'Ohana Means Family: A Wonder of a Picture Book

 Even those of us who have never traveled to Hawaii will still be familiar with the words and concepts of POI and LU'AU.  'OHANA MEANS FAMILY is a delightful new picture book that joyfully proclaims the heritage of native Hawaiians and the role of POI and LU'AU through the familiar literary structure and cumulative text of THIS IS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.

NEAL PORTER BOOKS
2020

Author Ilima Loomis and illustrator Kenard Pak provide readers with a virtual visit to a Hawaiian fictional family's experience with a joyous  gathering and all that goes into making it possible.

Lyrical lines elevate a simplistic structure to follow  POI on a journey backwards from meal preparation, through every step in the process. The taro root (kalo) is traced from planting, to care, and on through the eventual growth and harvest as Hawaii's staple food, all within the embrace of loving families, an ideal tropical climate, and rich volcanic soil. 

The luminous glow of sunshine, intense greens and blues, sunlit faces and bodies, and a landscape both natural and cultivated invite readers to join 'Ohana (Family) throughout their multi-generational experiences, giving thanks, and sharing a table to celebrate their lives in a paradise of bounty and grace. 

The center spread is one of my favorites in a book filled with quiet wonder, each offering unique and suitable angles and lighting and interacting forms. This central spread features a background of tangerine sun and sprawling mountains with a midground of backlit figures of every age, working and playing in the shadowed waters of a kalo field, with its heart-shaped leaves forming a foreground base. 

"This is 'ohana, the loved ones we hold,

who give thanks for the sun, all bright and bold,

that warms the wind on which stories are told,

 that lifts the rain to the valley fold,"

... 

This small snippet of the work is a tasting portion of text, images, and story, balanced and blended to create an informative picture book. This  also reflects layers upon layers of Hawaiian heritage: musical and oral storytelling, community collaboration, family-centric celebrations, appreciation of nature and its bounty, welcoming of others, patience, and peace. The concepts and themes developed in this picture book are especially suited to this structural choice because there is a tune/chant associated with the centuries-old "This Is The House" text, making the lovely lines of this work singable. 

The author note in back matter  describes the Lu'au and Kalo and Poi traditional practices using a wide array of Hawaiian vocabulary, followed by a brief note from the author and a glossary of those actual words. This lifts the appeal from a song-like circle story to a brilliant addition to cultural studies, geography, and agricultural studies. Once again, a seemingly simple picture books proves itself worthy of an expansive audience.

Good Hair? Bad Hair? How About MAGIC HAIR?

 I'll include some "anchors in time" at the end of this post, but I can't wait a moment longer to celebrate this book!

PAGE STREET KIDS, 2020

If this cover doesn't knock your socks off, I don't know what will.

Before discussing it, I need to share a few things about me. I became a feminist in kindergarten, in mid-century, midwest America. I entered kindergarten feeling eager and excited, because my older siblings were already in school, I entered knowing how to read and write and count, and I was PUMPED! 

What I found were endlessly annoying half-days of boredom. 

Boredom, because we took naps (NO!), had a few structured lessons that were overly simple, a teacher whose read-aloud style was dull (compared to my parents!), milk that was lukewarm, and most of our time spent in activity centers or on the playground. 

Annoying because of those activity centers and playground: 

"GIRLS" corner had kid-sized domestic items and clothing, including "girl" roles like nurse or teacher, several aprons, and a raggedy tutu. 

"BOYS" corner had vehicles, building stuff, career clothing of every sort (police, doctor, fireman, pilot, and, sorry to say, cowboy and "Indian" gear), "pretend" weapons, and THE ART EASEL! 

PLAYGROUND was similarly designated by rules about gender-separated separate categories. Boys used the climbing and ball sports equipment, girls could swing or play hopscotch.

I felt it was necessary to write all of that first, because after that I never looked back. That was ahead of the curve for feminist activism, but since kindergarten i've been devoted to the then-popular ANNIE GET YOUR GUN song- "ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER", aimed at male audiences. Yay, Debbie Reynolds!

Which brings me back to the picture book above.  It is ALL ABOUT ATTITUDE! I'm a white person with dishwater blonde hair that has been of little consequence in my life, until I reached an age in which it is thinning to a point of absurdity. The only time I had to deal with hair-out-of-control was for several miserable weeks following a home perm (in first grade) that was so over-timed that it probably should have rendered me bald. Instead, I took what little comfort I could from the fact that my older sister had the same results and she was at a much more vulnerable age- tween. 

What I lacked about my massive head of curls was ATTITUDE. 

Look at the face of the girl on the cover. MY HAIR IS MAGIC is all about owning who you are and where you stand in the world, in your own identity and in relation to others. She cares not a bit about any designation of which corner you belong in- based on hair type, body/size, skin color, features, gender identity, or any other "othering".

The last line of the limited and lyrical text is "My HAIR is ME!"  

