The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo
I actually thought this was a Newbery honor book when I picked it up, but I realize now the silver medal on the book cover was actually for the National Book Award Finalist distinction. . . so now I have yet another book list to peruse! I read this one in one gulp during the hours of 1 a.m. -3 a.m. one night when I couldn't sleep! (It's a very manageable short read.)
It doesn't rank with Because of Winn Dixie (also by Kate DiCamillo) but I still enjoyed the read. Like Winn Dixie it takes place in Florida, a place the author knows well because she grew up in a small town in Florida. It involves a boy named Rob and a girl named Sistine (like the chapel). Rob's mom has died and he hasn't cried even one tear since his dad stopped him from crying at the funeral 6 months earlier. Rob and his dad live in a Hotel where his dad also works as a handy man. Rob is also an artist. Sistine is an odd "new girl" at school who "odd new kid" Rob befriends. Rob has discovered a tiger in a cage in the woods behind the hotel. He's also been sent home from school on the pretext that he has a rash on his legs that some parents are afraid might be contagious. With assorted odd characters and unusual circumstances, a story unfolds about friendship and the healing power of grief. I don't want to give away too many of the details!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Lockdown
Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award
2010 National Book Award Finalist
Exceptionally great book in my opinion. This is a great literal example of the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"; I never would have picked this up off the library shelf if I wasn't on this mission to read all the Coretta Scott King award books. It's called Lockdown. It has a photo of handcuffs on the cover. It just didn't look like my kind of book. I loved it.
Walter Dean Myers knows what he is doing. He has won Coretta Scott King awards or honors 9 times, the Newbery honors twice and the Caldecott honors once, The Jane Adams Award twice, and the Christopher award once. Walter Dean Myers knows what he is talking about: he grew up in Harlem, dropped out of school, and started writing seriously at night after working all day as a construction worker. He tends to write about African American teenagers dealing with inner city issues, and this book is no exception.
The story is told in the voice of a fourteen year old boy named Reese who is in a juvenile detention facility. You meet the other kids serving their time at "Progress Center" and a few of the staff as well. The story is gritty and I would recommend it for teens and not for younger children. The author does a stunning job of showing Resses' perspective on all that happens. You actually understand why he repeatedly gets in fights, you experience the view from the detention cell, you feel a little relieved when the facility goes on "lockdown" because as Reese points out, "When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either."
One of the threads that I found most compelling was Reese's agony over whether or not to plead guilty for something he never did because the detectives presented it as an "opportunity" to get less time, and he wasn't confident that he'd get a fair trial.
Reese gets selected to participate in a trial work release program where he is taken three times a week to a senior care facility and helps out. He spends time caring for an elderly white man who is pretty prickly and gruff, but Reese listens to his stories, put's up with the old man calling him a criminal, and over time they build a friendship.
The story follows Reese to a year after his release. Never downplaying the precariousness of his situation even with all he's learned and been through, but definitely ending on a hopeful note.
I've now read all the 2011 Coretta Scott King books, and it's an impressive batch of books over all.
One Crazy Summer, Dave the Potter: Artis, Poet, Slave, Zora and Me, Lockdown, Ninth Ward, Yummy: The Last Days of a South Side Shorty, Jimi Sounds Like Rainbow: A Story of Young Jimi Hendrix. Go read them!
You'll enjoy a visit to Walter Dean Myer's website:
Walter Dean Myers Biography
And to this site Walter Dean Myers' Second Chance Initiative | Resources for Parents and Educators of Kids in Grades 4 - 12 | All About Adolescent Literacy | AdLit.org where you can learn more about his books and more about The Second Chance Initiative, a project the author started to reach out to teens and help them make better decisions. I love any successful person who then works to extend their success to others.
Here is also an interview with the author from the National Book Award site: Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown - 2010 National Book Award YPL Finalist, The National Book Foundation
I'm looking forward to reading more of his books!
