CHOOCH HELPED: Piling On with the Praise

LEVINE QUERIDO, 2024

This recommendation will be brief but utterly sincere. CHOOCH HELPED, written  by Andrea L. Rogers and illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, is not only the 2025 Caldecott Medal Winner, it has been praised by the most noted reviewers, including stars from KIRKUS, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, HORN BOOK, and a feature interview on NPR. 

It's pretty obvious that this book has no need for my support, and yet it is just too darn good to ignore. It offers so many things that matter, perhaps even more in our current social climate than ever. The universal quality of the story confirms it will become a modern classic: 

Older sister Sissy finds two-year-old brother Chooch to be unfairly indulged, especially when his well-intentioned helping inevitably makes things worse. 

When writers decide to tell a story, they are urged to look for something original. Once again, this is obviously NOT the first time that an annoying sibling story has made it onto the pages of a picture book. But the things that elevate this version of that familiar relationship are unique, organically incorporated, resonant with anyone and everyone, opening a door to a culture that reflects an age-old story within the little-told context of contemporary Cherokee life. It serves those for whom this is unfamiliar as well s those whose lives are so rarely presented  in the broader culture. 

 

From opening end pages to closing, within each and every integrated detail (dress ribbons, color choices, butterfly-bird-flower images, and daily tasks within scenes, the simplicity and specificity reveal so much about their lives, and our own. Throughout the text various Cherokee words are used (with subtext-pronunciation) allow readers to proceed smoothly through the story. 

Within that immersive experience, the richest moments, to me, involved Sissy yelling at Chooch, then having her parents yell at her that yelling was wrong! Wow, that's a universal experience. The resolves, between parents and Sissy, between Sissy and Chooch, are heartwarming and realistic. In fact, it's a fine mentor text for anyone hoping to take a universal story and make it distinctive and original. Memorable. Valuable over time. Priceless.

Back matter provides a page of simple directions for making an air-dried pinch pot, a page of glossary and Cherokee Syllabary examples, both author note and artist note, and page design backgrounds throughout that could become a case study for Cherokee art, symbols, and history. 

I said this would be brief. Not so much,  it seems. I also said it is sincere, and it is, utterly. My praise for this book is without limits, indeed. I hope that you'll check it out, share it, spend time with it, and talk about it with others. 

SOUP? Try LENTIL SOUP by Carole Tremblay and Marieen Poignonec

Here in Wisconsin it's the first day of May, but the weather has been stubbornly cold, blustery, and not at all spring-like. That's frustrating, but not entirely surprising. When the sun shines through on a cold, windy day, I can feel spring nudging its way around the corner. But when cloudy and overcast conditions persist for days on end, I need to cook up a pot of soup. 

ORCA BOOKS, Canada, 2022

I plan to have the ingredients for LENTIL SOUP on hand the next time that happens. Those ingredients are not only tasty and healthy, they are cleverly comic in a recent picture book. Every day veggies are brought to memorable life in the conversation between young mouse Buddy and his increasingly exasperated mother. LENTIL SOUP is written by Carole Tremblay and illustrated by Maureen Poignonec, 

The endpapers reveal an array of bite-sized veggies with cheeky expressions in their google eyes, eyes that are similar to the wide-eyed pair who tell the entire story in speech bubbles with delicately-lined and softly colored images related to each exchange. 

When mother serves up steaming hot soup, the young one declares it too hot to eat. Then, an exchange of questions/answers ensues, with Buddy questioning every ingredient, starting with those lentils. Mother responds with answers posed as four multiple choice options, three of which are laughably absurd. The actual answer is informative, to Buddy and to readers, leading to the next, then the next, then the next. As Buddy recognizes his mother's progressive impatience, he offers optional answers to his own questions. Mom takes the bait and supplies the correct response, right down to the herbs. 

By that time the soup is too cold (kids will love predicting that) and needs to return to the pot to heat up. The humor throughout is light and delightful, while providing a template for young readers to define or explain other fruits or vegetables (or other things) using the four-options approach and simple drawings of their thoughts. Imaginations will run wild!

The concluding two pages are deliciously tongue-in-cheek, and cheeky, making Buddy an unforgettable character. I'm wondering if he and his mother may appear in a future story? There's a bonus at the end- Mother's recipe for lentil soup! Can you nominate some other recipe that deserves thorough examination through the eyes of Buddy and company?

When it comes to fictional books with factual ingredients, this one is a gem. Kids will adore the interaction in this deftly-depicted child-parent relationship that suggests amusement, affection, and humor-bordering-on-annoyance. 

Pull up a hot bowl of soup and this book for a heartwarming experience. While you're at it, hold warm thoughts for a change to spring weather, please!

SIDE BY SIDE: A Celebration of Dads

This weekend I'm exciting to share the release of new picture book that celebrates dads. 
I've included notes about my own dad in posts here and here, and I've written about him (and mom) in other posts and venues. I consider the blessing of my life to being raised by two parents who were steady and loving anchors and guides throughout my childhood and beyond. 
There are plenty of kids who still grow up with that blessing. Plenty of others are growing up with dads who offer positive influences and interactions in their children's lives, even if not able to do so full time. The amount of time spent together pales in comparison to the quality of time spent, so this book also applies to those men who step up and assume the mantle of dad in a child's life. 

Phaidon, 2019

My first impulse with any books by  Caldecott winner Chris Raschka is to rave. When it comes to reviewing, though, I force myself to be more objective. 
The subtext of the title, SIDE BY SIDE: A Celebration of Dads, says it all. Each three-page-turn-stanza of this poetic celebration is a story unto itself. Each sequence suggests an extended experience, a pair of loving lives. With minimal words, not rhymed but perfectly chosen and paced to reveal the roles on both sides, we join the the father and the child as they interact in a variety of activities. A range of ethnicities, genders, and settings underscore the universality of these relationships.
Use your imagination to picture these examples: 

Horse and rider

Queen and jester

Side by side

Mountain and climber

Dreamer and doer

Side by side

Now, try your best to view your mental pictures as interpreted by Chris Raschka: vibrant colors, loose and flowing swashes of color, soft edges, movement and action, expressive faces, and shifting perspectives on the page. The tall but narrow trim size provides ample room for soaring kites and scaled dad-kid images. The end papers are a delight: opening papers display the dad/kid hats from the interior, while final end papers do the same with the paired pairs of shoes from the interior stories.
From cover to cover, from head to toe, from scene to scene, this is a winner. I can hardly imagine a child or parent who would not embrace (literally, embrace) this book. It is an ideal gift book, of course, but it is equally suited to day-to-day reading and circulation in classroom, libraries, bookstores, families. 

When reading about Raschka's inspiration for this book it reminds us, too, how adult children can use picture books as gifts to our own parents to say what our own words never seem to do as well.

This is a rave review, right? 

Yes, it is, and it is well-earned.

A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.