Links In The Chain Of Story

We carry them with us day after day.  They are a collection of what we taste, smell, hear, see, and touch.  They are a blend of perceptions and beliefs, questions and answers.  They arrive unbidden or on demand.  They are now and then and when.  They are us and all those who are a part of us.

Every second of every day is a memory.  Some are spectacular.  Others, at the time, seem ordinary, but in reality they may be the most valuable.  In Also (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, February 8, 2022 written and illustrated by E. B. Goodale, this talented creator explores memories, family, and shared love.

Today, I am at my gramma's house,

high on the hill,

amongst the blueberry bushes,

And also . . .

Daughters and mothers enjoy a day together. Each one is in this present, but also remembering

another time.  The youngest on the hill is recalling a camping trip with her mother and the quiet all around her.

The grandmother, who sees her granddaughter on the hill, in her mind sees herself as a little girl.  On that day, a bunny meant she had wet shoes for the rest of the day.  The youngest girl's mother is looking for her.

She is thinking of another day during blueberry season; when her sister made her laugh as they separated blueberries together in their mother's kitchen.  Next to the little girl on the hill, today, is her grandmother's cat, Nutmeg.  Nutmeg has memories, too.  On this day, she remembers being a tiny kitten with no home until someone touched her and invited her into their home.

Since that day with the little girl on the hill filled with blueberry bushes with her grandmother looking out her window at her and her mother on the hill seeking her, years have come and gone.  Now that day is a story you are reading, now.  As the little girl now a young woman writes, she remembers many pasts and paths folding together.  They are connected by ties never to be broken.

With her writing, E. B. Goodale has given readers a profound and meaningful story.  With a single word, she asks us to not only pause in the reading of the book, but to personally pause in that moment.  How do we connect with what we are reading?

Each description of then and now is vivid and sensory.  Each character's memory is bound to another individual with great affection.  An inviting cadence is supplied with a repeated structure for now and for then for each character. Here is a passage.

. . .she is remembering sorting blueberries

in the breakfast nook of her mama's kitchen.

Her sister was making her giggle.

Not only are we introduced to the characters in the story on the front, right side, of the open dust jacket, but we also are given a hint as to how E. B. Goodale designates the difference between now and then.  The red bird whose looping flight acts as a placeholder for the text is seen in every illustration in this title.  Seeing the characters from this perspective helps us to feel as though we are right behind them, ready to enter the story.

On the other side of the spine is a pale golden wash for a background.  There we see all the characters nestled together in the grass and flowers.  The red bird flies in place above them.  The text here reads:

An ode to the memories we make . . .

. . .and also those we make them with.

The book case takes us into a different then and now.  Those we see on the dust jacket are now in the past.  To the left of them, down the hill, is Gramma's house.  The majority of the case is in shades of purple.  The text is placed in colors signifying now.

The opening and closing endpapers are an intricate pattern of delicate leafy branches in hues of purple on a white canvas.  This pattern also is the first page on the left and the final page on the right.  On the title page the text is in purple.  A large red bird flies between the text.

The two-page pictures throughout the book were rendered by E. B. Goodale 

on kitakata paper using monoprint, gouache, and blueberry ink.

The points of view shift to elevate the text.  At times, we are given a larger view setting.  Our eyes are then drawn to a special point in another scene.  And then, sometimes we are very close to a character.  We are so close we feel as though we can reach out and touch them.

When the narrative alters to now and goes back to when the writer is a little girl, the red bird acts as a thread to the past.  Its flight pattern opens the past to allow the present being referenced to appear in full color.  This bird leads us to the final two-page image revealing its importance.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when the little girl's mother is remembering a day filled with laughter.  She and her sister are seated on opposite benches at the breakfast nook table.  They are separating the blueberries.  The sister has placed a row of blueberries in her mouth looking like she has a blueberry smile.  She has her hands on either side of her cheeks like big ears.  The little girl's grandmother watches her daughters by peeking around the doorway to the kitchen.  Outside the breakfast nook window, the red bird is eating at a feeder.  This picture, a memory, is in shades of purple.

