Dreamers

Neal Porter Books
(Holiday House Publishing)
(pub. 9.4.2018) 
40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor and illustrator: 
Yuyi Morales
    
C haracter: Joan Procter

O verview from the jacket flap: 
     "What if you dreamed of a new life, and it came to you?

      

      What if that new life led you to a new country, where no one spoke your language, where you felt alone and ignored? 

     What if you had to make that new place your home? 

     What if you found that home in a world of books?

     And what if it all were true?"

T antalizing taste: 

      "There were so many things we didn't know.

      Unable to understand and afraid to speak, we made lots of mistakes.

      You and I became caminantes.

      Thousands and thousands of steps we took around this land, until the day we found ...

     a place we had never seen before.

     Suspicious.

     Improbable.

     Unbelievable.

     Surprising.

     Unimaginable.

     Where we didn't need to speak, we only needed to trust. 

     And we did!

     Books became our language.

     Books became our home.

     Books became our lives."

And something more: At the back of the book, Yuyi Morales explains in "My Story": "All of us have stories. Each of them is different.  This story began in 1994, when I crossed a bridge with my two-month-old son, Kelly, from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas... I had come so that my son could meet his great-grandfather... and to marry Kelly's father, a US citizen... I wanted to return to Mexico soon afterward, but was shocked to learn that because of US immigration rules and my new status as a 'permanent resident,' I was now expected to remain in the United States. I had become an immigrant. But could I possibly call this new place my home?... 

      Then one day Kelly's grandmother brought us to ... the public library... I had never been in a place where you could just take books from the shelves without asking and without being scolded... And there were picture books, something I had not encountered before. I could not believe how beautiful and sturdy they were [and] the power of their illustrations....
     One of the most important things I learned at the library is that through books we can find our path and our purpose...
     Kelly and I were Dreamers in the sense that all immigrants, regardless of our status, are Dreamers: we enter a new country carried by hopes and dreams, and carrying our own special gifts, to build a better future."

Before She Was Harriet

Holiday House Publishing

(pub. 11.7.2017)
32 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Lesa Cline-Ransome
      and illustrator:  
                James E. Ransome

C haracter: Harriet Tubman

O verview from the jacket flap: 

     "Moses,
      General Tubman,
      Minty,
      Araminta- 
the woman we know today as Harriet Tubman went by many names. Each represented one of her many roles as a spy, as a liberator, as a suffragist, and more.
     A powerful poem and exquisite watercolor paintings pay tribute to a true American hero.

T antalizing taste: 
       
"Before she was an old woman 
she was a suffragist
a voice for women 
who had none
in marriages
in courts
in voting booths
before her voice became
soft and raspy
it was loud
and angry 
rising above injustice

 

and something more: I was intrigued by the way this powerful and eloquent story was told -- a loop beginning as an older woman and progressing in reverse order through her life back to a woman "who dreamed/ of living long enough/ to one day/ be old/stiff and achy/tired and worn and wrinkled/ and free".  And such a lovely dedication by James E. Ransome, the illustrator: "To black women who have carried the weight of family and work with grace and dignity."

Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson

Taking the Stage as the First
Black-and-White Jazz Band
in History

This post joins other
kidlit bloggers on the
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and also joins It's Monday!

What are you reading?

at Teacher Mentor Texts

Holiday House
(pub. 1.1.2014) 32 pages

A True Tale with 
A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Lesa Cline-Ransome
           and Illustrator: James E. Ransome

    

C haracters:  Benny Goodman - clarinet player  
                   Teddy Wilson - piano player

O verview from the jacket flap: 

    "Brought together by the love of jazz, Teddy Wilson and Benny Goodman broke the color barrier in entertainment when they formed the Benny Goodman Trio, with Gene Krupa. This lush and lyrical picture book tells the story of how two musical prodigies, one a young boy who studied music at Tukegee College in Alabama, the other the son of struggling Russian Jewish immigrants from the West Side of Chicago, came together through music and helped create the style known as swing."

T antalizing taste: 

"Only late at night
In jam sessions
In recording sessions
In Harlem
Offstage, backstage
On vinyl
Were black and white together
When Benny's music swung
with the best
Fast fingering
Drums thumping
Trumpets trumping
It wasn't soft
It wasn't black
It wasn't sweet
It wasn't white
It was swing

and something more:  A wonderful interview of Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome, the wife and husband author and illustrator team of Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson, is featured on the website of the publisher, Holiday House. I was particularly moved by these answers to these questions: "What makes this book special to you? What important message do you feel it brings to young readers?"

Lesa: "I think this book celebrates the passion of two artists while demonstrating that race and background are secondary to the common goals that bind us."

James: "Segregation is such a dark period in American history. I think sometimes it is hard for those who have not grown up in that period to understand that in public, while everything was segregated, people have always been integrated when it comes to playing music." 

Rachel Carson

And Her Book That Changed The World

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday  hosted today by
Hope Is the Word

and joins It's Monday!

