Five Things Worth Sharing….

In this last post of this “Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad” year of 2020 (to use Judith Viorst’s picture book title), here are a few bright spots:

1. A colleague and her son made this Covid Snowman last week:

2. During the last few days of school, our students and families enjoyed a colorful and happy walk through a Winter Wonderland. It was the bright spot in a week without our traditional holiday festivities:

3. To support their study of WWI, our middle school students read Michael Morpurgo’s novel War Horse. The novel, on which the Steven Spielberg movie is based, tells the story of Joey, a British horse, who is bought by the British Army and goes through a series of owners around Europe against the backdrop of WWI. As their final projects, the students designed their own tributes to Joey:

4. Since reading Jonathan Coe’s 2018 novel Middle England, I had been anticipating his new book: Mr. Wilder and Me. It’s not yet published in the U.S., but being impatient about books I’m looking forward to, I pushed the “buy” button on Amazon U.K. It was worth it. This novel is less sweeping than Middle England’s focus on Brexit-era Britain, but it’s equally thoughtful. An account of one of the film director Billy Wilder’s last films (Fedora) through the eyes of a young assistant on the crew, it’s a compassionate look at aging, the impacts of WWII on Europeans, and the changing film industry.

5. Finally, a sweet note I found on my desk on the last day of school before break:

I don’t typically make it to midnight on New Year’s Eve, but this year may be an exception. Mary told me about an Irish custom of leaving the back door of their houses open to let the old year out – and opening the front door to let the new year in. That sounds just about right for this year.

The calendar is marked for January 20 – when hopefully the White House back door will open and a burst of fresh air will blow in. Until then, I wish you a vaccine, good books, and good health.

My Favorite Books of 2020

During many hard periods of my life, books have been both respite and a welcome distraction. When I dealt with a serious illness a few years ago, I wanted nothing to do with books about people experiencing hardship, especially of the physical variety. Instead, I wanted to escape into 18th century England or go on an armchair adventure far far away. This year was similar. We needed stories to get us through. Reading seemed to have a new purpose, perhaps to provide a break from the heartbreaking Covid stories or the frightening stories of a president fueling distrust in science and the election process.

Like everything this year, my reading was a bit scattered and directionless. I would read something meaty and thoughtful and then seek something more straightforward and comforting. At other times I would dive into the belly of the beast – I read The Plague this year. But, looking back, these are the ten books (of about 60) that stand out:

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (The first words that come to mind are feral and raw. This is a tough – and beautiful – novel about a group of motherless children in rural Mississippi. Taking place over twelve days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, Salvage the Bones is tragic and yet, the hope and love shine through.)

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (An Orwellian story about a Japanese island where things vanish – one at a time – and you have no memory of them. There is an authoritarian police squad that makes sure no one remembers things that are gone. The obvious echoes with what’s happening in countries around the world today are especially terrifying. As I finished reading it, I felt a renewed appreciation for memories and a heightened fear of how things can change so slowly that we may not even notice it.)

A Girl Returned by Donatella Di Pietrantonio (If you’ve read or watched My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, add this slim volume to your list. It’s one of Ferrante’s favorite novels which makes total sense after reading it. It’s both a coming of age novel and an examination of what it means to belong. As much as I appreciate all of the books on this list, this is the novel that, when I closed it, it took me a minute to reconnect back to my life.)

Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen (a family story which, of course, sounds like every other book in the library and bookstore, but there are many flavors of family stories. This one is rich and sprawling and wise. In its citation as one of the Washington Post’s Ten Best Books of the Year in 2019, the reviewer described Strangers and Cousins as “one of the most hopeful and insightful novels I’ve read in years.”)

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. (A late entry, I read this book – thanks to Mary’s recommendation – over Thanksgiving break, and it’s hard to describe. It is part memoir and part nature writing: Mary Oliver in essay form. After reading about pain and heartbreak and dishonesty this year, this book was a welcome and inspiring reminder to look up and see how much beauty there is in the world. I read World of Wonders with YouTube nearby so I could look up all the wondrous creatures Nezhukumatathil describes. I had never known about cassowaries, large flightless birds, before reading this. They are worth checking out!)