2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award
2010 National Book Award Finalist
Exceptionally great book in my opinion. This is a great literal example of the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"; I never would have picked this up off the library shelf if I wasn't on this mission to read all the Coretta Scott King award books. It's called Lockdown. It has a photo of handcuffs on the cover. It just didn't look like my kind of book. I loved it.
Walter Dean Myers knows what he is doing. He has won Coretta Scott King awards or honors 9 times, the Newbery honors twice and the Caldecott honors once, The Jane Adams Award twice, and the Christopher award once. Walter Dean Myers knows what he is talking about: he grew up in Harlem, dropped out of school, and started writing seriously at night after working all day as a construction worker. He tends to write about African American teenagers dealing with inner city issues, and this book is no exception.
The story is told in the voice of a fourteen year old boy named Reese who is in a juvenile detention facility. You meet the other kids serving their time at "Progress Center" and a few of the staff as well. The story is gritty and I would recommend it for teens and not for younger children. The author does a stunning job of showing Resses' perspective on all that happens. You actually understand why he repeatedly gets in fights, you experience the view from the detention cell, you feel a little relieved when the facility goes on "lockdown" because as Reese points out, "When I first got to Progress, it freaked me out to be locked in a room and unable to get out. But after a while, when you got to thinking about it, you knew nobody could get in, either."
One of the threads that I found most compelling was Reese's agony over whether or not to plead guilty for something he never did because the detectives presented it as an "opportunity" to get less time, and he wasn't confident that he'd get a fair trial.
Reese gets selected to participate in a trial work release program where he is taken three times a week to a senior care facility and helps out. He spends time caring for an elderly white man who is pretty prickly and gruff, but Reese listens to his stories, put's up with the old man calling him a criminal, and over time they build a friendship.
The story follows Reese to a year after his release. Never downplaying the precariousness of his situation even with all he's learned and been through, but definitely ending on a hopeful note.
I've now read all the 2011 Coretta Scott King books, and it's an impressive batch of books over all.
One Crazy Summer, Dave the Potter: Artis, Poet, Slave, Zora and Me, Lockdown, Ninth Ward, Yummy: The Last Days of a South Side Shorty, Jimi Sounds Like Rainbow: A Story of Young Jimi Hendrix. Go read them!
You'll enjoy a visit to Walter Dean Myer's website:
Walter Dean Myers Biography
And to this site Walter Dean Myers' Second Chance Initiative | Resources for Parents and Educators of Kids in Grades 4 - 12 | All About Adolescent Literacy | AdLit.org where you can learn more about his books and more about The Second Chance Initiative, a project the author started to reach out to teens and help them make better decisions. I love any successful person who then works to extend their success to others.
Here is also an interview with the author from the National Book Award site: Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown - 2010 National Book Award YPL Finalist, The National Book Foundation
I'm looking forward to reading more of his books!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Esperanza Rising
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
2002 Pura Belpre Medal for narrative
Based on a true story from the life of the author's grandmother, Esperanza Rising tells of a wealthy young girl in Mexico and her immigration experience to the US.
The story begins in Mexico, in the luscious grape fields of her fathers land. The love of the land is deep and rich. Her father tells her "Our land is alive! The whole valley breathes and lives!" Her father shows her how if you lie on the ground and listen well you can hear the heart beat of the earth. There is a ritual to begin the grape harvest and a fiesta to celebrate the harvest at the end. Esperanza's father owns a vast track of land, "El Rancha de la Rosa." and a team of servants tends to both house and field. Esperanza's life is almost like that of a princess!
A series of unexpected events brings this life to an abrupt end. Having lost everything, Esperanza and her mother find themselves fleeing to the United States. They were forced to leave their abulita, their grandmother, behind because she was not well enough to travel. They journey in the company of some of their servants, a couple and their boy, Miquel, who is about Esperanza's age. But now, they are on equal footing with these servents, all owning nothing, all hoping to find work as laborers in California. They settle in a farm workers camp and begin the hard work and life in their new home.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It deals with issues of class and race, family and love, labor movement and farm workers.
