Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (Crown, 1991). There is an invisible line that stretches from Umbrella by Taro Yashima in my childhood to Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold in my early adulthood.  I can fly— yes, fly. Me, Cassie Louise Lightfoot, only eight years old and in the third grade, and I can fly. That means I am free to go wherever I want for the rest of my life. And those lines have a lot to do with how important this book was for me, even as an adult. Seeing Cassie fly through her world, claiming buildings as “hers,” was like an instruction manual for how I could approach my own empowerment as a woman of color in the U.S. Something I wish for kids (of all ages) reading the book today.  (Image Source: Explore 0-4)
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Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (Crown, 1991).

There is an invisible line that stretches from Umbrella by Taro Yashima in my childhood to Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold in my early adulthood. 

I can fly— yes, fly. Me, Cassie Louise Lightfoot, only eight years old and in the third grade, and I can fly. That means I am free to go wherever I want for the rest of my life.

And those lines have a lot to do with how important this book was for me, even as an adult. Seeing Cassie fly through her world, claiming buildings as “hers,” was like an instruction manual for how I could approach my own empowerment as a woman of color in the U.S.

Something I wish for kids (of all ages) reading the book today. 

(Image Source: Explore 0-4)

Marie Hall Ets on Creating Gilberto and the Wind

Gilberto and the Wind was inspired by a young boy she met in La Jolla, California. After asking his mother if he could model for her illustrations, Ets spent many hours with the family, coming to know them quite well.

Via the Children’s Literature Network

Gilberto and the Wind by Marie Hall Ets (Viking, 1963). Let’s face it. It’s hard to find books with kids of color from back in the day. But walking the aisles of my local library (yay!), I found this little gem. And I gotta say, they don’t make kids books like this any more.  The sketches are so clearly taken right from life studies of an actual young boy playing in the wind— they are simply delightful. Gilberto is loose, expressive, his wonder jumps off the page. It’s like looking at those rare pictures of my own kids when there is no barrier between their life force and the camera. You know what I mean? And while I love contemporary picture books, I don’t think many (any?) artists work this way these days. That’s what makes Gilberto and the Wind even more treasured.  (Top image source) (Insert image source)
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Gilberto and the Wind by Marie Hall Ets (Viking, 1963).

Let’s face it. It’s hard to find books with kids of color from back in the day. But walking the aisles of my local library (yay!), I found this little gem. And I gotta say, they don’t make kids books like this any more. 

The sketches are so clearly taken right from life studies of an actual young boy playing in the wind— they are simply delightful. Gilberto is loose, expressive, his wonder jumps off the page. It’s like looking at those rare pictures of my own kids when there is no barrier between their life force and the camera. You know what I mean?

And while I love contemporary picture books, I don’t think many (any?) artists work this way these days. That’s what makes Gilberto and the Wind even more treasured. 

(Top image source) (Insert image source)

Chirchir is Singing by Kelly Cunnane, illustrated by Jude Daly (Schartz and Wade, 2011) Chirchir is one of the charming-est girls to jump off a picture book page in a long while. Kelly Cunnane and Jude Daly work seamlessly to bring Chirchir and her family to life, transporting a young reader far away to the Kenyan highlands.  Warblers and cuckoos swing    in the bottlebrush tree,and Chirchir is singing. Drop,plopthe bucket in.Wiggle it… jiggle it… Let it fill…Then hand over hand, up comes maji, maji — water! She helps Mama lower the bucket into the winking silver circle of the well.  Even with set-back after set-back Chirchir keeps looking for some way to help out with her family’s daily chores, singing the whole way. I have to say that I was especially charmed by the artwork depicting typical Kalenjin family life, with chickens roaming in and around open houses and monkeys laughing from the rooftops. Idyllic? Yes. But isn’t that one of the reasons we love children’s picture books in the first place?  (Image source: Goodreads)
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Chirchir is Singing by Kelly Cunnane, illustrated by Jude Daly (Schartz and Wade, 2011)

Chirchir is one of the charming-est girls to jump off a picture book page in a long while. Kelly Cunnane and Jude Daly work seamlessly to bring Chirchir and her family to life, transporting a young reader far away to the Kenyan highlands. 

