TAKING FLIGHT: Experience Displacement and Refugee Life

DIAL BOOKS, 2026

 TAKING FLIGHT is written by Kashmira Sheth and illustrated by Nicoló Carozzi. journey stories and family travel are appealing topics in picture books, and I was eager to read this one. I was also not sure what to expect. Kashmira Sheth is a writer whose work I know well, including her picture books, middle grade, and more. She brings to her work both personal and investigative backgrounds and culture that enlarge and enrich the general range of topics in children's literature. With that in mind, I expected this to be more than just a journey story, and i was not disappointed.

Using direct address to the reader (you) as if they are living the experiences, she introduces three families. One is departing a highland home with snowy peaks, another "you"  is leaving behind sprawling cotton fields and a village full of friends, while a third family is escaping their bombarded urban home. From that sudden but heartfelt opening, the three characters that embody "you" appear throughout, facing similar struggles that refugees face.

Hunger. 

Thirst.

Exhaustion,

Finding, instead of homes, makeshift tents with minimal  provisions.

Travel by plane, boat, bus... into an unknown.

Small in relation to their own adults, to the surrounding, to the great differences and worries.

NEW should be exciting, but instead requires courage for more struggles ahead, including language and insertion into a classroom or playground of strangers. 

Simple acts of kindness are revealed, activities that spark recognition and hope.

The strength of these children remains the focus of the text and illustrations. The transitions are revealed realistically but not melodramatically. The reasons behind relocation aren't addressed directly. Yet the strength of minimal text and subdued but sensitive illustrations reveal so much.

Adults who share the book with children in homes, classrooms, libraries may want to extend some geography lessons and political ones as well, offering ideas about the where and why of such changes. Children/audiences might well contribute their own awareness of such travels. 

As a story standing on its own, this is powerful and engaging, deeply moving and hopeful. 

As an example of universal experiences and needs, it is priceless. 

GEOGRAPHY! (No APP Needed!)

From my childhood (eons ago), I clearly recall my first weeks in fourth grade for a very particular reason. Same school, same group of classmates, same old-same old. Except for one very important thing. In fourth grade we were each assigned a copy of our own text books, signed out to each of us for an entire year. Up until then, our work/lessons were done through copying board work, writing on smelly-mimeo-sheets, or other ephemeral sources to support learning. We had used books-- reading, math, spelling, etc.-- but they were kept in stacks on side shelves and NEVER kept in our desks or (gasp!) taken home. Handing out and returning books for lessons was a prestigious job!

But now, as fourth graders, we were trusted with "our own" books, sort of: to keep in our desks, to take home at the end of the day! Granted, they were ancient and in varying degrees of terrible condition, which was carefully documented in annually updated notes on a card inside the front cover. We signed our names on that card and would be held accountable if the end-of-year condition of the book was worse than it was when we received it. Whew, no pressure!

Even so, they were "ours" for the year. My favorite of those books was GEOGRAPHY! That was the title. No doubt it had a subtext, or perhaps it did not. After all, we were only fourth graders. But I spent night after night at home, stretched out on my stomach with that GEOGRAPHY book open to any particular page, using colored pencils and the insides of paper grocery bags to replicate as accurately s possible whichever map intrigued me on that day. I labeled, and matched colors to the degree of exactness possible using a twelve pack of dull color pencils. Maps were amazing. 

ALFRED A. KNOPF, 2024

With that elaborate personal introduction, I'm excited to share this new nonfiction picture book: THE SHAPE OF THINGS: How Mapmakers Picture Our World. It's written by Dean Robbins and illustrated by Matt Travares, and I wondered if either of them had ever discovered a love of maps as kids.

Jumping to the author and illustrator notes on back pages, I learned that Robbins was intrigued by the history of maps.Travares admits he had given very little thought to maps until getting this assignment. In the righteous tradition of picture book production, both have done loads of research and become fans of the subject matter as it worked its way toward becoming a bound object. I commend them both for their results, collaboratively launching countless young map-lovers into the world.The scope of this fact-packed but minimal text opens with endpapers revealing (we later learn) one of the most ancient relics of an Egyptian map on papyrus. The closing end pages show a map on a digital screen display on the dashboard of an automobile. 