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin (I was so happy to see Saint X on the NYT list of Notable Books of 2020. It went under the radar a little bit, and perhaps more readers will discover it now. A novel about race, class, obsession, and privilege, Saint X centers on the relationship between two sisters, one of whom dies during a family vacation on a fictional Caribbean island. The novel explores the impact of her sister’s death on her family, but the knotty issues around the relationship between tourists and locals are what especially interested me.)

Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin (A novel about a life-long friendship between two girls who meet at a junior college in 1958. It follows the friendship between Feron and Merry through life changes, and changes in the world, in prose that is smart and heartfelt. Margaret Atwood liked it too. She called Godwin’s novel “wry, beady­eyed, acute.”)

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez (One of NPR’s Best Books of 2020, this is Nunez’s follow up to her National Book Award-winning, The Friend. This slim but powerful novel is a chorus of voices, all speaking to our need for connection. It’s a quiet novel and the situation at the center is intimate – a friend asking someone to be with her as she considers ending her life. It sounds depressing, but it’s not. It is more like listening in to conversations that maybe you weren’t meant to hear.)

Two more – quick mentions:

When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson was my favorite book for young readers this year. A graphic novel about growing up in a refugee camp, this book is memorable and essential reading for kids and adults.

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by Frederick Douglass. I’m a bit dishonest to add this (note how I snuck it in at the bottom). I’ve been listening to this 900 page Pulitzer Prize-winning biography all year – whenever I am driving for over 15 minutes and I’ve caught up with the New York Times Book Review podcast. It’s a 38-hour audiobook, and I have 10 hours remaining. It is not a slog – I just don’t have much time in the car. There are so many brilliantly crafted sentences that sometimes I reverse – just to hear them again. Engaging and insightful, it’s like listening to a fascinating professor. My next audiobook is going to be the Obama biography. The long ones hold me for a year – or more.

There are still a few weeks remaining of this unsettling year so I’ll add a few more to my 2020 list. I truly don’t know how I would have survived without reading this year.

One last note. If you are still looking for gift ideas for your children, I am going to talk about my favorite children’s books of the year on WATD on Wednesday morning at 8:10.

Happy Reading!

The New York Times 10 Best Books of 2020

One bonus of being off this week is that I was able to achieve a goal I’ve had for a few years – seeing the New York Times online presentation of the 10 Best Books of 2020. This morning, with steady rain as the perfect backdrop, I was able to watch the announcement in real time. Better than a front seat ticket to the Academy Awards!

And like the Academy Awards, it opened with a celebrity, but rather than talking about movies, Mindy Kaling spoke about how much reading has helped her during the pandemic.

Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Review introduced each selection, followed by one of the editors talking about the book. I took notes, but couldn’t write fast enough to ascribe each quote to the editor who said it. Here they are:

A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet (“an indictment of a generation that failed to address climate change,” “our most ancient stories have a profound contemporary resonance,” and “how does one generation grapple with the failure of another?”)

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar (“one of the novel’s greatest strengths is its dialogue between characters and places,” “what impresses me the most is the breadth of his range,” and “social commentary on a range of issues”)

Deacon King Kong by James McBride (“one of the funniest and liveliest books I’ve read in this stark year,” “imagine The Wire with a little more church,” and “biting social commentary”)

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (“eerily timely novel,” “O’Farrell imagines a family piecing itself together after a tragedy,” and “a communnity reeling from loss but ticking away”)

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (“the word that comes to mind is rich – complex and dynamic,” “feels like someone giving away candy so they eat their vegetables – a fantastic plot, but a rich conversation”)

I did not take notes on the five nonfiction titles – except for one of them.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama (the comment that jumped out at me was “Obama’s level of introspection.” Can you imagine anyone saying that about our current president!?)

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future by James Shapiro

Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Weiner

War: How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan

After the presentation of the Top Ten, the editors each discussed one book that was a “personal favorite.” Here are the books they talked about:

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld

Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine

Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl by Jonathan Slaght

Jack by Marilyn Robinson

Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

Hurricane Season (this one sounds super scary) by Fernanda Melchor

Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town by Barbara Demick

The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar Particularly Prosperous by Joseph Henrich 

This is the embarrassing part of the post. I own many of the Top 10 books and have not read them! Obviously, I read reviews since I bought them, but I’ve been reading other things. Now I need to get to work on this list before the 2021 books begin coming out. In my next post, I’ll list the best books I read this year.

Happy Reading!

