By Cori Doerrfeld
The Rabbit Listened By Cori Doerrfeld I don’t know how this precious picture book passed me by. It was published in 2018 but just came on my radar when I read a recent email from Colby Sharp, (teacher and children’s book lover). The text and the story are simple. The illustrations are both dear and expressive. Taylor proudly spends a lot of time building something which out of nowhere is destroyed. Taylor’s animal friends try to console Taylor with their ideas of how to solve the problem. But it is rabbit who delivers the most important message of all that helps Taylor move through his disappointment. The rabbit listens in silence as Taylor moves through his upset and is ready, “to build again,” and exclaim, “Its going to be amazing.” Parents and educators will want to pull this book out again and again as their young ones experience exactly what Taylor has. We can all learn from this book and use it from preschool through elementary school age children.
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Me and Uncle Baruch A Story for Families Coping with Mental Health Issues By Dr. Jacob L. Freedman Illustrated by Mira Simon I suspect it is rare that a Librarian/Mother gets to post about a book written by their son! I find it amazing! With great pride I share with you the newly published children’s book, “Me and Uncle Baruch” by my son, the author, Jacob L. Freedman.
“Me and Uncle Baruch”, the picture book, is based on my son’s personal memory and is, in a way, a “love letter” from my son to his observant Jewish community. It has become Jacob’s life work to destigmatize mental health issues and to help his community understand mental health concerns in an honest, open, and loving way. This book accomplishes this mission. It answers the question, “What do we tell the kids,” about a family member who is hospitalized for mental illness in a clear, easy and understandable way. The story presents the challenges to a family, particularly a nephew, whose beloved uncle has a mental health illness and must be hospitalized. In a gentle way, as if hugging each family member involved in this health crisis, the book simply presents the special relationship between the two of them, the breakdown of the uncle’s health, the hospitalization process and the presence of God within their lives. Please note, that because of its important message this story can and should be read and used with younger children of any religious affiliation to start a dialogue about these issues. From previous entries in this blog, you know that I love children's books illustrations. I love the color, the design, the movement, the style, the details and feel that illustrations are as important as the words in a children’s picture book. As with many things I’ve learned about the Orthodox Jewish community, with time, I’ve learned to shift my negative bias of illustrations in Orthodox children’s books. I’ve come to understand why things are done differently in the Orthodox publishing world of picture books. The importance of the book is not in the pictures, which have been noted as “delightful” and “upbeat” in certain book reviews but that they should be simple, generic, and most definitely not detract from the Orthodox traditions of dress, activity, and commitment to God. Within those parameters, this book is quite successful. This Librarian/Mother remains proud of her son and proud to share this piece of children’s literature.The major success of this book is in its calm and supportive presentation for families and young children of any religious denomination about mental illness. The questions provided at the end of the book and the addition of available resources make this a meaningful contribution to helping all of us with this problem. I Like This, You Like That By Linda Ashman, Illustrated by Eve Coy Sweet illustrations of adorable youngsters, simple rhyming words and a thoughtful message make this an all around pleasing picture book to share with a preschooler. Two friends engaged in their own favorite activities find that they don’t have anything in common. It puzzles them.
“I like shaggy dogs. Do you? No, they make me sneeze- ACHOOOO!” They wonder how they could be friends. What an important premise for preschoolers who are navigating their own friendships and forming their self identities. Their resolution that they can like opposite things but still like each other is very refreshing. Somewhere in the Bayou By Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey One of the special things about this picture book is that it was written and illustrated by two brothers. They said that the story “started as a conversation about assumptions and implicit bias…where someone’s assumption about someone else backfired.” They absolutely succeed in dealing with this big issue in this well illustrated picture book of few words. A swamp setting is perfect for being home to many diverse animals. Four of them, hoping to cross a river via a log, are stymied by the presence of a tail next to this log. Each one has a different assumption about the tail and what to do with it. Is it a sneaky, scary, mean or stuck tail? Should they be quiet or loud or poke or free the tail? When only one animal is left to figure out what to do, he uses his knowledge and ends up helping the alligator who has been caught. Thinking that now he too will be eaten by the alligator and never get across the river, he is surprised by the alligator’s response that, “We’ve become friends, and friends don’t eat friends…” In my mind, this original book is Caldecott Medal Award quality. Using a limited color palette, and printmaking, the Pumphrey brothers have successfully created atmosphere, tension, and humor in their characters and illustrations. The expressive eyeballs of the animals will engage children throughout the book as well as the “wobble, smack and splash” of the river water. This book is worth looking at!
