Holiday Celebrations: Keeping It Safe and Fun Outdoors

Covid-19  update- 
Much of the communal good will that I sensed throughout the early weeks of Safe-At-Home continues. 
And yet... polarized politics, fueled by cabin-fever, has led to armed protest marches, legal challenges, and social media rants about the need for "FREEDOM", demanding that businesses reopen, and do so NOW. 
I get it. 
People are social beings. 
Businesses have been struggling to survive.
Still...
When I made necessary trips to the pharmacy or food stores, I've seen restaurant patio areas extended with open-sided tents and orange cones. The same is true for taverns and other socializing venues. I'll admit, I feel my guts clench when I see those efforts at responsible operation. All are businesses that also serve alcohol. Even in moderation, that can weaken the attention and honest intentions of those craving a taste of FREEDOM. 
This Memorial Day weekend marks the Covid death toll in the US alone at nearly 100,000 beloved people. FINALLY, belatedly, orders were issued to fly flags at half staff in memory of those lost lives, for one day. On Monday, Memorial Day, flags will again be at half staff for the many who gave their lives in service to our country across the years. 
My worry is that an overeager, sun soaked, socially-starved population will, intentionally or by enthusiastic neglect, spike a rise in incidence and infection. 
All we can do is wait and see, and act as responsibly as we would hope others will.
Which brings me to this wonderful new picture book.

Page Street Kids, 2020

DUSK EXPLORERS has the tag line; "Come! Run free outdoors 

and steal away into the night."

Written by Lindsay Leslie and illustrated by Ellen Rooney, the cover (front and back) echoes that invitation by evoking  the magic of summer twilight gatherings. It is a book that is both timeless and timely, since the outdoors beckons and kids are craving unbridled excitement with friends. The characters  pictured are diverse in age, gender, and ethnicity, romping into the pale sunset dusk with an enthusiasm we can all recall. Sadly, we are also missing such abandon with more than the melancholy of nostalgia. 

The neighborhood and surrounding wildlife portrayed in this story appear safely middle class. Although that's not the reality for many children, kids make their outdoor fun where they find themselves. That may be in a park or playground, in the neighborhood of friends and loved ones, or during a camp experience. 

The various scenes reveal that the magic hour offers fun in any setting, including active play, ground level observations (watching for night crawlers to emerge!), seeking and finding other creatures who become active in the evening hours, and savoring secrets in quiet spaces. 

With the eventual purple haze of night's arrival, houselights and streetlights click on, fireflies blink their coded messages, and kids realize that they will soon be drawn back indoors by that inevitable call from a porch or stoop:

"...their parents' the-sun-is-gone yell: TIME TO COME HOME." 

This is a prime example of Leslie's engaging language, sprinkling an array of dusk exploration with active verbs and charming challenges while the images shift from colorfully detailed to silhouettes, from sunset tones to deepening night. 
I called this story timely, and each of these pages and invitations are ideally suited to these days on the threshold of endless summer nights. And yet the creators and the publisher must be frustrated at the implications of Covid19 restrictions. In fact, though, getting outdoors remains desirable and healthy, with a few cautions. 
By now, kids are aware of the dramatic importance of physical distancing, so this book can be a helpful tool for prepping those dusk explorations. The pages depicting flashlights and toads and frogs call to mind my recent post about AMPHIBIAN ACROBATS. Sure, it would be fun to pursue such fun untethered, but the images do a fine job of showing older siblings as responsible participants. Voices carry in the outdoors, so frog-spotting, tree-climbing, star-gazing, and other distant-but-together games can be brainstormed and rehearsed before going out with a few known friends, neighbors, or cousins. 
Ideas for adaptations can be brainstormed as a challenge rather than chains. Just a few might include porch-to-porch sleep-outs (with throwback string/can secrets?), tag with pool noodles, foam-ball toss-tag, mother-may-I toward a target line rather than to touch each other, and catching lightning bugs in territorial patches with just as many squeals as during random roaming.
Other outdoor adaptations for healthy kid-play can be found online, with the usual caution to consider the source. HealthyChildren.org offers rationale and suggested romps, childmind.org points out the mental health benefits of outdoor activities (with many other great mental health maintenance tips), and none other than NationalGeographic.com provides a wealth of ideas for safe outdoor activities. 
So, get your hands on DUSK EXPLORERS as a way to preview and plan a summer full of healthy outdoor engagement. While you're at it, use this wonderful book to share stories of your own childhood adventures and explorations.
Exaggeration and tall tales are officially approved.

The kids need it. 
Adults need it, too.
Just keep in mind that we all need each other to enjoy "FREEDOM" responsibly.
We always did, but now, more than ever.
The chart here is already two weeks old, but I include it with a reminder that the wartime lives lost, cumulatively, do not equal those in our country who ahve lost their lives to this ongoing pandemic. While tucked safely in our own homes, these overwhelming numbers can fade from immediacy and significance. Not all of the victims of COVID 19 are among those counted, making the actual numbers even higher, and still climbing. 
As we are all climbing the walls, let's not lose sight of our own responsibility role in limiting that Covid death toll climb. In the two weeks since this was published, the count has risen, and will continue to do so.

