Children's Book Week 2021

 So earlier this week, May 3rd through May 9th, was Children's Book Week. There are actually going to TWO Children's book weeks in 2021 (the second one will be in November and maybe I will actually post it about it before it happens).  In case you have never heard of Children's Book Week, it was actually started way way way back in 1919 by the Boy Scouts, making it the longest-running national literacy initiative ever!!!! Children's Book Week is all about connecting authors, librarians, teachers, and publishers, and getting more books into the hands of young readers. You may be asking now what actually happens during Children's Book Week. Well, you need to check out all of the awesome resources on the Every Child a Reader website (and, yes, they are still available online). Every year a renowned illustrator is chosen to create original artwork for Children's Book Week. This year the fantastic Caldecott-winning artist, Brian Collier, was selected and you can download a poster and bookmarks featuring his artwork. There are also other free resources like the Superpower Reading Challenge and step-by-step drawing instructions for some of your favorite characters such as Cat Ninja.

In honor of Children's Book Week here are some more recent publications (over the last year or two) that I have particularly enjoyed. 

1. Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson

As a children's librarian I am constantly asked for book recommendations based on what a young reader has read before. Renee Watson's new middle grade series about fourth grader, Ryan Hart, is perfect for fans of Junie B. Jones, Ramona Quimby, Clementine, or countless other books and series about elementary-aged girls. Ways to Make Sunshine is modern, realistic, and a positive family story without being overly saccharine. I absolutely adore Ryan and her brother, Ray, who bicker constantly and play tricks on one another, but still love and support one another. Young readers will appreciate that Ryan is not perfect. Like most children, she can be jealous, angry, petty, etc. However, she is also kind, generous, and willing to learn from her mistakes. What more can a parent hope for? I think that it is important that the Harts are not some idealized portrait of familial bliss. They are experiencing financial difficulties and have been forced to move to a smaller home, and Ryan struggles to be happy with all of the changes. The second book in the Ryan Hart series, Ways to Grow Love, was just published in April and I cannot wait to read it. I hope that Watson continues with this wonderful series for an incredibly long time.

As a fun side note, Ryan loves cooking and creating "concoctions" and her dream is to become a chef. The family lives in Portland, Oregon and that happens to be where the current season of Top Chef is located. If you have your own aspiring chef at home reading Ways to Make Sunshine and watching Top Chef may be fun.

3. Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

"Some things are impossible to talk about because they're things no one wants to know about." 

 There is no doubt that Della's story is one most people do not want to know about, because more than anything we wish stories like hers didn't occur at all. Ten year old Della (never call her Delicious) has not had a happy, carefree childhood. Her mother is a meth addict who has been incarcerated for the past five years and during that time she has been forced to live with her mother's abusive boyfriend, Clifton. Now Clifton has been arrested and Della is living in a foster home and going to a new school. At least Della is not alone. Suki, Della's sixteen year old sister, has always been there to love and protect her. Who protected Suki, though? Della worries that it is her fault that her sister has suffered in silence.  

 

There are not enough words to express how important a book like Fighting Words is. Does the story deal with difficult topics such as sexual abuse, drug addiction, suicide, foster care, consent? Yes, and I understand that many parents seeing those words are silently thinking no way am I going to allow my child to read that. I get wanting to be protective or our children's innocence. The horrible truth is that there are countless children in the world right now who will read Fighting Words and know for the first time that they are not alone. Della's story can provide these readers with hope and, perhaps, the courage to seek help. Of course, there are millions of readers who have not suffered trauma like Della and Suki's. Does that mean that they cannot benefit from reading Fighting Words? Of course not. To be able to see ourselves in characters is one of the magical gifts of fiction. Equally impressive is fiction's ability to allow a reader to place themselves in the shoes of someone they have nothing in common with and feel empathy.  May we all, like Della, discover our inner wolf, and learn to defend and cherish one another.

1. When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

Well, this is another story about two sisters but this one does not have the same trauma as Fighting Words. I am not going to lie, though, When You Trap a Tiger will still give you the feels and have you reaching for a tissue or two.

With barely more than a week's notice Lily and Sam's mother packs up their life in California so they can move in with Halmoni (Korean for grandmother) in Washington state. It soon becomes apparent that the reason for the hasty move has to do with the declining health of Halmoni. Can Lily cure her grandmother by appeasing the magical tiger from Halmoni's stories? Keller deftly combines fantasy and magic in a beautiful story about loss, growing up, sisterly love, and a family coming together.  As someone unfamiliar with Korean culture or folklore, reading When You Trap a Tiger was a wondrous journey. 

