Mitali Perkins's Blog, page 26

Lent Read #10: WAITING FOR THE BIBLIOBURRO by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra

I remember how much I anticipated Saturday afternoons, when my sister would walk me to the Flushing Public Library for my weekly fix of books. Ana, a girl growing up in rural Colombia, shares that eagerness for stories in WAITING FOR THE BIBLIOBURRO (Random House) by Monica Brown , illustrated by John Parra . Like me, Ana also discovers the joy of creating her own stories.



Recommended by my librarian, Jean Holmblad of the Newton Free Library , this gorgeous picture book is inspired by another librarian, Luis Soriano Bohórquez. A visionary man who grasps the power of books to change the world, Bohórquez spends hours transporting them to children around Colombia on two donkeys, Alfa and Beto.



I'd love to read this story to kids and let them feast their eyes on Parra's paintings. Then I'd ask, "Why did the man go through so much trouble to bring the children books to read?"



Check out this trailer of a 2011 PBS documentary on the mission and work of Bohórquez:



















































Watch Biblioburro - Trailer on PBS. See more from POV.

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Lent Read #9: FRIDA by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

A feast for the eyes and mind, FRIDA: ¡VIVA LA VIDA! by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand (Marshall Cavendish), portrays the life of painter Frida Kahlo through poetry, photographs, and reproductions of the artist's work. Bernier-Grand's terse, powerful verses convey Kahlo's strength, beauty, and passionate need to paint, despite a life of suffering and sorrow.



Inspiring for teens and adults alike, this Pura Belpré Honor book explores the tension between love and art—apparently they can feed and destroy each other, but can never live apart, much like Kahlo and her husband, painter and muralist Diego Rivera.

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Lent Read #8: BLACK AND WHITE by Larry Dane Brimner

Ever wondered why Birmingham airport was


The best children's non-fiction history books chronicle events by combining arresting visuals with lucid prose. Thanks to Brimner's gifts of storytelling and research, a meticulous collection of photographs and letters, and a design that brilliantly pleads the case for the traditional codex, BLACK AND WHITE transports readers into the heart of the civil rights movement. The book brings two characters to life--Shuttlesworth and his nemesis, Eugene "Bull" Connor--as well as the town of Birmingham in the middle of the twentieth century, helping us remember the sacrifice and determination that secured changes we might start taking for granted.



A rousing portrayal of what faithful Christians can and have endured to bring about justice, BLACK AND WHITE singlehandedly makes me proud of our vocation to nourish the imaginations and intellect of the next generation.

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Lent Read #7: BUSING BREWSTER by Richard Michelson

How do you present the complexity of busing in the 1970s to young children? With an even-handed, character-centered picture book, of course. Richard Michelson's BUSING BREWSTER (Knopf) jumpstarts the conversation, introducing children to spunky first-grader Brewster, drawn with chin held high on the cover by R.G. Roth.



At his new school, an Irish-American teacher named Miss O'Grady inspires Brewster by not laughing at his dream of becoming President. I couldn't help wondering, though, if Miss Evelyn, the first-grade teacher in his own neighborhood, couldn't have encouraged the same dream in Brewster. That's the question Michelson seems to be hinting at when he writes through Brewster's eyes: "Miss O'Grady's the librarian. She looks just like Miss Evelyn."



A window into a time in history when children participated in one of the
United States' most controversial social experiments, this picture book
is also a mirror for a sweet relationship between a protective big
brother and a happy-go-lucky little one.



Richard Michelson was born in a mostly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn that became mostly black by the time he was 12. His family stayed, and his father was shot and killed in the family's hardware store by a black man. Michelson has dedicated much of his writing for children to reconciliation between the two communities , and informs each books with extensive research as well as his own lifelong relationships.

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Lent Read #6: A LONG WALK TO WATER by Linda Sue Park

Newbery-Award winning author Linda Sue Park puts her formidable craftsmanship to beautiful use in A LONG WALK TO WATER (Clarion), the true story of Salva Dut,  a "lost boy" from Sudan dedicated to providing clean water in South Sudan .



