Black and White

Black and White by David Macaulay
1991 Caldecott Medal

This is one of those rare books that actually redefines "book" for me. I would put The Invention of Hugo Cabret in this category, and this one.

It starts with a WARNING "This book appears to contain a number or stories that do not neccessarily occur at the same time. Then again, it may contain only one story. In any event, careful inspection of both words and pictures is recommended."

Then, each two page spread is devided into four sections.  And in each section a story is told in pictures and a few words.  The top left hand corner . . . the story is about a train and a boy riding on the train. The lower left hand corner is a story about a family--- two parents, two kids and a dog. The top right hand corner there are a bunch of people waiting at a train station. The lower right hand corner the story is about an escaped convict and some cows.

These four stories move forward each in their own frame with no particular need for one another.  BUT. . . . like the warning says. . . invite CAREFUL inspection.

I read this to Makayla and we over spent our reading time by a good 30 minutes with out even being the slightest bit aware of it. The experience of this book is wonderfully absorbing and fun. We finished it and immediately tried to sell it to everyone else in the house!

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
2004 Caldecott Medal

I love this book. First of all, I'm partial to street performers and circus arts and this story features Phillipe Petit, the french tight rope walker,  and his famed high wire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974.

I think I had heard of this man on a tight rope between sky scrapers in NYC, but to hear the details of it was SO much better than this single image of a man walking a wire.

First of all the towers were 1/4 mile high. The tallest buildings in New York City.
Second of all he didn't just walk between the towers. He was out there for almost an hour, walking dancing, running, and even kneeling in a salute. He even lay down to rest.
Finally, it was completely against the law and when he came off the wire he held out his hands for handcuffs, but this was only after the police had been shouting at him for an hour!

The towers were not quite complete when he did this. He dressed up as a construction worker and some how got a 440 pound reel of cable to the top floor, carrying it up the last 180 stairs to the roof. Other friends were on the other tower. They tied a thin strong line to an arrow and shot it across to Philippe, 140 feet away. They worked all night to secure the cable.

The pictures include two fold out pages giving the feel of how NYC must look from 1/4 mile up--- for Phillipe, "happy and absolutely free"; and what Philippe must have looked like from the street--- "It was astonishing. It was terrifying and beautiful. A quarter mile up in the sky someone was dancing."

I love this part:
"Officers rushed to the roofs of the towers. 'You're under arrest!' they shouted through bullhorns. Phillipe turned and walked the other way. Who would come and get him?"

You'll be glad to know that when the case came to court he was sentenced to perform in the park for the children of the city!

OK, so this would be a GREAT story under any circumstances. But this book was written in 2004 after 9/11 and the towers he walked between are already gone. The poignancy of this gives the story a deeper context that makes it a very memorable story, and kicks it into my "favorites" category!

The House of Sixty Fathers

The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong

1957 Newbery Honor Book

I loved this book! It is based on a real life experience of the author from his time as a soldier during World War II. This is the first book I've read by this author, but I'm excited to see that he has FIVE books on the Newbery list, so I'm excited to find the rest! 

The story follows a small boy, Tien Pao, lviing in China during the Japanese occupation during Word War II.  Tien Pao's village was burned and his family managed to escape and traveled up river to the city of Hengyang.  Then, left alone on their sanpan while his parents went to work, the boat comes loose of it's mouring and Tien Pas is swept down the river and into Japanese territory. 


Together with his pig (yes, his PIG!) he travels on foot through the mountainous country of occupied territory, survives on what he can find, narrowly avoids capture and gun fire, and is actually starving by the time he finds real help. Which he does find. And the story ends, against all odds,  very happily. 


This is an action packed story set in a brutal war time and there is much tension, some violence, and a lot of courage and struggle in Tien Paos' journey. I found myself telling it (in my own words not reading it) to my children in installments as I read the book, and they were mesmerized. It's a compelling story; the kind you don't want to put down. It's my next read aloud pick for my 10 year old son, who likes a story with plenty of action and excitement. 