The State of Things (in the school library)

I’m knocking on wood as I type these words, but so far…..(knocking louder!), we have been able to stay open and check books out to lots of masked students. I’ve been pleasantly surprised actually. The kids seem to have forgotten that they are wearing masks, and most parts of the day feel somewhat normal. In fact, we are checking more books out than we were at this time last year. Because some of the other spaces are closed, for example the art room, the library has become one of the few options outside of a student’s classroom.

Here are a couple of pictures taken this week. The sign on the couch says that the seating area is closed, but I like how this student made it work:

Mary and I continue to enjoy the art under the dust jackets of new books. Although dust jackets began as merely a protective covering for books, they have become a bonus: two pieces of art, both writing and visual art, in one purchase. And it increasingly seems that illustrators are extending their art to the binding under the cover. Here are a some recent purchases that stand out:

The smallest (in size) book we’ve received this week is also the most powerful:

This Is Your Time is written as a letter from Bridges to the “young peacemakers of America.” She opens by recounting her experience as the first black student at an elementary school in New Orleans. She then transitions to short anecdotes about some of the children she has met during her travels as a Civil Rights advocate and addresses the conversation about racial equity taking place today. Her words are hopeful and inspiring during this unsettling time.

My own reading has been a bit scattered – a reflection of my exhausted 2020 brain. A few weeks ago I read the bestselling National Book Award Finalist, Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. I loved this tense drama about a family staying at a vacation home when their lives are disrupted by the arrival of the homeowners and a widespread blackout for which no there is no clear explanation. It’s been a fun book to discuss with friends and the thriller-like pacing matched the unsettled feeling I had in the week leading up to the election.

After calming down from that book and the election, I read Kacen Callendar’s new middle grade novel, King and the Dragonflies. It had been on my “to read list” since it received multiple starred reviews. It’s the story of Kingston, a twelve-year-old boy who lives in a small town in Louisiana whose older brother, Khalid, has died. While dealing with his grief, King is also navigating his friendship with Sandy Sanders. King is tormented by remembering that Khalid had told him not to be friends with Sandy because Sandy is gay: “You don’t want anyone to think you’re gay, too, do you?” But when Sandy disappears, King has to reconcile his love for his brother and his loyalty to his friend. Callendar is brilliant at creating vivid descriptions of life in a small town. The heat feels palpable, and I could picture the dragonflies that live on the bayou.

After reading two intense (but very different) novels, I was ready for something dramatically different. Not in my typical ways – like a novel that takes place in another country or an author I haven’t read before. I wanted the opposite of everything I’ve read the past few months. So I searched my shelves for a nonfiction book, preferably something I bought but never read, and actually had kind of forgotten about. I found it: Wondrous Beauty by Carol Berkin.

A fascinating story actually. And I’ve stepped completely out of anything familiar. There is no social media, no discussion of timely issues, and nothing to keep me on the edge of my seat. It’s perfect for this week. I’m about half way through and our heroine, who is briefly married to Napoleon Bonaparte’s younger brother, is figuring out what to do after the Bonaparte family can no longer support her (Napoleon has problems of his own). But since Betsy is the mother of the emperor’s young nephew, it’s complicated. It’s a good reminder of how rigid the gender rules were in the early 19th century and an interesting look at America’s early stage grappling with issues around class and money.

I’ll return to the issues facing the 21st century next week.

Note: The picture at the top is the new mural on the outside of the middle school. During their project week, a group of 7th graders worked with a local artist to create this flock of birds on the side of the building.

Happy Reading.

The Best of 2020

Before looking ahead to my favorite children’s books of 2020, I’m stepping one holiday back to share a few pictures of Inly’s Halloween festivities. A group of talented staff and parents created a festive experience for our students, a Halloween story trail that was magical in every way. Yes, there were traditions that were impossible to replicate in a Covid world, but new ones began and the kids were thrilled.