Warblers and cuckoos swing
    in the bottlebrush tree,
and Chirchir is singing.

Drop,
plop
the bucket in.
Wiggle it… jiggle it… Let it fill…
Then hand over hand,
up comes
maji, maji — water!

She helps Mama lower the bucket
into the winking silver circle
of the well. 

Even with set-back after set-back Chirchir keeps looking for some way to help out with her family’s daily chores, singing the whole way. I have to say that I was especially charmed by the artwork depicting typical Kalenjin family life, with chickens roaming in and around open houses and monkeys laughing from the rooftops.

Idyllic? Yes. But isn’t that one of the reasons we love children’s picture books in the first place? 

(Image source: Goodreads)

Pele: King of Soccer/ El rey del futbol by Monica Brown, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez (HarperCollins, 2009).  As a little boy, Pele played soccer in the streets of Tres Coracoes in Brazil, sometimes with an empty stomach and a grapefruit or newspaper ball. He went on to be one of the most famous and gifted soccer players in history with a career total of 1,281 goals and three World Cup championships.  This book brings his story to life with beautiful artwork and a lot of focus on his amazing soccer skills.  (Image source: Monica Brown’s website)
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Pele: King of Soccer/ El rey del futbol by Monica Brown, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez (HarperCollins, 2009). 

As a little boy, Pele played soccer in the streets of Tres Coracoes in Brazil, sometimes with an empty stomach and a grapefruit or newspaper ball. He went on to be one of the most famous and gifted soccer players in history with a career total of 1,281 goals and three World Cup championships. 

This book brings his story to life with beautiful artwork and a lot of focus on his amazing soccer skills. 

(Image source: Monica Brown’s website)

Oh No, Gotta Go #2 by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Lynne Avril (G.P. Putnam and Sons, 2007). This is a very funny follow-up to Oh No, Gotta Go. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Susan Middleton Elya at a writer’s conference a few months back and even got this book autographed for my kids.  Our little protagonist mastered the potty back in the first book and now is off on a picnic with her parents. Her parents ask her many times if she needs to go, but she assures them that she’s fine until… …my insides were gurgling and grumbling.I wasn’t hungry, but something was rumbling. Mama and Papa were in deep conversation.I pedaled along with that funny sensation. I didn’t drink jugo or pink limonada.I didn’t drink agua. I didn’t drink nada. But then I remembered the thing I forgot. There’s more than one reason to sit on the pot. I find Elya’s rhymes so charming and the subject of poop, treated in this light-hearted way, just gets me chuckling.  Perhaps there are people who don’t appreciate any poop humor (No Captain Underpants for you!) or who might want a more “pure” bilingual book (Keep the Spanish side Spanish and the English side English). But those guys are missing out on a whole lot of fun in this book. Check it out, it’s irresistible.  (Image source: susanelya.com)
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Oh No, Gotta Go #2 by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Lynne Avril (G.P. Putnam and Sons, 2007).

This is a very funny follow-up to Oh No, Gotta Go. I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Susan Middleton Elya at a writer’s conference a few months back and even got this book autographed for my kids. 

Our little protagonist mastered the potty back in the first book and now is off on a picnic with her parents. Her parents ask her many times if she needs to go, but she assures them that she’s fine until…

…my insides were gurgling and grumbling.
I wasn’t hungry, but something was rumbling.

Mama and Papa were in deep conversation.
I pedaled along with that funny sensation.

I didn’t drink jugo or pink limonada.
I didn’t drink agua. I didn’t drink nada.

But then I remembered the thing I forgot.

There’s more than one reason to sit on the pot.

I find Elya’s rhymes so charming and the subject of poop, treated in this light-hearted way, just gets me chuckling.  Perhaps there are people who don’t appreciate any poop humor (No Captain Underpants for you!) or who might want a more “pure” bilingual book (Keep the Spanish side Spanish and the English side English). But those guys are missing out on a whole lot of fun in this book. Check it out, it’s irresistible. 

