How Creative Are Your Kids?

 My favorite part of Halloween has always been the creative costumes kids make on their own. Halloween 2020 is a little different, but not in the costume department.

 EENIE MEENIE HALLOWEENIE by Susan Eaddy, illustrated by Lucy Fleming, Harper, 2020

 What to wear? What to wear? A little girl with a dress up trunk full of inspiration has important decisions to make. Her imagination is off and waddling like a penguin or running like a pink polar bear. Could she be an ocelot? Giraffe or kangaroo? Eenie Meenie—at last, she knows what to do.      

Your little trick or treaters will love turning pages. Then turn them loose with “finds” around the house. Old curtains or sheets? Scraps of trim and fabric from your last burst of sewing? Don’t forget the kitchen. My daughter used a roll of aluminum foil to turn her 7 year old self into the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.

Susan Eaddy is an author and illustrator who sculpts in clay. For her young readers and their moms, she has thoughtfully provided crafts on her web page to help extend this book’s fun way beyond Halloween. Keep scrolling down until you find out how to make a tree for a smiling little monkey. http://www.susaneaddy.com/teachers-kids

 Illustrator Lucy Fleming has peppered the pages of this charming book with surprises for sharp eyed readers. Tissue boxes? A bow tie? Lots and lots of tape and glue.

 Let’s get going!

 Switching gears, I’ve added a new feature to Book Log. How do creative folks keep their spirits up in this time when school visits, book launches, and book store gatherings have been reduced or cancelled?

 So I asked Susan Eaddy, how are you and what lifts your spirits these days? 

 

A tip from Susan Eaddy for lifting one’s spirits:

One of the things I have been thinking about is how the inability to travel has led me to discoveries in my own neighborhood. I have always been a walker for exercise, but usually limited my walks to 30 minutes in the blocks nearby. By necessity this led me to a predictable loop so I could be back home in 30 minutes. 

But now... I set out my front door and have no plan other than seeing up close a street that I've never explored. I've lived in the same neighborhood for 25 years and surprised myself by realizing that I'd never actually WALKED on the streets that are a less than a mile from my house. My curiosity keeps me walking further, and my 30 minute walks have become an hour or more as I indulge that curiosity to see what is around each corner. Every day is a new discovery of homes, tidy or unkempt, manicured gardens, or lawns bare with kids’ foot traffic.

Every home has a story I had never stopped to consider. And I make a point of making eye contact & saying hello with a big smile to every neighbor, walker or runner I encounter. It surprises people, and more often than not, they smile back. With genuine warmth.

Mirror? Window? Sliding Glass Doors?

EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE: (a true story) BY Daniel Nayeri, Levine Querida, 2020

How do you want the readers you care about to benefit from the books they read?

This is my take-away from “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.” By Rudine Sims Bishop, from READING IS FUNDAMENTAL 1/3/2015, Multicultural Literacy

If you give children books that are mirrors, they see themselves, the readers.  When you were a young reader, did you see yourself in books? Do you want your children to identify with characters in the books they read?   

Books that are windows give readers a glimpse of the world that is different from theirs.

What is it like to live in another country? Do families whose language is different from ours love each other like our families do? Do siblings fight and make up?  Do kids want to make friends in their classrooms whether the classroom is on an island or in a mountain community or inside a city building?

Sliding glass door books invite readers to step outside. What kind of world will they enter? Who will be their friends?    

Daniel (birth name Khosrou), the main character in EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE: (a true story) escapes from Iran with his mother and sister, running for their lives because their mother is a new Christian who meets in secret with other Christians. Her identity is uncovered, and the secret police give her a week to reveal the names of her Christian group members or she and her children will be killed. She finds a way to escape, taking her daughter and young son with her.

Daniel recalls how they are treated and how they respond to each sometimes life threatening and sometimes long, boring, and wearying stop on the way from the UAE to Italy to being granted asylum in the USA in Oklahoma.

In a manner that evokes Scheherazade, Daniel tells his classmates about his family, his country, and Persian culture.  His classmates are skeptical and derisive. The reader learns about Daniel’s humiliating trips on bus 209, his Oklahoma neighborhood, and his family’s loneliness. Like his classmates, the reader may or may not believe this foreigner’s tall tales. (Not my description of Daniel who sometimes made me cry.)

Mirror? Window? Sliding Glass Doors?

Author Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran, spent two years as a refugee, and emigrated to Oklahoma when he was eight. This autobiographical middle grade novel is a tribute to his mother, a dedicated practicing physician before her escape from Iran, whom he says is “unstoppable.” You can meet her, and Daniel, the author, too. 

Go to https://www.levinequerido.com/everything-sad-is-untrue

Scroll all the way down to the full document short.