All of the lovely lines leading to that proclamation indicate the same thing, but in ways are launched with an expansive and specific view of this girl-in-the-world. Each spread offers a few lines in rhyme or near rhyme that present interactions with people in her world who for some reason feel empowered to ask questions, express opinions, and imply judgments about the speaker and her choices. Author M. L. Marroquin captures the confidence and resilience of this girl perfectly, while illustrator Tonya Engel celebrates those convictions with empowering and undeniable audacity.

This first-person voiced character launches her exciting and enthusiastic ownership statements by repeating the things she hears: (Why is your hair so big? Can I touch it? Is it rough? Don't you get hot under there? How do you comb it? Why is it so...?) The best part of this, to me, is that those questions come from her friends, neighbors, and even strangers, most of whom are not White. The author voices what should readily be seen as very inappropriate questions from others by commenting more specifically on the style choice of the speaker. Her hair, to them, seems notably... "twisty... complicated... wild... spirally... soft... frizzy...",among other labels, all of which reflect judgments about natural hair in any style. 

The text and illustrations on the penultimate page of text and image:

"I say,

'My hair is natural.

My hair is beautiful.

My hair is free..."

The illustrations on this double spread suggests her empowered position to shake loose form the many outside voices to proclaim her identity, her confidence, her place in the world. 

There is magic in this new picture book, in its approach to her identity and to her choices about natural hair, specific and universal. It can (and should) become an anthem for all who feel questioned, judged, challenged, or "othered" by anyone else in the world. This offers a brilliant template for mentor writing to fully claim any and all of her identity. It also provides a gorgeous array of inspiring images for artful expressions of those identities. 

I began this post with my personal experiences in recognizing the constraints I faced in kindergarten based on gender. That was my way of setting the stage for recommending this book for all ages, including teens and adults, and all ethnicities and identities. Our acceptance of others is contingent on our acceptance of ourselves. This character makes no effort to commend her style choices to others, but stands very firm and joyous in her ownership of who she is, what she chooses, and how she stands in the world. We can all learn a great deal from her, while marveling at a gorgeous and important new picture book.

Anchor in time:

This week the USA elected a new president and vice-president, who will take office in January. Watching social media clips of girls and women seeing themselves in the first (but not last) woman vice-president elected in this country was joyous. I was especially excited for those People of Color who watched TWO glass ceilings come crashing down. 

There is so much work ahead in so many spheres (Covid19, social justice, social bridge-building, restoring the economy, and  many more). Even so, in fact MORE SO, picture books like this one contain the building blocks for a better world. And they are not separated into corners labeled GIRLS or BOYS. 

Memories and Transitions: THE BLUE HOUSE

 Covid19 Anchor in Time:

The world is nearly a year into the unspecified date on which "patient one" unknowingly contracted the earliest case of Covid 19. Soon after, the spread began, the questions eventually arose, and specialists in contagious diseases began the long and puzzling journey that brings us to our "current" global count of nearly forty million positive diagnoses and more than a million deaths due to Covid. The ever-changing reports can be checked HERE. 

I mention this because, despite these tragic numbers, and even some gradually developing treatment and vaccine news, people continue to be evicted, to seek new dwellings, to put homes up for sale and buy new ones, to pack belongings and move possessions into the spaces previously occupied by others, by people who considered it their home. Especially in these uncertain times, how long does it take to make that new dwelling feel like YOUR home? And what, precisely, helps you turn the page to that new reality?

Homes are so much more than the structures in which we live. The final stanza of a poem I wrote when my parents moved from their longtime home makes this point:

"A house is just an empty stage

where families live and love and age.

The script is stored, each detailed page,

in the memories of the cast."  

(Sandy Brehl)

Alfred A. Knopf

THE BLUE HOUSE, written and illustrated by Phoebe Wahl, explores this question with incredibly tender insight and details. The front and back covers effectively lift this very specific blue house and this very special father-son pair (Leo and his dad) into a liminal white space that could represent any place, any time. The art there and throughout the book utilizes Wahl's characteristic and intentionally primitive style, infused with earthy colors and a very relatable charm. 

The polar opposite of this universality is revealed at the opening endpapers, which absorbed my attention for an extended time. The "blue house" is recognizable from the cover, but it lives on a very specific street corner of a very specific neighborhood, one in which every square foot is dense with quirky characteristics and personality, in which each seems to have countless stories to tell. There is a warmth and welcoming spirit to this opening, one that continues with every turn of the page.

The story is simple, and infused with emotions ranging from joy to pain to peace, and everything in between. With  hand-lettered, limited text and page after page of intriguingly detailed images, readers learn that the blue house is both dilapidated and a personal palace. Indoors and out, it is the stage on which Leo and his dad celebrate their love and the luxury of lives well-lived, deeply experienced in each moment. When harsh reality forces them to move, they experience "all the feels" together, emptying that old blue house of their lives. No spoiler here, except to praise expert storytelling that offers a departure scene that effectively foreshadows the eventual resolution scene. 

