Father's Day Reminder

 

Pen It! Publications, 2021

If you happen to have a copy of my picture book, IS IT OVER?, you might pull it out to share on this FATHERS' DAY. Illustrator Rebeca S. Hirsch (now working as R. S. Hirsch) transformed a story of my heart to one with multi-layered characters and powerful imagery. The theme of this book is the power of storytelling to provide comfort, and in reaching out to others who need help we often help ourselves. 

Naturally, that storytelling power is magnified within a loving, trusting relationship, and shared stories fuel memories to strengthen those bonds. 

Another even more recent picture book with a surprise military dad element is WITH DAD, written by Richard Jackson and sensitively illustrated by the multi-award-winning  Brian Floca. It, too, features a memorable shared experience that encompasses and expands the deepest connections between a father and child.

NEAL PORTER BOOKS, 2024

Other suggestions for picture books for this special day can be found in earlier posts HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE or simply type FATHERS DAY in the search box ( over there>>>) to find even more from the archives of this blog. 

Whether your father is still alive or not, is your biological sire or your father by circumstance or choice, is young, old, ill or fit, consider experiences you've shared that epitomize your relationship. I hope that those stories involved trust and deep emotions. If so, consider  sharing a memorable story or two with your dad, if possible,  or with someone who knew them if he is no longer here, or with anyone who knows YOU well. Storytelling is a way of strengthening bonds, and we can all use more of those. They can even become bridges to people who might otherwise not feel close to us. Give it a try, or use one of these picture book recommendations to encourage sharing stories with others. 

Who is AUGUSTA BAKER? You Ought To Know

 

DIAL BOOKS
for YOUNG READERS

The title of this picture book serves well as a directive to all who read it: GO FORTH AND TELL, The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller. I urge you to do both: Read this important biography and then go forth and tell others about the remarkable life of Augusta Baker. (For now,  just click on her name to learn something while waiting to get the book.) Written by Breanna J McDaniels, a history-making librarian of her own standing, and illustrated by April Harrison, award-winning artist who captures and expands visually on Baker's charismatic personality and power. 

This is both a biography and a virtual "how to" life model for ways to raise a literate, community-engaged adult. Living with her grandmother set the stage for their incredibly deep connection and offered inspiration for Baker's storytelling. "Lap time" is shown, but spot illustrations reveal that every experience, from mundane daily chores to intentional shared time, involved colorful and theatrical storytelling of a vast and varied nature. Throughout it all, Augusta greeted her grandmother's words with "eager ears" As a result, Augusta's own reading left her fascinated with words and stories, while hoping to claim storytelling as her own, using those skills to help others grow their own"eager ears". 

The account has Augusta taking that dream to college, discovering that she and her "lilting, tilting voice" belong in front of a crowd. That ranged from students in a classroom, to young groups at a library, and on to inspiring other adults to listen and connect. Her work as children's librarian allowed her to cull racist and hateful or simply incorrect  books from her shelves and fill them with books that celebrated uplifting stories and provided heroes, real and imagined. Among her young audiences were eventual stellar Black authors and storytellers. Her storytelling and literary guidance fillied their minds and hearts with stories that threw open possibilities not encountered in daily life.

As the cover art suggests, Baker's impact embraced the entire city and beyond. Her role in New York's Public Library earned her the nickname Mistress of Storytelling. She has been honored with awards, festivals, and the support of countless literary stars. Throughout her life, including her leadership of educators and librarians, Baker stressed that the human elements of oral storytelling animated literature with magic: voice, expression, gesture. When those skills are effective, listeners lean in with "eager ears".  Back matter includes a very personal author note, quotation citations, a timeline, and captioned photos. Together with the main text account, this is a comprehensive and glowing  introduction to a remarkable woman everyone should know.

2024 Newbery Medal Winner: THE EYES AND THE IMPOSSIBLE

**Click here to read what author David Eggers had to say about getting the NEWBERY AWARD phone call on the morning of the day: DAVID EGGERS.

Since my inaugural post on this blog, my focus has been on picture books. They are produced in the unique format in which the combination of visual and language narratives blend (I'll say it) in magical ways to produce powerful content that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

That remains my focus here, and yet...

I've expanded my view to consider some graphic novels, a similar but specific structure that also combines image and text, but with unique patterns and skill demands, often resulting in more complex storytelling. Certainly longer storytelling.

I've also celebrated the Caldecott Award and Honor winners in many posts. Those very worthy titles get plenty of attention from platforms more substantial than this one, so I prefer to find and share other outstanding offerings. I especially enjoy having featured some of those titles BEFORE the big awards are announced. That was the case with picture book HOT DOG by Doug Salati when (way last August) I raved about it here, months before it was awarded the 2024 Caldecott Medal.

I've even, occasionally, stretched my limited space here to spotlight full text titles. That is the category that's the other jewel in the ALA Awards list, the Newbery Award. As i followed the announcements this year, I waited for the ultimate news to be celebrated. I had somehow not even heard about the winner, THE EYES AND THE IMPOSSIBLE, written by Dave Eggers, with remarkable occasional art by Shawn Harris. I ordered it immediately.

