A Nation's Hope

There are some books we hear about all year long because they've been written by a famous author or illustrator.  There are some books we hear about all year long because they are quirky or are just plain enjoyable.  And there are some books that are mentioned all year long because they are just plain fabulous.  And A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis is just plain fabulous.  As an example of its fabulosity, it was just this week named one of the New York Times' Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2011.  It is also a Cybils Non-Fiction Picture Book Nominee, which is why I am reviewing it here.

Full disclosure:  I looked for A Nation's Hope at my public library this summer after hearing its buzz.  The book's status was checked in, but after I put it on hold the library quickly determined that it was lost.  I tweeted about my frustration, and Matt de la Pena did tweet back that he would hunt down the thief for me!  Also, there is a San Diego connection between de la Pena, Nelson and myself - we all at least attended high school there, and Kadir lives there now.  Just some fun facts before I dive into my review...I love how connected we can be with social media!

De la Pena opens this story at Yankee Stadium in 1938.  It is in the middle of the action - the crowd is buzzing and full of excitement.  The crowd is waiting for Joe Louis to fight German Max Schmeling, as we learn in subsequent pages.  This could be confusing for readers who don't know much about Joe Louis and his history.  But it works in this case because de la Pena helps readers cue in to the high energy and excitement.  This sucks readers into this moment in time.  We want to read on and find out why everyone is waiting for this fight to start.  De la Pena balances the tension of the fight (which is billed as the United States against the Nazis) with the story of Joe Louis' life.

There is a lot of weight on Louis' shoulders as he waits to fight - the "weight of history", the weight of the nation's need for him to win, to show Germany their power, the weight of the underdog, the weight of being black in America.  As we examine Joe Louis' life, we see that he also staggered under the weight of other people's expectations (his mother expected him to be a musician) and he also worked through the weight of defeat - working harder and harder every time he lost as an amateur.  What Joe Louis carried on his shoulders was the weight of learning - he learned from every experience and came out of it a better fighter.

De la Pena uses a free verse style to draw readers through the dual stories.  In this style he can give the important facts, the important feelings of the fight without getting weighed down.  He creates a successful mix of sportswriting, biography, poetry and informational text.  Readers will get the historical context while feeling like they are there, waiting for the bell to ring.

There is a good reason why this was named one of the New York Times' 2011 Best Illustrated Children's Books.  Nelson's oils on wood are simply amazing.  One of the most spectacular things he does in this book is his work on black backgrounds.  You would think that the black background would be unmanageable, that it would be difficult to paint light images onto the dark background, but in fact the opposite is true.  The darkness of the background just serves to emphasize the light in the rest of the painting.  One double-page spread is a closeup of Louis' arms and hands in boxing gloves.  His arms glow with sweat and hard work, veins and muscles delineated.  The black background only makes the light source warmer.  The same is true for a painting at the beginning of the fight.  Nelson does the unbelievable, making the lights (which are also black, but give off warm yellow light) stand out from the rest of the dark shadows of the stadium.  Most paintings where Louis is featured are from a perspective slightly below him.  This always makes him look like the hero he was and is.  The art is astonishing.

Now that's not to say that I think this is a perfect book, but it's pretty darn close.  I really missed the back matter for this title.  Because de la Pena's text is so spare and taut, I think that there could have been a bibliography of other recommended titles or source notes.  I would have liked to see notes from the author and illustrator, describing their process or maybe the sources they used to create this portrait of Joe Louis.  I would have even liked to see some other biographical information about Louis - his fight record or when he retired.  All of these, I believe, would help students use this book as a springboard for more research.  But these things don't stand in the way of a great piece of sportswriting at a perilous time in history.  Please take a look at it.  I know you'll be moved by this powerful story.

Note: I am on the Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book panel, but this blog post does not represent the committee's thoughts about the book.  It only represents my ideas and thoughts.
 
 A Nation's Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis. Matt de la Pena; illustrated by Kadir Nelson.  Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011.

borrowed from Helena School District

Can We Save the Tiger?

I couldn't wait to read this one.  People had been talking about it since the spring and it sounded intriguing.  I had been waiting for it all summer at my local public library, but it was never ordered.  I had given up on seeing it, but two events happened at the same time - it was nominated for a Cybil in the Nonfiction Picture Book category and we finally went back to our favorite school library to visit after the summer.  It was there on the shelf (actually several of our local school libraries had bought it), and I now had the perfect excuse to review it!

