English majors. Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, yes—Twilight and Wimpy Kid, not so much. I spent the first third of the book trying to decipher which stickfigure was Greg, his older brother Rodrick, or his former best friend Rowley, and whether any of this information was actually pertinent to the book's thin plot, concerning Greg's struggle to accept the inevitability of growing up.

Author and artist Kinney nails many of the particular agonies of preteendom, especially the realization that the cute years are over. “When you're a little kid, nobody even warns you that you've got an expiration date,” he notes. “One day you're hot stuff and the next day you're a dirt sandwich.” Greg's mom doesn't help things when she gives him a book titled “What the Heck Just Happened to My Body?” Unfortunately for Greg, nothing has happened—even nerdy Rowley has had his first pimple. Eventually, his parents break the news that both were late bloomers. “That was REALLY bad news,” Greg says. “In this country they're always saying you can grow up and be anything you want, but now I realize that's not true.” Spoken like the original wimpy kid, that prep school dropout Holden Caulfield.

I asked my own decidedly prepubescent kid what he thought of the book. What follows is the complete transcript of our discussion.

Mom: I'm writing my review of new Wimpy Kid book. Can you tell me what you thought of it?
Elliott: It was really good.
(long pause)
Mom: Anything else?
Elliott: It was really funny.
Mom: What parts did you like the best?
Elliott: Well, duh. The funny parts.
Mom: Can you be more specific?

At this point he grabbed the book, curled up on the couch, and his cycles of laughter resumed. His endorsement was clear.

Written by: Shannon Drury, January 24th 2011

Our Earth: How Kids are Saving the Planet

mandy — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:00:00 +0000

By Janet Wilson

Second Story Press

Warm colours cover this book of global children’s experiences of how they are changing the world. Janet Wilson’s Our Earth is a brightly illustrated compact collection worth reading. The core message is simple: all people need to come together to heal the Earth.

Children such as David Suzuki’s daughter, Severn, are included. Part of her advice on protecting the earth is, “If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!” Susuki certainly had an environmental hook-up through her parents, but her message is no less potent.

Other voices, such as that of twelve-year-old Adeline Tiffanie Suwana (Indonesia), present knowledgeable adolescent awareness of the devastating effects of humans on Earth. Part of her realization is that we are all connected and whatever damage we do in one region of the world influences other areas.

Part of the attraction of this collection (beyond the artwork and inspirational experiences) is the fact that all of these individuals have proved that activists, no matter their age, can make a difference in the world. Costa Ricans Janine Licare and Aislin Livingstone have started up Kids Saving the Rainforest, a nonprofit that helps maintain habitats for animals like the Titi monkeys.

Accounts go beyond dealing with the after affects of human destruction; Fan Minghe, a Chinese teenager, searches markets for endangered wildlife being sold illegally in China. Thanks to his efforts, China has an organization called Green Eyes Club that not only saves animals but also is responsible for a number of tasks including reporting poachers and maintaining animal sanctuaries.

The last few pages provide a number of inventions and ways that children have provided as alternatives to modern pollutants like plastic bags. There are also snippets of grassroots level awareness which educate the reader.

Another strong point about this book is that the author does not highlight human atrocities; Our Earth's goal is to present solutions to the current problems Earth faces as a result of our existence here. Wilson encourages the reader to implement such strategies in their own schools and neighbourhoods.

Pollution and destruction are not simply local problems; they are global problems too. But as Our Earth shows, the world’s children and youth are at the forefront of the change we need to repair the earth. Get a copy of this book and pass it along to a young person you know in order to keep the momentum going!

Written by: Nicolette Westfall, January 19th 2011

Do Something!: A Handbook for Young Activists

mandy — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

By Vanessa Martir, Nancy Lublin, Julia Steers

Workman Publishing Company

Got kids? Do they have time and energy? Do they care about something? Anything? Then get them Do Something!: A Handbook for Young Activists. Buy it, give it to them, sit back, and feel good about having made a difference in the world. Or at least planting the seed.

