A Nexus of Picture Books by Notable Authors

Each time I tell myself I should NOT take time to add another note here, books come along that deserve whatever boost I might provide by featuring them here. (Actually, I learn about them, place them on library holds, pick them up, read them, then locate them prominently in my living spaces so that I cannot ignore them!  So no, they do not just "come along". *Sigh*)

In this post is a compromise with my limits of time and other book responsibilities (see CYBILS, HERE). Three offerings merit my attention, and yours, for a variety of reasons. The least I can do (and it is less than I would like) is to feature them here with a brief note and links for you to pursue more about them!

Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2023

First up is a book that really doesn't need my support. Its co-authors, Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, were inspired during Covid lockdowns to write this magical-realistic story of a boy and his orchestral conductor father. A video of a quartet playing to a concert hall with seats filled with plants led to this broader analogy. In this colorfully expressive third person narrative, we meet a simple village whose musical performances attract larger and larger audiences. In a not-surprising way, local merchants and pop-up vendors expanded their offerings until the village becomes so absorbed by commerce and personal gain that they neglect the musical source of their success. An oppressive haze sweeps the town into massive melancholy until the young boy realizes that music can at least revive the fading palm in the concert hall. The ultimate resolution is satisfying, with illustrator Elly Mackay utilizing hues, tones, and perspectives to enhance the shifting moods throughout the transitions of the villagers and the music creators. THE ENCHANTED SYMPHONY will delight young audiences and gratify adults who share it. It also offers mentor text and discussion opportunities for middle grade and older readers to explore extended analogies, consider rich language, and explore ways in which current events and media can inspire writing in unrelated genre.

Atheneum
Books for Young Readers, 2023

Next up is quite a different offering, an important nonfiction title. It, too, has much to offer for established young readers with a bit older background knowledge. In this case the time and place surrounding remarkable Frances Perkins in the NEW DEAL era of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Following (and somewhat during) the depths of the GREAT DEPRESSION, Roosevelt's transformative efforts, in legislation and bureaucratic expansion, established programs to lift Americans from its deadly economic impact and years of suffering. In the process, they were gradually lifting the malaise and emotional depression that blanketed our country's population. THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE PHOTO: Frances Perkins and and Her New Deal for America was written by the gifted  historical writer Kathleen Krull and illustrated by Alexandra Bye. 

The first half of this chronological biography of Perkins reveals her deep-rooted commitment to making the lives of others better, including her youthful choices, eventual role as a social worker, and shocked response to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. All of the above provide a richly informative background for younger readers to a time in history with "big" events through the lens of everyday people and the impact of social forces on those same folks. For a woman to be tagged by Roosevelt to take on a role of guiding the government through changes that would change millions of lives was unheard of, yet Perkins's own quotes, sprinkled effectively throughout the narrative, show her sense of duty and opportunity. When such a door opens, her responsibility was to walk through it, take a seat, and play such a role with intelligence and vigor. It did, though, make her the only woman in the room, thus the only one in the historic photos of that era. Endpapers are brilliant indicators of her longterm impact in keeping that door open.The opening papers highlight her isolation among a sea of (White) men's faces, but the closing end papers feature women of every age, identity, and background. Times have changed, even if full equity has not yet arrived. Perkins is not solely responsible for such changes, but, as was true during her life, her impact is undeniable.

Holiday House, 2023

Finally, here's a contemporary nonfiction picture book that is written by a relatively new creator, certainly not one with the fame of Julie Andrews or Kathleen Krull. GREAT CARRIER REEF is written by Jessica Stremer and  by Gordy Wright. This is the account of a noble but retired aircraft carrier, the USS Orinskany, otherwise known as the Mighty O. Its eventual new service is to the forces of nature, now carefully submerged off the Florida coast and providing a structural habitat for the restoration of the coral reef.

This thoroughly researched account successfully  captures the dignity (and potential indignity) of a retired military warship, the intensive planning and preparation required to make its new life possible, and the countless individuals and groups that were necessary to make the project a success. The facts of this project can be found easily, yet Stremer's text and Wright's images and perspectives provide intensity and tension surrounding the eventual moment of igniting the carefully-placed explosives to allow the Mighty O to settle on the ocean floor in the exact position needed to make the project succeed. Back matter adds even more to this impressive text and invite readers to learn even more, and to actively work own behalf of saving reefs through simple actions in their own locations.

As you may have noticed, even my best efforts to limit comments tend toward extensive when it comes to outstanding picture books. Consider this a valuable bundle of recommendations that I hope you'll find irresistible, and might lead to you recommending and sharing with others.

Navigating Tough Turf: Fiction/Nonfiction

At a recent school visit I worked with sixth graders on the craft of writing historical fiction. In that genre a writer's goal is to know and share facts through storytelling that SEEMS as real as history. Only then can a story achieve its goals of entertaining, educating, and stimulating curiosity while not misleading or confusing readers. Most historical fiction books offer back matter resources to verify sources, indicate points of accuracy/divergence from facts, and suggest further explorations. 
That requires research. 
Extensive research.