Written and illustrated by E. B. Goodale, Also is a rare book, rich in its presentation of memory and our stories.  It celebrates all parts of our lives and others' lives and how we are connected.  I highly recommend you include a copy of this book in both your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about E. B. Goodale and her other work, please access her website by following the link attached to her name.  E. B. Goodale has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  This book, process art, and other images are showcased at author, reviewer, and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

Gifted With . . .

When we enter this world, we have undiscovered potential.  Those closest to us, our family members, may try to steer us toward a generational family tradition or occupation.  They may see us as the next great beekeeper, politician, educator, doctor, grocer, carpenter, chef, clothing designer, gardener, or musher.  Even though the choices seem limitless, the path we follow, according to them, is already defined.

Our gift or gifts do not always align with their desires.  Sometimes, they are the exact opposite of family expectations.  If we are fortunate, we will be supported regardless of which direction we take.  As the monster in Anzu The Great Kaiju (Roaring Brook Press, January 11, 2022) written and illustrated by Benson Shum discovers, sometimes such approval is not quickly or easily earned.

All great kaiju are born with a superpower

to strike fear in the heart of their given city.

Anzu desires to follow in his family's footsteps.  He does have a conspicuous dilemma.  It is hard to 

strike fear in the heart of 

your city when your superpower is of the floral variety.  Yes, Anzu has flower power!  He sees and summons loveliness everywhere.

When Anzu reaches a certain age, he is assigned a city.  He can hardly wait to cause chaos.  His mother and father decide to first demonstrate by example what he needs to do.  He must unleash wild weather and earthly upheaval.

Alas, Anzu conjures up wreaths and necklaces of flowers and a playground appears when he uproots a huge tree.  The residents in his city are wildy ecstatic.  No matter what he does, they get happier and happier.  There is a contrast in the air between  the despondency of some and the pure bliss of others.  What is Anzu to do?

Now, Grandmother steps on the scene.  She tells him to dig deep into the powers passed to him from those of his past.  Anzu does this and there is an enormous resonating sound.  No one is more surprised than Anzu at this result.  Anzu has a decision to make.  Only his heart has the best answer.

With his first sentence, author Benson Shum fills us with anticipation.  When we learn of Anzu's superpower, in light of this statement, we are struck by the incongruity of this monster's situation.  It is a bit humorous, and a lot wonderful.

Anzu's story is told with a mix of added sound effects, conversation, and narrative.  Benson Shum's word choices not only convey the mood of the moment, but bring us into the action with their welcoming cadence.  Each of the family members speaks their truth with affection for one another.  In keeping with the back and forth between rumble-tumble turmoil and flower-power glee, we are privy to the conflict facing Anzu between pleasing one's family and staying true to yourself.  Here is a passage.

SHWACK!

Vines and flowers erupted,

twirled and swirled into a

jungle of seesaws and slides.

"A great kaiju should unleash havoc," Dad said.

"NOT happiness."

How can you not want to reach out and hug bold yellow and orange Anzu when seeing him perched on the framed title on the dust jacket?  His happiness is contagious to everything around him as color bursts forth in the form of flowers and butterflies while the tiny residents of his city enjoy the effects of his superpower.  Anzu and the title text box are varnished on the front of the dust jacket.

To the left of the open dust jacket, on the back, is white space.  Above the ISBN at the bottom, two teeny residents are laughing as they balance on a seesaw.  Above them a cascade of flowers spin from left to right.  Toward the top Anzu is placed in a rectangular frame with a teal background.  He is exclaiming 

PEW PEW PEW 

as flowers come from his mouth.

The book case is a vibrant spring green.  Covering the back and a large portion of the front is an array of flowers in shades of red, purple, pink and yellow with glossy green leaves.  On the front Anzu is lying on his back, smiling and looking at the wonder his superpower has created.

The opening and closing endpapers appear to be an open guidebook on monster superpowers.  Opposite each depiction of the monster is a list of their superpowers.  There are circles around some of the superpowers.  Throughout the pages are hand-drawn stars, hearts and other doodles.

Rendered

with watercolor and ink and compiled digitally

these illustrations are as spirited as Anzu.  Colorful backgrounds showcase the other cheerful hues.  Black lines accent the glorious selected shades.  Sometimes, on a crisp white background wider lines will frame the text and an image.  A smaller framed visual and text are placed on a double-page picture for maximum effect.  The image sizes reflect the text and focus on the facial expressions and body postures of the characters superbly.  The final two-page picture is wordless and represents the marvelous conclusion.