Despite the real hardships of the new life, there are sweet moments of connection with the good things of the past, and a lot of hope for the future. Watching the identities and relationships topple from master/servant to peer/co-workers and seeing everyone help one another and grow in the process makes a good story.
The edition I read also had a bunch of supplemental information at the back of the book including Authors notes, an interview with the author, recipes and projects to extend the experience.
2002 Pura Belpre Medal for narrative
Based on a true story from the life of the author's grandmother, Esperanza Rising tells of a wealthy young girl in Mexico and her immigration experience to the US.
The story begins in Mexico, in the luscious grape fields of her fathers land. The love of the land is deep and rich. Her father tells her "Our land is alive! The whole valley breathes and lives!" Her father shows her how if you lie on the ground and listen well you can hear the heart beat of the earth. There is a ritual to begin the grape harvest and a fiesta to celebrate the harvest at the end. Esperanza's father owns a vast track of land, "El Rancha de la Rosa." and a team of servants tends to both house and field. Esperanza's life is almost like that of a princess!
A series of unexpected events brings this life to an abrupt end. Having lost everything, Esperanza and her mother find themselves fleeing to the United States. They were forced to leave their abulita, their grandmother, behind because she was not well enough to travel. They journey in the company of some of their servants, a couple and their boy, Miquel, who is about Esperanza's age. But now, they are on equal footing with these servents, all owning nothing, all hoping to find work as laborers in California. They settle in a farm workers camp and begin the hard work and life in their new home.
I enjoyed this book a lot. It deals with issues of class and race, family and love, labor movement and farm workers.
Despite the real hardships of the new life, there are sweet moments of connection with the good things of the past, and a lot of hope for the future. Watching the identities and relationships topple from master/servant to peer/co-workers and seeing everyone help one another and grow in the process makes a good story.
The edition I read also had a bunch of supplemental information at the back of the book including Authors notes, an interview with the author, recipes and projects to extend the experience.
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship retold by Arthur Ransome, pictures by Uri Shulevitz
1969 Caldecott Medal
I'm a storyteller and one of the highest compliments I can give a story is "I want to tell this one." This is a story I've always wanted to tell a version of, and this is a good retelling. It's a traditional tale and you'll find it in the non-fiction part of the library in the 398's along with lots of other wonderful folk tales.
Uri Shulevitz has won Caldecott Honor's quite a few times. . . four times to be exact. (Snow, The Treasure, How I Learned Geography, plus this one). He uses line drawings with water color washes that have a nice balance of simplicity and fine detail.
In this story you have The Fool of the World as the hero (always a good start!), a flying ship (not bad either), and a whole passel of comrades for the journey with names like Swift Goer--- a fellow who goes about with one leg tied up beside his head because if he uses both legs he'll just plain go too fast! Or The Listener: "I can hear him snoring. And there is a fly buzzing with it's wings, perched on th windmill close above his head." (all this 100's of miles away of course).
In a stunning display of magical skills and team work of course the day is saved!
My 7 year old AND my 10 year old both enjoyed the story.
1969 Caldecott Medal
I'm a storyteller and one of the highest compliments I can give a story is "I want to tell this one." This is a story I've always wanted to tell a version of, and this is a good retelling. It's a traditional tale and you'll find it in the non-fiction part of the library in the 398's along with lots of other wonderful folk tales.
Uri Shulevitz has won Caldecott Honor's quite a few times. . . four times to be exact. (Snow, The Treasure, How I Learned Geography, plus this one). He uses line drawings with water color washes that have a nice balance of simplicity and fine detail.
In this story you have The Fool of the World as the hero (always a good start!), a flying ship (not bad either), and a whole passel of comrades for the journey with names like Swift Goer--- a fellow who goes about with one leg tied up beside his head because if he uses both legs he'll just plain go too fast! Or The Listener: "I can hear him snoring. And there is a fly buzzing with it's wings, perched on th windmill close above his head." (all this 100's of miles away of course).
In a stunning display of magical skills and team work of course the day is saved!