Chronicle Books, 2016

This challenge is even important in picture books. 
Perhaps especially important. 
The youngest readers have limited background knowledge and are, developmentally, less able to sort out reality from imagination. Both the author and the illustrator must apply their best talents in order to bring to life the time, place, and social forces of history within a powerful and appealing story. 
This challenge was well-met in the recent picture book written by Pat Zietlow Miller and illustrated by Frank Morrison, THE QUICKEST KID IN CLARKSVILLE.  
In a recent interview with TIME FOR KIDS, Pat indicated she did extensive research on her subject  even though the only direct text references to Wilma Rudolph involved just a couple of lines in the book.

I encourage young readers to "reverse engineer" the writing process by reading this recent book, then other nonfiction titles on the subject. Insights can be found into comparing sources, sorting details, and decision making about what is the "just-right" amount of factual content within historical storytelling to enrich but not overwhelm.

Harcourt Children's Books, 1996

On this subject, the book I'd recommend above all others is WILMA UNLIMITED: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's fastest Woman, by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz. During the 2012 summer Olympics I wrote about this book (and others, here) and will undoubtedly do so again at some point. 
The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin have been the focus of literary and film attention in recent years. In 1936 the Olympics were politicized and orchestrated by Hitler in an attempt to prove his theories of white supremacy. The talent and dedication of Jesse Owens and others denied Hitler his national sweep and false claims. The movie trailer for Jesse Owens's story, RACE, is here.

Wilma's story in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome played out in high drama, too. Even so, her first-time-ever triple GOLD MEDAL for a woman can't outshine the drama of the personal story revealing how she reached that international stage. WILMA UNLIMITED captures that perfectly. This narrative and  fully illustrated picture book makes Wilma's story seem as if it could be entirely fiction, a tall tale, or a superhero story. That's why comparison to more traditional sources allow young readers to verify and answer questions.

Teacher Created Materials, 2010

 WILMA RUDOLPH: Against All Odds, by Stephanie E. Macceca is, is an excellent example in traditional nonfiction-information text format. This easy-to-read biography sets Wilma's life in context of the times, incorporating information about polio and politics. Its design includes the expected elements of photography, archival images, picture captions, simple illustrations, table of contents, index, and direct-to-reader back matter.
Readers could easily compare the books point-for-point with very kid-friendly text.

Capstone Press, 2006

Graphic text provides another approach to nonfiction for young readers. WILMA RUDOLPH: Olympic Track Star (Graphic Biographies) written by Lee Engfer, illustrated by Cynthia Martin is an excellent example. The accessibility of paneled text and illustration format has been proven successful with the youngest readers and with older, established readers. 
Dismissive attitudes toward "comic book" content has been receding among teachers, librarians, and parents as the quality of information and literary prose in this format steadily rises.

Opportunities to read and discuss a variety of research materials like these examples offers readers a digestible version of the process writers use to make history come to life. This exploration might lead to writing a fictional story incorporating  historical characters and events. In the realm of nonfiction, athletes have been the subject of a wide variety of books in various formats. A project like this just might hook some otherwise reluctant writers.
Why not give it a try?

Non-fiction Notes: KID ATHLETES and Other Biographies

We've reached the final stages in our CYBILS fiction picture book evaluations. From now until the first of the year, when finalists are announced, I'll limit posts to nonfiction and poetry. There are plenty of titles to praise and celebrate in those categories, but I'll start here:

Kids really have a hard time picturing adults as babies, or even as kids. How could a mom, dad, teacher, coach, or any adult driving a car, mowing the lawn, or cooking dinner, ever have been a kid? Could they have hated homework? Pouted, teased, been bullied, or caused trouble? It stretches the imagination, to say the least.

It’s even more difficult to picture famous adults as kids. Sports stars are perhaps the hardest of all. Weren’t they just born into the world talented, superior, poised, confident, popular? Rich?

Nope.

Quirk Books, December, 2015

Just in time for holiday gifting, here's a book that will reveal some childhood truths and hook young readers in the process: Kid Athletes: TrueTales of Childhood from SPORTS LEGENDS. (Quirk Books, December, 2015). Kids will love discovering the details of REAL kids who grew up to become famous athletes in this thoroughly researched new book for middle grade readers.:

The stories are written by David Stabler,  with illustrations by Doogie Horner. This pair also created Kid Presidents: True Tales of Childhood from America’s Presidents.

At two hundred pages, KID ATHLETES is meaty but accessible for even reluctant readers: large font, wide line spaces, text packed with wry humor and action, and nearly every page featuring colorful, comic illustrations.