You will wish you could open a sliding glass door into Daniel’s mother’s kitchen to sample a  cream puff. Have you ever tasted a pastry flavored with rosewater?

RIDING A ROLLER COASTER

Today begins the second half of a year riding on a roller coaster we can’t seem to exit. Just when we think the thing has stopped, it takes off again, and we haven’t had time to re-buckle our seat belts. I’ve been looking for something to hang on to, and I’ve found something to share.


                                           


DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z, by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, Illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini, Carolrhoda Books, 2020.


If every home had a copy of this book and used it in conversation often enough to make it “theirs”, we would definitely have a better world. One alphabet letter can start everyone in the family thinking until the next chance to sit and talk or stir dinner together or whatever you are doing to ward off your own brand of cabin fever.


Each alphabet letter has its own quote, its own poem about the topic title of the letter; and each poem is written in a different poetic form. Insights from “Irene Says” or “Charles says” are followed by “Try It” encouraging readers to get out of their comfort zones.

One of my favorite quotes is from Mother Teresa, paired with B for “belonging”: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” 


Irene, who lives her poem, is the winner of the 2016 Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award. Enjoy her warmth and wisdom at www.irenelatham.com.


Charles co-authored Can I touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship with Irene.  He is a poet and professional actor. Find out more about Charles at  www.charleswaterspoetry.com


Mehrdokht Amini, an Iranian British children’s book illustrator, 
 www.myart2c.com  lives in London. She created the illustrations in this book with collage, photography, acrylic, and digital painting. They work together and separately to create an emotional range and set the tone for each new conversation.       


Irene’s thoughts inspire me. Charles gives me reasons to persevere. Mehrdokht's artwork is an invitation to explore.


Their book speaks to all ages.

FOR READERS ON SANTA’S LIST

A rollicking cat detective solving a mystery while managing to get in naps and plenty of snacks is one of the most engaging characters I’ve discovered recently. 

RA THE MIGHTY CAT DETECTIVE by A.B. Greenfield, illustrated by Sarah Horne, Holiday House, 2018

Set in ancient Egypt, this action packed tale is peopled with sulkers and skulkers, members of the Pharaoh’s royal extended family whose motives are not so royal. Or maybe they are. I guess it depends upon whose opinion you seek. 

If you ask Miu, another cat, no one is playing fair. Miu seeks Ra’s help when a treasured amulet goes missing and a child servant could lose her life because of this dastardly deed. Miu insists the young girl, who has gone into hiding, is innocent. The dung beetle that whispers sage advice into Ra’s ear (although Ra wouldn’t admit that the beetle is sage), joins with Miu to convince Ra that because he is a mighty cat detective he must find the jewel and save the girl.

Illustrator Sarah Horne has created ominous looking adults to roam among these pages. The reader will shiver while rooting for the mighty detectives. I use the plural because by the end of the story, there are more than one. Ra discovers a willingness to share glory, although maybe not his snacks.

Author A. B. Greenfield www.amybutlergreenfield.com
didn’t stop with only one book featuring the mighty Ra. #2: RA THE MIGHTY, THE GREAT TOMB ROBBERY is available now and #3: RA THE MIGHTY, THE CROCODILE CAPER, is coming out in 2020. 

This book is marked as 4^th grade reading level, but reading it to a first grader or second grader gives an adult a chance to enjoy it, too. Third graders will figure it out and advance their reading skills at the same time. 

All will enjoy saying aloud names like Nefrubity and Yuyu. I leave it to you to research their roles in the royal palace.

THIS BOOK SAYS, “BOO!”

A scary book could soften the parental explanation that the resident pre-teen is too old to dress up and ring the neighbors’ door bells for trick or treat this year. Or worse, the almost grown-up is still not quite old enough to look out for younger siblings as they travel door to door. You might hint a little that you've found a book with spooky neighbors and some undead folk in the woods.

Note: a scary book lasts longer than candy and doesn’t get tangled up in braces.

THE HAUNTED SERPENT by Dora M. Mitchell, Sterling Children’s Books, 2018

Spaulding Meriwether has a problem every middle school student will recognize and I’m not talking about being the new student at Thedgeroot Middle School. Spaulding is the son of questionable (questionable? Is that a hint of more to come?) television ghost hunters, and no, I’m not talking about that either.  Spaulding is weird. What middle school student thinks he might be weird and tries to hide it? Or is already thought to be weird by the rest of the school? Does the student talk to dead people? Yes. That kind of weird. And yes, there is a haunted serpent. Why else would the book have such an enticing title?

During the Halloween ghosting season, this tale could keep your Halloween helper from answering the doorbell when the smallest gremlins pay a call. 

