HIKING: Summer Time To Touch Grass

 

This book was released in 2019, just before the Covid lockdown, and it was certainly in the making for years before that. it was also a product of a time before the current "TOUCH GRASS" mantra arrived. THE HIKE, written and illustrated by Alison Farrell, is a testament to the staying power of a picture book at its best. 

CHRONICLE BOOKS, 2019

The target age for this charmer is preschool to kindergarten, and yet it speaks to me from the opening pages. The kid-friendly illustrations throughout invite any reader of any age to dive into the adventurous spirit of childhood and go along for the hike!  

The title page reveals the field guide notebook of one character, Wren, who leads the three sisters from their nature-setting home through a full day of exploration of the bounties and beauties of nature.

The main text is simple, using few but perfectly chosen words: 

"We are going on a hike."

On that same page, hand-lettered labels  reveal names of the sisters and their dog, multiple plants and critters shown in their natural setting, with the colors of nature rendered in simple media including choices that most kids would find in a large set of crayons. Page after page continues the labeling of flora and fauna, sample notes in Wren's field guide, the antics of Bean, and occasional speech bubbles as the girls interact. 

Their roaming consumes the entire day into dusk, but they eventually reach their destination, a mountain top at which each completes her mission. Their return toward a well-lit and welcoming home includes the overhead expanse of stars in labeled constellations. When that happy resolve concludes, Wren's sketchbook offers added spreads and valuable nature information, all presented in child-like speeches and lettering. The model it presents for launching a summer notebook/;sketchbook project for kids at home is both appealing and accessible. 

This is all valuable and appealing on its surface, but the seemingly simple story also resonates with each girl's individuality, with the purposeful and self-directed use of a summer day, with their mutual appreciation of each other and of nature. All of these elevate an apparently simplistic or even scientific choice of story to one that invites return over the days of summer and years of lives. 

To read a prior post featuring two picture books on the power of footloose nature fun, read HERE. 

I recently read two middle grade novels in which the worlds (one incorporating recognizable location names, the other with imagined names suggesting places we now know) are post-apocalyptic from both environmental and political destructions of the resources we too often take for granted. Both include scenes in which characters reflect back, with melancholy, to the people who came before, who failed to appreciate and protect what they had before it was too late. Both, I'll add, are able to offer hope and a suggestion of a better future in various ways, but neither imagines that the harm can be undone. If this sounds interesting to you or young readers you know, check out D-39, A ROBODOG'S JOURNEY by Irene Latham (a verse novel that reads compellingly) and The TEAR COLLECTOR by R. M Romero. My reviews on goodreads are linked to the titles.

The COW SAID BOO! Laughs Guaranteed!

PAJAMA PRESS, 2021

My sincere wish for us all is that none shall suffer a summer cold. But in case you do, here's a picture book with a fun spin on sneezing. THE COW SAID BOO!  is written by Lara Button and illustrated by Alice Carter. 

There are plenty of visual cues to make this a great title to add to your fall/Halloween collection, and it's a terrific variant on the typical ghost story. Even so, I love it as a summer read. Farm trips, day camps, pick-your-own berry outings, and even car trips with counting cows (people still do that, right?) invite books about cows. 

In this case, when COW has a cold and tires to say MOO!  it comes out BOO!  As someone who is overcome by sneezes (even when not caused by a cold) I loved that COW's sneezing sends her stumbling and bumbling into a sheet on a clothesline, and ... you can guess from there, can't you?

In this case the brightly colorful and cartoonish characters and settings invite little ones to cock-a-doodle along, and recognize that something unknown can be scary. Sometimes even friends  we know can seem not quite themselves. The humor in images invites repeated readings and reading-along, eventually showing  a highly satisfying benefit to this poor cow's condition. This is a picture book without guise or glamour, without intentional or implied messages, but one whose fun and frolic involve lively language, loyalty, and laughter.

For a paired reading, be sure to read  BOB, NOT BOB! by Liz Garton Scanlon.

LITTLE, BROWN BYR, 2017

 A boy with a cold is mispronouncing loads of words, starting with MOM! The fun and clever writing is no surprise (it's by Liz Scanlon!) so it's a highly recommended choice for word play and evoking some serious laughter (is that an oxymoron?). If you or kiddos you know are dealing with stuffed noses, both books are MUST HAVES. 

Or even if you're not! 

Both are read-aloud delights, especially for those who like to ham it up!

All the Ice Cream In the WORLD: A Parable

 I'm a fan of ice cream, so this picture book had me at the title: 

ALL THE ICE CREAM IN THE WORLD, written and illustrated by Masoud Gharebaghi.

CLAVIS BOOKS, 2024

After all, it's SUMMER, and it's HOT, and it's ICE CREAM!

The cover illustration confirmed my assumption that this would be a romp through the glorious possibilities of ICE CREAM. Perhaps with a sampling of world-cultural takes on it, or ways ice cream makes its way to our mouths (that's what the cover suggested to me), or even a story about some ice-cream-crazed kiddo who could never get enough to satisfy. Even the end papers echoed this brilliant array of ice cream options, revealing the creator's background in design.

While the title of this post suited the story between the covers, I was wrong about the plot. I found absolutely no sense of greediness or self-indulgence. In fact, this story is a parable about the innocence and empathy of children.

