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January 2024: Picture Books that Spark Joy
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message 51:
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Serena
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Jan 26, 2024 08:26PM
Huzzah! I found both Pendziwol books in my library system! I did not find the banyan tree one though.
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The Boy and the Banyan Tree is really new, so it might not yet be available. I hope you enjoy the Pendziwol books.
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message 54:
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Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs
(last edited Jan 27, 2024 08:58AM)
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Namaste Is a Greeting "Namaste is loving the world... Namaste is saying 'You matter.'" The pictures show the girl doing things that demonstrate her love for the world, etc.
Something, Someday by Amanda Gorman, a poem that tells a big story, and pictures that tell a story that is big in the neighborhood shown.
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress "'This boy does [wear a dress],'" says Morris.
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Aww, yes! Her books make me smile. We read several when the boys were little.
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Yes! Hooray! I will look for those. So important. Thank you :-)
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I'll def. look for this!
Two others that will work for many readers (and almost did for me) are Hair Love and The Shortest Day.
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I read that a few years ago and thought it was super sweet, too! You're so right about the Bob Graham similarities, too.
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Brown-skinned children exploring nature on their own. Vocabulary words like farrow and yarrow. Rhymes that work. Arithmetic. Includes excellent back matter. Don't miss the endpapers. Highly recommended.
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Wow. The text is wonderfully poetic & inspiring. The art is delightfully illuminating. integrate them together to see perfectly glorious concrete poetry that sings & dances. Yes.
An educational, powerful, joyful book that children will enjoy just as much as adults. Adults might catch some of the allusions, for example the one to MLK that is not in the main text at all, on the first try, but a second, more careful reading reveals more.
We all need to read more of Langston's works. And the others, when we're ready (most of the most famous works by the others are for older teens and adults, but kids can try Bronzeville Boys and Girls).
I confess I've never heard Amiri Baraka so I'm off to remedy that right now.
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Illustrations and poetry totally spark both joy and thoughtful contemplation (and I love how the poems show all kinds of peace and that peace is both individual and also more general and global). But yes, I am really rather annoyed that in her list of peacemakers, author and illustrator (quilter) Anna Gorssnickle Hines does not consider listing (martyred and striving for peace) Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
With her 2011 picture book Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace Anna Grossnickle Hines pairs twenty-five poems about peace with illustrations of her handmade quilts. And yes, in my humble opinion, Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace totally and absolutely presents a both visually and textually gorgeous and also delightfully successful combination of text and image, with each poem (and featuring a number of different types) very nicely (and that is actually a bit of an understatement on my part) being aesthetically mirrored and also often expanded on by the accompanying quilts (with lots of colour, texture, flowingness, and with one quilt actually being entirely black and white and looking a bit like shadow puppets). And with regard to Anna Grossnickle Hines' presented verses for Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace, well, aside from me textually adoring them with regard to external style (and totally enjoying, totally loving that ALL of the poems are free verse), yes indeed, the thematics, contents and also the featured messages Grossnickle Hines provides in Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace, these are not only lovely and sweet in and of themselves but also all-encompassingly demonstrate clearly and poetically that peace comes in many different guises (and is necessary both individually and also with regard to people in general and globally), with the poems of Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace thus focussing on both individual and universal peace (and with my favourite poem of peace in Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace in fact being how a gardener ends up having a kind of truce between them and the deer intent on chowing down on their planted and flourishing geraniums).
And the back matter for Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace features short biographical blurbs on eight internationally known peacemakers (Mohandas Ghandi, Dorothy Day, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King Jr., Samantha Smith and Mattie Stepanek) as well as giving information on quilting and how Anna Grossnickle Hines created the quilts she used for Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace. And yes indeed, my ONLY criticism (but actually not enough for a less than four star rating for Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace) is that I really do think and believe very strongly that Grossnickle Hines' list of peacemakers in Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts About Peace should also and absolutely be including assassinated, should be mentioning murdered Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (and with a short, harshly critical, utterly condemning statement that Rabin was slaughtered by a radical Israeli Jew, by a terroristic monstrosity and only because Rabin was working well and strongly with Yasser Arafat to try to achieve peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and yes, that all those even remotely in agreement with Rabin's assassination and supportive of his murderer are horrid terrorists themselves).