Do Something! is a very smart book. Lublin begins by helping kids identify what it is they actually care about by having them take a series of quizzes in the first chapter. As long as your kids can read and count, they can make their way through the book entirely on their own. My eight year old daughter and her ten year old sister actually fought over the book, finally settling their dispute by assigning different colors of ink to determine whose answers were where.

Once your child has identified the area or areas they are most likely to be active in, they are given ways to figure out exactly how big the issues are in their own community, what specific kinds of issues there are, and how best to tackle them. Knowing her audience well, Lublin does this by asking the reader to draw brain maps and take surveys and play games throughout the book. She supplements with ideas of her own and examples of other kids who have worked on some of these very same problems. The book reads more like a journal than anything else, and kids will have fun completing the tasks as they come up with their own strategies to implement.

The chapters walk the reader through identifying their hot-button issues, researching the details, crafting a plan, implementing it, and assessing their results. The book can be used over and over again as a way to organize fundraisers or raise awareness of particular problems ranging from bullying to animal rights to disaster response. Lublin empowers kids to make a difference without being prescriptive. The genius of Do Something! is that it validates each child’s personal feelings about what is important and breaks down the steps of acting on those feelings to make activism of any kind perfectly accessible.

Written by: Kari O’Driscoll, January 14th 2011

A Chanukah Noel: A True Story

annette — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Sharon Jennings

Second Story Press

A Chanukah Noel is a welcome addition to the limited but much-needed canon of interfaith children’s books, and it has the particular additional benefit of being entirely secular. This combination of qualities already sets it apart from most Christmas picture books. The story is about a young Jewish girl named Charlotte who moves to rural France and struggles to fit in. She is held back several grades until she learns French, she’s called ‘the foreigner’ by a classmate, she’s afraid she’ll be left out of the Christmas grab bag gift swap, and her parents tell her she has to study French while everyone else is enjoying their Christmas vacation. She finds Chanukah a poor substitute for what she sees going on around her–decorations, lights, a traditional travelling Christmas market, shops full of gifts and rich foods. It’s not entirely altruism-driven when she hits upon a great way to support a poorer classmate who celebrates, but can’t afford all the trappings. She convinces her parents to let her experience Christmas by proxy: they do all the usual holiday preparations and then donate the food, gifts and decorations to her classmate’s family.

The protagonist is flawed, but in touch with her emotions. Parents of children in Charlotte’s position will find this story valuable for modelling emotional literacy. Envy is named and owned, distinctions are made between religious and national customs, and the word miracle, which is nearly always used in religious Christmas and Chanukah stories, is applied very specifically to human generosity in this one.

It’s a very matter-of-fact take on a real experience of a child whose family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, and it acknowledges the benefits of sharing cultural traditions. The portrayal of class is glossed over more than some may like–a very brief conversation, where Charlotte insists that the family who receives the Christmas goose and decorations would be doing her a favour–sums up the exchange in a way that makes sense from the point of view of the young main character, and may oversimplify the complex hierarchy of charitable giving, but an event at the end of the story equalizes the exchange. This is a true story, and I appreciated it in the sense that it was a snippet of a real event retold to the author and illustrator. From that perspective, it stands alone well. However, after the story ended, I wanted to know more: why did they have to move to France? Was it during the war? A little more recently? Did it take Charlotte a long time to learn French? Unfortunately, these questions aren’t answered, but the rich honesty of the story–despite its deceptively simple narrative–makes me want to hear from this author and illustrator again.

Speaking of the illustrations, the expressiveness in each picture combined with the slightly muted color palate gives the impression of old film footage. The Christmas market actually looked just like the local ones that visit Yorkshire every year, to my surprise and delight. People, landscapes and kitchen utensils are afforded the same attention to detail and fit well with the story.

Half my family is Jewish and the other half is Catholic, and we do a bit of both holidays every December. I missed out on secular interfaith holiday books as a kid, and really appreciated this story personally. More, please.