(Image source: susanelya.com)

Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan (Scholastic, 2004).  This book sucked me right in and made me a huge fan of Pam Munoz Ryan. Naomi Soledad Leon Outlaw is in fifth grade and she and her little brother Owen have lived with their grandma since Naomi was three. That was when her mother dropped them off with Gram and never came back… until now. When Skyla (as her mom wants to be called) comes waltzing in the door of Gram’s airstream trailer with all her stuff in a big, black plastic bag, Naomi’s world is turned upside down.  The plot takes a twist and Naomi, Owen, Gram and Gram’s two neighbor friends hit the road in Baby Beluga, as the trailer is called, headed to find Naomi and Owen’s father in Oaxaca, Mexico.  Here’s a short excerpt to get a little taste for yourself: There we were, minding our lives with the same obedience as a clock ticking. A few weeks earlier the sun had switched to its winter bedtime, so even though it was early evening, the sky was dark as pine pitch. That meant that Gram, Owen, and I couldn’t sit outside on the white rock patio. Instead we had to crowd around the drop-down table in the living room/ kitchen of Baby Beluga. That was what Gram called our Airstream trailer… …We had already put away the dinner dishes from Wednesday chicken bake and Owen started racing through his second-grade homework like a horse on a tear. People were usually fooled by his looks and thought he was low in school due to being born with his head tilted to one side and scrunched down next to his shoulder. It had straightened a little after three surgeries at Children’s Hospital, but he still talked with a permanent frog voice because of something inside being pinched… …Gram, in her usual polyester pantsuit and running shoes, was doing her weekly hair set, rolling what little blue hair she had on those new bristle curlers that required no hairpins. (I was not being mean about her hair. It really looked blue in the sunlight.) And I mulled over my sorry situation at school, which was three boys in my fifth-grade class who had decided that Outlaw was the funniest last name in the universe. They did not give me an ounce of peace.  (Image source: Scholastic)
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Becoming Naomi Leon by Pam Munoz Ryan (Scholastic, 2004). 

This book sucked me right in and made me a huge fan of Pam Munoz Ryan. Naomi Soledad Leon Outlaw is in fifth grade and she and her little brother Owen have lived with their grandma since Naomi was three. That was when her mother dropped them off with Gram and never came back… until now. When Skyla (as her mom wants to be called) comes waltzing in the door of Gram’s airstream trailer with all her stuff in a big, black plastic bag, Naomi’s world is turned upside down. 

The plot takes a twist and Naomi, Owen, Gram and Gram’s two neighbor friends hit the road in Baby Beluga, as the trailer is called, headed to find Naomi and Owen’s father in Oaxaca, Mexico. 

Here’s a short excerpt to get a little taste for yourself:

There we were, minding our lives with the same obedience as a clock ticking. A few weeks earlier the sun had switched to its winter bedtime, so even though it was early evening, the sky was dark as pine pitch. That meant that Gram, Owen, and I couldn’t sit outside on the white rock patio. Instead we had to crowd around the drop-down table in the living room/ kitchen of Baby Beluga. That was what Gram called our Airstream trailer…

…We had already put away the dinner dishes from Wednesday chicken bake and Owen started racing through his second-grade homework like a horse on a tear. People were usually fooled by his looks and thought he was low in school due to being born with his head tilted to one side and scrunched down next to his shoulder. It had straightened a little after three surgeries at Children’s Hospital, but he still talked with a permanent frog voice because of something inside being pinched…

…Gram, in her usual polyester pantsuit and running shoes, was doing her weekly hair set, rolling what little blue hair she had on those new bristle curlers that required no hairpins. (I was not being mean about her hair. It really looked blue in the sunlight.) And I mulled over my sorry situation at school, which was three boys in my fifth-grade class who had decided that Outlaw was the funniest last name in the universe. They did not give me an ounce of peace. 

(Image source: Scholastic)

One Year of Real Kids Good Books

It’s been a whole year of diverse kids books and other whatnot. Below are the writers, artists and books that started this little blog off one year ago today.  

These books are still some of my absolute kids lit favorites. I remember staying up all night making these posts. I was so focused that I hardly noticed that the sun was starting to come up, mostly because I really love these books and wanted to share them with you all. 

Many people talk about how books are lifelines— and they truly are for many of us. But for people “on the margins,” without (m)any representations of our stories out there, these books give us a beautiful mirror to see ourselves in. So powerful, especially when there are many other messages that try to counter our inherent beauty. 

Here’s to another year of gorgeous and important books! 