Between those covers are luminous images and lyrical accounts of the history, processes, tools, impacts, and remaining evidence of maps from the earliest  examples carved into massive rocks or ivory artifacts, through  stick-charts depicting ocean currents, right through to satellite images of our actual planet earth. One of my earliest learning memories from that GEOGRAPHY book and map transcription is the fact that boundaries are arbitrary and the glorious country and river colors were simply visual aids, not indicators of any other sigificance, not reflecting the physical world they portray in any way other than SHAPE.. 

This "Big Blue Marble" on which we reside and survive only vaguely resembles those earlier attempts, but time, technology, tools, and tenacity produced efforts explained in main text and noted on that timeline on closing pages. It's impressive evidence that I'm not the only one who is curious about, intrigued by, the shape of things on this planet we occupy. I hope you'll feel the same.

BRAVE BABY HUMMINGBIRD: What a Wonder!

 Anyone who reads my posts will know that I am an unabashed bird lover. Any book that involves birds, especially books that reveal deep understanding of actual species and their traits,  has my attention immediately. If the subject happens to be birds that I've personally experienced,  the book has an enormous head start to my heart. This next picture book scores on every point and doesn't disappoint. 

A Paula Wiseman Book, 2024
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

BRAVE BABY HUMMINGBIRD is written by superb nonfiction author Sy Montgomery, and illustrated by Tiffany Bozic. Each of these creators is a nature-specialist in their own right, but together  their work transports readers into the actual world of two actual baby hummingbirds. It is rare for even one hummingbird (of any age) to survive the conditions or events that might deposit them into untrained hands, but these two landed with a knowledgeable naturalist who knows how to ask the right questions. 

(As a former licensed wildlife rescuer, I was concerned that the story told might encourage readers to attempt to raise or rehabilitate wild birds themselves, but Montgomery's author note and back matter makes clear the importance of caring for wildlife properly. "The voice", who represents the human giving care to the orphaned hummingbird pair, mentions having ten years of training to know when, how, and why to prepare the hummers for the real world. 

Montgomery offers many ways in which people can help on their own while still providing these critters with the skilled and trained support they require.)

I'm not usually a fan of assuming a first-person voice to convey realistic information from an animal subject, but this is an example of doing it well. More than well. There is very little attempt to suggest emotions and motivations, other than the realistic hunger and fear experienced when the parent hummer does not return to the nest. Otherwise, the narrative reveals observations, reactions, impulses, and actions that carry readers through the first full year of life for two hummers hatched in a nutshell sized nest, born the size of a bumblebee. Everything described reveals Montgomery's research into the process of raising and releasing baby birds, particularly hummingbirds, while celebrating their uniquely small size and remarkable flight patterns. 

The illustrations are both accurately detailed and inspiringly artistic, elevating an already jaw-dropping species to near-magical. Each visual element adds to the information base readers gain in exploring this lovely and lively book. 

As a side note, this is another of those picture books that will hook adults. I suspect that Montgomery may have read a memoir/informational book about humming birds that I often recommend. Anyone who is intrigued with hummers should seek it out: 

FASTEST THINGS ON WINGS: RESCUING HUMMINGBIRDS IN HOLLYWOOD, by Terry Masear, Harper Collins, 2016.

Ready for a Reading Road Trip? LEAFY LANDMARKS!

 

SLEEPING BEAR PRESS, 2024

With a few weeks of summer still ahead, and a gorgeous fall forecast (quote me- I'm predicting it!), you'll want to know about this remarkable new picture book, LEAFY LANDMARKS: Travels with Trees, written by Michelle Schaub and illustrated by Anne Lambelet. I have nothing but praise for this new picture book which is structured with individual poems about specific iconic trees, paralleled by informational sidebars providing details and background about that tree, beyond the rich content of the poems themselves. Each poem is also in a particular poetic form that is named and explained briefly, and each is masterful in execution. 

The premise is revealed in end papers that feature the named trees and poetic forms on leaves with brief descriptions, followed by a double-spread map of the continental USA showing the trees, their approximate locations, and the coast-to-coast-and-back route that the imagined explorers are traveling. The explorers on this journey represent a diverse and delightful family, with others along the way equally representing our mosaic of Americans. 