Losing a loved one is never easy, whether you are ten, twenty, or fifty. As Sam tells Lily at the end of When You Trap a Tiger: "The sadness fades, yeah. Eventually. But the missing...I don't know if that ever does."

Now that I have completely bummed you out let's move on to something a bit cheerier: Picture Books!

4. It's So Quiet! written by Sherri Duskey Rinker and illustrated by Tony Fucile

This new book by the author of the best-selling construction site series and gorgeously illustrated by Tony Fucile has quickly become a favorite for bedtime. I do suggest having a second calmer bedtime story, though, because It's So Quiet actually gets a bit rowdy.  A young mouse in the country is trying to go to sleep, but there are just too many things making noise outside his window. From the whoosh of the wind through the trees to the tip tap of a dog's tail on the floor it is not quiet enough for little mouse to go to sleep. 

I think that I have mentioned before I adore picture books with onomatopoeia (sound words), or perhaps I just really like using the word onomatopoeia. It's So Quiet is sure to have little ones croaking like frogs, chirping like crickets, and snoring like Grandpa on the porch.

 

Books with onomatopoeia, alliteration, and/or rhyming are excellent for helping little ones develop phonological awareness, a skill necessary for reading.  Phonological awareness is a fancy, ten dollar term for being able to able to recognize that words are made up of smaller sounds or phonemes. Sound words are often made from individual phonemes that are in other words and when kids make these sounds they are learning to hear and make these phonemes. So, not only are books like It's So Quiet incredibly fun to read, they will also help little ones develop the skills needed to be a fantastic readers!

 

 5. Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love

Julian at the Wedding is the spectacular follow up to Julian is a Mermaid, which won the 2019 Stonewall Book Award. . Both of Jessica Love's stories about the oh-so-charming Julian and his fabulous Abuela are tenderly written and gorgeously illustrated. There is so much life and personality in her character's faces, and her colors are luminous.

Julian is very excited to be attending a wedding with his abuela and even prouder that he is going to be "in" the wedding.  Also in the wedding is a boisterous little girl named Marisol and she and Julian quickly become friends.  After sneaking away from the grownups Marisol proceeds to play with a very muddy puppy which destroys her peach confection of a dress. Julian creates a magical new outfit for Marisol out of his blazer and some willow branches.

The inclusivity of Julian at the Wedding (the wedding is of a same sex couple) is important to mention. I am in awe of how Love manages to exemplify the beauty of self-expression, acceptance, respect, and love with sparse language and a mere 32 pages. It is perfectly, wondrously normal that Julian is the one enamored  with clothes, flowers, and the other pageantry associated with a wedding. Marisol arrives wearing the poofiest dress with a backwards baseball camp and she is the one who rolls in the dirt with a puppy while Julian looks on horrified. 

I know that I mentioned how Love manages to show so much expression in the faces of her character. Although the weeding couple is not the focus of the book, you cannot look at the illustrations of them and not feel their love and devotion to one another. As a reader you feel like you are gazing into the hearts of all of Love's characters and seeing their inner beauty and kindness. It is truly magical and, honestly, I cannot think of another illustrator who conveys so much feeling and tenderness in human characters.

Not to mention, the details of the lace tablecloths, the willow branches, the flowers, etc. Love's illustration make me feel like I am walking through a mythical fairy garden. I wanted to be  a guest at that wedding. I could imagine, the texture of the lace tablecloth, the smell of the flower, the music playing and the laughter and pure joy of the event. I suppose it is a little heavy to ascribe so much to a picture book written for young children, but Julian at the Wedding is a breathtaking experience.

6. Saturday written and illustrated by Oge Mora

So the final book I want to talk about is another picture book. Saturday by Oge Mora is what I would call a modern take on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Ava's mom works very hard six days a week so Saturday is the one day that the mother and daughter spend together. They always have special plans like going to storytime at the library (YAY libraries), getting their hair done, going to the park, etc. On this particular Saturday Ava and her mother even have tickets to a one day only puppet show.  Unfortunately, this Saturday is beset by problems. Story time has been cancelled, their new hairdos are destroyed by a passing car spraying water over them, the park is too crowded, and Ava's mom has even misplaced the puppet show tickets. Now you would think that Ava is the one in tears, bemoaning how the entire day has been ruined, but it is actually her mother. It is Ava who needs to remind her mother that any day that they spend together is a great day.  

First of all, I adore that Saturday features a working, single mom that obviously loves her daughter more than anything. also, Saturday shows everything going wrong but it is the mother who is crying and upset and it is up to the child to reassure her. Parents are not perfect and do not have all the answers. Sometimes parents need their children to remind them that all that matters is being together.