One of my many favorite illustrations is after Anzu's first attempt at terrifying the citizens of his newly acquired city.  The background is sky blue.  There is a dirt and grassy dirt mounds along the bottom.  Garlands of flowers are floating from the sky in bright colors.  The tiny beings are dancing.  One shouts Hula!  Garlands are on the ground and hanging from the mounds.  Anzu's mother stands to the right of all this merriment, holding a garland and looking distressed.  She is a lot taller and thinner than Anzu, a light teal in color with large white spiny plates down her back.

There comes a time, many times, in our lives when we have to decide what is best for us and best for those around us.  This title, Anzu The Great Kaiju written and illustrated by Benson Shum, shows readers with great joy how to be guided by your heart and to stay true to yourself.  I highly recommend you place a copy in both your personal and professional collections.  This is to be shared often and widely especially as a read aloud.  

To learn more about Benson Shum, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Benson Shum has accounts on multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Benson Shum wrote a guest post this month on author Tara Lazar's Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) during Storystorm.  Benson Shum is interviewed about his work and this title on author Erin Daley's site, author illustrator Jena Benton's site, writer Vivian Kirkfield's site, and Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez's Math is Everywhere.  At the publisher's website you can view multiple interior images.

Withstanding The Worst

Early this morning a band of thunderstorms raced along the western side of the tip of the Mitt.  The daily early morning walk with my canine companion was shorter than usual as thunder rumbled and lightning split the eerie darkening sky.  A trip to the shore revealed layers of black and gray hovering over Lake Michigan as wind started to whip tree branches.

Sometimes storms are predicted, and we can prepare.  Other times, they appear as if conjured by the hand of an unseen sorcerer.  Truthfully, even with science and preparations, we are at their mercy.  During days of confinement, The Longest Storm (mineditionUS, August 31, 2021) written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino views the unexpected through family dynamics.  Like life, it is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

A storm came to our town.

It was unlike any storm

we'd ever seen.

Going outside was not an option.  We were stuck inside for a-yet-to-be-determined amount of time.  All those tasks we never had time to do; they disappeared from our minds.  

We were not used to being together, hour after hour, day after day.  As a family, we forgot how to talk with each other.  We forgot how to relate to each other.  It was weird.  It became terrible.  Tempers flared. 

Being alone was the chosen method of avoiding hard truths, until one horrible night the storm rocked the house's and our family's foundations.  (Sometimes in the very worst possible situation, a shift sends out a single shaft of light.  It helps to guide us to where we need to be.)

In the light of a new day, much was the same, except for us.  The weirdness wanned.  In a good way, our attitudes toward each other were transformed.  Over time, the clouds vanished, the sun shone, and we left the house to begin fresh.

With each meticulously created sentence, Dan Yaccarino writes a story with multiple meanings.  It is indeed about a storm, a meteorological event, but a storm by its very definition is applicable in many situations.  Each thought revealed in the narrative is universally understood.  We have experienced surprise, uncertainty, the disconnections, the frustrations, and the sudden knowledge of needing to rely on each other.

The declarations are simple, but profound.  They disclose what makes humans united, more alike than different. Here are two sentences placed at particular points in the story.

There was nothing to do,

and too much time to do it.

Is it possible for a family to run out of nice things to say?

The open and matching dust jacket and book case are a preview of circumstances to come.  On the back, left side, the family canine is outside their home, eyeing the black cloud moving across a blue sky.  Three rows of squares, etched in black, represent a window in the red brick home.  The ISBN is cleverly placed within three squares on the bottom row.

On the right side, the front, the family, arm in arm, watch the approaching storm.  They are unaware of what awaits them.  The dog looking directly at the reader asks us to join the family and their story.  On both the jacket and case, the family and text are varnished.  The color palette is suggestive of shifts.

On the opening endpapers, in black, red, and cream clouds extend from the upper, right-hand corner to the lower, left-hand corner.  Wind and leaves swirl.  The closing endpapers present another scenario, after the storm has passed.