An administrator and a student both dressed up as Fern from Charlotte’s Web which, in my view, made them the costume winners! They were not scary. And they based their costumes on a classic novel:

These are scenes from the story trail which brought the book, Halloween Night on Shivermore Street, to life:

And how great is this – a friend’s baby dressed as the caterpillar from The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

I’ve looked at hundreds of new children’s books over the course of the 2020, and – due to Covid – there was lots more time to be at home looking at books. Below is a list of the best ones to give as holiday gifts this season:

Preschool Books 

A Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett

My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World by Rebecca Bond

ABC Animals by Christopher Evans

Sun Flower Lion by Kevin Henkes

Louis by Tom Lichtenheld

Turtle Walk by Matt Phelan

Picture Books

When the Storm Comes by Linda Ashman

I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes

The Bear and the Moon by Matthew Burgess

Hike by Pete Oswald 

My Best Friend by Julie Fogliano

Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry

The Barnabus Project by the Fan Brothers

Early Chapter Books 

See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog by David LaRochelle

Just a Little Blue (Owly #2) by Andy Runton

Pee, Bee and Jay: Stuck Together by Brian “Smitty” Smith

Middle Grade 

Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman

Leaving Lymon by Lesa Cline-Ransome

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead

Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake 

Graphic Novels

Catherine’s War by Julia Billet

Class Act by Jerry Craft

Witches of Brooklyn by Sophie Escabasse

When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson

Lightfall: The Girl and the Galdurian by Tim Probert

Black Heroes of the Wild West by James Otis Smith

Holiday Books

Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton

Ming’s Christmas Wishes by Susan Gong

Mistletoe by Tad Hills

The Ninth Night of Hanukkah by Erica Perl

The Night Before Christmas by Loren Long

Gift Books

Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth by Nicola Davies

The Mysteries of the Universe: Discover the Best-Kept Secrets of Space by Will Gater

Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes by Lonely Planet Kids

How We Got To the Moon by John Rocco

50 Adventures in 50 States by Kate Siber

The Big Book of Blooms by Yuval Zommer

Happy Shopping!

View at Medium.com

A Fall Hodgepodge

I have lots of small things to share this week….

First, mark your calendar for Sunday, November 2 at 4:00 for Buttonwood’s annual holiday book program. Like everything in our Covid world, it will be virtual. Of course, I’d rather be with people showing them actual books, but this will be fun too. And the best part is that the presentation will be available to watch anytime – and from anywhere – so if you can’t make the 4:00 slot, you can tune in later to hear about the best children’s books of 2020.

As we scan the returned books, the machine beeps if the book is overdue. Generally, it’s a week or two – nothing too exciting. But like its subject, this book traveled far. In fact, it was 657 days overdue!

A stack of new picture books was delivered yesterday, and this is my favorite:

I don’t typically quote other reviews, but this line from School Library Journal’s review is perfect: “This quirky epic only lacks Spielberg directing to fulfill its cinematic wingspan.” It is the story of Barnabus, a half mouse and half elephant, who has “lived in the lab as long as he could remember.” Barnabus lives in the lab below a “Perfect Pets” store because he is (it hurts me to write this about him) a “failed project.” But like the best escape books and movies, Barnabus and his friends work together to free themselves and escape into a “place full of sunshine and happy noises, green trees and soft grass.” It’s the illustrations that vault this book into the unforgettable category. I loved Barnabus from the first page. How could you not?

Lots of book characters came to mind while reading The Barnabus Project, but most of all, I thought of the alien animals in Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and the characters from Monsters Inc.,

One of the best parts of working in a school library is seeing kids begin to explore new books. On a recent afternoon, a 6th grade student was making a list from the library shelves – books she wants to read before the end of the school year. It’s a good list!

And finally….you may have heard there’s a presidential election coming up. To support our students learning about the electoral process, Inly’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion created a timeline called “Perfecting Democracy.” The timeline includes markers in the struggle for voting rights – and illustrates the role voter suppression plays in our history. Along with the paper timeline, there will be a book timeline featuring books about each of the events in the timeline.

The festive fall photo at the top was taken on a recent drive through Kennebunkport, Maine. Happy Reading!

A Magical Exhibit on the Cape

Under two hours from my house, on a street I’ve driven down countless times while visiting family in Cotuit, is the Cahoon Museum of American Art. I knew it was a “family folk art” museum, but I had never explored beyond that. My loss. As someone who loves museums and spends lots of time reading about art and artists, I underestimated this small gem.

I finally made it to the Cahoon museum because of an exhibit of work by the artist Salley Mavor, the illustrator of the My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World.

The exhibit, on view through December 22, presents the original artwork for Mavor’s sweet and lovely picture book about how children go to sleep in different parts of the world. Mavor calls her work sculptural embroidery, and seeing it up close is awe inspiring – mostly in the sense of imagining the time that goes into each small and detailed piece.