Some  trees are familiar (Japanese Cherry Blossom trees in Washington, D.C.) while most will be exciting discoveries and offer new connections to familiar history. In the same way, the poetic forms range from those that will be familiar to even young children (list poems, narrative poems) to forms that offer entirely new challenges and fun. 

The blend of poetry and informational text is well-balanced and appealing, moving readers from the lyrical lilt of a poem that evokes emotions and reactions to the nonfiction content that is accessible and often intriguing. The only drawback to this lovely new offering is my question about how it will be shelved-- with poetry, with nature, with history, with geography, or...? The good news is that Leafy Landmarks offers such appeal to individual readers and for use by teacher and librarians, it is not likely to be left for long on whatever shelf is used. Give it a look and plan to hit the road!

 Whether you and your own carload of leaf-lookers attempt cross-country travels like these, or locate one of these remarkable living-history trees within a day-trip of home, just learning about them should be an inspiring mind-trip for readers of any age.

Did You Know? AMAZON RIVER is AMAZING!

 When I say AMAZON RIVER, what do you think?

Flesh-eating piranhas?  But did you know about the vegetarian piranhas that eat underwater fruit and then deposit seeds many miles upstream and downstream in their poop?

Brazilian rainforests?  Largest river?  But did you know that includes mountain sources and sprawling tributaries crossing seven countries and thousands of miles of river basin/ 

And did you know? The actual AMAZON RIVER is only the surface layer for a three river system: a moist overhead aerial current, the flowing surface waters, and an underground river, miles beneath that surface, only discovered a few years ago? 

Let's be honest. Other than those who live in, study, or frequently visit the vast realm of the AMAZON RIVER, few would know these details, or most of the others that are throughly researched and thoughtfully selected for inclusion in this visual and well-written picture book journey of fantastic features and facts. The Amazon River truly is a natural wonder of our world.

Flying Eye Books, 2021

AMAZON RIVER is written by Sangma Francis and illustrated with Romolo D'Hipolito. This is a recent addition to an expanding catalog of nonfiction picture book titles from a publisher on a mission to combine powerful illustrations and perspectives that entice and engage readers with places in the world known to most of us only superficially. They specialize in capturing the talent and insights of international authors and artists to present a universally appealing view.

The sweep and allure of the contents of this book are undeniable, with brilliance in colors, points of view, revelatory information, and stylistic portrayal that are both realistic and inspiring. With a brief introduction from the author and a table of contents organized into four categories, a massive topic becomes manageable and intriguing. Each nods to subtopics that could (and do) fill other extensive books, yet highlights both discreet details and sweeping relationships, adding to the impact for readers of any age. 

Each section encompasses very brief chapters, often only a double-page spread, but dense with images and accessible content.  From SOURCE to SEA focuses on the physical science of the river at various stages, especially water-facts involving a water/land mass nearly the size of continental United States. WILDLIFE on the RIVERBANK, the next section, explores extraordinary wildlife (plant and animal) that make the air, land, and riverscapes of this basin their home. The next section is PEOPLE of the RAINFOREST, revealing a limited but important view of facts about the indigenous people who developed within and lived interdependent with the fantastic and diverse biomes throughout this complex habitat. And finally, LIFE ON THE RIVER is a section filled with examples of various ways that human societies, economies, and cultures interact with, depend on, exploit, and attempt to protect the Amazon River, in eras [ast and in the modern world.

I admire the design and production of this oversized and inviting book that competes successfully with video alternatives. Sure, watching clips would be a lovely extension of this book, but the slightly retro yet modern style and surprising information encourage individual or shared examination of each spread, while sparking curiosity to learn even more. The sturdy binding and paper stock will hold up well over the many rereads it deserves during a long shelf life in classrooms and libraries. This is another wonderful example of a picture book that might dwell in a reference collection, but is also beautifully suited for use in science, social studies, geography, and general nonfiction lessons, discussions, and classrooms. I suggest that you give it a try and then ask someone else about the AMAZON RIVER. It gives you a wonderful excuse to share some of these surprising and exciting details and recommend an exciting nonfiction book as well. 