Written by: Chella Quint, December 21st 2010

The Hole in the Wall

payal — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Lisa Rowe Fraustino

Milkweed Editions

I don’t generally read a lot of children’s literature, but I’m glad I stepped outside my normal routine and read The Hole in the Wall. Sebby and his sister Barbie live in a town that is practically deserted after Stanley Odum starts buying up the land to mine it. Their parents are constantly fighting, their older brother ran off a while back, and they’re pretty much opposites even though they’re twins. Barbie is smart and hardworking, while Sebby spends most of his time daydreaming. When a strange substance starts affecting the family’s chickens, Sebby and Barbie find out that it has some interesting (read: magical) qualities.

It’s all very fantastical and you can’t really take it seriously, but it is children’s lit after all, so that’s to be expected. It also isn’t the most well written book I’ve ever read, but it was good enough to have me interested and invested in the characters within a few chapters.

Even though Sebby is the main character, it’s Barbie who I instantly loved. She has a bit of a bossy, know-it-all attitude, similar to Hermione in the Harry Potter series, but it’s more endearing than it is annoying. You also get the sense that she respects her twin brother, despite her attitude and his carefree ways. Their relationship is at the core of the story, so it’s hard not to get attached to them at least a little.

Another thing I really liked was how their mother handles her relationship with their father. At first, it seems that she is putting up with at a lot for no apparent reason, and I was disappointed at how straightforward it seemed. But as the book goes on, her character is developed more fully. Her strength and the reasons behind her decisions starts to become clearer, and she went from being my least favorite to most favorite character by the end.

The ending was a bit disappointing in that it felt somewhat incomplete, but I can honestly say that if all children’s lit is this delightful, I’ll probably be picking up another one in no time at all.

Written by: frau sally benz, November 14th 2010

Patrick's Wish

alicia — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000

By Rebecca Upjohn, Karen Mitchell

Second Story Press

Patrick's Wish is a true story told from the perspective of a young girl whose brother had a serious illness. It is evident from page one that there was some serious hero worship going on when it came to her older brother, Patrick. The book itself has an almost scrapbook feel to it, with alternating pages of text and photographs from Patrick and Lyanne’s childhood, and it details Lyanne’s eventual discovery that her brother’s illness is terminal.

Patrick, a hemophiliac, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion, and while he and his parents kept this secret for many years, Patrick ultimately decided he needed to share his diagnosis with the rest of his family. As he moved through adolescence with relatively few symptoms, Patrick and his family became active in spreading the word about AIDS and raising money for medical research.

Patrick's Wish chronicles his journey as an active young man who eventually took the incredibly difficult step of educating his peers about HIV and AIDS in an effort to remove some of the stigma from those who suffer from the disease. When Patrick’s body finally succumbed to the effects of AIDS, Lyanne took up the torch and continued her brother’s work.

Patrick's Wish is aimed at children and does an admirable job of using the voice of a young girl to impart its message. Full color photographs help the reader to visualize Patrick and his family as any other family. The “hard science” of the disease itself is explained in a way that is understandable for children. I especially appreciated the HIV/AIDS facts on the last two pages of the book, which provide concrete information about the disease, its transmission, and its treatment.

My eight- and ten-year-old daughters both asked to read Patrick's Wish, which created the perfect opportunity to engage in a discussion about HIV and AIDS. The girls asked whether we knew anyone who was HIV positive and were interested to know whether their schools could benefit from presentations or special education on the disease. The book’s other merits notwithstanding, this gave us more than enough reason to read and recommend Patrick's Wish.

Written by: Kari O'Driscoll, November 4th 2010

Signed, Abiah Rose

barbara — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Diane Browning

Tricycle Press

I love picture books and have particular respect for anyone who can both write and illustrate them engagingly. Artist and illustrator Diane Browning has done exactly that. Signed, Abiah Rose chronicles, in a confident first person narrative, a young woman’s determination to become a professional artist despite the conventions and taboos of her time.