The story line is simple, but beautifully and heart-tuggingly rendered in soft-edged, stylized art that makes the story universally recognizable and lifts it from the specific to the human level. That's especially appropriate because it is a story of global crisis and the need for a global effort to resolve it. All the effort in the world.

The very individual and specific problem sets a baby polar bear at risk when its snowy den becomes an ice floe set adrift by global warming. Currents take the bear into an overwhelmingly large city, one oblivious to his presence (the first metaphor). Adults hurry past wearing earphones, staring at screens, or blankly tunnel-visioned on their seemingly important missions. enormous structures suggest massive consumption of energy and time and attention. the central double spread reveals the collaborative nature of problem solving and presents a wide diversity of young faces, all focused forward, directly to the reader. From that point forward the images of countless kids loses its individuality and shows the power of numbers and unified effort.

It took a few moments of examining the art before I felt its affinity to Dan Santat's THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE, the little imaginary friend who roams unseen throughout many pages of its journey. Until...

LIttle, Brown Books
 for Young Readers
2014

In that gentle but deep story only a dog notices the seeking and longing of another creature in need.

In this story, one child with ice cream sees the small bear, senses need, and shares her sweet cold relief. The resolution is both satisfying and alarming. With a call to all the children in then world to bring their ice creams, they provide an icy island to send back to sea, returning the baby bear to its mother. 

That happy ending is deeply poignant, with not-at-all-subtle final lines:

"The small humans gave up something they loved to help me.

Maybe one day, everyone will do the same to save our home."

Under the dedication that opens the book there is an even more direct message from the author about this crisis. The story does what the best parables do. It entertains, elecits smiles, has a sympathetic character in need and a surprisingly clever and courageous hero. The art is both charming and powerful, the colors and canvas textures draw the eye for closer looks. And the concept of an icy floating mass of ice cream provides a cool, chill, delicious image. But the undertow of adults (or humankind, more generally) unable to even notice need due to preoccupation with their own driven natures strikes very close to home. 

It's not long past the time of graduation speeches and adults advocating for young people to take leadership in a challenged world. Fair enough. Every "next generation" has been charged with "doing better" or fixing the world. But the current state of conditions, the self-centered destruction that generated disastrous threats to the survival of the future generations, have wreaked havoc on the planet and make those requests immeasurably unfair. I have great faith in YOUTH, in their care and creativity and commitment to doing better. But I wish and hope that those of us who are older would shake loose of our preoccupations and contribute to solutions now, and forever forward. To put our shoulders into helping turn this ship around.

On a side note, I reflected on my own greedy reaction to the title before reading this book. It turns out there are many books about ice cream and its allure, and I refuse to think that having some fun and funny reactions to the prospect of mountains of ice cream is "wrong". Even so, I was grateful for this lovely reminder that such pleasures, in stories or in scoops on cones, should  close my eyes to "big picture" stories such as ALL THE ICE CREAM IN THE WORLD. If this subtle misdirection gets others to open and read, I'm happy to know it. And I hope you'll "save room" for this one among your lighter and more distracting choices. 

BARBED WIRE BETWEEN US: Fort Sill, Oklahoma

 It's hard to have to admit that this is a nonfiction look at a real place, FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA.

Even harder to admit that a country that erred horribly in turning this place into a concentration camp of American Japanese over half a century ago, a country that acknowledged and attempted to make compensatory payments, would now, as you read this, be using the same facility in a similar way. 

Hardest of all is acknowledging that these choices arose out of fear. 

Red Comet Press, 2026

Not the fear by those wrongly contained, but from a population whose fears were enflamed politically and without validity.

BARBED WIRE BETWEEN US is written by Mia Wenjen and illustrated by Violeta Encarnacion. The cover image implies both the similarity and contrast between the original use during WWI and the use now as a detention center for those accused of illegal immigration or violation of immigration laws for simply being "not us".

The remarkable technique uses a pattern similar to a REVERSO POEM. In this case, the book provides haunting and revealing images on each page along with brief text, a line or two that adds to the story of the lives so severely impacted during these fateful times. The first half of the book provides a color-shift at midpoint but continues the story with new characters. Once the pages end, readers are invited to begin again, reading back to front. The language and experiences now become eerily distinct but painfully mirror the original imprisonment experience. 

In both cases the incarcerations involved fear of "OTHERS", using a wartime-threat premise that could never really be justified. Both feature young residents, some suffering separation from trusted adults, and the powerful, painful contrast between hope and reality. 

Backmatter addresses the facts as well as offering a brief note about REVERSO poetry. What is not mentioned, which felt especially painful to me, is that this forward/backward reading cycle is, to a degree, like a mobius strip in which there really is no end. One small twist makes that happen, but once in place it becomes inevitable. Our earlier history was shameful enough, but to see that it is repeating is beyond shameful. The thought that this will continue to occur in the future with new "others" is appalling. And yet, we can no longer doubt  or deny it is happening. 

PLEASE, read this, share it, and then join me in finding ways to end this current chapter of our countries errors and prevent it from happening again. I have no answers as to HOW. A great start is to simply raise awareness of the horror of today's practices. This book is elegantly powerful in doing just that.