*Alphabet City (1995)

*Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson (1995) is a collection of paintings! The only text is an introduction. “Building Alphabet City required self-imposed guidelines. All letters had to be capital letters, found in their natural positions, out-of-doors or in public spaces such as the subway, readily accessible to anyone who looks carefully at our urban world at various times of day, and during the cycle of seasons. There are not right or wrong solutions to finding letters in a city, only pleasurable ones.” Johnson painted images in which he perceived capital letters of English. There are no identifying marks in the paintings that highlight the letters Johnson perceives. The painting of a fire escape on the side of a building does not have a brightly colored red overlay of the letter Z. No text directs our attention. Johnson thus demands that we discover the letters ourselves! What a delightful exercise! 

Inside Outside Who We Are (2006)

Inside Outside Who We Are by Steve Tiller (2006) celebrates diversity in its many manifestations. It does so in rhyme. The first line sets the stage: "When I look at you It isn’t hard to see, You really do not look Very much like me!” The rhyme mixes in skin color, hair style, body types, abilities and disabilities, likes and dislikes. It’s the philosophy I recall advocating for in my own family and social circles. “We disagree On lots of stuff, But how we feel Is close enough. We think different . . . But our feelings Are the same we find. Inside our hearts We all feel love, For friends and family And things above!” Now, in 2025, the illustrations by Harry Teague  have the feel of a dreamscape. In 2025, this poem reads like a delusion, an unfulfilled wish. Was it naive to think our differences would somehow still allow all the human race to get along? This respect for differences is now being erased from the government anything. 

Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa (2005)

Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa by Veronica Chambers (2005)is a lovely story of an artist with persistence. Celia Cruz “sang like a bird” at a young age. Her beautiful voice attracted neighbors outside her home in Cuba as she sang lullabies to her younger siblings. In high school, she sang in school shows and local clubs. Her father encouraged her to train to be a teacher, but Cruz attended Cuba’s National Music Conservatory after high school. Despite her natural talent, a career in music was not easy to find. When she was hired by a popular band, its fans were furious. But the band kept Cruz and “rewrote the history of Cuban music with new arrangements and a fresh, innovative style.” Cruz left Cuba in 1960 and politics dictated that she could never return. Although she found fame and love in the United States, leaving Cuba was “a heartache she carried her whole life through.” Julie Maren’s illustrations reflect the text with little embellishment. This book has a two-page author’s note, glossary, and bibliography. 

*Thelonious Mouse (2011)

*Thelonious Mouse by Orel Protopopescu  (2011) is a joyful story for the very young music lover. Thelonious Mouse “had too much music in him to stuff into a mousehole. He had to let it out.” This mouse tap-dances and prances. He claps and slaps the walls in a home of a cat. While his parents and siblings shake at the prospect of waking the sleeping feline, Thelonious skitters and twitters on a table singing “Nibblety dribblety cheeit! Icky ticky old fleabit!” Fat cat chases Thelonious more than once in this story. When Thelonious discovers a tiny, toy piano, he doesn’t hear the cat coming. All he hears is the sound of the piano keys. “A click-a-keys, a lick-a-cheese, a jingling, tingling sends me in a swoon.” And yet, his musical genius saves the day, and the future. This is a brilliantly written story illustrated by Anne Wisdorf .

*The Aritist Who Painted a Blue Horse (2011)

*The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse  is my favorite book by Eric Carle (2011). The multicolored title promises that brightly colored content awaits inside the book. That promise is fulfilled. Eric Carle’s animals fill large two-page spreads. The text’s only mission is to label the pictures. First, we meet the artist standing at a canvas. “I am an artist and I paint . . .a blue horse and . . .” Each page is magical. The blue horse canters across the pages, brown mane and tail flowing. A red crocodile bears sharp teeth in an enormous open mouth. A yellow cow shines brightly against a night sky with stars. A pink rabbit, green lion, orange elephant, purple fox, black polar bear, and polka-dotted donkey all remind us that an artist sees the world in a special way. Eric Carle validates the artist on the last page: “I am a good artist.” 

The most significant part of this book is the back matter. Eric Carle shows us Blue Horse I, (1911) by Franz Marc! There's a one-paragraph biography of Franz Marc and an explanation of why Eric Carle created this book. When he was a young painter, his art teacher at the time defied the Nazis by showing him forbidden “modern impressionistic or abstract art.” Carle is quoted, “‘My green lion, polka-dotted donkey and other animals painted in the ‘wrong’ colors were really born that day seventy years ago.’”