I also readEverything Will Be OK
A sweet picture book about how when you have a bad day, take a deep breath and say "everything will be OK." Told in rhyming text, it covers a range of bad days like "Is there jelly on your bread when you really wanted cheese instead?" (solution: swap with your friend who has a cheese sandwich but really wants jelly). "Sometimes life is upside down. Sometimes you don't feel so strong. "
The illustrations show an abstract sort of bunny and kitty friends or relations. The whole book is just so sweet and a gentle reminder to take a deep breath and say "everything will be ok!"
I thought this was on the banned in Texas list but I can't find it.
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Everything Will Be OK
A sweet picture book about how when you have a bad day, take a deep breath and say "everything will be O..."
Aww. It is definitely a sweet book, I read it a few years ago. I hope it's not really on the banned list!
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The Real Mother Goose This is the edition I had as a child and it warmed my heart to find the cover art smiling up at me off the library shelf when I was browsing for something else. Some Mother Goose rhymes never resonated for me (and I firmly disliked some as a child), and I feel some certainly don't age well, yet there's also a reason many of them are still around and several of them take me right back to cozy memories of my childhood. I love Blanche Fisher Wright's illustrations in this edition. Originally published in 1916, my grandparents could have read a copy when they were children, and my parents, too -- I couldn't help but feel a bit of reverence as I shared some of my favorite rhymes and illustrations with my own children.
The Handbook of Forgotten Skills: Timeless Fun for a New Generation I haven't read this word-for-word, but the whole idea makes me happy and I love the illustrations which are so lovely (especially the nature scenes) and feel at once nostalgic yet wonderfully inclusive thanks to its 2023 publication date. You'll learn some random skills, some of which seem a bit more "forgotten" than others (IMO) but all of which have that sense that your parents or grandparents might have done these very things when they were children -- it is my hope the authors and illustrator make them seem appealing enough that children of the 21st century will decide that at least some of them are worth pulling away from the screens for. I'm not sure how appealing mending socks or wrapping gifts in brown paper with string will be for most kids (no offense to my beloved Sound of Music!) but one hopes that performing coin tricks, making refrigerator pickles, tying knots and growing herbs might appeal. I also love that the authors include a bit of history behind the activities (did you know that transparent cellophane tape wasn't invented until 1930, hence the strings to tie the packages or that lemonade made its debut in Paris in August of 1630?) I look forward to reading it more thoroughly soon.
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I hope that I can find the Handbook, too; I love books like that.
Oh yes we had an antique copy of The Real Mother Goose too and I found a more modern edition in a box in the basement.
Serena wrote: "Since my preferred name actually MEANS joy, I will be giving recommendations of joyous books to each of you here.To QNPoohBear: Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss"
This beginning reader book by Dr. Seuss *under Theo. LeSeig with illustrations by George Booth is definitely wacky. The child wakes up one day and everything is all wrong. This is a fun way to learn to count and have kids learn to be observant by searching for all the wacky stuff that's happening. I had a hard time finding some of them. The illustrations are not Seuss's own and not quite his style but similar. It's a fun read but this type of book is not my favorite thing to read.
Pooh,This was banned in Kansas [don't recall the city/district/county] and I notice you didn't yet report it to the ''Banned Picture Books You've Read'' forum.
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To QNPoohBear: Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss
To Kathryn;[book:Dear Mrs. LaRue: Lett..."
Wacky Wednesday is one of my childhood favorites! I loved that one, it was so zany and fun :-)
I'm finally able to request Dear Mrs LaRue from the library and look forward to it!
Serena wrote: "Pooh,This was banned in Kansas [don't recall the city/district/county] and I notice you didn't yet report it to the ''Banned Picture Books You've Read'' forum."
