A couple more picture book reviews (we'll return to adolescent books next time -- I promise)

Greenfield, Eloise; Gilchrist, Jan Spivey (2011) The Great Migration;  Journey to the North  New York:  Amistad



This is the story of the great migration of African-Americans from the south to the north during the reconstruction years when Jim Crow laws made the South a difficult place to live.  Their stories (told here through their voices arranged as poetry and through beautiful illustrations that combine photography with color and realistic sketching) include hope, heartbreak, disillusion, determination, joy, fear, and fulfillment.  Some of the images are stunning.  My favorites include one of a train passing a cornfield (but if you look closely you can see people amid the stalks) and an image of the train tracks, with a part of a map of the united states between the rails, so that at the rails get smaller in the distance, the mat moves north to Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and beyond.)  This is a lot of history here -- and a lot of heart too.  Good for 2nd and third  on up (really, any older kid who isn't ashamed to be reading a picture book).




Konnecke, Ole  (2011) Anton can do Magic  Weillington, New Zeeland: Gecko Press

 

Anton has a magic hat -- a real one.  He cannot make a tree disappear (probably too big) but when he focuses on a little bird and closes his eyes for a minute, the little bird disappears.  When he makes his friend Luke disappear, though, Anton is not so happy anymore.  Throughout this book, the child reader knows more about the story (by looking at the images) than the narrator behind the text does  This gives the child a strong sense of knowing more than the storyteller does -- which is sure to make the book a delight (and if they ar learning a bit about irony in the bargain -- so much the better. The illustrations are in a style reminiscent of Charles Schulz's Peanuts comics (see above) and they work well with the story.  This book is probably best for first and second graders.

 

 

 

 

Padmanabhan, Manjula  (2011)  I am Different.  Can you find me?  Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge

 

 

This is a nonfiction book about languages.  Although it is pretty abstract (no actual story here), the book stays interesting because there are a lot of colors, shapes, and other items for readers to find.  Having said that, this would be a great book for a preschool, kindergarten, or first grade class in connection with a unit on languages.  It is hard to imagine a kid picking this up on his or her own and being enthralled by it (though little kids are pretty amazing, so I guess it is possible). 

Interplanetary diplomacy can be a scary thing

Pelle, Serge; Runberg, Sylvain (2009)  Orbital  Canterbury: Cinebook

 

Caleb Swany is the first human to be admitted to the Interworld Diplomatic Office.  He gets paired with a Sanjaar named Mezoke (you can see them both in the cover image above).  Although they don't immediately get along, during training, they come to rely on each other.  Then they get their first assignment, to broker a treaty between the humans on a mining world, and the Sanjaar who they took it away from.  When terrorists and carnivorous creatures from below the surface intervene, it looks like peace may be impossible. 

     It sounds like I am not telling you the rest because I don't want to spoil the ending, but actually, that is all I know. I have only read book 1 of Orbital.  There are at least two other books.  But I haven't been able to get hold of them, so I can't tell you how it ends.  This makes me feel a bit like I used to when I would read a six year old Avengers comic at my cousin's house and get to the end of it and realize that he only way I could find out the ending would be to go to Argus Used books, search the back issues, and hope I could read the whole comic before the owner of the store asked me if I was going to buy that or what?

     So it annoys me, but it is a good story.  The plot is gripping, the art is excellent, and there are even some decent themes to it that get you thinking (the most obvious one has to do with racial prejudice.)

     The book is pretty violent at times.  I think this one would work best for high school.  And if anyone stumbles across a copy of the second or third book, let me know what happens next, okay?

Another excellent picture book you have probably never heard of

Trottier, Maxine; Arsenault, Isabelle (2011) Migrant  Toronto:  Groundwood Books

 

This is a book about migrant workers that probably isn't quite what you might expect.  These migrant workers look European rather than from South or Central America (a reminder that almost every culture has, at some point in its history, been migrant workers).  Young Anna is too small to work in the fields, but when she waits at home of the workers to come home at the end of a very long day, she does a lot of thinking.  She compares her life to that of a bird, a rabbit, a bee, a kitten, and a cricket.  Reading between the lines, the reader can understand that she sometimes wishes she had a permanent place to live -- maybe with a bike that is her own.   

     This would be a great book for teaching kindergarteners and first graders (and actually older kids too) about what it feels like to be a migrant worker.  It also has excellent extended metaphors.  It would be an excellent book for teaching metaphor o almost any age.

     The illustrations are wonderful -- the edges get sort of fuzzy when Anna is imaging.  I will confess that rosy red cheeks kind of bug me a bit (Anna seems more real than that to me) -- but overall it is a beautiful book.

Beautiful Wordless French Picture Book

Devernay, Laetitia (there is seriously no copyright date anywhere on this book.  Weird.)  The Conductor.  Chronicle Books

 

A man in a suit  climbs a tree.  At the top of the tree he raises his baton, gestures, and the leaves of the tree turn into birds and fly off.  Different birds fly from different leaves.  In response to his direction the form giant loops in the sky.  When all the birds are gone, he bows and climbs back down.  As the birds return, he buries one end of his baton and a new tree sprouts. 
     That's it.  That's all that happens in this wordless book, and it is beautiful. 
     One of the reasons I like reading international picture books is that often they take my breath away with the way they are able to see things differently.  This book does exactly that.  It would be good for Kindergarten through age 47.  (I can only speak for myself -- I haven't tested it with anyone older than 47).