This book won the 2011 Jane Addams Children's Book Award , and is a great example of why there can't be any kind of apartheid in storytelling. If we required Park to write only about Korean or Korean-American characters in the name of "authenticity," we wouldn't have the gift of this book. She crossed borders of race, culture, and power to write it, no doubt about that, but she did so with her trademark empathy, imagination, and research .



Park's spare writing suits the barren landscape and honors the intense suffering endured by the main character. Dut's life is a mirror of perseverance for young people facing any kind of challenge, and a window into the tragic journeys of young Sudanese forced to flee to Ethiopia and Kenya.



In small scenes scattered throughout the book, set apart by a different font, Park skillfully introduces us to Nya, a girl in a Nuer village waiting for the gift of clean water. Dut is a member of the "enemy" Dinka tribe, and when the two meet around a new well, the story soars with the hope of redemption--and all the more so because it's true.



Although Dut is eventually able to settle in America, essentially he isn't
"saved" by a powerful outsider. His determination to survive and to honor his heritage ring throughout Park's story. By the end of A LONG WALK TO WATER, we celebrate the
capacity in each one of us to "save," no matter how powerless we might be at
the start of a hero's journey.

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Lent Read #5: JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Years ago, I started college without knowing any Bible stories at all. It was a challenge understanding themes and references in many novels and classics.  Many children today find themselves in my situation. Since they might not learn or read the Bible before encountering it in a college class, we can offer them the JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE , an accessible compilation of biblical stories by Sally Lloyd-Jones. As a bonus, Jago's illustrations actually feature people who look Middle Eastern. I'd also recommend this book if the Bible seems confusing or boring to you, as Lloyd-Jones gives a brilliant overview of the narrative arc in a Book that has shaped so many other great stories.

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Lent Read #4: GOYANGI MEANS CAT by Christine McDonnell

Many picture books portray the gains of adoption, but few celebrate it while admitting the reality of all that a child loses. GOYANGI MEANS CAT by Christine McDonnell (Viking) gently and lovingly allows a child to grieve the experiences that came before. Parents who read this book aloud tacitly permit their child to express the grief that is an inevitable part of adoption.



The author is an adoptive parent and a school librarian, and her understanding of and respect for children shines throughout this lovely book. Child-centered illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher echo the theme of a safe space to explore loss.

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Lent Read #3: THE TROUBLE WITH HALF A MOON by Danette Vigilante

Looking for a girl hero in a middle-grade novel with a heart to protect
the abused? You'll find her in THE TROUBLE WITH HALF A MOON's Dellie
(Putnam | 2011). The author, Danette Vigilante ,
grew up in Brooklyn's Red Hook housing project, and her "insider's"
mastery of the setting magically transports us there. We feel the blue
flakes on the playground benches, hear the sound of approaching sirens,
basketballs dribbling, and neighbors' fights, and smell the antiseptic
used by Dellie's mother to clean the elevators.



Vigilante's first person
tween voice effortlessly weaves in details about Puerto Rican culture
in this debut novel. Dellie honors her hard-working, loving, strict
parents, staying true to the culture's norms, even as she decides to
break a few rules for the sake of someone in need. Perfect read to illuminate for
tween girls that so-called "small" choices can make a difference in
their own lives and in their communities.

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A Kid/YA Book a Day for Lent

During this season, I strive to impose a new discipline that slows me to see and hear more clearly. What better practice than enjoying a book from cover to cover, especially in an age when I'm mostly reading in the " shallows " instead of deeply?



I'll be aiming to read a children's or YA book every day until Easter (picture books, chapter books, and graphic novels count--whew), and will be posting brief reviews here, on my Facebook page, and in my Twitter stream. I'll start by scouring my shelves for unread ARCs and review copies, and then head to the bookstore or library.



It's day two, and here's what I've read so far.





LOST AND FOUND: THREE by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine Books). Wistful, hopeful, a feast for the eyes.



ZORA AND ME by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon (Candlewick Press).
Rich sense of time and place, spunky, lovable child characters,
gripping mystery. Explores questions about community, race, and identity
still being asked today. Warning: will make you want to read Zora Neale
Hurston's novels.

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Why Our Kids Must Read Far and Wide

Primary Source , an organization that "promotes history and humanities education by connecting
educators to people and cultures throughout the world," recently launched an

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