Across the verso and title pages, a double-page picture depicts the beginning of the storm.  Black and gray clouds roll in from left to right, blocking out the blue of the sky.  Wind blows autumn leaves past the house.  Two of the children are still outside, one in a tire swing and the other playing with their dog.  Their father watches from inside the house.

Each image, rendered in Dan Yaccarino's signature style, mirrors the pacing and mood of the story.  Picture sizes are double-page visuals, edge to edge, groups of smaller illustrations to place emphasis on the narrative, and single-page pictures, edge to edge.  Backgrounds reflect the emotional state of the family and accentuate pictorial portraits of the text.  Time is most notably depicted in the state of the father's beard.  Several page turns, five, are striking in their representation of dramtic moments.  Of the five, only two have words.  

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page, wordless picture.  It is after the big kaboom made during the storm.  The colors are dark purple, sky blue, black and a spot of golden yellow.  Two perspectives are shown in this single image.  To the left of the gutter, we see the oldest child standing outside their father's open bedroom door in the hallway.  We see feet, legs, and the lower body.  They are close to us. Inside the bedroom are the father, the two smaller children nestled on either side of him, and the family dog, now on the dad's bed.  A candle glows on the nightstand.  The two smaller children and the father look expectantly at the older child.  Rain falls in sheets outside the rows of panes in the bedroom window.

This book, The Longest Storm written and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino, falls with excellence in the timeless and timely class of titles.  It rings out truth, solidly and soothingly.  It is one to read often and to share widely.  I highly recommend it for your personal and professional collections.  It will make a superb gift.

To learn more about Dan Yaccarino and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Dan Yaccarino has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.  At the publisher's website you can view the opening endpapers.  Dan Yaccarino wrote a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club, Weathering The Storm Together. Here is a link to some activity pages.   Dan Yaccarino is interviewed at Max's Boat about this book.

Remembrance Of A Food

It sustains us physically.  It sustains us mentally.  We are grateful to have it.  We are saddened, and sometimes ill, when it is absent. The gathering of it, the preparation of it, the serving of it, and the enjoyment of it are laden with memories.  Words about it fill pages of books.  It is celebrated in song.  

Food in some form is necessary for us to survive.  What we eat, when we eat, who we eat with (or not), and where we eat can be a matter of routine and customs or change often.  Watercress (Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, March 30, 2021) written by Andrea Wang with pictures by Jason Chin is an intimate portrait of a particular food and its place in a family's history.  As children we can never truly know the full extent of our parent's past, until they make the choice to reveal it to us. 

We are in the old Pontiac,

the red paint faded by years of

glinting Ohio sun,

pelting rain,

and biting snow.

An unexpected cry from the mother has the car suddenly halting.  Both parents simultaneously say the same word, watercress.  There is something rarely heard in the tone of their voices.  From the trunk of the car, they remove a paper bag, and scissors, the worse for wear.

The children, an older brother and sister, are asked to help gather the watercress.  They remove their socks and shoes to wade in the cold, muddy water of the ditch.  When a car goes by, the daughter hopes it is no one she knows.  Her brother teases her with a soggy mess of watercress, and she grows weary of stuffing it into the sack.  Not soon enough for the daughter, everything and everyone is back in the car and heading home.

At dinner that evening the daughter refuses to eat the watercress.  It represents, to her, all the free things in their lives which set her aside from being her perception of normal.  The mother leaves the table and returns with a photograph of her family in China.  Her younger brother is in the photograph.  Of him, the brother and sister know nothing.

As her mother tells a sorrowful tale of her childhood in China, the girl is filled with shame for her thoughts and refusal to eat the watercress.  She now understands the significance of the leafy vegetable.  She begins to eat it, savoring its unique flavor.  It is a taste she will remember.  This is a story she will tell, to be passed from generation to generation.

As you read the free-verse poetic text penned by Andrea Wang, you feel as though you've stepped back in time and place.  The use of simile and alliteration and detailed descriptions create a sensory experience.  Regardless of your family's history, empathy for this girl, her parents, and the entire family is foremost in your mind and heart.  We identify with her first-person narrative and the inclusion of some conversation.  Here is a passage.