I find this book a really fascinating combination of nonfiction and picture book.  First, the nonfiction.  The book is about endangered species and wildlife conservation.  Jenkins looks at animals who are extinct or endangered and breaks them into several groups.  There are animals who are already extinct, species who are endangered because humans have introduced predators, species who are running out of room, species who are accidentally killed off by human actions or disease.  Jenkins also includes a more optimistic group - the animals that were once in danger but have now rebounded. 

Jenkins has two ways of giving young readers information.  The main text is written in a more narrative style.  Facts are mentioned in a general way - writing about the American bison, Jenkins "A few hundred years ago, there were millions of them roaming the prairies and woodlands."  Jenkins is concentrating on telling the story of these endangered species, rather than throwing facts at the reader.  But he does this in an easy-to-read style, with a clear line of reasoning.  In explaining why tigers are in danger of becoming extinct, he tells readers "So if you were a poor farmer trying to make a living with a couple of cows and a few goats, you might not be happy if you found there was a hungry tiger nearby."  He helps us as readers clearly envision how our world has gotten into this predicament.

Jenkins also works hard at making the various problems affecting animals very clear to us.  This is actually one of the clearest books on wildlife conservation I've read.  As I mentioned, Jenkins takes groups of animals who have become or are becoming extinct and talks about the problems facing those groups.  He takes one focal animal, like the tiger, and uses that animal to represent the group.  But after the narrative section where he tells the story of their problem, there is a double-page spread with facts and illustrations of the other members of that group.  This is where Jenkins uses actual facts about the animals , including their location and the problem facing them.  Jenkins combines nonfiction techniques, making it appeal to both kinds of nonfiction readers - those who like the information and those who like the story.

But there is something else that will help this book appeal to readers and that is the illustrations.  The illustrations are done primarily in pencil, but they are amazingly realistic.  White's shading techniques bring light to the gray graphite color and there is amazing texture on these animals.  White uses oil paint (primarily a golden brown) to draw readers' eyes to some of the smallest details.  My favorite is the broad-faced potoroo (a small mouse-like creature) which is on a double-paged spread with several large animals.  White uses a touch of that brown on the potoroo's ears and paws to bring readers to the corner of the page.  It just highlights the ears and paws, but he just glows.  So do other animals where she uses the paint to cover the animal - the tiger just smolders regally.  It's amazing.  The book was created on creamy paper, which sets off the pencil and oil paint perfectly.  It is just a gorgeously drawn book.  Especially in the beginning of the book, where Jenkins is discussing species that are extinct, White brings these species to life.

Finally Jenkins and White show off what may be my favorite species on the brink of extinction - the kakapo.  If you remember, I wrote about last year's Siebert winner, Kakapo Rescue, here.  Here's hoping that this year's Siebert winner also brings attention to this precious bird.

Note: I am on the Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book panel, but this blog post does not represent the committee's thoughts about the book.  It only represents my ideas and thoughts.

Can We Save the Tiger?  Martin Jenkins; illustrated by Vicky White.  Candlewick, 2011.

borrowed from Helena School District library

Follow Me!

I've been reading a lot of picture books lately.  This year, since I was a stay at home mother for most of the year, I swore I would have read most of the award winners when their names are called in January.  I've kept up with blogs (A Fuse #8 Production, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast), with Mock Caldecott Lists (Glendale Public Library, Allen County Public Library) and my own library browsing.  I don't keep track of how many picture books I read, but it's well into the two hundreds, at least.  I feel like I've been fairly comprehensive, but of course you can't predict how the committee's collective mind works.  I can only hope they will see things my way and consider choosing Follow Me.

Tricia Tusa isn't a new artist by any means, but the art in Follow Me is some of the most striking art I've seen from her.  I'm going to break from my own tradition and talk about the art first in this case.  Usually I talk plot/story first and then move on to art, but in making the case for a Caldecott nod, I have to say the art is jaw-droppingly beautiful.  Tusa has used what is cited in the front of the book as "an etching process with monoprinted color" to create the illustrations in this book.  What stands out the most to me is the monoprinted color.  Tusa's color choices are strong yet soft.  The colors are luminous - the book glows in your hands.  The backgrounds are simply crystal clear colors, but there is also a chalky texture to them.  These choices are truly unique.  What is also striking about this book is that the backgrounds are in many ways the focus of the book.  These pages are simple, without a lot of extraneous detail to clutter up the backgrounds.  It just makes the colors stand out.

