By Jillian Tamaki
Our Little Kitchen By Jillian Tamaki I like this picture book alot. I really like it’s freshness! The pictures and the words are constantly moving around the page reflecting the deadline that has to be reached We’ve got a meal to make at the local community kitchen. This is the book to share with young children about taking action and doing our part to deal with the insecurities of food and money. There’s humor in the smelly jar and the flying black beans. There are sounds that show commitment to focusing and getting the job done. There’s a community of sharing where all are being served and where the very best sound in the world is heard, “ssssssLllllluuuuRRRRRpppp,” This is a just right book for our little people! (Preschool through lower elementary grades.)
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In this blog entry, I will not be sharing a book, but a link to a web site which might be of interest to you while talking to your students or children or grandchildren about racism. While reading a blog post from A Year of Reading about teaching history responsibly, specifically last week’s events in Washington D.C., it was recommended to look at some helpful resources which led me to Can You Spot the Difference on Woke Kindergarten. I think Woke Kindergarten is a valuable resource. I watched several of the 60 second videos: I Miss My Friends ( about quarantining), Safe (about being safe no matter who you are), Good Trouble ( about John Lewis’ work) My Pronoun Book (about gender pronouns). These 60 second videos are a perfect blend of visual and written texts. They are simple, and right to the point and can be used from Pre School through all elementary grades.
Although her website is a work in progress, I sincerely appreciate what Ki Gross has created. As the creative educator that she is, she has not done all of the work for us. She writes, “The only way to engage with or teach this resource with fidelity is to do the necessary unlearning/ learning it requires.” She encourages us to engage with more resources so that we can “ unlearn, heal, liberate and create,” a better world for, “the little people.” Clean Getaway by Nic Stone Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks While this chapter book might be picked up by third and fourth graders because of the larger font and sentence spacing on the page and the simpler black and white illustrations, I found this to be a powerful book that deals with mature issues that would make it a better fit for fifth graders and up through middle school students. Simply put, the story follows Scoob as he goes on a road trip with his grandmother in a luxurious camper through the South stopping at places in the Travelers Green Book. The first important thing Stone does is to educate us about this real book, which was an invaluable resource for black travelers as they negotiated places to visit that helped to keep them distanced from segregation, discrimination and violence as they traveled. The next thing Stone does is to reveal many important issues and problems surrounding biracial children, interracial marriage, dying grandparents, jail sentencing, parent abandonment, guilt and memories. What’s striking is that Stone shares all of this important stuff AND writes a good story filled with humor and adventure and history and love that keep kids involved. As the book continues, the family history unravels as Scoob comes to understand the underlying story of systemic racism and its impact on him, his beloved grandmother and his caring, strict father. Nic Stone writes a good story that one can read simply as a humorous road trip or an important family story of many levels. This is a powerful novel, written in verse, of a boy coming to terms with his father, a Super Bowl football hero who is forgetting stuff and feeling moody. The boy is surrounded by three loyal friends who help him get through this very difficult time as it becomes clear that the father has CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) due to too many concussions and hits on the brain. This book has no happily ever after but it expertly conveys the strong sense of bravely going forth and moving on while dealing with life’s problems. This middle grade chapter book shows how our parameters about certain subject matter, deemed inappropriate for this age group, have expanded. The author, Janae Marks, does an excellent job sharing the hard topic of parental imprisonment while also giving readers a thoughtful character and story about friendship, family and independence. On her twelfth birthday, Zoe Washington receives a letter from her father who is in prison and hides it from her mother who believes that Zoe should have nothing to do with this man who has been declared guilty of killing someone. Against this opposition, Zoe is helped by her grandmother and her used-to-be best friend, the boy next store. Although Zoe is scared and confused, she and the man who is her father, write letters to each other and work hard to develop a trusting relationship. During the course of this story, Zoe does some secretive and what might be seen as dangerous things to find out the truth about her incarcerated father. While doing this she declares her independence from her mother and navigates a friendship with a boy. She learns about The Innocence Project, a real organization that works to free people from prison who have been declared guilty but are in fact innocent. (My only regret with this book is that Marks did not add a link to this organization and share a bit more about its importance.) Marks tackles the tough topic of imprisonment and racist, prejudicial attitudes towards people of color as seen through the eyes of a pre-adolescent black child. What makes this book work for middle grade children is that it is an easy to read story about a regular kid. The story line balances a difficult, realistic situation with Zoe’s passion for baking, her search for a brand new tasting cupcake recipe and her developing relationship with a boy. ( I also wish that Marks added a recipe for this cupcake at the end of the book.) I suspect there is more to come from Zoe’s desk. Her character is a welcome addition to middle grade books.
The Boy and the Gorilla By Jackie Azusa Kramer, Illustrated by Cindy Derby Parents and teachers often need books on the subject of death to share with children. As a librarian I have found that choosing a book on death is a very personal matter. What I may like, may not work for you. It is a hard, tender and bittersweet topic so I encourage you to read several picture books on this subject and then decide what you might feel comfortable using with your student or child. This is a picture book that deals with a boy’s grief over his mother’s death. It opens with six wordless pages of illustrations that show a gorilla, a metaphor for the weight and pain of grief, slowly walking and then observing a boy and his father, and others, as they leave the funeral and then gather together afterwards. What follows is a series of questions about death, dying, and living that the boy asks of the gorilla. The questions are simple and yet profound, as are the answers. On a double spread of softly painted pictures, we see the boy and the gorilla slowly walking by the water. “Where did Mom go? No one knows for sure. Maybe Mom’s here. She liked the waves.” The illustrations and the text are very well suited for this topic of grief. It is a calm, quiet and thoughtful book. |
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
January 2022
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