I haven't added it yet. I've been busy with work and not enough time to read let alone post reviews.
A Dream For Every Season
*I need to learn Norwegian so I can read the original text. I suspect it might be a poem.
This is such a lovely book! The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and show a diverse array of children. The author and illustrator don't look stereotypically Norwegian and the illustrations reflect that. The winter lady might be a bit scary for the very young but the other illustrations are lush with color and character.
The text is good but maybe needs some work in translation. It has a refrain but isn't fully poetry or music. A lullaby maybe?
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*I need to learn Norwegian so I can read the original text. I suspect it might be a poem.
This is such a love..."
This is at my libraries and now on my list, thank you.
The Mouse Mansion
This is amazing! I love books like this and really appreciate the time and effort it takes to create a dollhouse like the mouse mansion! It must have taken an insanely long time to make the house, decorate it, photograph the mice dolls and get the storyline down. I loved looking at the details of life in the mouse mansion- all the products they use, the food they eat, the books and comics they read, etc. etc. There's so much to look at this book can not be read in one sitting.
My oldest niece would have loved this when she was little. The library near where we all lived (and they still go to) has a copy so I bet she and her mom read this. That mouse mansion is right up her mom's alley.
A similar concept for slightly older readers is Michele Durkson Clise's Ophelia series. I own
Ophelia's Voyage to Japanbut recommended starting with
Ophelia's World
I'm coming back to add my favorite girlhood book, Chrysanthemum . What do you all think?K,
About the other name I call you...are you stressing the first syllable when you say it? You should be.
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K,
About the other name I call you...are you stressing the first syllable when you say it? Yo..."
Thank you, I shall! And, I will try to read Chrysanthemum. I love Kevin Henkes!
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This is amazing! I love books like this and really appreciate the time and effort it takes to create a dollhouse like the mou..."
Oooo, I'm so glad you mentioned this! We read it a few years ago and I loved it. I love miniatures, dollhouses and the like. It was a good story, too, my kids liked it.
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Authors, publishers, bloggers etc., please read through the group rules regarding promotional material before posting.
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Own this as a board book and We All Play is a lovely combination of Julie Flett's dual language Cree/English text and her like usual stunning artwork, showing the interconnectedness of animals and humans, that both children and animals play and also focussing on Cree as a language, introducing thirteen animals (in Cree and English), the Cree nouns for child and baby, the Cree verbs for "to play" and "to sleep" as well as the adverb "also" (highly recommended, simple and engaging and my only mild frustration being that We All Play should also included a pronunciation guide.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Superheroes Are Everywhere
This is a wonderful and inspiring book for all readers. While it's a memoir by Kamala Harris, it's more than that. It focuses on her inspirations - the superheroes of her life. Each page has an anecdote about her relationships with family, friends, a teacher. Then it summarizes that story with the lesson. The first story is about her mom. Her mom because her mom made her feel special and helped Kamala believe she could do anything she set her mind to. The book allows the child to interact with the text by asking questions. "Who makes YOU feel special?" Some of the lessons in this book about heroes include "Heroes are people you can count on." (Little sister Maya and Mom).
Her grandmother taught her to speak out for women who were being hurt and teach them how to stay healthy. Both sets of grandparents fought for social justice in their countries and taught her to speak up for what is right. Who stands up for what's right in your life?
Another page pays tribute to her first grade teacher Mrs. Wilson and teachers who "show us the whole wide world and help us dream." I won't be surprised AT ALL if parents complain about that but I don't even expect them to pick up this book and read it in the first place. They'll just fuss and complain and say the library needs a more balanced collection. Where are the books about Donald Trump?
If Trump and the MAGAs doubt Harris's Black identity, they need to read about her family friend, Mrs. Shelton. Mrs. Shelton cared for young Kamala and Maya when their mom had to work. Mrs. Shelton made biscuits, peach cobbler and gumbo for special occasions. On Sundays they piled into her car for church. Mrs. Shelton treated everyone with love and respect.