NOTE 1/16/2012: Jabu (the 10 year old son) and I are half way through and he is loving it! 

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!

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!

Rosa

Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier
2006 Caldecott Honor Book
2006 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

More poets should write history for children. This is a splendid and powerful book. And beautifully written. I suspect that Nikki Giovanni was able to talk with Rosa and others in the story personally. The text is full of intimate details about what people were thinking and doing through out first days of the historic events of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama.

 "Jo Ann Robinson was at the PIggly Wiggly when she learned of the arrest. She had stopped in to purchase a box of macaroni and cheese. She always served macaroni and cheese when she baked red snapper for dinner. A sister member of the Women's Political council approached her just as she reached the check out lane.
 'Not Mrs. Parks!' Mrs Robinson exclaimed. She then looked furtively around. 'Pass the word that everybody should meet me at my office at ten o'clock tonight," she said."

I love the person of Rosa Parks. Her long life lived with dignity and strength.

Pete Seeger tells a story about being at a training for civil rights activists at the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. On the last day, they went around the circle and everyone said what they were going to do when they got home. Several "movers and shakers" were there, and each person spoke about their plans. But one woman, when it was her turn, said she just didn't know what she would do. That, was Rosa Parks.

She wasn't just a worn out seamstress. She was an activist making a choice. A spontaneous choice! But one very much in keeping with her participation in the movement.

Here is a link to her website: Rosa Louise Parks Biography

The illustrations strong and luminous, by Bryan Collier, someone who has won a bunch of awards before and since. I like his work and his choices about what he illustrates, often powerful stories from African American History. Here is a link to Bryan Collier's website. I enjoyed learning about him, especially his dedication to community service and empowerment of young people. Bryan Collier | Bio

I personally liked this book a bit better than the 2006 Medal winner! And would definitely recommend it!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
2008 Caldecott Medal
2007 National Book Award Finalist

This book gets a very large WOW! distinction from me. Everything about this book totally captivated me and it is fair to say I have never ever seen or read a book like it.

The book is more than 525 pages long.  Let me just remind you that the Caldecott award is for picture books. The award is actually granted to the illustrator. Most Caldecott awards go to typical picture books that are written for young children. This is a middle school novel. BUT 284 pages of it are PICTURES. It is the coolest book ever. The introduction asks us to close our eyes and imagine we are in a movie theatre, the curtain opens as we zoom in on the sun rising. . . in Paris. . . to a train station. . . we enter the station, crowded with people. . . The book IS like a movie. 

And then every once in a while, there are a couple of pages of text. The pictures aren't illustrating the text. The pictures TOGETHER with the text tell the story. There is a whole case scene in the book that is told only in pictures, for example. So, it's part movie, part graphic novel, part conventional novel. But the pictures and layout aren't like a typical graphic novel. It's not cartooney. The pictures are full double page pencil drawings. 

So, the novelty of the actual physical book is exciting. . . but that is not the only thing it's riding on. The illustrations and layout are wonderful. But it's a good story too! It tells the story of a real film maker from France in the early days of film; but through the eyes of a boy named Hugo Cabret and his friend Isabelle who are entirely the authors invention. The story has mystery and magic in it. And the characters are completely fascinating. 

Hugo comes from a family of clock makers. His uncle maintains all the clocks in the train station. When Hugo's father dies in a tragic fire, he is taken in by his uncle, who has a serious drinking problem. Turns out that clock makers are often magicians. Both require the same level of intense dexterity. Hugo learns magic and makes magic. Before his father died he was working on repairing a mechanical man who sat with pen and ink and was about to write. Hugo tries to take up this work and succeeds in repairing the automaton. And then discovers it's maker. 

I have told more people about this book than any other I've read recently, because it is so unusual and because I think so many people would enjoy it. 

