WHEN AUGGIE LEARNED TO PLAY CHESS: You Can, Too!

 The holiday gift-giving season is well upon us! My book-of-choice today is one that makes a delightful gift across many ages (read the author note in back). Beyond that, though, the story it reveals suggests a gift of even greater value: spending time and learning with someone you love. Especially someone young.

Ann Schwartz Books, 2025

WHEN AUGGIE LEARNED TO PLAY CHESS is written by Meredith Rusu and illustrated by Stephen Costanza. This story offers many openings for kids to connect... 

1. Moving...

...Far away (from beachside to a neighborhood with cows and strong smells!)...

Navigating change...

Feeling alone...    in a crowded new school...

Rejection... it's hard enough to say hello to strangers, but then to be ignored? Yikes!

Big feelings... while parents are busy. EncouragIng, but busy.

Auggie notices something on a shelf in his new home-- a lovely checkered board and a pouch filled with intriguing carved characters. When Auggie's Tatâ (Daddy) notices and begins sharing both stories and skills, the gift of time and teaching allows Auggie to turn his mind away from distress and explore challenges and curiosity. The process offers connection for Tatâ and Auggie and a place of respite from change, anchoring them to a family heritage and to each other. 

Mid-story unfolds with some basic labeling and roles of the chess pieces, never slowing the pace but serving well in repeated readings for anyone trying to learn without a skilled Tatâ at their side. Auggie's growing knowledge leads to better days in his classroom, too, and the conclusion offers a suggestion of a satisfying beginning.The author's note and shares a personal story involving family chess heritage, assuring readers that anyone can learn chess, even the very young.

And even the very OLD! I learned chess as a kid, but never worked at developing competitive skill or learning gambits. MANY years later when my school was organizing "clubs" for kids at recess or activity times, mine was the only hand that went up when someone asked, "Who knows how to play chess?" That small act led me to host the "chess room" one day each week, wrangling 7-9 year olds and a few dozen game sets for both novices and talented players. I never claimed to have any knowledge beyond the basics, but over time those stronger players (and valued volunteer parent coaches) allowed me to learn more. After many years this surprising gift was presented to me> > > >

That's been several decades ago, and yet I can still get newcomers launched, settle confusions or disputes, and spot a mis-staged board from across a classroom. My point is, learning to play chess is a lifetime gift that can reach others at any level. There is no better time than the holidays, when family and friends gather, to have a chess board on hand. Someone in those spaces would raise a hand to admit knowing how to play, and someone else will be eager to figure out those curious characters that travel around the board following detailed rules. (Do me a favor. Avoid digital play, at least at first. Use an actual board and figures if at all possible. Learning to set up the positions, including stories about their relative power and playability, is a significant experience in itself.)

Auggie's story is one of family strength and connection, but it also celebrates the ways in which playing chess opens his mind to potential relationships and actions among strangers and friends. It reinforced his sense of agency, even when he felt himself to "only" be a pawn. The complexity of Auggie's journey will entertain and satisfy readers, but my guess is that the closing of the cover will be followed by "I want to play chess!" Consider a gift pack of a chess set with a copy of this book!

New Delights to Share: Insha'Allah!

HOLIDAY HOUSE, 2024

Join me in welcoming and celebrating two new picture books that feature cultural situations and characters  but provide universal appeal and learning. The first is INSHA'ALLAH, NO, MAYBE SO, co-authored by Rhonda Roumani and Nadia Roumani and illustrated by Olivia Aserr. 

NEAL PORTER BOOKS, 2024

This picture book is an ideal example of ways in which stories depicting non-dominant cultures and patterns can transcend specific traditions or patterns to serve every child.

For decades (centuries?) it was conventional wisdom that all children and families who were NOT of the majority culture would still find themselves within stories featuring that single dominant culture. The truth is, all kids who ask for what they want are counting on hearing YES, in any language or culture. Anything less (we'll see, maybe, etc.) comes across as NO! That universal emotional expectation and response is portrayed in this story so well, for any child. It also reveals a family/cultural pattern that might be new or less than fully understood by others. It's a story in which EVERY child can find themselves nodding along.

The expression, Insha'Allah, is launched in INSHA'ALLAH, NO, MAYBE SO through the first-person voice of a child who calls out her mother for always saying Insha'Allah, meaning NO! Mama patiently explains that the expression means "God willing", not NO!. Mama listens closely as Rana reveals how it always feels like NO to her, and then her mother clarifies that it is used for things we WANT to happen, but don't know if they will. 

Examples are kid-friendly. (Go to the park? It might rain; Bake cookies? Not enough time before bed; Have a sleepover? Someone got sick.) Some things are NO, some are MAYBE SO, and some are INSHA'ALLAH... it is out of our hands, for now. 

The art in this new release is lovely, with saturated colors depicting figures with natural  edges, readable expressions, familiar settings, and a warmth that is undeniable. There's a humorous twist or two at the conclusion and the story's topic and appeal spans many ages. I highly recommend this lovely story.

Also a story with universal appeal is THE PLANT RESCUER, written and illustrated by Matthew Rivera. 

First line: "Manny and his dad come from a long line of gardeners."

The following pages reveal the lush and lively experience and skills Dad brings to developing and maintaining landscapes that are verdant and healthy. Manny and Dad live in a space without outdoor planting options, but Dad's love and skill turn their apartment into a lush "jungle". 