Once i had my hands on this remarkable book I devoured it. It is nearly impossible to classify the genre of this Newbery winner for 2023. It offers elements of contemporary realism and fantasy, or perhaps magical realism. After reading, you should make that decision for yourself, and that will likely depend on your deep-rooted sense of the strength and wisdom of nature and its creatures. Although I hadn't heard about it until that announcement,  I can't stop talking about it to everyone, every age. Notable authors' comments on the back cover attest to that. I agreed with them all, but especially with author Annie Burrows:

"...Exhibit A in the argument for children's books being great literature."

Johannes, the four-legged narrator, has a voice for the ages, offering mentor text for ANYONE who writes. Every word, every punctuation mark (or lack of them), captures and reveals the inner workings of his mind and heart. This ranges from the immediate and concrete to social and philosophical. His general attitude about the uselessness of ducks reminded me of the rabbits' disparaging attitude about dogs in Watership Down, as did the deftly interspersed suspense, affection, and humor. 

The author opens with a brief statement that these characters are animals- not symbols for any humans or human themes. He states clearly that the location and animals are not real, and particularly that the animals represent only themselves, despite human impulses to see symbolic or satirical reflections of ourselves and others in any other species. We often impose our superior, more important selves. The author succeeded, since that was my impression walking away. These are truly the voices of the creatures in nature that I have long observed, enjoyed, and even studied. Their inner lives, for a change, have been revealed to me, to all of us.

The role of ART and our innate responses to it plays a vital role in this story, too, and so does the occasional, powerful, full color, double page art revealing Johannes in various scenes. The images are always breathtaking and evocative of his complex character and the sense that the park is a full-fledged character, too.

Another benefit of this book is its layout: slightly larger font, wider line spacing and margins, storytelling that demands both close reading and obsessive page-turning. It was easily a one-night read, and that meant I could read it again and again. Each time I discover new details and nuances, deeper questions, and stronger connections to these remarkable characters and their concerns. It's an ideal read-aloud to younger folks since it does not require endless hours to sustain attention to the end, and young people are even more enthralled by nature and their fellow inhabitants than adults.

Any attempt to share a synopsis could spoil or at least diminish the power of the first read experience. This story, Johannes and his account of life as he lives it and considers it, invites readers to come along and discover for yourselves what his life is like. 

Say yes.

Wherever I Go: Carrying Stories Into Our Lives

I read this picture book many times in the past months, maxing out my library renewal. This story inspires and haunts me, so I was waiting until I felt I could do it justice. Now that I have no renewal options left, the time has come to make a stab at sharing my thoughts.

Atheneum Books, 2020

WHEREVER I GO is written by Mary Wagley Copp and illustrated by Munir D. Mohammed. The fictional story is told in the first person voice of Abia, a girl who lives with her family in a fictional, but very authentic, refugee camp in northern Ethiopia. They have been there longer than anyone else, and her father can quote that time in years, months, and days. "Too long," he says.

That makes Abia the QUEEN of the camp, and she proudly wears a handwoven crown that her father made for her. 

As Abia spends day after day, year after year, in the camp, she transforms tedious chores into experiences that strengthen her body and spirit: surveying her realm, pumping and carrying water, tending to her baby cousin, howling at the night animals.

At night, before falling asleep on her straw mat in the small tent they call home, Abia listens to the stories of why they are there. Through minimal and age-appropriate text, readers learn about the fighting and threats that forced them from their forever home, escaping on foot from the human and wild predators who could end their lives. 

When the time finally arrives for them to travel to a new-and-forever home, they leave everything behind for another family who will need their tent and belongings. Abia holds tight to her stories. They remind her that she will always be strong in body and spirit, a queen, even when she can't speak the language of her new home or when her crown remains behind for someone else. 

My hesitation in writing about this book was my concern that I could not adequately convey the pervasive dignity and warmth of this family and of the people of the camp. It all sounds terribly dire, and yet Abia engages in familiar child's play.  She doesn't bother with princess stories. Hers is an act of claiming her place as queen. She needs no toy wand to recognize the magic within her. The crown of acacia vines woven by her father is an affirmation of her value and her future. Drawing on the powers of persistence, hope, love, and trust, Abia walks with her head held high. She does not claim her strength, or cleverness, or balance, or her troops based on any sense of superiority, but as her human right to a place of agency within a world that provides very little control.

The text is as steady and straightforward as Abia's steps through life. The illustrations realistically reveal details about camp life and Abia's family in saturated and earthy colors. The expansive and intimate perspectives do not shy away from a dusty and repetitious life, but they do not invite pity or disdain. 

Back matter includes an author note about the fiction and reality within the story, as well as providing reliable links to learn more about camps for refugees and displaced persons. An extensive bibliography of other books for young readers on this topic is particularly useful for adults (especially teachers) and kids.

I hope that this picture book will find its way into the lives of many of you, and that you will be as affected by it as I have been. If so, please share it.