The tops of the cornstalks make

lines that zigzag

across the horizon.

Mom shouts,

"Look!"

and the car comes to

an abrupt, jerking stop.

Mom's eyes are as sharp as

the tip of

a dragon's claw.

The illustrations rendered by Jason Chin 

using watercolor on 140 pound cold press Saunders watercolor paper

are first visible to readers on the open dust jacket.  It is here we see his color choices, each representing the present and the past and a blend of the two.  The cornstalks on the right, front, transition to stalks of bamboo across and left of the spine.  Our narrator unhappily wading in the ditch to gather watercress along the side of the road becomes, on the back, her mother and her younger brother as children seated on a grassy hill overlooking their village.  The sky here is not that of a sunny day in Ohio, but a dismal sky in a China suffering during a famine.

On the book case Jason Chin presents us with an up-close view of watercress growing in a watery setting.  The circular leaves of varying shades of green float on a darker surface.  In the lower, right-hand corner is a dragonfly.  Its red body and translucent wings rest on top of the watercress.  Its presence is suggestive of transformation.

A deep teal covers the opening and closing endpapers.  It is close in color to the varnished title text on the dust jacket.  On the initial title page, we see the red Pontiac in the distance driving down the country road between midwestern fields of crops.  On the formal title page, the perspective has shifted.  The rows of corn are close to us on the left side of the image.  The car is driving down the dirt road directly at readers, on the right.  A row of utility poles line the road on the right.  With a page turn, the point of view alters again.  The car spans, close, across both pages.  The narrator of the story, the daughter, looks out the back window.  Farther away, next to her, sits her brother.

With each page turn, we are always immersed in the story, but our vantage point changes.  To elevate the text and emphasize pacing, the illustration sizes are either double-page pictures or full-page visuals.  Like the dust jacket, there is a stunning display, a blend of the present and the past.  We are aware of the emotional state of each family member by their facial features and body postures.  You find yourself filling with compassion for each one.

One of my many favorite images is a double-page illustration.  For me, a drive in the country becomes the beginning of a huge revelation.  On the left is the corn field growing up to the watery ditch filled with watercress.  There is a small grassy slope from the road to the ditch.  On the right the road comes into view with the red Pontiac demanding the focus of our attention.  The mother is looking out the passenger window at the watercress.  The father is leaning in her direction, noticing what she is seeing.  The sky reflects the hazy heat of a summer afternoon. 

The sheer beauty of the words and paintings in this story, Watercress written by Andrea Wang with art by Jason Chin, not only envelopes the reader but resonates long after the final sentence is read, and the last image is seen.  This is a book to read repeatedly.  At the close of the book is an author's note and an illustrator's note.  You'll want a copy for your personal and professional collections.

To discover more about Andrea Wang and Jason Chin and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  You will find numerous useful links at Andrea Wang's site.  Andrea Wang has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Jason Chin has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher, features Andrea Wang and this book on his blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  Both Andrea Wang and Jason Chin talk about this book at Publishers Weekly.  This book is highlighted on NPR, Picture This.  An interview with Andrea Wang at The Yarn, School Library Journal, by Colby Sharp gives you further insight about this title.  At author, reviewer, and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, this title and Jason Chin are showcased.  At the publisher's website is an educator's guide.  At Penguin Random House, you can view the initial title page.

   

The More The Merrier

If you ask a child if they've ever dreamed of having their own home without adults, most will reply with an enthusiastic yes.  Some want siblings to share in the adventure.  Others wish to have close friends join in this exciting endeavor.  For many this vision is one held in their hearts and minds for years.  It is a home they carry with them.

For all those children who hold this dream close, a new collaboration by award-winning creators breathe life into that dream.  The Ramble Shamble Children (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, March 9, 2021) written by Christina Soontornvat with illustrations by Lauren Castillo follows a family of five who happily live without adults.  The siblings work together in all things, even when a shared idea reveals an essential wisdom.

Down the mountain, across the creek,

past the last curve in the road,

five children lived together

in a ramble shamble house.

Each day the children were busy with their designated tasks.  There was a garden to tend.  There were crows to chase away.  There were chickens to feed.  There was mud to savor.

When it was time to eat, each child helped prepare the meal.  There was one exception.  There was still mud to savor. 