Ultimately, we all move on. That is true of physical circumstances, in our emotional lives, and in our relationships. Transitions take time. This simple story is a warmhearted reminder that we will survive change. We can and will, in fact, grow from transitions. What matters most is how we face change. The final endpapers offer a look at that opening neighborhood with some changes underway. There is enough continuity of familiar and comforting anchors to promise that change, over time, can lead us forward in life to something better, while retaining the best of what has gone before. 

As with the best picture books, this one entertains and appeals on its face. The underlying and powerful themes offer meat for discussion, but that isn't necessary. Even the youngest children will be adding it to their "read it again" stack, absorbing the themes with each repetition. The boy in the story is clearly an oder child but what entices and appeals is the core of the  story- the lively and loving and accepting daily life of this family.

This is one of the growing number of CYBILS AWARDS nominees in the fiction picture book category. Links to reviews of  more of the 100+ titles (so far), by me and the other panelists, can be found HERE. This is NOT going to be an easy decision, folks!

CYBILS AWARDS NEWS! (Yep, I'm excited!)

 What are the CYBILS AWARDS? Why am I excited? Why should you be, too?

Many organizations that support outstanding children's literature wind up the calendar year with awards for various creators, media, and categories of children's books.The Cybils Awards began in 2006, launched by two of the many emerging book-bloggers who were busily posting reviews, interviews, and opinions about children's books, with this mission statement:

The Cybils Awards aims to recognize the children's and young adult 

authors and illustrators whose books combine 

the highest literary merit and popular appeal.

The organization, CYBILS: Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards, is continuing their mission in this Covid-affected year by reorganizing the category groupings slightly. They are also continuing their commitment to intentionally include judging panelists with lived experiences and ethnic identities different from the current majority, those who may have struggled to be heard in their own public lives or within the long history of publishing. The same intentionally inclusive approach is taken in the criteria used to evaluate the nominated titles. 

I've had the privilege of serving as a FIRST ROUND panelist for several years, focusing on poetry, nonfiction picture books and juvenile/elementary nonfiction, as well as fiction picture book categories in past years. Since I've had several opportunities in the past, and am a privileged white writer, I volunteered with doubts about being chosen again this year. 

I'm excited to announce that I WILL be serving among the outstanding panelists in the fiction picture book category this year! I've worked with Deb Nance, our category chair, in past years. Her leadership and organization is essential to manage this challenge. In past years we been responsible for carefully reading and evaluating more than 200 titles in this category. That has been both a joy AND a heartbreak, because the quality and variety of picture books is extraordinary!  HERE is a link to the CYBILS page describing the books we'll be examining.  

Not only are the books outstanding, so are the 2020 panelists with whom I'll be privileged to discuss these extraordinary books as we  determine finalists by the end of this year. Here they are, and I urge anyone interested in discovering new and exciting books for kids to check the links in this post, read through some sample posts, and consider subscribing to their posts on websites, YouTube, GoodReads, and other media. 

Since you are reading this post, you are likely aware that I read MANY books, all year long. I read across many categories, as my GOODREADS account will indicate. I struggle with which books to feature on this blog (again, SO MANY extraordinary books!), but I often rate and comment on many of the books I read on this Goodreads account that are not featured here.

Public nominations for the titles we'll consider for the 2020 finalists and an eventual winner will not opened until October 1, but I'm already maxing our my library hold limit trying to catch up on 2020 fiction picture books that are still new to me. Any advance work I can do will help as we move into the actual considerations. 

Speaking of public nominations... 

The process is simple, and, as the title says, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC from October 1-15. Then authors and publishers may add to the nominations from October 16-25. The process is very simple, but a book may only be nominated once. That helps, if you are like me. I have MANY favorites. 

Prep a list of several of your choices, in this category and the others, then hop on the nomination site and follow the directions. If your top pick is already there, submit the next on your list. When the final winners in each category are announced on VALENTINE'S DAY, 2021, the nominee is credited for bragging rights!

I suggest you start working on lists of favorites released this year, check out posts from the past year by my well-read panelist-partners, and read the category guidelines.Then subscribe to the blog for CYBILS AWARDS, HERE, so that you will get the announcements as each phase of this process advances. And stay tuned to this blog and posts for other panelists because we'll be sharing thoughts about nominated titles (without giving away any hints about contenders).

It's an annual highlight for me to read (and sometimes live-view, virtually) the announcements about winners from various organizations. There are also awards based on kids' votes in schools and libraries. The CYBILS award process invites opinions from the general public, so it is YOUR chance to participate. I can't wait to see familiar and new titles when the time comes, and I'm making my lists of nominees in all categories right now!

Anchor in time:

Covid 19 continues to show surges throughout the country, with a few places managing to hold the diagnosis curve flat. The difference seems to closely correlate to ignoring or adhering to the recommendations around face-coverings, physical distances, and avoiding crowded places.

THREE C's can help us all: Avoid Closed spaces and  Crowded places, and support Contact tracing.