Why not start with that question... Did you know...?

 

RUMBLE and ROAR: Sound Around the World

 There's no denying that writing picture books with text that rhymes, effectively, is a challenge for most. It often is even for those with a talent for it. I've heard this advice to writers repeatedly- 

Do not use rhyme unless there is NO BETTER WAY to write it, and then do it VERY WELL. 

Sue Fliess is among those with a talent for writing in rhyme, and many of her books are favorites of little readers and their adult families and teachers. You can click on her name and check out her many titles, new and old. PLEASE wait to finish reading here first. You could spend hours at her website, and I don't want you to miss what I have to say about this latest offering. 

MILLBROOK PRESS, 2022

RUMBLE AND ROAR: Sound Around the World is delightfully written by Sue Fliess, offering a ral treat for the ear. It's illustrated with equal vim, vitality, and visual appeal by Khoa Le.

The tightly written, perfectly rhymed, onomatopoetic words reveal children and families in fully developed settings around the world, reveling in the adventure of engaging with nature using all their senses. The precise and mouth-popping word choices lend themselves to the eye-popping experiences each group encounters, in a tropical setting, on an African savannah or wooded mountainside, near a crashing waterfall or on a whispery-quiet night. 

The unfolding of an apparent single day, from rising to shining to reclining in sleep, makes it a terrific bedtime story. It will also be welcomed into classrooms for lessons on language or to consider various geographic regions and climates and biomes, and in homes for exciting and dreamy lap time stories. 

This is the second title in what I hope will be an extensive series by this talented pair of creators. I reviewed the first , FLASH AND GLEAM: LIGHT IN OUR WORLD here. In both picture books the characters and family configurations are as diverse as the global settings. Both also offer accurate and helpful information about their topics (LIGHT and SOUnd, respectively) in a few pages of accessible and clearly-explained back matter. These are books that should be made available in multiple copies, to shelve with poetry, science, and storytelling. In each case the main text is fewer than a hundred words, with the illustrations unveiling intriguing story-potentials on every spread. 

Take a look, read each out loud, share them with kids, and then tell someone about what perfect gifts they would make for classroom teachers and library story times. 

ZOOM to South America- No Digital Devices Required

Amicus Ink 2020

In my opinion, and that's what I offer here, there are too few picture books published for the "American" market that are set in South America. The fact that most of us in the USA treat the word AMERICAN as if it applies only to our country is an important reason to check out this new picture book. Our culture offers very little space for really learning about our continental neighbor to the south, and what most of us do "know" is stereotypical, or simplistic, or just plain wrong. 

A TINY BROWN MONKEY ON THE BIG BLUE EARTH is written by Tory Christie and illustrated by Lucianna Navarro Powell. This book is a welcome ZOOM experience (and I don't mean video-conferencing). The tiny brown monkey zooms in for a close-up view from monkey's multiple perspectives within the Serra dos Orgaos National Park in Brazil. In the successive pages, zooming out a bit at a time, readers follow a jungle trail into a smaller village (Town of Guapimirim). There the reader observes a crowded bus, zooming out further to continue through increasingly populated areas until reaching the City of Rio de Janeiro. 

Along the way the saturated and textured illustrations are a feast for the eyes. The detailed images offer a challenge to curious readers to identify various animal and plant life. Once the perspective reaches the vibrant and illuminated city, perched on the brink of the Atlantic Ocean, readers are launched into a starry sky that reveals how vast and beautiful this planet is as it swirls through space. 

It is more important than ever to expand our knowledge and appreciation for our endangered planet, for our continental neighbors and their complex societies and resources, and the place within this world for ourselves and for tiny brown monkeys, and every form of animal, vegetable, and mineral on land and in the sea. That goal may be a stretch for adults who have already prioritized what "matters" or merits their attention, but this book is a delightful way to engage the youngest among us on a lifetime of curiosity, appreciation, and respect.

By the way, I was able to include those labels of the national park and village and city because the Brazilian illustrator incorporated fantastic endpapers with labeled “map pins” marking the most important locations referenced in the story. The continental land mass illustration incorporates some basic geologic markers, too, making this an appealing introduction to map reading and geography study. 