Now let me go back and talk about the plot so you can see how well the words and illustrations fit together.  A young girl talks about soaring through colors as she admires them in the natural world around her.  She is gleeful, she is joyful, she is exuberant with the beauty around her.  And while she talks about emotionally soaring, she is physically soaring as well.  Her braid flies behind her as she rides on a tree swing - the old-fashioned kind with just a plank of wood and knotted ropes.  As she is enveloped in color, she shoots off the swing, soaring yet again through the sky.  The girl skims the leaves and flowers as she bumps gently to the ground.  The text is poetic without fitting a particular rhyme scheme.  It's dreamy and luminous, just like the colors Tusa chose.  And finally the little girl comes back down to Earth, finding her way back home.

The girl in the illustrations is not particularly old-fashioned but I would say this whole book has a timeless feel to it.  This girl is a child who is allowed the freedom and physical space to revel in her imagination.  She soars up into the limitless sky, lands in fields of flowers without a honking car or busy street to jar her out of her dreamy state.  It reminds us as parents, caregivers and educators how important it is to try and give our children this space to dream.  Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast gives this her Flight of Fancy award (I would link to the specific post, but I can't find it!) and it truly deserves that.  Not only is the book full of both flight and fancy, but it is full of nature.  And when the little girl lands and returns home, she is much richer for the experience.  There is a bounce in her step as she enters her front yard and goes up the steps.  The text is very simple, but it is the kind of book that invites the reader's own interpretation and imagination.  This is yet another reason why I think the text and the soothing, dreamy colors work so well together.

This was a spring picture book, and those can sometimes get overshadowed by the newest fall publications come award time.  Here's my love letter to this book, in hopes it won't be forgotten.

Follow Me.  Tricia Tusa.  Harcourt Children's Books: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

borrowed from the Lewis and Clark library

While the Giant is Sleeping

Living here in Montana, there are many local features that we admire.  This is a mountain range known as "the Sleeping Giant" - see his face and chest in the photo to the left (from Google Images)?  This is unfortunately pretty abstract for young children to see and recognize.  The name sounds so appealing, but they have to look closely and carefully to actually see him.  I know when we would mention the Sleeping Giant to Frances and Gloria, they would get excited: "What?  Where's the Sleeping Giant?  I don't see him!  I want to see him!"  But in order to recognize him, children have to be able to know what a giant looks like, and then take time to match that up with the landform.  It usually just ended in frustration for the girls.

We were introduced to a book this spring that really made an impact on Frances and Gloria that talks about this local wonder.  Frances & Gloria's aunt is a school librarian at a local elementary school, and we spend quite a bit of time there.  She told us that a local author and illustrator were coming to do a presentation, and invited us to tag along.  The author, Alycia Holston, read the book and talked about why she created it.  Then the illustrator also talked about her creative process, including how she took many, many photos of the Sleeping Giant in all seasons.

This book is unusual in many ways.  It really helps personify this landform for children.  And when I use the word personify, I don't mean that children will think that this giant is alive and talking during the book.  The author and illustrator just help match the features of the mountain to a giant's body through this book.  There are just three or four lines of text on each double-page spread, always beginning with "While the giant is sleeping...".  Each page ties the mythical giant to the real, natural world around him.  The sun shines in his eyes, deer graze near his belly, the town below him includes schoolchildren who keep a watch over the Sleeping Giant.  There are pages for each season, too, as snow covers him like a blanket or rain pours down on his head.  It is told in a soothing, almost folktale style.  After all, this is a sleeping giant.  But Holston takes care to tie this sleeping giant to the land - he isn't going to wake up any time soon.

The illustrations (chalk pastels) are also very realistic.  The giant is reproduced exactly as he looks off in the distance from our house.  In reality, the Sleeping Giant is surrounded by open land, and Stranahan does a great job of showing the wide open spaces around the giant.  His features are very discernible without being over-emphasized.  Children can really see the giant's face, chest and stomach.  He definitely looks like a mountain, though - he isn't going to sit up and wink at you.  This realistic illustrative style is perfectly suited to Holston's text.  Both the text and the illustrations give you the majesty of Montana's wildlife and this wonder. 

Frances and Gloria haven't met many authors or illustrators, so for them, even at their young age, this program was very impactful.  Not only were the author and illustrator here, in Helena, to talk to them, but this author and illustrator were talking about a book written about their town!  And seeing the pictures close up meant that the girls were able to identify the Sleeping Giant for possibly the first time since we moved here.  Usually the Sleeping Giant had been pointed out to them in the distance, or as we whiz past it on the highway.  This book really delineated the Giant for them.  Now whenever we are driving, even Gloria calls out "There's the Sleeping Giant!"  This book has helped connect them to their local landscape in a new way.