There are panels explaining and showing Mavor’s process which make her artistry – and patience – clear.

The work that I enjoyed the most is actually not something from My Bed, but rather a representation of Mavor’s life – birth to the present – through small sculptures of herself. Mavor calls it a “spiritual timeline” reflecting “her upbringing and personal taste.” The clothes change as the years change – and only one man, her husband, appears in the timeline in the year Mavor was married.

In another exhibit, the Cahoon is displaying a selection of photographs by Edward Curtis from his work, The North American Indian. It was an interesting “through line” to see how Native American artists used beads in their clothing after looking at Mavor’s work with beads. The photographs were beautiful, but it was these words by Chief Joseph Nez Perce (in 1879) that stuck with me:

“I have heard talk and talk, but nothing is done. Good words do not last long until they amount to something. Words do not pay for my dead people. They do not pay for my country, now over-run by white men. They do not protect my father’s grave. They do not pay for my horses and cattle. Good words will not give me back my children. Good words will not make good the promise of your War Chief, General Miles. Good words will not give my people good health and stop them from dying. Good words will not get my people a home where they can live in peace and take care of themselves….”

I will definitely keep a close eye on upcoming exhibits at the Cahoon.

After visiting the museum, I read a book that’s been on my list since it was published early this year. Leaving Lymon by Lesa Cline-Ransome is a companion novel to her earlier middle grade novel, Finding Langston. I read it in one sitting. And even though I’ve read enough middle grade novels to know there would be a happy ending, I kept reading faster to make sure Lymon would be okay.

Lymon is a young boy living in 1940s Mississippi with his loving Grandpops and his grandmother, who Lymon calls Ma. Lymon’s father is incarcerated and his mother has moved to Chicago and started a new family. Lymon’s life is not easy, but he shares his Grandpop’s love of music and is cared for by an extended family. Things change when, due to his grandfather’s death and Ma’s worsening diabetes, he is sent to Chicago to live with his mother and her new husband. Things are really hard there. His mother’s husband beats Lymon and he begins getting into trouble at school – resulting in Lymon being sent to a boy’s home. But throughout the short novel, the reader roots for Lymon. He wants – and needs – someone to care about him and to recognize his love of music. All ends well, and the journey is rich and heartwarming.

Leaving Lymon and Finding Langston would be a good holiday set for a ten to twelve year old who enjoys heartwarming and powerful stories of overcoming challenges and holding on to dreams.

One last note. It seems that everywhere I go in Massachusetts, there is a Kennedy story related to that place. This was also true in the Cahoon Museum. In a small nook of the museum there is a wall panel describing a visit that Jacqueline Kennedy made to the museum with her daughter Caroline. Caroline was young at the time, and she and her mother were visiting Martha Cahoon, the wife and artistic partner of Ralph Cahoon. The wall panel explains that Caroline “was so enamored by one of Martha’s paintings that Martha gave it to her.” Although there is no record of which painting it was, this is the one the museum staff identified as a possibility.

Happy Reading!

Six Perfect Picture Books

If you are a regular reader, you know how much I look forward to the annual New York Times list of the Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year. Beginning in mid-October, when I hear the Sunday New York Times land with a thud on the driveway, I’m wondering: is this the week? It’s an international list so it’s hard to predict which books will be included, but that’s the best part. There are usually a few I expected, but the others introduce me to new illustrators and authors and fill our school library shelves with images from every corner of the world.

For example, I was happy to learn about the Belgian illustrator, Leo Timmers, through his funny and energetic wordless picture book, Monkey on the Run, when it was on the New York Times list last year.

It turns out that the list of the Best Illustrated Children’s Books is another victim of the pandemic. There are so many losses and this one, compared to lives lost and businesses closing, is small. Yet, it makes me sad. Maybe it feels like one of the proverbial straws in the camel’s back, but with so many small joys on hold, the hard things stand out more starkly: the unmitigated cruelty of the Trump administration, the glaring racial injustices in our country, the shorter and darker days ahead after the clocks are turned back, and the prospect of a holiday season without large gatherings and joyful live music. When considering all of that, a book list is obviously insignificant, and yet….

While I certainly can’t look at picture books from other countries very easily (traveling is another pandemic victim), I can share six American picture books that are among the (admittedly few) bright spots of 2020.