Hector Fox and the Giant Quest By Astrid Sheckels If you have a preschooler who loves to hear about quests and who has an eye for detail then let me recommend this picture book to you. Astrid Sheckels has created a thoroughly engaging woodland world, including a map, where fairy tales might truly exist. Five friends explore the Green Wood and beyond in search of a possible giant that they have heard about in their read aloud. Each double spread page is filled with rich illustrations that take the reader from the quiet, peaceful setting of Hector Fox’s living space into the full and then mysterious woods. As they near the Forbidden Marsh the tension builds as these friends encounter mishaps. Sheckels successfully paces the story and pictures by adding shadows and gasping comments until the group finally finds the Giant. Your book reader will want to hear more from Hector and his friends. Thankfully there are two more books in the series, although I have not had the opportunity to read them yet. If you both can’t wait then I strongly suggest that you go on your own bear/Giant hunt and create your own mystery. Have fun! Why? …A Conversation about Race Written by Taye Diggs; Illustrated by Shane W. Evans Ain’t Burned All The Bright By Jason Reynolds & Jason Griffin These two books pack powerful punches and leave big impacts! They should be read by all school children! The first, Why?, is a picture book that is readily accessible for kindergarteners and up through elementary school. Starting with heartbreaking questions, followed by stark answers, both Taye Diggs’ choice words and Shane W. Evans’ emotional illustrations present openings for conversations about the pain and anger, racism and injustice in our society. The book as a whole is a genuine and profound plea for faith and love to guide the way for these important dialogues to take place. Take this pain and plea up to a higher grade level, middle school through adults, and you have the amazing collaborative book, Ain’t Burned All The Bright. In my eyes, this book is a medal winner, (perhaps both Caldecott and Newbery and many more!). In this book you have the pain, anger, racism, injustice, and the horrible Covid-19 virus, illness and quarantine all staring you in your face and pinging in your head. The three passionate, heartrending poetic sentences of this book are broken up onto three hundred pages of dynamic, touching illustrations that are totally intertwined and dynamically reaching out to you the reader. From the very beginning words we are caught up with this teen, this brother, this son in a suffocating situation. “ And I’m sitting here wondering why my mother won’t change the channel and why the news won’t change the story and why the story won’t change into something new Instead of the every-hour rerun about how we won’t change the world…” He is surrounded by his father who is in another room coughing from the virus and ,”it sounds like something in him is breaking up and breaking down at the same time…”, his brother who is attacking a computer game, his sister who is texting on her phone, and his mother who is glued to the television. They are all together but descended into their own personal hells and our teen, brother, son wants to find the cure for all this, to put an end to this suffering, and he madly searches for “an oxygen mask” but can’t find one. We ask, is this book supposed to offer us some hope? Is there a window at the end of this dark tunnel? Why should we also descend into this drowning negative space? In the third breath, part three of this book, Reynolds and Griffin bring us through to hope beautifully. Stick with them and we can feel like our teen, brother, son, “ the beginning of the beginning of a laugh…was like feeding me a teaspoon of we might should will can be all right okay…” We can grieve and catch our breath in this book. We can think and share and look, “and maybe seeing each other’s mess as a breath of fresh air…” Both Reynolds and Griffin have created an amazing book. I strongly suggest you read it and share it (and let me know what you think.)
The Marvellers By Dhonielle Clayton Born of the author’s love of magic since she was eleven and her desire to share a universe that represents all children, Dhonielle Clayton has created a wonderful story that many, many 5th graders and older will love. Her chapter book takes you into a magical realm, “where [Clayton writes], all people from around the world could come together and share what’s marvelous about their culture and it’s magical traditions.” After reading the Harry Potter books, children are always looking for more of these magical worlds. They will find it in this book, (which I hope is just the first in the series,) including a fascinating school for trainees called, “The Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous & Uncanny Endeavors.” They will also find fabulous food concoctions, cities with inventive transportation systems, Marvels and Paragons, good and evil characters, best friends, loving families and many, many secrets.
The book has received great praise including words such as “tantalizing, gorgeous, fresh, endearing” and more. What sets this story apart from other magical stories and series is that it is rooted in ongoing important recent dialogues. Without being heavy handed, Clayton seamlessly interweaves our society’s ever present systemic biases and stereotypes and promotes dismantling it and furthering equality, acceptance and support for all. When in this book, the Conjurors are finally admitted into the closed world of Marvellers we see all of our prejudices played out in this world of magic. Kudos to Dhonielle Clayton for sharing these truths amidst 404 pages of a fantasy chapter book. Readers, adult and child, alike will champion Ella Durand as she braves her first school year with excitement even though she becomes a target of distrust and hate. I hope future books about the “ Marvellerverse” will continue this exciting story but also will be more tightly edited with an eye towards smoother transitions and even more details. I look forward to hearing lots more about this story! The Barnabus Project By The Fan Brothers I found this picture book in a small children’s store and was enchanted by the story and thought it would make a great gift for a preschooler. I’m unsure now if this copy will make it as a present. I may have to buy another copy to give away.