The final message is "Heroes make a difference together!" The kids in the illustrations are shown wearing t-shirts with slogans like "Save our oceans", "Read" and a girl in a wheelchair whose shirt reads "S.T.E.M". The children are as diverse as our world.
The final page has a mirror for kids to hold up and see themselves. "Superheroes are everywhere you look! Even inside of you!
Are you kind, brave and curious?
Are you a best friend?
Do you share?
Do you treat people fairly?
Do you lend a hand when other people need help?
You're a hero by being the very best you! Now isn't that super?"
Being a hero is easier than you think. Just raise your right hand and say :
I promise to
*Make someone feel special
*Be someone people can count on
*Help people be brave
*Stand up for what's right
*Be a best friend
*Be a good teacher
*Be kind
*Explore with my friends and family
*Study and work hard
*Protect people who need it
*Make a difference when I can
I promise to be the very best me I can be!
The endpapers and back of the book have personal photos. The illustrator used Kamala's childhood family photos to recreate them for the illustrations. The illustrations feature modern girls and families, not Kamala as a child but she appears on the last page, the illustration used as a cover image.
Backmatter has a timeline of her life.
This book belongs on every child's shelf, especially girls and most especially girls of color who may see themselves reflected in the pages of the book. Read this to the very young because it won't go over well with kids who expect a Marvel superhero tale telling them how they can be a real superhero.
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A fun take-off of Clement Clark Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas (The Night Before Christmas) using penmanship, letters, syntax etc., nicely punning, with fun illustrations (at times a bit tedious, but four stars and highly recommended).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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A fun and sweet story of a Wee Wolf and his parent (his Mummy), what they do all night and how Mummy is always patient and loving even when Wee Wolf becomes too boisterous (humorous, sweetly creepy without being scary and with a loving message of parental love and tolerance), five stars especially from my inner child (and a perfect Halloween picture book for parents to share with their young children).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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A fun and sweet story of a Wee Wolf and his parent (his Mummy), what they do all night and how Mumm..."
Sounds so sweet! My youngest isn't ready to take down the Halloween decorations so I might see if I can still get this one before Halloween becomes too much a thing of the past for him this year.
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A fun and sweet story of a Wee Wolf and his parent (his Mummy), what they do all ..."
And this is also a story that does not have to be read for Halloween either.
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The combination of text and images is lovely, a total celebration of weedflowers (of specifically dandelions) and the pro weed message is lovely as well. Liked the ethnically diverse illustrations (but do wish that there were two main protagonists, the blond-haired light skinned little girl Sam but perhaps also a darker skinned little boy). Too bad that all of the adults (all of the teachers) want to yank out the weedflower, but the ending is triumphant with the weedflower, although ripped out by the adults blowing its fluffy seeds all around to germinate and to sprout more.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Delightful combination of text and images of a First Nations family (mother, father and Baby) travelling from the city to the Rez (the reservation) to celebrate Christmas and the Winter Solstice with their immediate and extended family. Love the back and forth between Baby and their parents, love that there are Anishinaabe words incorporated into the text and that there also is a glossary and pronunciation guide provided and totally adore and appreciate that Baby is depicted both illustratively and textually in a gender neutral manner, that the pronoun they is used for Baby, although this of course could mean that An Anishinaabe Christmas might make it onto the Hitlist of haters and book banning puritanical and bigoted Fascists both in Canada and in the USA (own voices, with author Wab Kinew being the current premier of the Canadian province of Manitoba and also the first First Nations/Native Canadian provincial premier in Canadian history, and that Erin Hill is an indigenous illustrator based in Ontario).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Many of Maud Lewis' pictures show children skiing, skating, tobogganing (having fun in the winter snow of rural late 19th and early 20th century Nova Scotia). And Lance Woolaver's featured poem for his 1979 picture book Christmas with the Rural Mail, his verses are textually caressing, are sweetly tenderly gentle and that with regard to both contents and also lyrical style (nicely rhyming and almost a bit song-like) Woolaver delightfully expressively shows the journey of a mail sleigh through rural Nova Scotia at Christmastime (and with abundant snow) delivering packages and parcels to the houses on its route and of course especially to and for waiting children (and which is all gloriously reflected in Lewis' expressive and colourful folk-art pictures and of course vice versa). Five stars from me and for me!!