-Kate


Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Hyperion, 2008). The story begins like so: One Monday morning in September, Mrs. Barrington rolled out a big poster with all of the presidents’ pictures on it. Grace Campbell could not believe her eyes.  Where are the GIRLS? When Grace finds out there has never been a woman president, she decides to run for president herself. No one else in her class is interested in running. Grace thinks she has the election in the bag. But there’s a hitch. The other class nominates Thomas Cobb as their presidential candidate, as in Thomas Cobb the spelling bee champ, science fair blue ribbon winner, and captain of the soccer team.  So Grace kicks her campaign into gear. Each kid in their grade gets to be a whole state with all the electoral votes that state gets. 270 electoral votes becomes the winning target.  Each week, the teachers set aside time for the candidates to meet with their constituents. Polls were taken. Voters were making their choices. Thomas was sneaky. He figured out early on that the boys held slightly more electoral votes than the girls so while Grace was working her butt off, he was doing his usual things. He thought he had the election in the bag.  On the day of the election the voting was down to the wire. Only Wyoming, represented by a boy named Sam, was left. Sam’s three electoral votes would choose the winner. And Sam chose the best person for the job… Grace!  And someday, for all our young girl readers, a woman president will be fact, not fiction.  (Top image source: Kelly DiPucchio’s website)
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Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Hyperion, 2008).

The story begins like so:

One Monday morning in September, Mrs. Barrington rolled out a big poster with all of the presidents’ pictures on it. Grace Campbell could not believe her eyes. 

Where are the GIRLS?

When Grace finds out there has never been a woman president, she decides to run for president herself. No one else in her class is interested in running. Grace thinks she has the election in the bag.

But there’s a hitch. The other class nominates Thomas Cobb as their presidential candidate, as in Thomas Cobb the spelling bee champ, science fair blue ribbon winner, and captain of the soccer team. 

So Grace kicks her campaign into gear. Each kid in their grade gets to be a whole state with all the electoral votes that state gets. 270 electoral votes becomes the winning target. 

Each week, the teachers set aside time for the candidates to meet with their constituents. Polls were taken. Voters were making their choices.

Thomas was sneaky. He figured out early on that the boys held slightly more electoral votes than the girls so while Grace was working her butt off, he was doing his usual things. He thought he had the election in the bag. 

On the day of the election the voting was down to the wire. Only Wyoming, represented by a boy named Sam, was left. Sam’s three electoral votes would choose the winner. And Sam chose the best person for the job… Grace! 

And someday, for all our young girl readers, a woman president will be fact, not fiction. 

(Top image source: Kelly DiPucchio’s website)

Tia Isa Wants a Car by Meg Medina, illustrated by Claudio Munoz (Candlewick, 2011).  For this story’s young protagonist and her Tia Isa, having a car means trips to the beach. It means working extra hard to save up a little at a time. Having a car means there’s room in the back for family members far away. Having a car means freedom for an auntie and her niece. Tia Isa wants a car. But Tio Andres laughs when he hears his sister’s plan. “Don’t be ridiculous!” he says. “You’re not a rich queen! We walk to everything we need here, Isa. Now, what’s for dinner?” Tia Isa just whistles as she steps over Tio’s work boots— muddy like ogre shoes— and stirs our black-bean soup. These two have a lot of determination and grit. And even better, when all the work is done, they know how to kick off their shoes and high tail it to the ocean.  (Image source: Meg Medina’s website)
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Tia Isa Wants a Car by Meg Medina, illustrated by Claudio Munoz (Candlewick, 2011). 

For this story’s young protagonist and her Tia Isa, having a car means trips to the beach. It means working extra hard to save up a little at a time. Having a car means there’s room in the back for family members far away. Having a car means freedom for an auntie and her niece.

Tia Isa wants a car.

But Tio Andres laughs when he hears his sister’s plan.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” he says. “You’re not a rich queen! We walk to everything we need here, Isa. Now, what’s for dinner?”

Tia Isa just whistles as she steps over Tio’s work boots— muddy like ogre shoes— and stirs our black-bean soup.

These two have a lot of determination and grit. And even better, when all the work is done, they know how to kick off their shoes and high tail it to the ocean. 

(Image source: Meg Medina’s website)