Fortune Online, May 15, 2020

Let's Hear It for the LADIES! Cybils Award Nominees Continue

If you are new to this blog you may want to check out one of my earliest posts, my manifesto on the double-edged sword of THEME MONTHS. I'm very discouraged by the common practice of establishing collections of quality books, especially picture books, related to various designated theme months or topics, only to haul them out and pack them away again as pages of the calendar are turned. That's why I'm always happy to feature terrific topics, especially nonfiction picture books, throughout the year. 
In this post I'll share some brief notes about four of the nonfiction CYBILS nominees that impressed me, all of which feature outstanding women!
It's October 31st and snow is falling outside my window, so MARCH (Women's History Month) is a long way off. That means it is a perfect time to bring to readers some fantastic bits of history without waiting for an arbitrary signal at a designated time to share them. 
The first two are fun to compare, since they both explore the significance of MULTIPLE women of history, both books offering deep dives into the past to explore the heroic women who helped create the world we now inhabit. 

BOLD AND BRAVE: Ten Heroes Who Won Women the Right to Vote is written by Kirsten Gillibrand and illustrated by Maira Kalman. Each profiled woman is listed in backmatter in chronological order of their lifespans. The long history of American women suffering for suffrage (the right to vote) spans social class, race, and roles, placing their eventual success in the context of a long, difficult effort. 
It proceeds past that Constitutional amendment into the continuing struggles for equal treatment across many social categories. Gilliband (New York Senator) launches her profiles by placing them in the context of her own close relationship with Great Grandmother Mimi, her Grandmother Polly, and her mother Penny, each of whom instilled, by example and story, the significance of women's voting rights and responsibilities. 
Illustrator Kalman presents each profile with a single page portrait and added spot illustrations on the text spread. Her interpretive/primitive style and vibrant colors infuse personality and character in images of the ten women, allowing young readers to connect with the obviously older and often distant individuals. 
Gillibrand delivers the content and challenges directly back to readers in the final pages, with facing spreads of young girls in white, marching for the right to vote, contrasting with modern young people advocating for changing the world and getting out the vote. 

Charlesbridge, 2019

Pair the above with GIRLS WITH GUTS: The Road to Breaking Barriers and Bashing Records, written by Debbie Gonzales and illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon. Welcome to a parade of profiles of women who broke through arbitrary gender rules/laws to achieve full participation in athletic events, beginning with the ancient Olympics. 
These heroes span centuries, include many sports, and feature women/girls diverse in age, race, and ethnicity. The timeline in back matter is particularly well done, and the illustrations throughout are as energetic and empowering as the text, which is saying a lot. 

The next two titles share the word FEARLESS in their titles, and each is a biographic narrative of a brave woman who stood up to social restrictions, written and unwritten, that barred females from work or sports for which they were fully qualified. 
In HER FEARLESS RUN: Kathrine Switzer's Historic Boston Marathon is written by Kim Chaffee and illustrated by Ellen Rooney. Chaffee does gives entertaining insights to Kathrine's love of running from early childhood on, revealing how dedicated she was to improving and competing. Her older male coach had run the the world-famous Boston Marathon an amazing fifteen times, but girls/women were NOT eligible to enter. In fact, runners must prove their qualifications by running impressive times in other marathons, which Katherine had done. She entered using her initials rather than her name, and so she was issued an official number- the ONLY woman who had ever done so! 
Along the route people began to notice that a woman was running and many cheered her on. At one point she was physically attacked by a man from the sidelines, but another male runner intervened and she ran on. Some women cheered for her, but many did not. 
Her goal had been to prove to other women that they could compete in the Boston Marathon, and also to show other women that they could find the joy, health, and fun of running. An author note reveals some of the ways in which Katherine's fearless run moved her goals toward success. 

Albert Whitman & Company

FEARLESS MARY: Mary Fields, American Stagecoach Driver is written by Tami Charles and illustrated by Claire Almon. Since you're still reading, you noted my aversion to theme months mentioned in the first paragraph. However, a note at the back of this biography points out that it was a Facebook post and article from a previous Women's History Month that brought the amazing Mary Fields to the attention of author Charles. 
As i said, those theme months offer a double-edged sword. 
Let's make sure that this title finds its way to many readers ALL YEAR LONG!
It's a story that takes readers back more than a century to the barely settled young state of Montana. "Whites Only" signs were everywhere, even though it was long after the Civil War ended. That didn't stop Mary. She knew her qualifications could stand up to dozens of men trying to fill the job of stagecoach driver. She proved her worth with the horses, the hitching, and the stagecoach driving. Not a man there, all of them white, could outperform her skill and daring. 
Exciting, right? 
And that's barely the beginning of this story. With hints of her early life ("first thirty years without freedom") the author doesn't try to focus on Mary's childhood but instead reveals her remarkable confidence, skill, and fearlessness to hook readers of any age. 
This is yet another of those untold histories that deserves attention from all readers.

These amazing titles are but a few examples of the many outstanding books nominated for Cybils awards in nonfiction. In this round one stage, we will narrow those down to a few finalists. Eventually, there will be only one book each in the Elementary and Middle grade categories. That, of course, is an outstanding honor. 
Ultimately, though, many of these remarkable nominees could have made that final cut, depending on the panelists making the decisions. It may be Halloween, but the only thing that scares me today is the possibility that anyone would make the mistake of ignoring these terrific books. 
Do me a favor and get your hands on these, then start reading.