In fact, my son Jabu who is 10,  and a bit of a reluctant reader and tends towards things like  Captain Underpants in his reading choices,  loved it. My DAD  age 92 who absolutely NEVER EVER reads fiction saw it on the table while Jabu was reading it, and read the entire book cover to cover in one sitting! Dad's normal fair in the reading dept. is economics, global warming, world health issues. . . but he thought it was excellent. I also loved it. If three readers who are as different from one another in their reading inclinations all loved this book, that right there is an amazing testimony! 

Highly recommended!

Here is a cool interview with the author from the National Book Award site:
The National Book Foundation

The author has a second book in this same style. I ordered it from the library, but there are 39 people in line ahead of me! Can't wait to see it though! 

Love, Louise

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? and more by Steve Jenkins

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
2004 Caldecott Honor

Big and Little by Steve Jenkins

What Do You Do When Someone Wants to Eat You?  by Steve Jenkins

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this author illustrator. Since I also have environmental education in my bag of tricks, I have a particular appreciation for these books that convey fascinating information about animals together with beautiful paper cut collages made from hand painted water colored paper. Luscious combination!

The illustrations remind me a little of Eric Carle, these are also paper cut collages, but the papers used for the collages are more delicate--- water colored and hand made paper, and the results are a little more refined. (Make no mistake I love Eric Carle!)

What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? talks about unusual animal body parts. Noses of platypuses, elephants, star nosed moles, hyenas, and alligators. Ears, tails, eyes, feet, mouths of an array of other animals. The format gives close ups of the featured body parts first, and then you turn the page to learn more. That way you can guess at what's going on before turning the page. I like a book that is interactive that way. At the end of the book there is more information about each animal. I love it when facts are so amazing they read like poetry. . . . "The platypus closes it's eyes under water and uses its sensitive bill to detect the faint electric pulses emitted by its prey." Or "The entire human body has more than 600 muscles, but there are as many as 100,000 muscles in an elephant's trunk."

What Do You Do When Someone Wants to Eat You?   Introduces us to 14 animals peculiar defense mechanisms. "The blue-tongued skink startles attackers. . . by sticking out it's large, bright blue tonuge and wiggling it from side to side." Or, "The basilisk lizard is known in South America as the Jesus Christ lizard. It can escape it's enemies. . .  by running across the surface of ponds and streams, using its large feet and great speed to keep it from sinking into the water."

Again the wonderful paper cut illustration and "wow" inspiring fascinating facts!

Big and Little is about animals that are related to one another but very different in size. The animals are illustrated to scale for comparison (one inch equals 8 inches). "The capybara, the world's largest rodent, weighs as much as one thousand deer mice." OK, I'm totally a sucker for this kind of thing. I love it.

He also has a page of silouettes that are at the scale of one inch equals two and a half feet. With a human being included to compare all the animals at once. And there is a couple of pages of additional information about each animal. I always find this "additional information" to be really interesting, but also hard to get through for some reason and I wonder how many young readers actually get to read it. My kids never have the patience for that kind of thing!

Anyhow, I can totally recommend this author illustrator and look forward to seeking out more of his books! Plus I'll be sharing these with my outdoor explorer campers tomorrow!

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marl Frazee
2009 Caldecott Honor Book

I love this book! It's a picture book with a cartooney feel. It's not in traditional comic book frames, but there are "talk bubbles" in the pictures. And it is funny.

It tells the story of a boy named James and a boy named Eamon who go to spend a week with Pam and Bill, who are Eamon's grandparents in order to spend a week at Nature Camp. It's based on real people and real events and is dedicated to Bill, Pam, James and Eamon.

What this book does delightfully and well is juxtapose the "what's expected" of these boys with their honest reality. There are lots of pages where the grown up world and the boys world are shown in their amuzing discordant harmony.  Mari Frazee, both author and illustrator, often does this by having the words and the pictures doing two completely different things . . . a couple of examples:
James arrived "with just a couple of his belongings" reads the text. The accompanying picture shows a pile of stuff about three times higher than the boy!
The text reads "They decided to stay home and enjoy Bill and Pam's company." the illustration shows the boys running of the side of the page, leaving Bill and Pam in a cloud of dust!