The athletes span two centuries, many sports, both genders, and the globe. Although primarily focused on American athletes, even those won't all be familiar to young readers. The childhood experiences and societies these athletes inhabited provide real exposure to historic periods and changes. For kids who can't imagine a world without portable screens, these biographies are valuable opportunities to take steps back through time.

The stories of athletes are grouped by themes: Not Easy Being a Kid, Family Matters, and Practice Makes Perfect. They offer examples of hardships overcome, but also depict troublemaking kids, bullying, pranksters, frustrations, and failures. Each takes only a short time to read, with additional resources and readings provided in back matter.

This blog focuses on picture books, but this two hundred page, non-fiction picture-ish book offers intriguing biographies that pair well with picture books.

My favorite picture book pairing is featured among the recommended titles. It's by award-winning biographer Kathleen Krull:   Lives of the Athletes: Thrills,Spills (and What the Neighbors Thought). 

Some of the same individuals are featured, offering a great opportunity to compare and enhance the details of their lives from the two sources. It offers additional names to learn and lives to explore. 
Krulls website includes an introduction here, and a page with links to further information here.

Kathleen Krull is the author of one of my all-time favorite picture books (review here), illustrated by none other than award-winning David Diaz. WILMA UNLIMITED: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman. 

I'll slide two steps back from my pledge to stay with nonfiction when I tell you about a book that will release in February, 2016. Wilma Rudolph is the legendary figure who inspired THE QUICKEST KID IN CLARKSVILLE, by Pat Zietlow Miller. Truth be told, I haven't read this one yet, but a story created by Miller and about the inspiration provided by Wilma Rudolph to a kid in Clarksville will be in my hands the minute it becomes available.

After all, every legend started off as a kid. And every kid can grow up to become a legend. Reading these books could be just the inspiration they need to make it happen.

What Makes a Favorite a Favorite?

Quite a few years ago a colleague commented that I was the most divergent thinker he had ever met. Put that together with another critique that I'm an unabashed optimist and idealist and it explains why I took both remarks as compliments. 
I'm also rational enough to know that both may have been backhanded remarks suggesting that I'm an unrealistic scatterbrain. I'll just say that the facial expressions and body language in both circumstances as well as the  the context in which they were stated helped me arrive at my upbeat conclusion. 
The combination of personal experience with verbal and visual cues to arrive at the fullest possible meaning is the essence of my admiration for picture books, and that approach carries over into my everyday life. Making meaning is built on background knowledge and should engage all possible clues and cues. No other literary format does that as well as the category we call picture books, especially if we stretch that a tad to include graphic novels and other visual narrative formats.

That's why I never seriously considered participating in this year's Fourth Annual Picture Book 10 for 10 blog lists. I've followed them each year, bookmarked many, used other bloggers' lists to explore titles new to me, and I'm doing so again this year. 
My issue has to do with that divergent thinking/optimistic idealist gene of mine. It interferes every time I try to make lists of favorite anythings. My personal list of favorite titles is enormous, each one having  qualifiers to it suggesting the age, interests, intent, experience, current circumstances, and other factors affecting their potential audience and use.
My tags on Goodreads titles sometimes (often) run longer than the review itself as I try to attach categories to each title that allow me to cross-reference a particular book for any future use.    
Despite my resistance to making lists, I  appreciate the willingness of others to commit to ten favorites, including Nerdy Book Club's Top Ten Picture Books for Secondary Classrooms, Cathy's Reflect and Refine post, (which offers multiple useful links to more extensive lists), A Year of Reading,  Cathy Mallou Bealey's Bildebok, and even the Twitter hashtag #P10for10. Just skimming the titles featured in these posts leaves me nodding in agreement, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over books I couldn't bear to leave off of a list of my own. This happened with well more than ten titles, and the lists above don't even scratch the surface.

Disney/Hyperion Books, 2010

So I'll share just two titles here, each of which could land on a list if not limited in number. The first is OH, NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World, written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Dan Santat. The opening end papers signal a highly meticulous plan for a fifth grade science project: a robot with canine mind control, zero emission power core, and titanium alloy superclaws.  The first page turn provides an English/Japanese glossary scroll and double page spread warning signals, followed by the title page with even more clues to the impending disaster. Each further page turn reveals yet another wide-screen, double-page spread that reads from left to right with  expressive and comical details that advance the plot. I warn you, DO NOT fail to peruse each square inch.
The over-the-top conclusion (and it is over-the-top, literally and figuratively) belies the seriously meticulous final end papers. This is obviously a brilliant and creative young  girl, not unlike the brilliant and creative pairing of Barnett and Santat.