Our main character, Barnabus, is half elephant and half mouse and cute as can be. He is hidden away in a laboratory with other not quite perfect pets who don’t quite meet the requirements as perfect, genetically engineered pets for sale. Barnabus likes his bell jar home but yearns to see the outdoors as described to him by his friend, Pip, the cockroach. When Barnabus and his lab mates are labeled as failed projects and the thought of being recycled is too much, Barnabus stages a breakout and declares that, “Nothing is impossible.” He leads the others out of the lab overcoming many obstacles as all of them work together to get to freedom before they are captured by the Green Rubber Suits. I love when Barnabus exclaims, “He might not be perfect…But he was free,” What a great line! What a powerful message in this wonderfully illustrated tale of deep friendship and self appreciation! I love Children’s Poetry. I found this poem by Mary Ann Hoberman in her new book, “Away With Words.” It spoke to me and my love of books and my love of sharing the joys of reading and books with others.
Just Think Locked inside the alphabet Is every word That ever was And every book That never was But will be. Browse section 811 in the library and I bet you’ll find some gems. The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams with illustrations by William Nicholson The Velveteen Rabbit By Margery Williams With illustrations by Erin Stead I was excited to read in my professional journal about a new edition of a favorite classic illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Erin Stead. Since reading,” A Sick Day for Amos McGee,” I have been a fan of her style and looked forward to seeing how she would interpret this wonderful story, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams. I want you to know that I do believe in “nursery magic” and that I fully believe in the sub-title of this story, “Or How Toys Become Real.” Above my bed on the top shelf is a very “real” stuffed koala animal, named Rosie, who has been with me since my Grandmother gave it to me when she returned from her travels to Australia, when I was around seven or eight. Rosie and the Velveteen Rabbit share the same appearance:
“…his beautiful velveteen fur was shabbier and shabbier, and his tail coming unsewn and all the pink rubbed off his nose where the Boy had kissed him.” The Boy and the Rabbit share playtime, nighttime, whispers and high jumps into the air. Soon, the Boy declares that the Rabbit is REAL, just like the wise Skin Horse had told the animal that it might happen. If you haven’t had this experience with a “lovey” or if you haven’t read this story before, or even if you have read it before than you should read it again to yourself and then with a beloved younger person, (not younger than four and probably around six through ten-ish.) The story is quite magical and precious, filled with love and understanding of one’s self. My original copy of this book illustrated by William Nicholson has a torn and aged cover with yellowish pages. The book is just 8” tall and 5” wide with a round, largish font and has 44 pages. There are only seven illustrations each reminiscent of an older time when children were kept in a nursery. They fully capture the life of the Rabbit, his playtime, his anxiety of being left behind, the fairy flower and the joy of becoming physically real. Altogether it presents itself as a classic and because of this presentation you know it is a special treasure. The newly published book illustrated by Erin Stead looks like a picture book. They created a book that is standard picture book width and height , 8 by 11”, has 16 illustrations, on most pages and is 39 pages long. Did the editors feel that readers today could only handle a standard picture book format and couldn’t handle the old fashioned, sophisticated feel of a classic story book? The font is not comforting to me and because of its standard look I feel that it adds nothing to the story. Stead is a master of woodblock printing and pencil illustrations but I don’t think she gets the mood of the story. Her illustrations don’t enhance the story, until page 13 and then they do even more so with her double page spread of the Skin Horse sharing his wisdom with the Rabbit. From there on Stead succeeds in marrying the story and illustrations together and we feel the true essence of pathos, concern, love and confusion experienced by the Rabbit. I’m delighted there has been a reissue of this beloved story. It reminded me that I need to share it with my granddaughter. I hope that you get an opportunity to share this story quietly and lovingly and that you are sitting closely with your special person to appreciate it together. I will probably purchase the older edition of the book illustrated by Nicholson as gifts but maybe I’ll purchase the one illustrated by Stead also. (Funny thing is that while writing this review, the more that I look at the cover, the more I’m moved by the illustration.) My bottom line is to suggest that you go borrow it from the library or buy one or the other edition. Just do it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Let me know. |
Author For 29 years I had the best job as School Librarian in the Aaron Kushner Library for grades Pre K-3 at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston. Although I am retired, I remain Lori the Librarian. Archives
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