These children were always working but working together lightened the load.  At day's end, they snuggled together in the oldest girl's bed to listen to her fantastic tales.  One day, their idyllic lives shifted when they read a book.

Their ramble shamble house needed to change to be a proper house.  The four older children worked all the next day to make their house and yard proper.  When they were done, it did look different, but no one was adjusting to the changes.  And where was mud-loving Jory?!  The children living in the ramble shamble house discovered one of the most valuable secrets of a proper life.  

With each reading, the words in this story penned by Christina Soontornvat cuddle deeper into your reader's heart.  She describes an inviting setting with each individual having a purpose.  She uses the words always and proper to great effect, as familiar and comforting storytelling beats.  In a magical manner, layer by layer with a pleasing blend of dialogue and narrative, Christina Soontornvat casts a spell and teaches readers one of the oldest truths.  Here is a passage.

"Hold on," said Finn.  "Has anyone see Jory?"

"Isn't he in the mud puddle?" said Locky.

"Oh no!  We propered it up!"

Jory?

Jory?

Jory!

Look at the children on the front, right, of the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  Each one of them are merrily engaged in exactly what they enjoy, hiking, juggling, reading or playing in the mud.  The pastoral, sunny setting amid mountains and surrounded by a forest provides warmth and security.  The title text, varnished on the jacket, fits in the scene perfectly as crows fly from the letters.  

To the left, on the back, a dark teal supplies a canvas.  There we see the twins holding gathered carrots and running.  Near them, a hen perches in a basket with three eggs on the ground.

A soft midnight blue covers the opening and closing endpapers.  There, a flock of crows dips and flies in a line.  They are the same hue as that of the title text.  On the title page our focus is on the house, nestled among evergreens in a clearing.

These images by Lauren Castillo rendered

by combining ink drawings and Gelli monoprints in Adobe Photoshop

span two pages, edge to edge, single pages, edge to edge, lovely illustrations set and loosely framed on a single page and two smaller pictures on one page.  These pictures show the five children moving and working in unity.  They hike across the verso and dedication pages.  They garden, chase, feed, and play in the same area.  We view these visuals as more panoramic or close to the children, depending on a desired effect to enhance the story.  We are drawn into each moment by the facial expressions on the children's faces.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations brings us closer to the five siblings.  It spans two pages.  We are close to the front porch of the ramble shamble house.  Finn stands on the second step up on the porch.  He is juggling three eggs as the hen in the basket watches.  On the sidewalk leading to the porch steps, Merra works on the salad with lettuce and tomatoes next to her, on paper and in a bowl.  The twins, Locky and Roozle, run, on the right side, carrying carrots freshly picked from the garden.  Jory, behind them, sits in the mud, totally content.

You will get requests to read this book, The Ramble Shamble Children written by Christina Soontornvat with artwork by Lauren Castillo, over and over again.  It makes a dream seem possible.  It exudes warmth like a beloved blanket.  You'll want to have a copy on your personal and professional bookshelves.

To learn more about Christina Soontornvat and Lauren Castillo and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  At Lauren's site she has additional fun resources and images for this title.  Christina Soontornvat has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.  Lauren Castillo has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  There is a cover reveal and interview with both Christina and Lauren at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's Watch. Connect. Read.

Inside, Outside, What Will You See?

Regardless of their speed, they move in silence.  They were revered in ancient cultures, elevated to roles as deities. They have intermingled and lived with humans for thousands of years, yet they are said to be aloof.  Those humans who share their days with them often disagree with this assessment as does a recent scientific study.  They find them to be the best kind of companions. 

Our feline friends are beloved for a multitude of reasons; perhaps one is their ability to notice what others do not.  In 1985, thirty-five years ago, author illustrator Ashley Wolff published a book titled Only the Cat Saw (Dodd, Mead & Company).  (I was able to obtain a paperback copy released by Puffin Books in November 1988.)  In this book, as a family goes about end-of-the-day and nighttime routines inside their home, their cat makes its own observations of the outside world.

