More More More (1990)

 

More More More by VeraB. Williams is alive with color. Multicolored text and a decorative border brightens every page . There is no story. This book is a collection of three scenarios in which adults chase down toddlers. Two are active children and one is sleepily rolling off a couch. The emphasis is on safe, physical play with caring adults. Is it OK for me to wonder why the little brown child appears to have a white grandma? The text is repetitive but not rhyme. Maybe I’m too far away from those years of parenting a toddler to enjoy this book. Maybe I’m unfamiliar with the kind of play pictured. It feels too aggressive for me. Nevertheless, it is visually beautiful.

This book won a Caldecott Honor. 

 

Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane (2008)

Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane is a soulful introduction to the childhood of a jazz legend. Carol Boston Weatherford focuses on the  auditory. Her pages describe the sounds in John Coltrane's world: the ukulele, steam engine, dance, big band, and more. These references invite—demand—that the reader learn relevant  history to fully appreciate this succinct text. Her story rewards those who expand their background knowledge about John Coltrane and the 1930s. 

The lengthy Author's Note, Selected Listening, and Further Reading references at the end of the book will appeal to the middle grade reader. Sean Qualls succeeds in representing sound.  His illustrations are not childish and so respect the older reader. 

My Picture Book Talk lesson is here.  This lesson includes several links to YouTube videos to whet the appetite of children curious about John Coltrane's music. I watched the documentary Chasing Train on a streaming service; however, it is also available through my library network. 

This story is read aloud online by INDY E.C.H.O. OURStory Time. 

Bathtime for Biscuit (1998)

 

In Bathtime for Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Biscuit likes to play, dig, and roll. Biscuit even enjoys water play. When a young girl tries to give Biscuit an outdoor bath– surprise! She falls into the soapy water. This girl is kind and does not get angry at Biscuit and friend Puddles. This story may encourage dialogue about how play can have unintentional consequences. Everyone in this story is patient and understanding. Pat Schories' illustrations remind me of the Dick and Jane books I read as a child. 

Button (1994)

 

Button by Sara Fanelli (1994) is a quirky book. I love that the illustrations and layout are so unexpected. I picked up a used copy and later learned it was missing a very large round red button that had been attached to the cover. This button is the first of a cast of characters depicted in the first pages of the book even before the copyright page. The text circles the order of each page. Close examination reveals that the text and subsequent pages begin with a text from where the previous page left off. For example, the first two pages of text is a single line that runs across the top and continues down the right hand border. This means that when we turn the page the text is printed upside down along the bottom border. When we turn the page again, the text runs along the left-hand border and then begins across the top.

 The illustrations appear to be in part collage. I don’t have the dust jacket to explain the mixed media. The button begins on a beautiful coat, “ once upon a time there was a man who had a coat with beautiful red buttons that he liked very much. But one button decided to see the world. He pulled and stretched and pulled and ping, he was free.” We read about the button's journey. It became a play thing for a little girl, fell into a farmers field and became a wheel on his cart, served as a plate for a wolf, and more.  Perhaps it’s the color palette or the composition that makes this book so darn appealing despite its unusual characters. This is a unique and delightful story that will stay in my own library.

 

 

 

The Relatives Came (1985)

 

Love and family emanate from every page of The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant (1985). I recall talking about this book in a welcome statement I wrote for a Sunday church service. I laughed at the awkwardness of distant relatives staying for weeks and weeks, a discomfort I projected onto the story. The Relatives Came feels different as I read it many years later. This is a story of family warmth I did not know as a child. My parents groaned when relatives came to visit. Uncles, aunts, and cousins sometimes showed up unannounced for dinner. And they stayed a very long time—three hours! So, I reread Rylant’s story envious of relatives who brought with them lots of hugs. They helped with the garden and fixed broken things. They played games. They played music. They had fun. Stephen Gammell’s pictures show their joy. 

Annie and the Old One (1971)

 

Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles (1971) was a difficult read for me. About the title: does a Navajo family name a child Annie? And about the first sentence: the Navajo world was good? I wouldn’t have had these questions in 1971. More than 50 years later, I have questions about reservation life. In the last 10 years, I’ve been told that my ancestors decimated the Native population. The expansive white population took ownership of what would become the United States, and corralled Native Americans into desolate deserts. Later, whites returned to mine and pollute the countryside. I find it difficult to separate the important story of family from this context, but I will try to comment on Annie’s struggle with death. 

Annie’s grandmother, the Old One, states that she will return to the earth when Annie’s mother finishes weaving a blanket. Annie tries to prevent both. Her attempts remind us that a child’s behavior can have hidden motives. Annie accepts her grandmother’s passing by learning to weave. I hope that’s not all she does. I hope her school bus brings her additional alternatives. 

Peter Parnall’s art won the book a Caldecott Honor. 

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992)

 

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka this book is both silly and surreal. Well known children’s stories are retold with a healthy and hilarious irreference. Chicken Liken is frantically warning friends that the sky is falling.  Unfortunately, she ignores Jack the Narrator who has interrupted the story with a warning of his own. Turns out the sky is not falling but the table of contents was. “it fell and squashed everybody.“ We read about the Princess and the BowlingBall, The Other Frog Prince, Little Red Running Shorts, Jack’s Bean Problem, and more. Lane Smith’s illustrations are as bizarre as the stories. Humor prevails despite the ways in which this book goes off the rails. I remember my own child laughed and laughed at this Caldecott Honor winner.