Everyone in her family has a special talent, but when Abiah Rose tries to develop her artistic ability, she is discouraged. Her parents first try to keep her from painting at all, but she perseveres. They next advise her not to paint for others, and then nearly forbid her to work as a travelling portrait artist. Although she finally achieves all of these goals, she poignantly signs her work with a small rose instead of with her name, because she is repeatedly told that buyers will only value paintings by men. The end of the story finds her preparing to ask her father’s permission to work in her uncle’s shop in town, where she plans to create and sell her paintings full time.

The artwork is colourful, in keeping with eighteenth century folk art, and supports the clear narrative. I couldn’t get over the title character’s facial expressions on each page; pride, determination, even impishness are conveyed with only a few coloured pencil strokes and some acrylic paint. There is great attention to detail: beautiful end papers covered with a repeating blue-on-blue rose and leaf pattern pick up the recurring theme.

I would read this book with children aged five and up, and take the opportunity to look for the rose hidden in each painting (as we’re invited to do on the back page). Inevitable questions like, “Why couldn’t she sign her name?” could instigate a real dialogue on any ability level about rights women have had to gain. Older children could read this on their own and make deeper inferences about the social hierarchies of the time. Any child, however, will easily relate to the frustration of being told, “no."

Some of the language toward the end of the book may need rephrasing for younger readers or listeners, but Browning gives a good overall flavour of the formal speech of the time period. It’s a nice introduction to historical fiction: young children who like this book may go on to appreciate the determined first-person heroines in children’s and young adult books by Ann Rinaldi, for example.

The book’s educational value is wide-ranging. As well as the obvious "teachable moments" the book provides, there is also a glossary of old-fashioned vocabulary at the front, and a page with more information and references for further reading at the back. This book could also provide stimulus for an elementary school cross-curricular art and history project.

Feminist? Yes, with an adult pointing out some of the more subtle aspects of the didactic nature of the story to younger children. Abiah Rose does not overtly defy the restrictions of the time, although she does question them. There are a lot of “no you can’ts" and the ending is intentionally ambiguous. I think it would be important to draw out some of the reasons for this and discuss it further, but overall I believe that Signed, Abiah Rose is a worthwhile addition to a home or school library.

Written by: Chella Quint, October 8th 2010

Nothing But a Dog

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Bobbi Katz, Jane Manning

Dutton Children's Books

Timmy and Lassie. Henry and Ribsy. Henry and Mudge. Shiloh, Sounder, Old Yeller. All great, classic stories. All beautiful illustrations of the so-called timeless bond between boy and dog. But where are the stories about girl and dog? There’s Because of Winn-Dixie and it, too, is a deservedly award-winning classic. But where is the rest of the canon? Finally, Opel and Winn-Dixie have worthwhile company with Nothing But a Dog, by Bobbi Katz, a picture book which manages to be both sophisticated and fun-loving.

Nothing But a Dog is told in the voice of a young girl who has a well thought-out argument about why when you long for a dog, nothing but a dog will do. Not parakeets, squirrels or kittens. Not soft, furry boots. There’s no activity fun enough to compensate, either. It is in the enumeration and illustrations of these allegedly lesser activities that the book really soars. In vibrant watercolors by Jane Manning, the girl “works at her own workbench with real tools,” rides a grown-up bike and climbs trees with a hat designating her Vice President of the Tree Climbers’ Club. (Another girl is president. A boy in the picture appears several branches below, but the girls are clearly the leaders). As the lively illustrations make clear, none of these activities are anywhere near the boring wasteland of time that the girl claims. But when you long for a dog, even playing the trumpet or going to monster movies (another wonderful illustration with the girls looking blasé and the boys terrified in their seats) can’t quell the longing.

The girl, although she remains unnamed, is real and appealing. She is calm, thoughtful, and adventurous, and knows how to present a convincing argument. Does she prevail in the end? Her parents, who make their only appearance on the last page, respond just the way one would hope to a daughter who knows how to vividly present her case.