My 7 year old AND my 10 year old both enjoyed the story.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
All The World
All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrations by Marla Frazee
2010 Caldecott Honor
note: Marla Frazee is the author and illustrator of 2009 Caldecott Honor book: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever
All the World is a book in verse with large two-page-spread paintings to illustrate a families day at the shore. So, it's a day of digging in the sand, picking ripe tomatoes, climbing trees, warming up beside a fire, making music with the extended family, and feeling the stillness at the end of the day.
Here are a couple of samples:
"Body, shoulder, arm, hand.
A moat to dig, a shell to keep.
All the World is wide and deep."
or "Nanas, papas, cousins, kin.
Piano, harp and violin.
Babies passed from neck to knee.
All the world is you and me."
I like this book! It's got a nice way of taking the little and making it big.
2010 Caldecott Honor
note: Marla Frazee is the author and illustrator of 2009 Caldecott Honor book: A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever
All the World is a book in verse with large two-page-spread paintings to illustrate a families day at the shore. So, it's a day of digging in the sand, picking ripe tomatoes, climbing trees, warming up beside a fire, making music with the extended family, and feeling the stillness at the end of the day.
Here are a couple of samples:
"Body, shoulder, arm, hand.
A moat to dig, a shell to keep.
All the World is wide and deep."
or "Nanas, papas, cousins, kin.
Piano, harp and violin.
Babies passed from neck to knee.
All the world is you and me."
I like this book! It's got a nice way of taking the little and making it big.
Zen Shorts; Zen Ties
tZen Shorts by Jon J Muth
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
Zen Ties by Jon J Muth
copyright 2008, no awards that I know about (but why not?)
I love these books! Making Zen philosophy accessible to young children is a mission worth having and to do this successfully is a sweet accomplishment. Plus, the illustrations are wonderful ink paintings and watercolor paintings. I love these books. My children love these books.
Zen Shorts introduces Stillwater. A giant panda bear that arrives in the yard of three children, Addy, Michale, and Karl, and befriends them. Each child goes to Stillwater and receives a story. The frame story is illustrated in watercolors. The traditional Zen stories are illustrated in black ink drawings.
In the authors note at the end he writes:
"When you look into a pool of water, if the water is still, you can see the moon reflected. If the water is agitated, the moon is fragmented and scattered. It is harder to see the true moon. Our minds are like that. When our minds are agitated, we cannot see the true world."
He has the most excellent way of explaining complicated ideas with simple clarity.
The stories have an easy pace and you just feel good reading them!
In Zen Ties Stillwater is back, and so is his nephew, Koo, who has come for a visit. Stillwater picks him up at the train station. Koo says
"Uncle Stillwater!
summer! I have arrived!
seeing you brings smiles."
"Hi, Koo!" And delivers a gift of balloons. The nephew responds:
"An uplifting gift!
could you carry my case,
generous uncle?"
The newphew speaks in Haiku! ("Hi, Koo!") tee hee!
Addy, Michael and Karl are back for this story, and Michael when Stillwater learns that Michael is anxious about an upcoming spelling bee, he invites them to come along to visit an old woman in the neighborhood named Miss Whitaker. The children know her as a cranky old lady. . . "That Miss Whitaker?" asked Karl. "She hates us! She's really old and she spits when she talks! Every time we walk past her house, she shouts at us. She scares me."
Stillwater says "She isn't feeling well and we must bring her something to eat.
So, they do. And in fact Miss Whitakers isn't feeling that well and IS a little cranky.
But more visits follow and it turns out that Miss Whitaker used to be an English teacher, she coaches Michael for the spelling bee, and everyone becomes friends. Michael wins the spelling bee "The judges were nothing compared to Miss Whitaker!"
"Yeah," said Karl. "Just this morning she was shouting at us again."
"Then why are you smiling?" asked Stillwater.
"She was telling us to get out of the street and play in her yard."
Have I mentioned I LOVE these books!? To have so many layers of values I care about presented to my children (and me!) in such an appealing gentle way is SUCH a gift!
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
Zen Ties by Jon J Muth
copyright 2008, no awards that I know about (but why not?)