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Albeit I have very much enjoyed the parts of Tove and the Island with no Address where Lauren Soloy both verbally and visually (with her text and her images) shows young Tove and her family arriving on the island with no address (as per the book title) for their annual summer vacation and Tove exploring her surroundings and enjoying her freedom to roam and check out every proverbial nook and cranny of the island and what the sea washes up on shore (and which also seems to be what actually happened, what actually was the case during the Jansson family's summer holidays), I really do wish that Tove and the Island with no Address would be entirely non fiction in scope and not suddenly morph into a fantastical account of Tove Jansson the child (the real person, the future author and illustrator) making friends with some fantastical creature living in a rock cave and offering to care for and guard his five wild seashell-sized daughters. I do find the illustration enchanting and a really nice illustrative homage to Tove Jansson, but the text would be better as completely biographical, as completely non fiction.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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The Wordy Book (2021) is devoted to the tricks and to the beauty of the English language, with author/illustrator Julie Paschkis' playful and engaging word-themed paintings and text combinations encouraging her readers (or her listeners) to do likewise, to also play with words, and that in the process, Paschkis absolutely and totally delightfully explores the elasticity and seemingly endless possibilities of English but actually of languages in general. And just to say that although The Wordy Book is a picture book, what is verbally and illustratively being featured by Julie Paschkis is in my opinion something for word buffs both young and old, but furthermore, that I personally would probably not be using The Wordy Book with and for children younger than eight or so as the sheer amount of featured nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, participles etc. could become a trifle overwhelming (although if parents, teachers, librarians etc. would consider not reading The Wordy Book with intended young audiences from cover to cover but instead using short and manageable bits and pieces, well, I do think that The Wordy Book could also and easily something for younger children, for six and seven year olds as well). Delightful and in my opinion also a superb springboard for creative writing activities for classroom and library programs, for me, The Wordy Book is solidly five stars and totally makes me smile.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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So even though Pride Puppy!'s alphabet book format is rather standard in set-up and as such a pretty traditional abecedarian in many ways, Robin Stevenson's words and Julie McLaughlin's art do delightfully and wonderfully present a rich narrational and illustrative portrait of absolute diversity and total inclusion (and delightfully focused around a curious and energetic dog who just wants to experience everything and thus slips off their leash). Pride Puppy! totally makes me smile, although the fact that author Robin Stevenson has been receiving death threats is of course NOT funny but infuriating.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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We Are the Rainbow!: The Colors of Pride is a thoughtfully inclusive, all-encompassingly diverse and engaging 2022 board book, with Claire Winslow's simple but profound text and Riley Samels' gorgeously expressive and colourful accompanying images for We Are the Rainbow!: The Colors of Pride delightfully and nicely warmly presenting and featuring the values attached to the colours of the Pride flag and as they relate (or rather should relate) not only to children, but of course equally so to adults (to basically everyone) anywhere and everywhere on earth (regarding age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, ability, motility, likes, dislikes etc.).
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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A delightful (both verbal and illustrative) picture book of a wolf who enjoys baking and does not want to be big and bad (and as such also wants to eat the cakes etc. he bakes and not gobble up little girls, grandmas and piglets). Love the combination of text and images and that Nicola Senior (author and illustrator) both celebrates baking (and also provides a recipe for scones) and also turns the big bad wolf of folklore into a gentle and talented baker.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Wolfie's Secret (other topics)Mouse on the River: A Journey Through Nature (other topics)
We Are the Rainbow!: The Colors of Pride (other topics)
Pride Puppy! (other topics)
The Wordy Book (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Michele Durkson Clise (other topics)Blanche Fisher Wright (other topics)
Amiri Baraka (other topics)
Bob Graham (other topics)
Bob Graham (other topics)
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