Nothing But a Dog will appeal to both children and parents. While some children’s books about pets strive to present the sobering reality (it’s a lot of responsibility, kids!), this one is all about the joyous, free-form, muddy, messy, incomparable, unconditional love between child and dog. And, yes, it’s a lovely change to have that child be a girl.

Parents will be quick to notice that the book leaves out the darker side of dog ownership. Where are the chewed carpets, the scarred cabinets, the poor dead soles? (I refer to shoes and slippers.) The puddles? The vet bills? The forced marches through blizzards with small-bladdered pups? In case you’re wondering, yes, we did recently bring home a puppy in the middle of a Chicago winter. And that is precisely why I wanted to read this book. The magic of dog ownership was lost to me somewhere between February and the realization that the rugs were no longer salvageable. The wonder of the guaranteed happy greeting faded as I considered how our new friend resembled Tigger if Tigger were to be reincarnated as a weapon of mass destruction. I badly needed to recapture the messy magic. Perhaps it was a reflection of my mental state that before I read the book, I kept mistakenly referring to it as, “Anything But a Dog.” But meeting this lovely, strong girl and drinking in the illustrations has gone a long way towards reminding me why we all love a good girl-and-her-dog story.

Written by: T. Tamara Weinstein, July 14th 2010

Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:00:00 +0000

By Femida Handy, Carol Carpenter, Adrianna Steele-Card

Second Story Press

Struggling with the idea of how to teach your child about the concept of his or her environmental footprint? Who isn't! With young children being so literal, it's hard for them to think about how a footprint could be anything other than, well, a footprint. In steps (pun intended!) Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint.

With interesting, creative fabric and wood sculpture art introducing us to Sandy, and her dog, we learn about her summers with her grandparents at the ocean. Her grandfather teaches her all about sea creatures, and Sandy loves to explore the beach. When she stumbles over some garbage, and begins to clean it up, she meets the "garbage monster" who is really not scary, but an older women who collects garbage. She shares some environmental words of wisdom with Sandy, and then Sandy is off to tell her family how they can reduce their footprint on the earth as well.

This book is simple, clear and not preachy. The illustrations give life to the story, and provide some clues for developing knowledge beyond the literal. For example, the pictures of the earth clearly illustrate what can happen to the earth if we don't take care of it, and what will happen if we do. Children can see and understand this.

I only wish there was a page filled with adult ideas for lessening our footprints and kid ideas for lessening their footprints. A resource page with these lists would be nice to review with a child. But, of course, you can generate those lists with your children, yourselves. We brainstormed some ideas after reading this book together with my three- and five-year-old girls. Perhaps doing this ourselves makes it more meaningful than if it was in the book in the first place.

Looking to teach environmentally responsible lessons and meaning through books? This is a great addition to your green book collection. And rest assured, this book wasn't created by using rainforest pulp, as I shared that many environmentally-themed books are. Sandy's Incredible Shrinking Footprint is printed on Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. A big thank you to Second Story Press for being a publisher that values the environment and minimizes its impact (or, shrinks its footprint! I couldn't resist). More publishers need to join you in this regard.

Cross-posted from Non-Toxic Kids

Written by: Katy Farber, June 25th 2010

That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Ruby Roth

North Atlantic Books

If you are planning on raising a vegetarian child who will be well-prepared to explain his or her beliefs to inquiring peers, teachers, and friends’ parents, That's Why We Don't Eat Animals is a great start.

Did you know that turkeys blush? Or that newborn quail start walking the moment they are hatched from their eggs? I didn’t, but any child who reads That's Why We Don't Eat Animals will know. Facts like these work to emphasize the connections between living things in a way that small children in the book's targeted audience (about age 4 and up, in my estimation) will understand and appreciate.

The book shows animals in their natural habitats, and explains the difference in the quality of life an animal will experience if it is running free versus living in cramped quarters on factory farms. The book also illustrates the effect that factory farming has on various biomes and the health of the Earth overall. The animals are charmingly drawn in a caricaturist, almost geometric style, and their environments are depicted with bright or dark colors, depending on their living conditions. The vocabulary is simple and straightforward, doesn’t get too dark or complicated for children, and avoids a preachy, overbearing tone in favor of a sensitive, informative one.