My First Thanksgiving Book (1984)

 My First Thanksgiving Book by Jane Belk Moncure is the kind of story I read in childhood.  Moncure's illustrations give the story a fairytale feel. Her colors are lovely and her simplified style quite pretty. The book has single page chapters with headings in bold type. The first vignette is The Mayflower. Moncure shows the Mayflower in full sail carrying passengers in Pilgrim costume. Pilgrims arrive on shore, and in Plymouth they build homes. During the First Winter, Indians come with corn and bread. After a several pages about the happy establishment of a Pilgrim community, the story jumps to modern day. "Thanksgiving Today" begins with A Family Time, generations sitting at a dinner table. A contemporary Thanksgiving has Pumpkin Pies, giving thanks, sharing, and fall colors. Families still celebrating a traditional Thanksgiving story will love this book. It's gentle, well organized, and beautiful. 

My First Easter (1990)

 The cover of Tomie dePaola's book My First Easter reminds us of his consistent artistic style. This book has no story. It's a catalogue of Easter related content, an excuse for dePaola to paint. "This is the family coloring eggs. These are the flowers all around the house. This is the Easter lily." You get the idea. It's a12 page Trumpet Club Special Edition. It's a beautiful book. 

*Starring Mirette & Bellini (1997)

*Mirette is back on the wire in Emily Arnold McCully's second book in her trilogy, Starring Mirette & Bellini (1997) At the end of the first book, Mirette convinces Bellini she's serious about traveling with him to perform on the high wire.   At the beginning of this, the second story, she masters feats on a low wire and then practices high above the ground. "She was free, surrounded by air!" Bellini declares they are ready to go public. They perform in Milan, Budapest, Vienna, and Paris. One day, he teaches Mirette the "Death Walk". Of course, this is foreshadowing.  When the pair perform in St. Petersburg, Mirette learns about the "poor people of Russia". McCully captures this moment by having Mirette make eye contact with a young woman who is walking with "a ragged band of people". At the end of their walk over the frozen Neva River, Bellini says to the audience, "'One day, you too will be free! Do not lose hope!'" He's immediately arrested and put in jail. Mirette must save him. The wire is his secret to freedom.  

*Chatter, Chirp, Bark & Buzz (2015)

 Eric Carle works his visual magic again in Chatter, Chirp, Bark & Buzz  (2015). The print I have is a "Me Reader" book designed to work with a sound pad. Each page of text has an icon that apparently corresponds to a button on the sound pad. We see page after page of Carle's wonderful creatures: birds in the park, farm animals, forest friends, jungle buddies, an eagle, sea mammals, a house party, and garden. I'm thrilled whenever Eric Carle can publish because he's one of my favorite illustrators.  

Old MacDonald Had a Farm (1706, 1997)

 Old MacDonald Had a Farm is  atributed to Thomas d'Urfey and is now in the public domain. I found a Golden Book with illustrations by Kathy Ember with a copyright of 1997. This book is simply the song along side wonderfully fun pictures of farm animals. A friendly looking farmer with white hair and bit of white beard on his chin plays banjo and fiddle in between chores. They're all having a grand time dancing and singing. This is a happy-go-lucky view of farm life. 

The Poky Little Puppy (1942)

The copyright page of The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey (1942) states that the book I own is "A Commemorative Facsimile Edition Published on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Little Golden Books." The copyright was renewed in 1969, so perhaps this is also the date for Gustaf Tenggren's illustrations. There's no date for this printing. 

Also on the copyright page "The Little Golden Books are Prepared under the Supervision of Mary Reed, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University." 

The story has 38 pages. Five puppies dig a hole under a fence and go for a walk three times. Three times one of the puppies lags behind. Three times the other four search for this poky puppy. They see things in the world beyond their back yard. They're punished when they get home; they don't get dessert after dinner. There's a plot twist in the final few pages that relieves the monotonous repetition. Some of the illustrations are in color. Some are in black and white. It's a cute story that very young children may memorize and "read" aloud with whomever reads the story to them. 

*Mirette & Bellini Cross Niagara Falls (2000)

 I am delighted that Emily Arnald McCully has a trilogy about Mirette. Mirette & Bellini Cross Niagara Falls (2000) is the third book in this series. The pair are so famous now that they are invited to America. They travel with the wealthy on a steamship that also transports less fortunate travelers below deck. Mirette and Bellini befriend a young boy named Jakob. This generous gesture benefits everyone because Jakob calls out a saboteur. In the end, Jakob's uncle appears and gives him a home. McCully's paintings have energy and sincerity.  I love how she explains the mechanics and the psychology of walking a wire in each of her stories. A closer reading led me to understand the wire as a representation of freedom.