After making a gift of this original edition to her editor of ten years, Ashley Wolff was requested to update the images for a republication. Most of the text remains the same with the exception of a name change and the concluding sentences which add an exquisite enchantment to the story.  All the illustrations, the paintings, are new, supplying readers with enhanced perspectives and a diverse family.  One thing remains wonderfully the same.  This book, Only The Cat Saw (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, June 16, 2020) written and illustrated by Ashley Wolff,  is a classic calming ode to our world at day's end and during an nighttime rain shower, inside and outside a home.

It was suppertime,
and night was coming soon.
Mother was busy with Sam.
Tessa was helping Father.

So only the cat saw . . .

With a page turn, a double-page wordless picture reveals what the cat saw.  In both books the cat is still inside looking out at a pastoral scene as the sun sets behind rolling hills.  The number and size of windows has changed as well as the setting in the foreground and the animals.  We are much closer to the cat, the large geranium plant on the table and other objects.

In each of the subsequent moments, the rhythm of text on the left with accompanying full-page image on the right, followed by a dramatic wordless double-page image is beautifully consistent.  We move with ease and contentment from bath time, to bedtime, to dreams, an unplanned early morning awakening, Mother and Sam awake mere hours later, and then it is time for breakfast.  Each of these episodes in the home runs parallel to the cat's journey outside.

Horses are visited as fireflies become playthings.  From under the cover of large leaves, the cat watches an owl swoop to catch an evening meal of a mouse.  Will the owl or the mouse be the victor?  Perched among slumbering ewes and a ram, the cat watches a star arch across a star-studded sky.

As the rain showers concede to a sunny new morning, the cat watches high above the ground.  When the family members stir inside, a shift in the story takes readers to a new point of view.  There is a time and a place for every being to see and to be seen.


In each portion of the narrative, author Ashley Wolff includes one or all of the family members.  She intimately involves readers in these familial situations.  She creates a cadence for readers using the same format for each selection.  You find yourself holding your breath after you read:

So only the cat saw . . .

You wonder what surprise awaits you with the page turn.  Here is another passage.

At bedtime,
Mother and Father were reading.
Sam was finally asleep,
and Tessa was supposed to be.

So only the cat saw . . .


When you open the matching dust jacket and book case, you are greeted with a breathtaking, soothing nighttime vista.  As your eyes move from left to right the perspective alters from a background to the foreground on the right.  On the left, as if we are a cat, the two-story family home, lights glowing in some of the windows, rises above wildflowers and grasses in a surrounding meadow.  Behind the home is a starry sky with a full moon.  The white puffs of flowers mirror the moon.  Several moths sip nectar as a small brown mouse freezes on the far left.

On the right, front, the cat comes toward readers, looking directly at us.  If you compare the two front covers, this cat is much closer to us.  It's tail here (and in other scenes) is more curved becoming linked to the title.  This newer cat has different eyes and more distinctive white spots.  The fur is textured.  In the most recent edition two beetles have paused on leaves.  The title text on the jacket is raised.

The opening and closing endpapers are a canvas of golden yellow like the author's name, the flower, and the "O" in the title.  The first illustration on the title page is a single page picture in both editions.  In each one the cat is stretching as if recently waking up.  In the newer version the cat is closer to readers and looking at us.  In this edition of the book is appears as if cooler colors and more vibrant colors have replaced golden shades and subdued hues.

With a page turn we are greeted with a double page picture.  In my older version the mother is hanging laundry.  There is a basket for clothes and one for Sam.  Amy has both arms holding the basket as it rests on the ground.  On a large sheet is the dedication and publication information.  In the new release Dad is hanging up the laundry.  Sam is in front of Dad in a baby carrier.  A small basket on the ground holds clothes pins.  In the laundry basket is a pile of clothes with the cat on top.  Tessa is peeking between two sheets.  The dedication is on one of them. In this book the publication information in on the last page with a stunning picture of the cat.

In the earlier edition all the full-page illustrations were bordered in white.  In this book, the images bleed to the edges.  In all of them we are closer to the subjects.  We are drawn into each location.  The details are many with intricate fine lines.  The use of light and shadow is splendid.  Readers will find comfort in the way the images by Ashley Wolff extend her words.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  The color palette is limited, but it conveys strong emotions.  Inside the barn the ewes, lambs and a ram are curled and cuddled in sleep.  Through the one visible window light from the full moon casts a beam.  The cat is sitting on the body of one of the sheep.  It is looking through the open barn door at the rolling hills, the night sky and the falling star.  You can't look at this picture and not wish to be there.