Manny accompanies Dad in his work, appreciating his evident talent and also celebrating his family heritage. But when Papa buys Manny his very own plant and urges him to keep it well and strong, problems arise. Manny has an expert close at hand to ask for help, but he opts to solve this himself, to earn and prove his place in this family lineage.  He draws on the boundless resources of a library to learn what he needs to know and do, to rescue his own plant, Amigo. The happy resolve to his worry allows Manny and Dad to share plants with their diverse neighbors as Manny claims his space as youngest among their long line of plant rescuers.

I really enjoyed the vibrant and phenomenal abundance of the plants throughout, making each page a celebration of life as well as an invitation to look closely, find out more, and appreciate the nuances of plant shapes and colors.

Both books offer warm and welcoming stories for all readers, providing mirrors to children who share their heritages, and windows to those of other backgrounds and identities. Both are going to be classroom and library favorites.

A Feast of Text and Illustration Celebrates Young Black Lives

  My recent post featured the important, little-known story of TEACHER HEROES in the Civil Rights movement in Selma Alabama. I hope you read the review and will check out this book. Then  share the JANE ADDAMS PEACE AWARD finalist with kids and adults, far and wide. Historic figures like Reverend F. D. Reeves and groups who summoned the courage to show up and stand up need to be widely recognized and appreciated. 

I concluded that post, though, with a short note and several links to titles that celebrate the equal importance of sharing books, stories, lives, and resources about contemporary figures, joyous childhood experiences, and the wholeness of BLACK LIVES.

I begin with this initial connection between schools and the teachers in them to raise the painfully true issue of the many ways in which schools do not treat all children equally. In fact, current public schools are staffed predominantly by teachers who are White and female. Too often, school routines and conventions actively erase, invalidate, or (to our shame) punish Black children more often and more severely than others. 

This is true for both boys and girls, but most harmfully so for Back boys.

Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020

The amazing (and multi-award-winning) team of author DERRICK BARNES and illustrator/fine artist GORDON C.JAMES again worked their magic to produce an astonishingly gorgeous picture book,      I AM EVERY GOOD THING.  

Their previous masterpiece, CROWN: AN ODE TO THE FRESH CUT (2018) was breathtaking in poetic voice, joyful and expressive paintings, and exclamatory content. I offered a brief review with other titles in celebration of the identities of Black boys in this post. I was far from a lone voice in singing its praises. During its award season this first collaboration earned enough awards to replace all the the stars on the cover with awards stickers, and it continues to win state and kid-choice and other recognitions in the years since.  

It is not surprising that publishers would encourage further creative collaborations. Surely, though, this new picture book exceeds any expectations about what would come next. It definitely exceeded my lofty hopes. 

If you were to hear even a short sample of text from this recent book on a radio program, no images available, you would certainly be grinning ear to ear and stand taller in your bones, whatever your racial or ethnic identity. 

For example:

"I am 

a nonstop ball of energy.

Powerful and full of light.

I am a go-getter, A difference maker.

A leader." 

You can listen to a recent NPR (10/24/2020) interview with the creators HERE.

Every child (and adult) would benefit from reciting such "I-statements" to begin the day, confront challenges, introduce ourselves to others, and view ourselves taking as having a rightful place in the world. 

On the face of it, an illustrator would be hard-pressed to add anything to such an empowering verse. But the art James created for these lines (and all the others) manages to magnify and internalize Barnes's potent text even further by revealing faces, scenes, perspectives, angles, and potentials of Black boys with a variety of features, skin tones, hair choices, postures, and attitudes. Each is an individual, and each interprets this brilliant text from inside out.

Interior Spread: I AM EVERY GOOD THING
Nancy Paulsen Books, 2020

In doing so, a brilliant anthem for Black males becomes an anthology of countless visual biographies. Specific and worthy and lovable lives are written in the eyes, encounters, and possibilities portrayed. Images like these provide a perfect integration of contemporary lives with the many centuries (millennia) of inheritance that produced these individuals and their stories. Whether that history is celebratory, courageous, or even tragic, it is far too often the SINGLE story of Black lives. If classroom inventories of books exploring Black lives were honestly evaluated, the bulk of titles would focus, in story and image, on the injustices, losses, endangerment, and eventual survival of people with dark skin. Most would be hauled out and shared during February, then packed away for another year. Few, if any, would reflect these exuberant, smiling, confident faces. 

Interior Spread, YOU ARE EVERY GOOD THING
Jane Paulsen Books, 2020

More celebratory and adventuresome and comical books featuring contemporary Black kids have been published in recent years. Many more are in the pipeline, but not nearly enough. This is, in part, why I AM EVERY GOOD THING is a must-have title, an anchor choice for classrooms of every age and color and identity. It provides a lens through which to view existing collections and a guide for additions to family and classroom and library collections. Each of those singular and important legacy titles must be kept in context, recognizing the heroism of Black youth (and adults) who summon the inner joy to face each day with an embrace of themselves, as voiced on the closing page:

"I am worthy

to be loved."

As someone who resists answering the inevitable "What is your favorite...?" questions, I will warmly and eagerly include this among the titles on my "One of my favorite..." lists. I hope you will, too.