I love these books! Making Zen philosophy accessible to young children is a mission worth having and to do this successfully is a sweet accomplishment. Plus, the illustrations are wonderful ink paintings and watercolor paintings. I love these books. My children love these books.
Zen Shorts introduces Stillwater. A giant panda bear that arrives in the yard of three children, Addy, Michale, and Karl, and befriends them. Each child goes to Stillwater and receives a story. The frame story is illustrated in watercolors. The traditional Zen stories are illustrated in black ink drawings.
In the authors note at the end he writes:
"When you look into a pool of water, if the water is still, you can see the moon reflected. If the water is agitated, the moon is fragmented and scattered. It is harder to see the true moon. Our minds are like that. When our minds are agitated, we cannot see the true world."
He has the most excellent way of explaining complicated ideas with simple clarity.
The stories have an easy pace and you just feel good reading them!
In Zen Ties Stillwater is back, and so is his nephew, Koo, who has come for a visit. Stillwater picks him up at the train station. Koo says
"Uncle Stillwater!
summer! I have arrived!
seeing you brings smiles."
"Hi, Koo!" And delivers a gift of balloons. The nephew responds:
"An uplifting gift!
could you carry my case,
generous uncle?"
The newphew speaks in Haiku! ("Hi, Koo!") tee hee!
Addy, Michael and Karl are back for this story, and Michael when Stillwater learns that Michael is anxious about an upcoming spelling bee, he invites them to come along to visit an old woman in the neighborhood named Miss Whitaker. The children know her as a cranky old lady. . . "That Miss Whitaker?" asked Karl. "She hates us! She's really old and she spits when she talks! Every time we walk past her house, she shouts at us. She scares me."
Stillwater says "She isn't feeling well and we must bring her something to eat.
So, they do. And in fact Miss Whitakers isn't feeling that well and IS a little cranky.
But more visits follow and it turns out that Miss Whitaker used to be an English teacher, she coaches Michael for the spelling bee, and everyone becomes friends. Michael wins the spelling bee "The judges were nothing compared to Miss Whitaker!"
"Yeah," said Karl. "Just this morning she was shouting at us again."
"Then why are you smiling?" asked Stillwater.
"She was telling us to get out of the street and play in her yard."
Have I mentioned I LOVE these books!? To have so many layers of values I care about presented to my children (and me!) in such an appealing gentle way is SUCH a gift!
Beautiful Blackbird
Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan
2004 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
I love this author/illustrator, Ashley Bryan. He shows up at storytelling festivals sometimes because his reading/writing style is very much based on oral storytelling in the African tradition. He's a fun person to hear, and I have liked his books a long time. In fact he has had quite a few Coretta Scott King awards over the years, and when I checked and realized that he had NOT ever won a Caldecott Award, I was surprised.
Anyhow, Beautiful Blackbird is illustrated in brilliantly colored paper cuts. The story is told in both regular storytelling with little rhyming songs interspersed:
"Beak to beak, peck, peck, peck,
Spread your wings, stretch your neck.
Black is beautiful, uh-huh!
Black is beautiful, uh-huh!"
The story is based on a traditional tale from Zambia. It tells the story of how the birds got their markings. They started all the colors of the rainbow, but no markings at all, each bird was a single color "From the tops of their heads to the tips of the tails. . . " The rainbow colored birds all thought Blackbird was the most beautiful and asked Blackbird to color them black.
Blackbird said, "Color on the outside is not what's on the inside. You don't act like me. You don't eat like me. You don't get down in the groove and move your feet like me. But come tomorrow to the Sun-Up Dance. I'll brew some blackening in my medicine gourd."
And next morning he decorated them all. But before he did he said "We'll see the difference a touch of black can make. Just remember, whatever I do, I'll be me and you'll be you."
Fun tid bit---- the scissors that is collaged in with the paper cuts on the end papers is the scissors that his mom used when she was sewing and embroidering, and the scissors he now uses for his paper cuts.
