THE BLUE HOUSE I LOVED; Coming Soon!

University of Minnesota Press, 2026

 In less than a month a new picture book will release and it is worth pre-ordering, in my opinion. (Thank you to University of Minnesota press for an advance copy to read with no promise of a review). THE BLUE HOUSE I LOVE is written by Kao Kalia Yang and illustrated by Jen Shin. The narrative text adopts a look-back, first person voice, capturing the child point-of-view within a reflective account of a time of struggle and poverty that was nevertheless rich with family love, security, and joy.

The cover suggests the approach in voice and in illustration that hints at a misty/memory quality blended with architectural accuracy and detail. Readers will sense that from the title page in which crisp-line border that suggests features the drawing tools used to achieve the precision of blueprints.

Both narrative elements (naming the corner street location in St. Paul, and the build-date and history of this blue house) and illustration technique combine emotional resonance and family resilience with structural elements as if the building had been sliced to provide a view though the fourth wall. This Blue House was the source from which the Hmong family found refuge and stability, the footing on which to launch independence and progress. Within those exposed walls were the aspects of life that offered comfort from minimal means, including a splash of color in the rug. 

Without revealing a spoiler, things change. Even so, memories remain. Within those memories the narrator finds herself reliving and always remembering life in the BLUE HOUSE she loved. 

This is not only a lovely reminiscence of a childhood that certainly involved struggle but was wrapped in a sense of home and family and security. I connected with that entirely, even though my family's immigration story was several generations before I was born, and our struggles did not involve the social pressures faced by those adapting to new languages and cultures. Even so, my first memories of a childhood home involve specific architectural elements shared with the BLUE HOUSE (the single bathroom shared by many, the back porch where life unfolded), and the time spent with extended family, playing on the concrete basement floors, and more. 

For anyone who teaches or encourages writing from personal experiences and small moments, this is ideal mentor text to read and discuss. It's also a rich and robust view of a Hmong family living specific to its culture but also typical of many families, immigrant or not. There are far too few picture books (or novels) that center universal experiences from points of view beyond Black or White. (And too few from Black perspectives, too. Click here to see data.) When a picture book of this quality and rarity does appear on the scene, encourage friends, librarians, teachers, and readers to discover and enjoy it! 

A Fast Fanfare of Fiction Titles

 I've returned from a lengthy stretch away. It's one that involved loss and struggle, as well as some illness. I only mention that to indicate that this marks a full return. I'll resume a more normal schedule now, and I thank you for your patience and for staying with me during some abbreviated posts and less frequent reviews.

That stack of very special picture books I mentioned in a recent post, HERE, has now gained my full attention. Any one of them deserves a full post. In my time away, I was honored and excited to learn that I will again be serving as a ROUND ONE CYBILS panelist for 2022 titles in the nonfiction category. Since our listings this year will span elementary, middle grade, and high school titles, I'm already beginning the process of reading and preparing reviews for those. As a result, I offered brief thoughts about these fantastic fiction books in my GOODREADS pages. I'll include them here with cover images and a line or two from my reviews. I hope you'll trust my opinion enough to get your hands on them and check them out for yourself while I return to a growing stack of nonfiction titles at the other side of my desk!

CLARION BOOKS, 2022

LITTLE GOOD WOLF is written  and illustrated by the talented pair of sisters, Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. 

Some lines from my Goodreads notes:

It is a topsy-turvy twist on the trope of a BIG BAD WOLF in those many folk tales, with a young wolf who is a major disappointment to his "Big Bad" parent wolves. Despite their most earnest efforts, he is deeply, naturally GOOD, but also wants to please his parents and be accepted by them.

 

CAPSTONE EDITIONS, 2022

YOU ARE LIFE is written by Bao Phi and illustrated by Hannah Li. Moving from fantasy/allegory to contemporary philosophy and identity, this is a book for everyone, with special emphasis on the ways in which we are alike... in a society that too often stresses and threatens differences.

I had this to say:

Lyrical, lovely text and images that offer a diverse cast but with particular affirmation of Asian/Pacific Island children whose physical identity may have resulted in situati0ns of taunting/bullying or led to witnessing this toward people in their family or communities, especially during the polarized Covid battles. The author note in back is worth reading with young audiences. 

CAROLRHODA BOOKS, 2022

FROM THE TOPS OF TREES is written by Kao Kalia Yang and illustrated by Rachel Wada. 

This is must-read for any age.

The art on the colorful pages of this poignant book will connect with kids from any background, while introducing them to the daily life of a child's family and community life in a refugee camp. Despite the comforting love of family and glorious pets, despite occasional spreads of grey and somewhat worrisome expressions. This child's hope is for life in a place that is different, better, holds promise, but she has no experience on which to frame such dreams. 

Her father's uplifting solution opens the whole world to her future. 

LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY, 2022

BERRY SONG is written and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade. 

Don't miss this one at any time of the year, but especially at this harvest time of year.

Dripping with delicious language and emhanced by glorious art in natural tones and sweeps of outdoor scenes, this brief, simple text celebrates "berrying" through the voices of an Alaskan indigenous pair, young and older. 

ut in the forest, they seek... BERRIES, like "little jewels".

From those early pages, the voices of elder and young, forest and heritage echo to each other with the values and cultural richness they share. Interspersed with berry chants naming specifics that were new to me, little audiences will quickly learn to chime in as they recur:

"thimbleberry, swampberry, dogberry, chalk berry,

lingonberry, raspberry, bunchberry, cranberry."

and more...

As I reread and wrote these various notes I realized that these are titles that are well-suited to share a post, since each deals with personal identity and finding/embracing our places in the wide world and within our own families.

I'll let those be the last words on this bouquet of terrific fiction titles. Let the fiction reading begin for you, and nonfiction for me!  Back with those notes soon.