What are you reading?

at Teacher Mentor Texts

Holiday House

(pub. 2.1.2012) 32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Laurie Lawlor

     and Illustrator:  Laura Beingessner

C haracter: Rachel Carson

O verview from the jacket flap: 

      "'Once you are aware of the wonder and beauty of earth, you will want to learn about it,' wrote Rachel Carson, the pioneering environmentalist. Rachel found many adventurous ways to study nature. She went diving to investigate coral reefs and tracked alligators on a rumbling 'glades buggy' through the Florida Everglades.
        However, one of the bravest things she did was to write and publish Silent Spring, a book pointing out the dangerous effects of chemicals on the living world... Silent Spring went on to become the book that woke up people to the harmful impact humans were having on our planet."

        

T antalizing taste: 

"As a biologist for fifteen years,
she went places where few women ventured...
counting deep-sea fish in foggy,
dangerous currents south of Nova Scotia;
observing reef animals in a special suit
with an eighty-four-pound diving helmet
off the coast of Florida...
Meanwhile she worked on her own writing in the evening or on weekends.
She began to notice disturbing trends.
What happened to the web of life
when more and more garbage was dumped into the ocean?
How did rising ocean temperatures affect living creatures?"

                       

and something more: I thought the quote from Vice President Al Gore included in the Epilogue perfectly sums up the importance of Rachel Carson's work and book: "Silent Spring came as a cry in the wilderness, a deeply felt, thoroughly researched, and brilliantly written argument that changed the course of history. Without this book, the environmental movement might have been long delayed or never have developed at all."

Betsy Ross

This post is part of Nonfiction Monday 

hosted today by Wendie's Wanderings

Holiday House

(pub. 9.12.2011)  32 pages 

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top

A uthor: Becky White
     and Illustrator:  Megan Lloyd

C haracter:   Betsy Ross

O verview from the jacket flap: 

"Betsy ripped.
Rip, rip,
Seven rich,
Crimson strips.

Inch by inch, bit by bit, Betsy Ross clips, dips, and stitches.
What is she making?"

T antalizing taste: 

"Betsy snipped.

Snip, snip.

Thirteen stars.

Zip, zip.

Betsy dipped.

Dip, dip.

Indigo dye.

Drip, drip."

and something more:   In Betsy Ross, Becky White's sparse text (64 words) and Megan Lloyd's "dyed, clipped, and stiched" illustrations perfectly convey the essence of Betsy Ross' creation of the American flag.
And the Author's Note includes a discussion of the stars that I hadn't heard before: "According to legend ... George Washington made a pencil sketch for the flag in 1776 ... each star having six points. However, Betsy Ross thought that five-pointed stars would look nicer.  When George Washington said that this type was too difficult to cut, Betsy Ross showed him how to cut a five-pointed star with a single clip of her scissors." The back matter then gives step-by-step instructions of how to fold paper or fabric, and then with one snip of the scissors "Make Your Own Betsy Ross Star." I think I'll see if the second graders in the class in which I volunteer want to try it!

A Picture Book of Cesar Chavez

* This post is part of Nonfiction Monday
hosted today by Three Turtles and Their Pet Librarian *


Holiday House (pub. 7.31.2010)
32 pages  Grades 2-4

A True Tale with A Cherry On Top 

A uthor: DAVID A. ADLER and MICHAEL S. ADLER

              and Illustrator:  MARIE OLOFSDOTTER

C haracter: Cesar Chavez, leader of American farmworkers

O verview from the jacket flap:  "For Cesar Chavez, dignity always meant more than money. As a child growing up in California during the Great Depression, Cesar picked produce with his family to make ends meet. The work was backbreaking, the pay was very low, and many families, including his, were homeless. 

     Cesar Chavez later dedicated his life to helping American farmworkers. He argued for better pay and fair working conditions, and was even jailed for his efforts. But he never stopped urging people to stand up for their rights. Young readers will be inspired by the fascinating life story of this champion of social justice."

T antalizing taste:  "Cesar's father was often too busy to spend time with his family. It was Cesar's mom who kept them together. She told her children stories. She taught them values and many proverbs, such as 'What you do to others, others do to you.'"

and something more: In honor of Presidents' Day today, I want to highlight Cesar Chavez' 1964 award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, accepted by his wife. The Picture Book of Cesar Chavez includes President Clinton's tribute to him upon the presentation of the award: "'This remarkable man... with faith and discipline, with soft-spoken humility and amazing inner strength led a very courageous life. And in so doing, he brought dignity to the lives of so many others and provided for us inspiration for the rest of our nation's history.'"  
     The Presidential Medal of Freedom was originally established in 1945 by President Truman to honor civilian service during World War II.  In 1963, President Kennedy expanded the scope of the award to encompass "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." (Executive Order 11085)
      I like that this award includes "cultural endeavors".  As the artist and architect, Maya Lin (a Presidential Design Award recipient), has expressed, "[A]rt, at times, can look at a subject differently, and in doing so can get people to pay closer attention."
     In 1964, the year Cesar Chavez was honored, the recipients in the creative world included the soprano Leontyne Price, the artist Willem de Kooning, the composer Aaron Copland, and the authors T.S. Eliot, Carl Sandburg and John Steinbeck.
     Last week, President Obama honored the fifteen recipients of the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom. The group included three of my favorites in the creative world: the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the artist Jasper Johns, and the author and poet Maya Angelou.
     As a thought for today, Presidents' Day, here are the powerful concluding words of Maya Angelou's poem, "On the Pulse of Morning", which she recited at President Clinton's 1993 inauguration:

"Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, and into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply 
With hope
Good morning."