If you are a planning a trip to Montana, I definitely recommend finding this book.  Even though it is specifically about Helena, Helena is the state capital.  Many of the wild animals and birds captured in these illustrations are seen throughout the state.  This book was published by a small press, but it is available locally and even on Amazon.  A sweet, soothing book.

While the Giant is Sleeping...by Alycia Holston; illustrated by Suzi Stranahan.  CrossRiverkids, 2011.

borrowed from the Lewis and Clark library

Old Penn Station

I recently found an old email recommending several good picture books from 2007.  While I was familiar with the authors of all three books, I wasn't familiar with the books themselves, so I interlibrary-loaned them.  The one that I loved the most of this set was Old Penn Station by William Low.  Perhaps it struck a chord because of its format - it is definitely a nonfiction picture book.  Nonfiction picture books are more important to me these days because of my current work as a Cybils panelist.  But whatever the reason. I want to share it with you.

Low includes an author's note at the beginning of the book, explaining why he was so interested in Old Penn Station.  He began to create the paintings for this book as part of a thesis project.  Low had always loved New York City and its history, and Old Penn Station is evocative of both of these.

Low takes the history of this station and distills it into sentences that are easily accessible for even kindergarten students.  There are only one or two sentences per page, but they give you the feel of the station as it was built, and, eventually, torn down.  For those of you who may not be familiar with it (like me), the Pennsylvania Railroad Company created the original Penn Station to have a station presence in New York.  It was designed to make a grand statement, and no expense was spared in its creation.  Eventually, however, as commuting changed, people were not using trains and the gorgeous Penn Station was torn down.  It was replaced by the current underground station.

Low used oil paintings to depict the station in all its facets.  One of the things that Low mentions about his own work on his website and in a video located on the website about the making of this book) is his love of light.  He looks for places to include light sources, and in this book the use of light is amazing.  Light and shadows are everywhere - making you realize how truly beautiful the old station was.  The most jaw-dropping picture to me is the title page painting.  Workers pose in front of a stone sculpture at the station, and half the painting (and half the group) is in shadow, the other half bathed in warm light.  It's almost as if a drop cloth is being pulled off a sculpture or painting, exposing it to the light.  It is a magical effect.

One of the themes Low emphasizes in this book is work and the pride workers took in what they had created.  There were many, many people who toiled to create this station.  There were tunnel workers who burrowed under the Hudson River, stone masons who carved sculptures and hundreds of construction workers involved.  Once the station was built, there were still many workers involved in a traveler's experience within Penn Station.  Low highlights these workers as well - the shoeshine man, the porter, the wait staff, the conductors.  The expressions on their faces show their pride, their dedication to their work.  You can see how much they love working in the station.  It is not only a history of the station, but also a history of work as many of these jobs are no longer as prevalent.
Another thing Low does in this book is make the concept of historical preservation understandable for very young readers.  We see many of the stone sculptures that stone masons carved throughout the book.  But Low focuses on one of the stone maidens throughout the destruction of Penn Station.  As the text describes the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's belief that the old Penn Station needed to be torn down in order to modernize it, you see the stone maiden over and over again.  Readers admire her luminosity and grace in the beginning of the book, along with admiration for the hard work of the stone mason.  Then as the stone maiden is hauled away to rest unceremoniously in a dump, readers become aware of the loss and sadness in this process.  You feel palpable sorrow as the maiden is hoisted off the building.  Low talks in his video about his anger at the destruction, but there is also grief in the paintings.  Low goes on to describe the founding of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and its importance in protecting the rest of the city's historical landmarks.  I think this is a perfect place for teachers to draw connections between New York City and their own towns,  It is so important to preserve history and to make children aware of what history can teach us.

Low includes a bibliography at the end of this history, so teachers can extrapolate more information to use with their students.  Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of these sources are adult books, but there are always ways to use the photos and other primary sources.

This book has come from Low's heart, and it is especially rich for all of his emotion about Penn Station.  I hope you will take time to admire this glorious book and honor this part of New York City's history.

Old Penn Station.  William Low.  Henry Holt & Co., 2007.

borrowed on interlibrary loan

The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred

Seems like I have quite a few picture books to blog about - get ready for some posts on great books, both old and new!  And in the pipeline is another Alice book blog and some nonfiction picture books too, so there's a lot to look forward to this fall!