If I had to recommend ONE Ashley Bryan book, this wouldn't be the one, but I do like it. Dancing Granny is my personal favorite and I don't think it ever won any awards at all! I also like Beat the Story Drum, Pum Pum.
2004 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award
I love this author/illustrator, Ashley Bryan. He shows up at storytelling festivals sometimes because his reading/writing style is very much based on oral storytelling in the African tradition. He's a fun person to hear, and I have liked his books a long time. In fact he has had quite a few Coretta Scott King awards over the years, and when I checked and realized that he had NOT ever won a Caldecott Award, I was surprised.
Anyhow, Beautiful Blackbird is illustrated in brilliantly colored paper cuts. The story is told in both regular storytelling with little rhyming songs interspersed:
"Beak to beak, peck, peck, peck,
Spread your wings, stretch your neck.
Black is beautiful, uh-huh!
Black is beautiful, uh-huh!"
The story is based on a traditional tale from Zambia. It tells the story of how the birds got their markings. They started all the colors of the rainbow, but no markings at all, each bird was a single color "From the tops of their heads to the tips of the tails. . . " The rainbow colored birds all thought Blackbird was the most beautiful and asked Blackbird to color them black.
Blackbird said, "Color on the outside is not what's on the inside. You don't act like me. You don't eat like me. You don't get down in the groove and move your feet like me. But come tomorrow to the Sun-Up Dance. I'll brew some blackening in my medicine gourd."
And next morning he decorated them all. But before he did he said "We'll see the difference a touch of black can make. Just remember, whatever I do, I'll be me and you'll be you."
Fun tid bit---- the scissors that is collaged in with the paper cuts on the end papers is the scissors that his mom used when she was sewing and embroidering, and the scissors he now uses for his paper cuts.
If I had to recommend ONE Ashley Bryan book, this wouldn't be the one, but I do like it. Dancing Granny is my personal favorite and I don't think it ever won any awards at all! I also like Beat the Story Drum, Pum Pum.
All The Things I Love About You
All the Things I Love About You by LeUyen Pham
copyright 2010
no awards that I'm aware of, but it's award winning at our house!
My daughter Makayla loves this book!
It is both loving and silly. The pictures are fun. It is a happy book! A great one to share with your little ones. A lot of the "I love you" books for kids are a little sappy (I actually like the sappy ones too), but this one has a little SPUNK to it as well. It's dedicated to mama's who love their little BOYS, but I'm pleased to report that Makayla (despite all her princess inclinations) seems to be spunky enough to relate just fine!
copyright 2010
no awards that I'm aware of, but it's award winning at our house!
My daughter Makayla loves this book!
It is both loving and silly. The pictures are fun. It is a happy book! A great one to share with your little ones. A lot of the "I love you" books for kids are a little sappy (I actually like the sappy ones too), but this one has a little SPUNK to it as well. It's dedicated to mama's who love their little BOYS, but I'm pleased to report that Makayla (despite all her princess inclinations) seems to be spunky enough to relate just fine!
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Charlotte Zolotow Awards
The Charlotte Zolotow Award goes to the best picture book TEXT for that year (where as the Caldecott Award for picture books goes to the illustrator.) They have been giving this award since 1998, so it's a relatively recent award. I'm adding this to my list of books worth looking at!
Hot Air The (mostly) true story of the first hot-air balloon ride
Hot Air, The (mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride by Majorie Priceman
2006 Caldecott Honor
This story begins in France in 1783 at the sight of the first ever Hot Air Balloon launching! It details much about the city and spectators in the first few pages and then introduces us to the "first brave passengers" . . . A duck, a sheep, and a rooster.
After that the ride is all in pictures and from the point of view of these three animals. Which is fitting because the author heard the story "from a duck, who heard it from a sheep, who heard it from a rooster a long, long time ago."
It's a fun ride! And based (loosely) on a true historic event.
2006 Caldecott Honor
This story begins in France in 1783 at the sight of the first ever Hot Air Balloon launching! It details much about the city and spectators in the first few pages and then introduces us to the "first brave passengers" . . . A duck, a sheep, and a rooster.