The heart of the story though, is "as the nature camp week went by, James and Eamon practically became one person. They did everything together in exactly the same way. To save time, Bill began calling them Jamon.

The thing I love about this story is how clearly it shows up  adult interest in organized activities for children.  .  ."On the way back that afternoon, James and Eamon described their first nature camp day to Bill.
James: I thought you are supposed to walk on a hike.
Eamon: Yeah, not stand and look at some flower for an hour."

. . . . In favor of just messing around with your friends!

Pam and Bill tolerate it all with warmth and hugs and stacks of pancakes, and are about as lovable as "Jamon"

Really sweet book. I think 5 and up would enjoy it. Adults and older kids will get more of the jokes.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

originally posted September 5, 2003

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Newbery Medal 1991

Wonderful. I loved it. I put a big star beside this one. Highly recommended!

It's hard to do justice to a review of this one, so let me just say it's better than what ever I'll be able to say about it here! It's a story about a kid who is a legend. A parentless kid who runs, sneakers flapping, until he comes to a certain city where he has various adventures leading him back and forth into, and into the heart of, both the black side and the white side of town.

He's a wonderful character. The windows on the various families and neighborhoods he passes through are illuminating.

Ultimately it's a story about belonging.

I think kids 9 or 10 and up would love this story. I don't remember anything horrible for kids younger than that, but I just think it would be more enjoyed by the slightly older ones.

If I had to recommend only 4 or 5 of the Newbery books I've read, this would be on the list. Holmes also loved it. Writing this makes me want to check it out and read it again. Maybe I will.

Love, Louise

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
2001 Newbery Honor Book

This is my first read in the revived project!

Takes place in Florida and I appreciate the completely southern feel of the story. Involves a wonderful batch of odd-ball characters including an old lady librarian, a guitar playing/ex-convict/pet shop employee, a nearly blind old lady gardener, a preacher, and especially a girl named Opal and her dog, Winn-Dixie.

There were some whacky elements that I enjoyed . . . like the guitar playing/ex-convict/pet shop employee letting all the animals out of their cages every morning ("I take them out. I feel sorry for them being locked up all the time. I know what it's like to be locked up.") and playing his guitar for them while they listen, mesmerized.

And Littmus Lozenges---- a candy that tastes of root beer, strawberries, and a hint of melancholy.

It's an easy read. A sweet story, not too heavy, but with themes of loss and healing; acceptance and friendship. Nothing in here that would scare off anyone (a younger chapter book reader/listener could definitely handle it). I'd recommend it. It's next on the read aloud list for my kids, and I think BOTH of them (ages 10 and 6) might like it.

update:

I started it with Makayla age 6 last night and she LOVED it. She was a little reluctant at first because "it doesn't have pictures" but she is a big animal lover and she was captivated pretty much right away. :-)

update 2:
Jabu (age 10) read Because of Winn Dixie last week. He LOVED it, said it was the best book he has ever read! The kids also found the movie DVD at the library, so we watched it. I thought it was pretty good over all, but Jabu who had JUST finished the book didn't like it so well. Which I actually was pleased by! (Nice that his experience of the book beat the movie!) He was eager to find another chapter book to read after this one, another excellent recommendation for this book!

I also wanted to share some links that I found related to the book:
Kate DiCamillo's webiste has a nice essay "On Writing"--- On Writing
The publishers of the book have a discussion guide: http://www.candlewick.com/book_files/0763607762.bdg.1.pdf

Jabu enjoyed doing this crossword puzzle related to the book:
Crossword Puzzle

I can't find the link now, but I found some cool writing ideas---

* make a list of 10 things about someone important to you (like Opal had for her mom, and for Winn Dixie)

* invent a new kind of candy that evokes an emotion. And create an advertisement for this candy.