I think you can tell by now that I have a fondness for Hispanic authors and stories (If you haven't thought about that before, there's reviews here and here.  I've lived in San Diego and the Phoenix area, so I am definitely interested in talking about these books and seeing them succeed.  So I'm here to introduce you to one of the books that has already been mentioned as an outstanding picture book this year.  I'm hopeful it will at least win a Pura Belpre award, if not a Caldecott, too!

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred is set up in a cumulative rhyme pattern.  I know preschool and primary grade teachers salivate when they hear that a new book is written in a cumulative pattern.  At my old library, we put together themed boxes of books for teachers.  We dreaded seeing "cumulative books" on the request slip.  There is no easy way to search for these books since there isn't really a subject heading.  You would have to rely on web bibliographies or your own memory to find these books.  For those of you who might not know what a cumulative book is, it's a book that is constructed like the nursery rhyme "The House that Jack Built", where things are added on with each stanza, but the stanza is primarily a retelling of everything that's come before.  It's always worth mentioning when a book works successfully in this pattern.

It begins, of course, with the farm maiden, who is leaping on the title page as she begins the stirring.  Each page introduces both an animal and the ingredient they are adding to the pot in English (the majority of the text is in English).  On subsequent pages, the animal and the ingredient are incorporated into the text in Spanish.  Vamos uses the text itself to emphasize the Spanish words - each noun is at the end of a line, formatted in bold, larger text.  It draws your attention to the Spanish vocabulary.  For non-Spanish speakers, there is a certain amount of comfort in the fact that they have already seen the word in English.  That way parent can point to the animal or ingredient when it is repeated in Spanish.  Also included for non-Spanish speakers is a glossary with pronunciations located at the end of the story.
Speaking of the end of the story, once all of the animals (and a farmer) have added their ingredients to the farm maiden's pot, they have made a traditional Hispanic dish, arroz con leche.  All the animals, farm maiden and farmer enjoy it together in what the jacket flap calls "a bilingual celebration of community and food".  It truly is a celebration, and all of them have given their time and work to make this delicious dish.  Vamos has also included a recipe for arroz con leche (good to know for schools or families who like to present a book and then cook together).

But as much fun as the rhyme is, the illustrations take its exuberance to a higher level.  Lopez chose warm yellows, browns, oranges and reds that evoke a desert landscape.  There is so much to look at in these illustrations for viewers.  There are animals everywhere, interacting with each other in funny ways.  The goat wears a large chef's hat as the cow gives him instructions as the farm maiden milks her.  As the arroz con leche cooks to its finale, all the animals peer longingly into the pot.  The farmer and farm maiden's clothing and home add to the rustic feel of this book.  Everyone is happy to work together and equally happy to eat up their hard work.  Texture is drawn into the illustrations with swirls, dashes and dots.  However, Lopez also uses the background texture of the grained wood he created his paintings on to good effect.  He is expert at evoking smell, movement and emotion in his art.
This book is luscious and highly recommended.  I only hope the committees appreciate this as much as I do!

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred.  Samantha R. Vamos; illustrated by Rafael Lopez.  Charlesbridge, 2011.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark library

Cybils Judge!

Hey folks!  I've been sitting on this really exciting news for a couple of weeks now.  I applied and was accepted to be a Cybils judge this fall!  I am on the Non-Fiction Picture Books first round committee, and I am so thrilled!  The Cybils are a group of book awards that are designed to "Reward the children’s and young adult authors (and illustrators, let’s not forget them) whose books combine the highest literary merit and "kid appeal." " (that's straight from the website).  They also foster a sense of community among children's literature bloggers.  In order to be considered, you had to have a fairly active blog, as well as review children's books critically.  The judges are an amazing group of people, a who's who of the children's literature blog world, so it's definitely an honor to be chosen!

If you are interested in participating, you can nominate any book you'd like until October 15th  -there are lots of categories to choose from.  After October 15th, we will begin the daunting task of reading ALL of the nominated books, and then coming up with a shortlist to recommend to the second committee.  It's an overwhelming task - there are already more than 30 books on our list. 

I will be reviewing some of these books on my blog, especially the ones I really like or want to point out to my beloved readers.  You can follow the reviews that I post by looking at the labels Cybils and Non-fiction picture books.  However, I will continue to post other reviews as time allows - I have to have all of these books read and evaluated by the end of December!  So now you know what I will be up to for the next two months!  I can't wait.