After that the ride is all in pictures and from the point of view of these three animals. Which is fitting because the author heard the story "from a duck, who heard it from a sheep, who heard it from a rooster a long, long time ago."
It's a fun ride! And based (loosely) on a true historic event.
Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper
Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper freely translated from Charles Perrault and illustrated by Marcia Brown
1955 Caldecott Medal
My 7 year old daughter is seriously into princesses. Personally, I'm more inclined towards the active heroine in a story, so please understand that is my bias! The story of course will be familiar, but it is definitely refreshing to hear an interpretation that is directly translated from one of the first written sources. Pleasantly free of the very strong Disney stamp that is currently on the story!
The illustrations are line drawing with simple washes of color. Nothing too extraordinatry, but they carry the story well. The goodness of Cinderella comes across in text and pictures. . . although I find it a little funny that someone of such "good" character could also be deceitful with her step sisters when they arrived home from the ball (yawing and rubbing her yes as if she had just waked out of a sound sleep!)
I can't really rave about this book, but if you love Cinderella stories it should definitely be on your list.
1955 Caldecott Medal
My 7 year old daughter is seriously into princesses. Personally, I'm more inclined towards the active heroine in a story, so please understand that is my bias! The story of course will be familiar, but it is definitely refreshing to hear an interpretation that is directly translated from one of the first written sources. Pleasantly free of the very strong Disney stamp that is currently on the story!
The illustrations are line drawing with simple washes of color. Nothing too extraordinatry, but they carry the story well. The goodness of Cinderella comes across in text and pictures. . . although I find it a little funny that someone of such "good" character could also be deceitful with her step sisters when they arrived home from the ball (yawing and rubbing her yes as if she had just waked out of a sound sleep!)
I can't really rave about this book, but if you love Cinderella stories it should definitely be on your list.
A Tree Is Nice
A Tree Is Nice by Janice May Udry, illustrated by Marc Simont
1957 Caldecott Medal
I agree, a tree IS nice! This is a sweet celebration of trees. Makes me want to go out and plant one. Makes me want to go out and plant one with each of my kids. And I'd read it to the wee kids in our Outdoor Explorer (environmental education) program as well. Makes me want to think about all my favorite trees. We have a great one in our yard that my husband Holmes transplanted from the woods when he first moved there. It's a willow oak, and for years we called it "The Shade Tree" but it was a joke. It cast enough shade for a pair of dogs if they were strategic about where they lay down, and that was about it.
Now it really IS a shade tree, and the most EXCELLENT climbing tree as well. And during our summer camp sessions there are sometimes a half dozen kids or more all climbing at once.
This is a quiet book but I think it's still doing exactly what was intended when it was published more than 50 years ago! I was pleased to see that in the book jacket notes about the author she talked about spending a lot of time searching out a nursery where they could buy a Ombu tree---- a tree that grows rapidly to enormous size. They found one and planted it, and Ms. Udry reports it "grew nicely."
I like an author who lives their story!
1957 Caldecott Medal
I agree, a tree IS nice! This is a sweet celebration of trees. Makes me want to go out and plant one. Makes me want to go out and plant one with each of my kids. And I'd read it to the wee kids in our Outdoor Explorer (environmental education) program as well. Makes me want to think about all my favorite trees. We have a great one in our yard that my husband Holmes transplanted from the woods when he first moved there. It's a willow oak, and for years we called it "The Shade Tree" but it was a joke. It cast enough shade for a pair of dogs if they were strategic about where they lay down, and that was about it.
Now it really IS a shade tree, and the most EXCELLENT climbing tree as well. And during our summer camp sessions there are sometimes a half dozen kids or more all climbing at once.
This is a quiet book but I think it's still doing exactly what was intended when it was published more than 50 years ago! I was pleased to see that in the book jacket notes about the author she talked about spending a lot of time searching out a nursery where they could buy a Ombu tree---- a tree that grows rapidly to enormous size. They found one and planted it, and Ms. Udry reports it "grew nicely."
I like an author who lives their story!
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