Tomie's favorite legends are now my favorites, too!

When an author has earned both a Newbery and a Caldecott honor, not to mention several other children's literature awards, you know whatever you find is going to be great (list of all DePaola's awards: http://www.tomie.com/about_tomie/recognitions.html). Tomie DePaola,  author and illustrator of Strega Nona and many other beautiful and touching books, brings together four folktales from four different cultures in this beautifully illustrated collection.  Big Book of Favorite Legends features stories from Texas, Wyoming, Mexico, and Italy.
First,  DePaolo shares "The Legend of the Bluebonnet" from the Comanche people indigenous to Texas. The story goes that a little girl's sacrifice for her people led to the beautiful state flower of Texas, the Bluebonnet. DePaolo uses somewhat simple paintings, but fills the page with color in each story. Gradations of color to show the night sky or a landscape covered with flowers, show DePaolo's illustration prowess.

Little Gopher painting the sky for his people, p.60-61

The second story, "The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" comes from legends of the native people of Wyoming. In this legend, a young boy finds his role in his tribe, not as a brave like the other boys, but as an artist who records the peoples' history and visions with his paintings. Throughout the story, he longs to capture the beauty of the setting sun for his people. The ancestral spirits provide him with the paints he seeks in the form of brightly colored flowers. These flowers became known as Indian Paintbrushes because of this legend. The paintings in this story are particularly beautiful. Today, the Indian Paintbrush is Wyoming's state flower. I had never heard of this flower, so I looked it up. Turns out they do look a lot like vibrant paintbrushes! (See this website for more information and photos: http://www.intangibility.com/inw/Wildflowers/Indian-Paintbrush.html)

The first two stories in this book are excellent for talking about native people of the United States, state flowers, and how legends show the way people interpret the world.

The last two stories in the collection come from outside the United states.  "The Legend of the Poinsettia" is a Christmas tale from Mexico about how a young girl's humble gift of weeds to the Baby Jesus in the manger turns out to be a beautiful bloom of vibrant red flowers. This story would need be carefully used, so as not to overstep cultural boundaries, but provides a beautiful message about gifts. If appropriate, could lead to a better understanding of why poinsettas are used at Christmas and in a larger discussion on Mexican Christmas  traditions, perhaps in a cross-cultural study of holidays.
The final story, "Tony's Bread" is a story from Italy about how panettone, the Italian dessert bread, came to be. In the story, Tony is an excellent baker, but an overprotective father who believes no one is good enough for his daughter. A wealthy nobleman comes up with a plan that allows him to marry Tony's daughter and make Tony a national baking hero. The  illustrations in this story lean away from beautiful and toward cutesy, but are still very interesting to look at while reading.

My only wish is that there were more legends in this collection!

"Flip was five. Flop was two. Whatever Flip did, Flop did too."

This line captures the essence of having a sibling. The younger always wants to be with and do everything like the older. However, sometimes the older does not want the constant shadowing of the younger. This is the story of Flip and Flop by Dawn Apperley. For the most part Flip and Flop, two young penguins get along just fine, and even play a made up game, "boomba," together. But when Flip's friend Hip wants to play, Flop gets rejected.

"Flop felt sad. He shuffled away.

Flop waddled ans shuffled, shuffled and waddled, up and down, around and around, in and out....until he had wandered far, far away from Flip" (pp. 13-15). Flop's sadness is nearly overwhelming, especially when combined with the illustrations of little Flop, head down with a trail of waddling feet behind him. Right when things get to their worst, Flop makes a new friend who will play games with him.

It's unbelievable how easily this book toyed with my emotions. When Flop was sad, I was sad. When Flop met his new friend Hop, I was excited for them. I think the illustrations played a major role in this phenomenon. Although quite simple drawings and paintings, they portray all that they need to portray, including strong emotions on the face of a little penguin, not an easy task. The coloring and shading in this book is beautifully done and although just backgrounds, adds a lot to the feel of the book.

Flip and Flop is definitely a preschool to primary grade book, given its very simple wording and topic, but that does not mean that it is not entertaining and valuable. I think it could very easily lend itself to a good discussion on sibling relationships and building new friendships. Apperley has several other books (http://dawnapperley.com/books/books.htm) also geared at the pre-school and lower elementary level.

Where do cats go at night?

In It's a Secret!, British author John Burningham finally gives an answer to the question of where do cats go at night. One night, Marie Elaine catches her cat, Malcolm, about to leave through cat door, "and he was all dressed up in fancy clothes and a hat" (p. 3). Malcolm allows Marie Elaine to accompany him to a fantastic cat party in the city, but first she must "put on something that's right for a party" (p. 5) and "get small" (p. 6). After their amazing journey, Marie Elaine and Malcolm keep the secret of where cats (and their human friends) go at night. The text is captures the wonder that Marie Elaine feels as she follows Malcolm through the city and to new strange experiences. The excitement and joy of the characters easily translates to the reader, especially because of the beautiful illustrations.