The Bear and the Moon by Matthew Burgess and illustrated by Catia Chien

While I love all of the books on this list, if I had to select one, this would be it. A simple story about a bear and a balloon that floats into his life, The Bear and the Moon is gentle and sweet – and even magical. The little bear looks so velvety that I kept touching the page thinking that it would have texture.

Swashby and the Sea by Beth Ferry and illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

Captain Swashby is perfectly happy living alone. “The sea and he had been friends for a long, long time.” It’s a quiet life – and that’s just the way Capt. Swashby likes it. But one day….the empty house next door is no longer empty. A young girl and her granny move in and the Captain’s life is not going to be quiet for long!

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Michaela Goade

A book that celebrates indigenous people’s efforts to protect the natural environment, especially water. The danger to the land, the unnamed protagonist says, comes from a “black snake” that will “spoil the water. Poison plants and animals. Wreck everything in its path.”  This is a sad book, but more importantly, it is an inspiring call to action.

My Best Friend by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

A book about friendship that feels buoyant in its recognition of how important your first “best friend” is. Everything – the two girls, the plants, the animals – seems to be moving and singing:

“I have a new friend

and her hair is black

and it shines

and it shines

and she always laughs at everything…”

The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl

Leo and his dad are forced to leave their beloved “old blue house next to a tall fir tree,” after the landlord tells them that their rented house will be torn down to make room for new apartments. Of course, they “stomp and rage together,” but ultimately begin preparing for a life in a new house. This is a book about change that acknowledges how hard it is – and provides comfort and hope for the future. The colorful detailed illustrations are beautiful – they feel both nostalgic and at the same time, like something completely new.

Gustavo: The Shy Ghost by Flavia Z. Drago

Gustavo is Mexican author and illustrator, Flavia Drago’s first picture book – and it’s a winner. Admittedly, I’m not typically a big fan of Halloween or Day of the Dead picture books – I’m easily frightened and have never been a fan of wearing costumes. But this story about a ghost who gives a violin concert on the Day of the Dead is now one of my favorite holiday books.

Happy Reading!

We’re Truly Back….

We’re in school all day. The kids are visiting the library again. All is well. I had not realized how much I missed seeing actual kids standing at the check-out desk, book in hand. It was  early March when we last had “regular” library days, and now, even though everyone is wearing a mask, it feels pretty normal.

Besides kids, boxes are coming back. It’s fun when a book delivery arrives, and I try to remember what was in the most recent order. Today’s box had some treasures:

I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes and Gordon James (A vibrant, empowering, and timely celebration of black boys. “I am a brother, a son, a nephew, a favorite cousin, a grandson. I am a friend. I am real.” The boys in this book, painted in oil, are busy – playing basketball, giving hugs, swimming, skateboarding, and looking through a microscope. In a society that delivers so many hurtful and negative images of black boyhood, this is a book that belongs in every collection.)

If You Come to Earth by Sophie Blackall (Sophie Blackall keeps outdoing herself. After the Caldecott-winning Hello Lighthouse, it seemed Blackall had reached picture book perfection, but this one is equally stunning. It’s sweet and sad and thought provoking and simply perfect. The premise is a letter to a “visitor from outer space” telling them what they need to know about visiting Earth. It begins with a wide angle lens, looking at the Earth in the solar system, but goes on to show all of the richness of life: families, animals, food, and so much more. Blackall’s illustrations celebrate our diversity, but remind us that, in the words of President Kennedy, “our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future….”)

My guess was that something beautiful would be under the dust jacket, and of course, there is:

Evelyn Del Rey is Moving Away by Meg Medina (I was super excited to see this one, and it did not disappoint. Evelyn and Daniela are across-the-street neighbors and best friends, and every page conveys the easy warmth between the two girls. But the moving boxes stacked near a big truck make it clear that their lives are changing. Even at my age, I felt the emotional tug of this book. It made me think of my best friend from Ohio and the days we spent walking to the neighborhood pool and taking the #5 bus into Dayton. Like Evelyn and her friend Daniela, they stay in touch, but it’s bittersweet.)

Robobaby by David Wiesner (A robot family welcomes a new little brother – who arrives in a box!  Flange, the new baby, naturally has to be assembled, but the instruction manual is complicated and things don’t go as smoothly as expected. Wiesner must have had fun naming his characters: Cathode, Sprocket, Lugnut, and Aunt Gasket. This is the perfect gift for a robot-loving child.)