Did I mention what a cutie that tiny brown monkey is?

I received a copy of this new picture book from Amicus Ink to consider for review, with no promises. I gave it a close look because I've been a fan of the several categories of Amicus books since they launched, and recently reviewed another fine story from this imprint, EXTRAORDINARY, ORDINARY ELLA. Check it out, HERE.

I'm looking forward to what is next in their planning for picture books. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, enjoy this glorious picture book ZOOM visit to an amazingly beautiful patch of our big blue planet.

 

 

RAIN: As Essential As Poetry

Eerdman Books for Young Readers, October, 2019

I'm excited to celebrate the launch of a brand new picture book by Swedish author, illustrator, and poet Anders Holmer: RAIN.  It ticked all the right boxes for me before I even opened the cover: nature, poetry (strongly accessible haiku, in fact), breathtaking art, and a diverse world perspective. 
I don't often post an extra-large version of covers, but in this case it feels necessary. Even at this size, you may struggle to view the minuscule falling particles in the image. These and other suggestions of rain in the various scenes throughout the book are "raining down" on the characters and situations. These characters are as diverse as the locales, and each individual feels to me to be totally absorbed in a distinct story. 
On this cover image, for example, those gray-green slashes poking through the snow are early evidence of lichen underlying an arctic/tundra region. The snow cover, clothing, and transportation methods suggest that the moisture from above may be of the slushy-sleety variety, the type that stings the skin and renders old snow surfaces as slick as ice, literally. 
And yet, after surviving yet another long, dark, frozen season, such a rain swells the heart:

"Calf licking the first

fresh green wedges of lichen.

And soon, butterflies!"

Like this poem, each in this book is finely crafted, adhering to the rigid expectations of Haiku, a traditional Japanese form:

Three unrhymed lines (5-7-5 syllables)

Total of 17 syllables

Strong imagery

Often nature scenes

Capturing a specific moment or emotion in time

In this book, creator Holmer has mastered all of the above while developing a series of global scenes that underscore the universal nature of the moments and emotions portrayed. Young readers and writers will enjoy and be inspired to write their own haiku- a seemingly simple challenge. If that happens, I'd urge you to emphasize content over syllable count. (There are many poetry scholars who accept adaptations to the pattern, although the three line, seventeen syllable total are useful guides.) 

I've shared other haiku collections HERE, and HERE. Themed and cumulative haiku that form a sequential narrative story are easiest to explore for beginners (Dog-Ku and Won-Ton). Holmer declares RAIN as the unifying theme for this series. Rain is unbiquitous in every climate, including desert zones. It offers a common thread among all human experience. The emotional journeys of these scenes also have a commonality to them, with each double spread revealing relationships, struggles, and suggesting open-ended resolutions. Independent writers could well imagine a story from each of the twelve spreads, guided by the haiku text, and then harvest details from images on the page while imagining a before and after related to the scene. 

At this point I'll pat myself on the back because I'm going to resist including any other examples of Holmer's poems, even though I'm eager to share them all. I wouldn't dare include more, though, because doing so without the book in hand would fail to deliver the full impact their power. The conceptual design and flow of emotional content from scene to scene is enhanced by the book's design. The tall trim size allows for double spreads to open as in a landscape display of artwork (which each is). Most use color tones that are subdued but surprisingly intense, whether in the depths of a rainforest river or a petal-strewn Japanese garden. 

The scenes (puffins near a lighthouse, running horses on a plain, a forest fire with fleeing animals, and so many more) unfold with quiet authority, providing enough realism to spark background knowledge of climate zones (and perhaps some geography research), yet they provide a slightly abstracted quality that is inherent in the poetry form, allowing space for each reader to enter and inhabit the pages and the poems. 

Rain is a human experience, as are its consequences (floods, droughts, crops, famine, dismay, delight). It is a resource and a necessity. After reading and re-reading this haiku collection, many times over, and after sitting with the lives revealed in scene-after-scene, I'm convinced the same can be said about the new picture book, RAIN. For your own reading and for young readers of any age, make it a point to get and share this book. Return to it often. It is both a resource and a necessity. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.