Author Dora Mitchell is a writer, illustrator, and children’s librarian living in Quincy, a small northern CA mining town that was built during the Gold Rush. Her web site is pretty spooky, too. Doramitichell.com

MICE ON ICE!

Breaking news: Winter is not reading the calendar! It keeps on snowing across the upper swath of our country and is not the least bit apologetic about dropping cold temperatures across the south.

Enter Lucy who loves snow and ice. If only her friends would join her.

MICE SKATING by Annie Silvestro, illustrated by Teagan White, Sterling Children’s Books, 2017

Lucy is a mouse. And so, of course, her friends are mice. Like any self-respecting and traditional mouse, each one has burrowed in to spend the cheerless days of winter below ground, snoozing, perhaps, or maybe reading books about humans while I am reading a book about them.

Not Lucy. She dons her fluffy wool cap with a pink pom-pom on top and goes adventuring. She catches snowflakes on her tongue, makes mice angels in the snow, and misses her friends. Her attempts to bring snow fun into her friends’ cozy napping spaces fail. Snow cones?  They aren’t cheese. An indoor snow fight? A soggy mess.

Then Lucy figures out how to skate.

Adding to the reader’s enjoyment, the author sprinkles wordplays on cheese throughout the sprightly text. Art shimmers. Winter re-gains its first snow of the season excitement.

Thank you, Lucy.

ABOUT THE CREATORS:

Teagan White, whose art brings Lucy and her field mouse friends to life, has illustrated greeting cards and textiles as well as children’s books and received a BFA in illustration from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design.  

Author Annie Silvestro  is the author of Bunny’s Book Club (Doubleday), another Bunny book coming out this summer, and The Christmas Tree Who Loved Trains (HarperCollins, September 2018).

After considering opening a children’s book store, Silvestro decided to create books instead, beginning her writing career with determination in 2009. She joined the Society of Children’s 

Book Writers and Illustrators and “kept working and learning.”

Author Silvestro shares this journey with young authors in schools – a part of being a children’s author that she discovered she loves.  “It (author visits) was something I was nervous about doing at first, but now I’ve found it to be the very best part of my job. Engaging with children about books and reading is such a gift.”

Silvestro says she loves to tell young readers “how important it is to keep reading! You have to be a good reader to be a good writer. I also like to tell them to persevere and that it’s ok to make mistakes.”

Returning to Lucy, readers will see that Lucy perseveres, makes mistakes, and yes! succeeds. Set out the snacks of cheese and crackers. While younger readers enjoy turning pages, older readers will be chuckling over the wordplay. And a few more days of winter will be OK.    

A Path of Pebbles

Have you ever followed a trail of shiny stones, one more lovely than the other, until you found yourself deep in the woods of wondering…?

STEPPING STONES: A Refugee Family’s Journey by Margriet Ruurs, artwork by Nizar Ali Badr, Orca Book Publishers, 2016

First I read an article in Bookbird,  A Journal of International Children’s Literature. The article was written by Margriet Ruurs, an award winning author of more than 30 books for children.  She, too, was following a path of pebbles, first showing up on Facebook. She saw the artwork of a Syrian sculptor from Ugarit, now living and working in Lattakia, Syria. He simply arranges rocks on the ground or on a rectangle of plywood – except it’s not so simple. His images tell deeply emotional stories.

Author Ruurs had to find this artist, had to ask him about his life and work. Her article in Bookbird details her determination to find him and her inspiration to write a book about a refugee family’s journey to find a peaceful life. She wanted Nizar Ali Badr to tell this eloquent story in stones undergirded by his own intriguing story: a gifted artist managing to create in spite of a multitude of deprivations.

I had to follow the trail to her book, too, as reader. I had to know how her search ended, as well as more about the artist himself.

Ruurs’ story follows a young girl who is forced to flee her home when war comes to her Syrian village and “Life in our village changed. Nothing was as it had been.” The pebble people who are her family say good-bye to the rooster and the goat and go to the end of the earth where they must cross a vast sea. The physical burdens of the pebble family’s belongings bow the adults’ bodies, but the weight of loss is a burden the sculptor conveys in all the bodies, young and elderly.

This family created by author Ruurs survives the sea, but other refugees do not. On land once more, the family stops. “Mama and Papa planted seeds to grow flowers to remember those who did not reach freedom.” It’s a tender scene. Love, care, hope. All told in stones that have become real people to the reader.

Badr has not left his homeland. In the foreword, author Ruurs notes that sometimes the artist does not have money to buy the glue that would make his art permanent. It becomes one of those “meant to be” moments that made it possible for the artist and author to create this book for a publisher willing to consider challenging circumstances. Badr says his ancestors left “a signature in my genes to create and share my work with honesty and modesty.” Ruurs hopes she can raise awareness of the plight of those who must flee the horrors of war.

This is a beautiful book.