And make sure you peek under the cover of Robobaby, it’s great!

Land of the Cranes by Aida Salazar (I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s sitting next to my computer waiting for me to crack it open. A novel in verse, Salazar’s novel centers on nine-year-old Betita whose family emigrated from Mexico to Los Angeles to escape the dangerous cartel wars. When Betita’s father is arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she and her pregnant mother are forced into a family detention camp. In its starred review, Kirkus says “Salazar’s verse novel presents contemporary issues such as ‘zero tolerance’ policies, internalized racism, and mass deportations through Betita’s innocent and hopeful eyes, making the complex topics easy to understand through passionate, lyrical verses.”)

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

The illustration below is by Stacy Innerst from the book, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality by Jonah Winter. 

“Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.”

A New School Year and a New Bookstore….

The kids returned to school last week, most enthusiastically and some a bit tentatively. We are easing in. The initial school days were short visits, a chance for kids to say hello to teachers, learn the new arrival routine, and discover all of the new hand sanitizer stations. This week we are fully back – but the school day will be a bit shorter until the 21st.  I keep reminding myself that our students have not been back to school since mid-March. It will take time for them – and their teachers – to adjust to so many changes.

But we have the new Dogman book, Grime and Punishment, in the library and we are ready to open. My favorite moments have been when a student, assuming the library is closed, asks if they will be able to visit, and I can answer yes. With masks and sanitizers and distancing – but open! I’ve ordered new books (in addition to Dogman) and can’t wait to share them with students.

Mary and I are enjoying looking under the dust jackets at some of the beautiful bonus art work. Look at this drawing under The Camping Trip by Jennifer Mann:

One of the many new picture books that I’m adding to my “favorites of 2021” list is My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Fall Asleep Around the World by Rebecca Bond. A sweet book about how children go to sleep in different places around the world, it’s the illustrations by Salley Mavor that make this a book to treasure.

Each child and animal are made of yarn, wire, and beads, and there are small details on each page, for example a child in India who sleeps under “finely woven netting” to prevent mosquito bites.

For readers and book shoppers, discovering a new bookstore is an incomparable joy. Especially when the discovery is totally unexpected – which is what made Saturday a perfect day. My husband wanted to visit The Farmer’s Daughter, a garden center in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The picture at the top of the post is from Farmer’s Daughter – clearly not your typical garden shop. One of the draws of this particular garden center (we’ve been to many!) is that they have a large cutting garden where you can cut your own flowers. It was a beautiful day and the flowers were abundant and colorful.

After we left there and stopped for lunch, we decided to drive into Westerly. It was nearby and we’d only seen a blurry Westerly as we sped through on Amtrak trains bound for New York City. So we went, parked, and started walking down Canal Street. First, we visited a used bookstore that was unusually well stocked and organized. ReReads (great name!) was a welcome discovery, and after my husband paid for a few mystery books, we kept walking.

And then, like Oz appearing in front of us, we saw a sign for Savoy Books:

We tightened our masks, sanitized, and went inside. How did we not know about this store? It’s not that far away. And embarrassingly enough, I already followed them on Instagram. Did it ever occur to me to look at where it was located? Apparently not. Look at this:

The well curated books are beautifully displayed. There’s a cafe and a wonderful children’s room downstairs. Basically paradise. We spent an hour inside the store, and I began plotting return trips as soon as we were walking toward the ice cream shop down the street which was, of course, delicious. At my son’s urging, I’ve been watching The Good Place, and I decided that maybe that’s where I had landed – temporarily.

Here’s what I bought:

I have read Joy Harjo’s poetry, but all I know about her is that she’s the poet laureate of the United States and she’s from Oklahoma. Harjo’s memoir was displayed with other books by Native American writers which led me to pick up The Beadworkers, a collection of short stories. Just Us: An American Converation by Claudia Rankine was already on my list so when I saw that this one was signed by the author, it went into my stack. Rainkine’s book is a collection of essays, poems, and photographs that, as Rankine describes it is “an invitation to discover what it takes for us to stay in the room together.”

Tomorrow – I’ll be together with students, one of my favorite places to be. It’s all overwhelming, but I’m happy to be back.

Happy Reading!