Harcourt Children's Books, 2013

Compare that to recent release LIVES OF THE SCIENTISTS: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought), by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt. This latest edition to their "Lives of the..." series offers anecdotal snippets about twenty scientists across the centuries whose accomplishments changed the world. Although Krull has received countless awards for her biographies for young readers, her emphasis in these vignettes is less on full life stories and more on their personalities, quirks, explorations, habits. These were often patterns that raised some eyebrows, although not to the degree of disturbance in the previous title.
This collection is undeniably non-fiction, with a bibliography, "extra credit" challengers, and well-researched insider stories on iconic names of science.Both, though, are entertaining, visually extend the content, and stimulate an interest in science.

These two titles perfectly demonstrate my reluctance to list favorites. Each serves its intended audience perfectly, reaches far beyond that to entice other readers, and pairs brilliantly talented authors with the ideal illustrators. Each intrigues and invites deep inspection of the images, rereading of the text, and fosters discussion. Why wouldn't they be favorites?
There was a time when I believed I could at least recognize books that would not "make the cut" for a personal list of favorites of any length. Then I realized that many of those "lesser" choices were inevitably being found, favorited, and treasured by some other readers for whom they were a perfect match. 
There are certainly some objective traits that mark quality picture books, but I've given up on being the arbiter of which are "best". On Goodreads I'm reluctant to note star ratings, and I decline to list, review, or rate anything I might give less than three stars. I'm only one reader. My opinions should "do no harm", since on another given day or in another frame of mind I might feel differently about the book. 
So thank you to all those who bravely share their lists. Anyone who wants to add favorite titles in the comments will be more than welcome. SOME of my many favorites are featured in these blog posts. If you're new here, I hope you'll take a look.

Disney- Hyperion Books, 2012

Here's an update: The books I review are purchased or acquired through the library. One measure of the popularity of the OH, NO! (above) was the wait I experienced on the library hold list for it and for its sequel title. I finally received their follow up book, OH, NO! NOT AGAIN! (or how I built a time machine to save history or at least my history grade). Don't miss it when you are "shopping" for the titles above, whether at a bookstore, online, or at your local library. they're worth the wait.
In this iteration our heroine builds a time machine to travel back and make her single error on a test "correct" by changing history. As you guessed, mayhem ensues. I'm a real fan of this proactive, full-speed-ahead character, and kids are, too!

Olympic Inspirations

With much of the country sweltering through the hottest summer in memory, and many of us enduring a punishing drought, it's refreshing to turn our thoughts to London and the summer Olympics. The opening ceremonies are less than two weeks away, and I still haven't packed. 

Oh, that's right, I'll be viewing the events and festivities virtually, so I have plenty of time to prepare with picture books, instead.

 

The last time the Olympics were held in London, in 1948, Sammy Lee was 28 years old. By then he had fulfilled his father's dream by becoming a doctor and was working in the US Army medical corps. The story of how he overcame racial discrimination and restrictions to achieving his own dream of becoming a championship diver is told in SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS - THE SAMMY LEE STORY, by Paula Yoo, illustrated by Dom Lee.
Dr. Sammy Lee won the US National diving gold in 1946 and qualified to represent the USA in London in 1948.
Yoo and Lee do full justice to Lee's inspiring story of personal vision and persistence, with additional information about Dr. Lee's further accomplishments provided in the author's notes. He continued diving, repeating his ten meter gold medal in 1952, and coaching notable divers to win gold medals, including Greg Louganis. Scroll down this link to view a video of the ten meter platform dive by Louganis in the 1988 Olympics. Notice the final frames in which Dr. Lee congratulates him on his win.

An excellent and detailed review, additional links, and a video interview with Dr. Sammy Lee can be found at Maw Books Blog. Apart from the remarkable sports achievements of Dr. Lee, the story is even more inspiring in depicting the discrimination and restrictions that he experienced and overcame without giving up, retaliating, or reflecting back the hatred he experienced. Instead, he used those barriers as motivation to prove his father's words true: "In America, you can achieve anything if you set your heart to it."
**Winner of the 2005 Lee and Low New Voices Award.

WILMA UNLIMITED: HOW WILMA RUDOLPH BECAME THE FASTEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD, by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by David Diaz, was featured in a post earlier this year, but deserves mention here in connection with outstanding Olympic achievements, overcoming limitations of health and society, and service to her community. (In addition, if think you're feeling overheated, the Rome Olympics in which she won her medals took place during a record heat wave.) This title was also featured on the Sports Heroes blog, where you can click to read the text in Spanish.

If you are weathering the summer heat under a shady tree, a breezy porch, a blistering beach, or an air-conditioned library, here are more links with inspiring Olympic stories and other sport titles you'll enjoy:

• Reading Rockets page featuring  Sports/Olympic picture books
• Heather Lang Books blog post of favorite Sports biography books.
• Mr. Ken the Librarian blog post featuring books about London.

You can view a video biography which includes interviews with Dr. Lee.


As always, I welcome comments about what inspires you, especially if it is in a picture book!