Burningham's watercolor illustrations can seem overly simple at times, but in the heart of the book truly capture the beauty and enormity of the city at night, especially when sneaking around. Furthermore, the simple illustrations of the children and the cats at the party maintain the point of view of a child. This is something that Burningham seeks to convey in his books: "exuberant and colourful chunks of wonder that strove to capture the world from the perspective of the pre-school child," according to an article in The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/john-burningham-in-2009-being-young-is-terrible-you-cant-run-wild-1668540.html). The world that appears for Marie Elaine when she accompanies Malcolm can be described as nothing less than a "chunk of wonder." Bright colors juxtaposed with imprecise watercolor painting give the book a very young mind look, but without feeling "babyish."

This book is probably best suited to the primary grades, but it is a book that I hope to keep on my shelves no matter what grade I end up in. Burmingham's way of capturing the world from the eyes and heart of a young child are just too enjoyable to resign to the kindergarten through second grade classroom.

Granite Baby

Granite Baby by Lynne Bertrand is a beautiful historical fiction picture book about five giantess sisters.

Each of the sisters had a special talent. Jade could twist the river like a rag in her hands. Em whittled wood. Golda was handy with string. People said Ruby was half bear, she was that strong. And Beryl was the finest stonecutter in the Granite State. No mountain was too big for Beryl. (p. 4).

However, in an attempt to prove her prowess, Beryl creates a baby out of granite. They named the baby, "Lil Fella," but quickly realized that with all of their skills combined, the sisters did not have the ability to soothe and care for a baby so tiny and human. Bertrand incorporates a folktale feel into this story by using "country" and "old-timey" language, as in the following, "From afternoon till midnight, and midnight till dawn, Lil Fella cried, wailed, screamed, and hollered till you could actually see his yellin' in the crisp New Hampshire air" (p. 11).

Kevin Hawkes' painting illustrations are beautiful. He perfectly captures the scale of the giantesses and the humans exploring their creations. Both the text and the illustrations range from awe-inspring to hilarious throughout the text, while also maintaining the familiar feel of a folktales.

Some of the words used in the text will be unfamiliar to many readers, but the large illustrations and the context of the story will not make these unfamiliar words a distraction. This would be a great book for all elementary readers and/or listeners to talk about tall tales and folk tales. It could also be used to talk about how to soothe babies or about regions and their products or geography, as many New England geographical features are mentioned

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

To be honest, I grabbed this book off the shelf at the library because its bright colors caught my attention. I did not put it back because I was interested to see how one might re-imagine Lewis Carroll's famous nonsense poem "Jabberwocky." Christopher Myers takes the poem from the pages of Through the Looking Glass and illustrates it with images of a fantastic urban space. The cover illustration gives a good example of the style of the book. The background of fiery colors with simple paintings in the foreground add to the drama of the poem.

I had never considered what the Jabberwocky might look like and had considered the poem to be too nonsensical to try to understand, honestly. However, Myers explains in his note at the end of the book that in his study of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll) journals led him to the Mesoamerican ritual of ollamalitzli, a competition in which the goal is to throw a ball through a hoop hung on the wall. This small note in Dodgson's journal inspired Myers placement of the Jabberwocky on a basketball court.

Although the dark, looming image of the Jabberwocky is somewhat frightening, the use of an urban landscape and people of color in the book might be a way to bridge an English author's 1870s nonsense poem to an audience of American youth. This book could be used in conjunction with reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Alternatively, Myers' book demonstrates that poetry can be very subjective and readers can imagine them however they'd like, especially in the case of nonsense poems like "Jabberwocky."

"Farmer Brown has a problem..."

Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin collaborate Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, a wonderfully entertaining Caldecott Honor book published in 2000. The book follows the plight of Farmer Brown, whose cows have discovered a typewriter that allows them to communicate with the farmer. The cows use their newfound skills to air their grievances about the barn. Strikes and negotiations ensue. The tale captures issues of power and negotiation while remaining funny and engaging.

The illustrations in this book perfectly match the feel of the text. The watercolor paintings filling each page capture the lightness of the story. Further, Lewin's use of shadows and contrasting colors add to the story in really entertaining ways. The adorable farm animals teem with personality on each page.

This book seems to be best suited to younger children (ages 2-6), though I think it can be entertaining for people of all ages (in fact, I read it to everyone I could since I first picked it up: twenty-somethings love it!). I could see myself using this book as a way to talk about fairness, justice, or even just the power of written communication, if not just for the sheer enjoyment of it. I can't wait to find more of Cronin and Lewin's collaborations, not to mention to see more of the hilarious situations that the Cows, the Hens and Duck get themselves, and maybe even Farmer Brown into (see http://www.thumpquackmoo.com/tqm/index.html for more information about their most recent book or http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Doreen-Cronin/1569483/books for a complete list).