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)
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)
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)
No, David! (1998) by David Shannon.
As I promised myself, I’ve been wanting to highlight more books for boys here. No, David! is one of the classics. And I’m happy to report, it’s kid tested right in my own home. My boys love this book — and a bunch of other David books as well. In fact my kindergartener is super proud of himself because he can “read” the simple story line all by himself. It’s that kind of book.
The naughty antics of David are sure to get your kids to giggle (cue naked butts and digging for gold— of the nose variety). Plus the artwork is irresistible, exuberant and just a little off-kilter.
David Goes to School, David Gets in Trouble and Oh, David! round out the other delightfully destructive David books.
(Image & another No, David! review: here)
Happy to be Nappy (1999) by bell hooks, illustrated by Chris Raschka.
This sweet book is fun for all kids, but focuses specifically on girls hair. You will be swept up in the verve and swing of its words and pictures. Really, this one is just pure joy.
Girlpie hair smells clean and sweet
is soft like cotton, flower petal billowy soft,
full of frizz and fuzz…It can be smooth or patted down
pulled tight, cut close
or just let go so the wind can carry it
all over the place.
(Image source)
Busing Brewster (2010) by Richard Michelson, illustrated by R.G. Roth.
U.S. history is rife with injustices and biases. Kids certainly deserve to know the complex truth about our history, but it takes a delicate, yet firm touch to depict this history in children’s book form.
Busing Brewster attempts to bring the history of segregation and integration to light for younger kids. The famous Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education made segregation illegal in 1954 but it took until the 1970s for the Supreme Court to permit “forced busing” to integrate neighborhood schools that were situated in segregated neighborhoods. Busing Brewster tells the story of two African American brothers who learn from their mom that they will be bused to the all-white Central School.
We know about all the protests and racist taunting that white communities retaliated with when busing began— Brewster and his brother Bryan experience it in the book too. Someone throws a rock through their school bus window. People are lined up at school with signs that say “Whites Only.” A white kid tells them that they should have stayed at the colored school. When a police officer sees Brewster, Bryan and Freckle-face (the white kid) getting into it, they all end up in detention in the library with Miss O’Grady and over the course of that day, they sort-of become friends, that is until Brewster hears Freckle-face’s dad say, “Wish them colored all stayed at Franklin.”
Busing Brewster was chosen by the NYTimes as a best illustrated children’s book of 2010 and I would agree that the artwork is exceptional. I just think that there is much, much more at play during this historical period of forced busing than is presented in this book, most especially for the children like Brewster and his brother, who lived through the white backlash against integration and the soul-crushing hatred and racism that was unleashed on these very young children.
Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji (2011) by F. Zia, illustrated by Ken Min.
Aneel’s Dada-ji (grandpa) loves telling stories about his childhood being the strongest boy in his village thanks to his mom’s amazing roti. Aneel decides to make some roti for his Dada-ji to bring back his boyhood tiger-strength.
In a village far, far away where the warm breeze made the green wheat fields dance and the brown coconuts rustle lived a lad who astonished the villagers morning, noon, and night.
Aneel winked at Dada-ji. After all, the lad in the story was none other than his very own Dada-ji long, long ago. Dada-ji went on…
In the morning the lad wrestled a snorting water buffalo, and the villagers cried, “Arre Wah! Oh Wow!”
At noon he tied two hissing cobras in a knot. “Wha!” cheered the villagers.
…What made the lad so strong? It was the hot, hot roti that sizzled and wizzled on Badi-ma’s wood hearth.
…Each day the lucky lad smacked his lips and rubbed his belly and ate a stack so high with a bit of tongue-burning mango pickle. He wanted the power of the tiger, baba!
And what little boy doesn’t want the power of the tiger after all?
I especially appreciate Ken Min’s drawings that burst off the page. You gotta love a book where some home cooked roti can bring on magic tiger strength, giving grandpas and grandsons all the power they need for a whole day of adventure together.
Mirror (2010) by Jeannie Baker.
If you’re up on children’s books, you’ve probably seen this already. And if not, get your hands on it pronto. Jeannie Baker has created a stunning wordless masterpiece with her collages depicting a day in the life of two young boys, one in Australia and one in Morocco.
Mirror has a unique lay out. You open the book and flip through two sets of stories simultaneously — the similarities, differences and intersections between the lives of these two boys (and by extension any two people) become the real narrative.
Have I mentioned how beautiful these collages are? Wow.
My Name is Sangoel (2009) by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed, illustrated by Catherine Stock.
Sangoel, his mother and his young sister emigrate from the refugee camps of the Sudan to the United States.
“Don’t worry,” the Wise One said as Sangoel prepared to leave the refugee camp. “You carry a Dinka name. It is the name of your father and of your ancestors before him.”
The old man hugged him, and Sangoel could feel the bones in his thin arms. “Remember, you will always be a Dinka. You will be Sangoel. Even in America.”
Sangoel’s father was killed in the war in Sudan. His family had to run from the fighting in the middle of the night.
As Sangoel starts school, he starts to feel like he’s losing his name and his connection to his heritage and ancestors. Until he comes up with a great idea to help people understand his name.
Pick up My Name is Sangoel to find out what he does.
Eight Days (2010) by Edwidge Danticat, illustrated by Alix Delinois.
A young Haitian boy is saved after 8 days spent buried under rubble from the great earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Edwidge Danticat creates a poignant story of survival, focusing on how one young boy uses his imagination to get through those long 8 days alone.
When I was pulled from under my house, eight days after the earthquake, my family was there waiting.
The following day, everyone asked me,
Were you afraid?
Were you sad?
Did you cry?I was brave, I told them, but when the earth shook again and again, I was afraid. And sometimes I cried, because I missed Manman and Papa and my little sister, Justine. But in my mind, I played.
Yes, the young boy, Junior survives, but be prepared. His friend Oscar who is buried with him in the rubble passes away before he can be rescued. Danticat handles this delicately and with honest emotion, giving voice to the loss that many children in Haiti experienced.
