Summer Nostalgia: JOY, Then and Now!

Nancy Paulsen Books, 2022

The World Belonged to Us is written by multi-award-winning and widely-admired author Jacqueline Woodson, with brilliantly joyful, time-specific details and action-packed scenes, illustrated by Leo Espinosa.This text is longer than many recent picture books, but every word carries its weight-  although the tone and pace of this book is not at all weighty, characterized by feathery lightness of spirit and tone. The opening words, repeated throughout the book, are presented in larger colorful font and poetic line breaks:

"In Brooklyn

in the summer

not so long ago"

At each appearance, those words launch a past-tense account of the FREEDOM of kids in summer- FREE as sun, FREE as summer! In summer, in those days, things that had bound kids into the braces and traces of daily life were ERASED:

Hairdos, clothing, schedules, playground fences, and even having adults resolve differences. In summer, it fell to the kids themselves to work things out  in ways that preserved their community of play. The compelling drive and array of options, their curiosity, and necessary collaboration sustained the momentum of a single game over several days. Most endeavors involved large numbers of kids, so everyone found their places in the action. 

The threads of shared news, heroes, storytellers, and wishes (ice cream truck, anyone?) meant the bonds ran deep and strong, overcoming occasional issues. 

"Wait! Wait! We want a cone.

Then we shared with the friends with no money

because some days the ones with no money

were us."

Within the span of a long (timeless!) day, play extended to the borders of dusk, street lights glowing, and adults calling from street-lined  windows. While heading indoors, assurances of returning where they left off on the next day were shouted up and down the street. 

A magical ending ensues, and I want to share it, without quotations, because wordsmith Woodson deserves your full attention to the text on those final page turns. As a reader and writer of picture books, I have often noted (and have had my attention called to) stories that are "wonderful", but somehow "too slight", or "just not quite enough". 

As gorgeous as this account is, if it had ended with the cleared streets and lighted windows, it just might have merited that comment. Nostalgia has its place but can only go so far in the minds of young audiences. But at that point Woodson turns her repeating phrase in the opening on its head, with "not just" phrasing. Readers join in a powerful leap off the steps, off the page, and into hearts with a perfectly worded conclusion about the power of those experience to launch kids filled with confidence and joyful anticipation of life.

Lee & Low Books, 2017

The Hula-Hoopin' Queen is written by Thelma Lynne Godin and illustrated by exuberant and joyful  Vanessa Brantley-Newton. This is my own nostalgic nod to a throwback title that deserves a close look.  It offers a recognition that not all is lost in current summer vacation days. This contemporary presentation of "Black Girl Joy" has been on the shelves for several years and deserves another shout-out here. The intense  emotions of a girl who has her heart set on winning a neighborhood competition against her rival, with the designation of HULA-HOOPIN' QUEEN, is magnified when her family responsibilities deny her a chance to even TRY!. 

That is a perfect example of writing a story with specific character, situation, and setting that will speak universally to kids from across the country and around the world. Darn those family chores that "ruin" kids' days- especially summer sun/fun days! That happen everywhere, and to everyone!

But joy is not only powerful, it is contagious. The triggers of rhythm, musicality, and cross-generational love and joy lead to a lively, shared resolution that will have hips wiggling and feet tapping, young and old alike. 

This is a great example of a picture book that "lasts", that remains worthy of celebration and attention, long after the early launch hubbub it also deserved. Track it down, share it, and then dig out your old hula hoops!

Counting the Days Until...

This holiday season is nothing if not rich with traditions. Your own traditions at this time of year may be rooted in religion, ethnicity, or family beliefs, but I'm willing to bet my new oven that a spirit of giving plays a central role. Notice, I said "giving", not "gifting".

When I was growing up (just a few decades beyond the stone age), my parents introduced a  Christmas ritual that encouraged caring and sharing (and not just avoiding elves who might report back to Santa if I pinched or teased a sibling.) A mantel stretched across one end of our living room above a fireplace flanked by bookcases. Dad would carefully extend the slightly yellowed rolls of cotton, arranging them across the full length of the mantel. Little cardboard houses, complete with sandpaper rooftops, were fitted onto a string of lights to create a "village". At the center of the display was a Nativity scene. Of course, there was no baby Jesus-- yet. What's more, there was no straw in the little wooden manger that would be His bed. 

It was our job to earn the straw for the manger.  Each evening after dinner we were expected to report on our own acts of kindness or sharing that day. Then we could add a blade of straw to the manger bed for each kindness we had demonstrated. Whether we were told this or not, I believed that if we did not provide a suitable welcome, He might not come. 

In a blog post earlier this week I read this quote from Frances Myers Newman: "God is the good in each of us." Perhaps what I believed wasn't really far from the truth.

Rather than decry commercialism, greed, and secularism, perhaps these weeks leading up to gala celebrations could be filled with books that explore the values of kindness and sharing.

Nancy Paulson Books, 2012

Heading up my list of suggestions is EACH KINDNESS, written by Jacqueline Woodson and gorgeously illustrated by E. B. Lewis. It was recently featured on GREAT KID BOOKS blog, among others, and deserves all the attention it is receiving. I rated it at five stars on Goodreads, with this note:

An excellent companion story to Woodson's THE OTHER SIDE, this is a superb example of wounding "by omission": by refusing to return a smile, choosing not to play with someone, judging by appearances, etc.
Bullying is often seen to be overt, aggressive, but this passive rejection, the isolation of a peer because s/he is not... not what? Just not, that's all.
The uncomfortable truth of the ending is that sometimes lessons are learned too late to "fix", but not to late to change us.

Gibbs Smith Publishers, 2002

Another title worth exploring is ORDINARY MARY'S EXTRAORDINARY DEED, by Emily Pearson, illustrated by Fumi Kosaka. A chain of good deeds ripples incredibly far when Mary picks some blueberries and shares a bowl with her neighbor. From that point on each act of kindness (at this stage, blueberry muffins), is passed on to five others, each of whom does a kindness to five more. And so on, and so on. A page at the back lays out the math of the extraordinary possibilities in sharing blueberries.

Young children can hardly wait to begin the process, imagining that their smallest deeds, like the flutter of butterfly wings, can change the world. 

Older readers inevitably raise the question of "what if"- someone breaks the progression, or only passes on a single kindness.

While their awareness of the reality of human nature saddens me, it is heartening to hear others chime in with comments that "a lot of good happens anyway", or "maybe some will help more than five others." Best of all is when a child of any age offers this: "We can at least do the best we can no matter what anyone else does."

Picture Book Studio, 1989

Add this out-of-print title to your library search. It suggests anonymity when doing a kindness for others. MAGICAL HANDS, by Marjorie Barker, illustrated by Yoshi, celebrates the power in each of us to provide simple joys while savoring our secret power to produce happiness in others.

My wish for you, and for all of us, is to begin today to make a place for goodness in our hearts and lives, then share it with others. 

If you know of other titles that foster this spirit, please suggest!