In another review I’ve written this month on a book promoting the vegetarian lifestyle, I’m not nearly as praiseful. The books share primarily the same messages—that eating animals is morally shady and bad for the environment—but the book for adults tends to alienate and divide, as if putting meat-eaters and vegetarians on opposing sides of a war, while the children’s book emphasizes the connectedness of living things. Whether or not the children ingest the other moral and environmental messages of the book, that one message trumps all.

Written by: Kelly Palka Gallagher, March 27th 2010

Amy and Gully with Aliens

admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 +0000

By W.W. Rowe

Snow Lion Publications

Amy and Gully with Aliens looks promising from the title, and the immediate jump into action makes this Buddhist children’s book a breeze. Although a quick read (108 pages with large print), the story comes packed with a heavy moral punch that is based somewhat on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh: Amy and Gully find themselves learning from aliens about “love and kindness”—a repeated theme throughout the short book.

While the religious and moral story is compelling and resonates with the reader, the feminist aspect leaves something to be desired. In the opening pages of the book, Rowe depicts a quintessential 1950s family. Mrs. Trent (the mother) “flips a pancake.” Mr. Trent (the father) is reading his newspaper, irritated with the kids, and "needs to make some phone calls” before he can take them to school. Mrs. Clearpot is the plump, nature-nut biology teacher that kids ignore, while Mr. Wilkins, the school principal, is capable of teaching those kids a lesson.

While the gender assignments, admittedly, are not pivotal to the plot of the story, they encourage obsolete stereotypes. The easy categorizing of male and female roles in the story is not overt or malicious, but it was seemingly done without thought. It is the nonchalant way women are portrayed as existing only to fill the role of caretaker or are unable to win the respect of their students that makes these roles seem so common. Conversely, men are depicted as busy, important, and in control.

Even when Amy and Gully, the sister-brother duo, fully encompass our attention aboard the spaceship where most of the story takes place, it is Gully who thinks of clever ways to distract the Snoods, their captures, and who plans their escape. Amy is, obviously, helpless. (In W.W. Rowe’s defense, Amy possesses an admirable capacity for sympathy and love—two of the most valuable characteristics, according to the philosophy of the book—even if she is lacking in brains and brawn.) Most of the cliche gender assignments are gone by chapter six when Mala, the all-seeing, all-knowing alien of truth and light, comes to run a final “zarbite” (the Snood’s word for experiment) on the children. This is, of course, where the children are exposed to ideas of inner peace, love, and kindness.

On a moral level, Amy and Gully with Aliens is a great story for children, regardless of religion. The book offers a good option for those seeking moral literature outside traditional Bible stories. At the same time, if you have the goal of teaching non-traditional gender roles, this may not be best book to convince your impressionable young son or daughter that women are just as capable as men.

Written by: Tatiana Ryckman, February 20th 2010

Violet

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:01:00 +0000

By Tania Duprey Stehlik, Vanja Vuleta Jovanovic

Second Story Press

A first day in a new school. Stomach butterflies, lunchroom trades, art projects. Kids asking why you’re not the same color as your dad. This is the story of Violet, a children’s picture book by Tania Duprey Stehlik with edgy illustrations by Vanja Vuleta Jovanovic.

Violet’s mom is red, her dad is blue, and Violet is, well, violet. Back home at the kitchen table after school, Violet asks her mother to explain. She brings out the paints: “If you take red and mix in a little blue, you get a lovely purply-violet.” When Violet asks whether there are others like her, her mother responds by assuring Violet that “...many children are mixed, just like you.”

Ouch. The word “mixed” as a description of a person’s ethnicity is jarring, especially in this storybook context. Doesn’t a “mix” refer to a dog or Betty Crocker? Connotations aside, the word is more problematic than meaningful. A heck of a lot of people, especially in North America, have some element of mixed ethnicity. Another approach to Violet’s story would be to emphasize this fact and dispel the myth that skin tone can be classified into a set few colors. Surely of the red, yellow, and blue kids at Violet’s school, some had lighter skin and some had darker skin, each with a distinct shade and tone. But in an illustration depicting the schoolyard, the matching skin colors of the children are starkly in contrast with the careful individuality Jovanovic gives the rest of the children’s features, clothing, and expressions.

Nevertheless, Violet seems to find her mother’s explanation sensible and confidence-building enough to proudly use it herself. Perhaps the matter-of-fact explanation of color-blending is just the ammo Violet needed to quickly mollify her bewildered classmates and get back to art projects and making new friends. However, one hopes the teachers at her school will look into some activities with multicultural play dough.

Written by: Jonelle Seitz, December 8th 2009

All in a Day

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:27:00 +0000

By Cynthia Rylant, Nikki McClure

Abrams Books for Young Readers

All in a Day is a children's book by Cynthia Rylant that helps kids understand time is fleeting without being dark or frightening. The book urges readers to make the most of each day because "a day is all you have to be, it's all you get to keep." Rylant, who has written over 100 children's books and has received such honors as the Newbery Medal, does this quite effectively. Her chief character is a little boy who does a multitude of things in one day, from tying his shoes and climbing a tree to helping his parents with the housework and lying beneath the sun. Rylant's short poetic lines are the perfect backdrop to his actions, as she writes, "A day is a perfect piece of time to live a life."

All in a Day also features the artwork of Nikki McClure, a paper-cut artist who uses an X-acto knife to create portraits of people living their daily lives, which fits in perfectly with the theme of the book. Her simplistic black and white images, set against calm, pastel pages of light blue and yellow, add a peaceful tone that supports Rylant's non-threatening message. Children will not be frightened by the idea that all we have is today because it is presented in such a serene and matter-of-fact way.

One of the best things about this book is it provides a safe way for parents or teachers to broach a serious, important topic with their children: mortality. The book is short—only thirty-two pages—but it makes its point without being overly preachy or didactic, something that can be very important when approaching children with short attention spans. The book ends with a simple, profound message: "So live it well, make it count, fill it up with you. The day's all yours, it's waiting now... See what you can do."

Written by: April D. Boland, September 25th 2009

Quietly Sure - Like the Keeper of a Great Secret

admin — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:31:00 +0000

By Jo Dery

Little Otsu

If I could clap for a book, I would without a doubt for Jo Dery’s newest release, Quietly Sure - Like the Keeper of a Great Secret. (Come to think of it, there’s nothing stopping me, is there?) For a book with such few words, it’s surely good at captivating your attention from the get-go. Its cover doesn’t even announce a title, but instead has a playful, twee cover that manages to suggest, “This isn’t your average child’s storybook.” Although it very well could be.

Quietly Sure is a storybook. It is also a collection of drawings that stand strong on their own, but mesh beautifully together. There is very little narration, just some freely-tied snippety statements and speech bubbles containing thoughtful wonderings exchanged between characters. These characters are ambiguous, varying from snails to a faceless person identified by the plant growing in their stomach, to a bearded hunter-looking man and what looks like lizard. The writing is sparse, and is obviously not intended to contain the most eloquent or complicated revelations, but is sweet, concise, and powerful. And of course, the drawings are so meticulous that each page is to be studied and appreciated.

I consider this the kind of book that amplifies even the most dormant creativities in one’s mind. Tucked away in these pages are the most whimsical and ornate illustrations in fine blue lines that communicate curiosities, heartfelt messages to the reader. Once again, Dery shows her amazing skill as even the simplest of her drawings use the space on her pages with craft. The amount of energy, thought and focus committed to this work is evident, and it’s proven as I look through it again and again and again.

Leave this one out on your coffee table or bathrooms, or just offer it to friends. It’s a treat meant to be shared.

Written by: Yujean Park, May 13th 2009