Both editions of this book are lovely in the lullaby they generate for readers in the words and pictures, but this new release of Only the Cat Saw written and illustrated by Ashley Wolff is eloquent.  Readers will request to have this read to them repeatedly.  It is now one of my favorite bedtime, quiet time, titles.  You could also use this to promote writing, imagining a scene inside a home and what the cat might see outside. There is not a personal or professional collection that would be complete without this title.

If you would like to discover more about Ashley Wolff and her body of work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name to access her website.  Ashley Wolff also has accounts on WordPress, Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  In a post at Publishers Weekly Ashley Wolff is interviewed about this new titles and the changes made and why.  I believe you will really enjoy reading it.  In the video below Ashley Wolff talks about the new edition and reads it aloud.

Breathe The Open Air

There are bugs that bite.  There are butterflies. There are stinky-spraying skunks.  There are sun-dappled does.  There is an itchy poisonous ivy.  There are trillium, lady's slippers, violets, daisies, maidenhair ferns and water lilies.  There is the odor of smoke that clings to your hair and clothes.  There is the sweet smell of pine trees.  There is sand that is not sand, and you sink.  There are minnows, crabs, clams, and rocks to see in the shimmering water.  There is the sharp crack of twigs in the middle of the night. Bear?  There is the calming chorus of crickets.  There is the humid foggy morning.  There is the crystal-clear, star-strewn sky at night.  There are the bumps in the ground suddenly felt through your slowly flattening air mattress.  There is the snuggly warmth of your sleeping bag.  There is the tent which defies your every effort to stay erected.  There is the tent which envelops you, providing shelter from the elements.

When we venture into the outdoors, whether at a national or state park or designated forest, we are temporarily residents with the wild.  There are detriments to this adventure but the advantages, even brief moments, can last a lifetime.  The Camping Trip (Candlewick Press, April 14, 2020) written and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann shadows Ernestine as she goes camping for the first time. It's an experience she and readers will long remember.

MY AUNT JACKIE invited me to go camping with her and my cousin Samantha this weekend, and my dad said yes!

A new sleeping bag and flashlight are only two of the many items Ernestine and her dad gather for this excursion.  Aunt Jackie wants her niece to be prepared.  It's not easy but Ernestine gets everything into her duffel bag.  She's ready and waiting.

When her Aunt Jackie and Samantha arrive, she's excited, but also worried about her dad getting lonely.  The two girls enjoy various activities, including simply staring out the window, on the long ride to Cedar Tree Campground.  The first thing Ernestine realizes when they stand on the shore of the lake is Cedar Tree Campground is huge and . . . silent.

It's hard work, hot and sweaty work, for Ernestine and Samantha to set up the tent.  Swimming is an option, but Ernestine is slightly scared about the fish she sees in the water.  Waiting on the shore is much safer.  After lunch, Ernestine's anticipation grows when they plan a hike, but she is amazed at how strenuous it is.  There is a lot to explore and discover until they come down the hill after hiking.  The best part of dinner that night is dessert.  Ernestine tastes her first s'mores.

Soon the trio are cozy and comfortable in their sleeping bags inside the tent until reading is over and the lantern is turned off.  Samantha and Aunt Jackie are snoozing in seconds.  Ernestine tosses and turns and tosses and turns.  Homesickness descends.  Wisely, Aunt Jackie makes a suggestion.  Wishing on a falling star can change everything.

The next morning, a hearty breakfast bolsters courage.  Packing up and loading the car seem harder.  The ride home is much quieter.  A welcoming hug opens the door to conversing about happy tasty recollections.


Told in first person Jennifer K. Mann allows readers to feel the thrills and the misgivings of this first-time camper.  Through a combination of thoughts, lists, instructions, observations, and conversations we become participants in this narrative.  The use of language by Jennifer K. Mann is marvelous in portraying sincerity.  Here is a passage.

First you roast your marshmallow over a campfire.

Mine is perfect.
Mine's on fire!

Then you make a sandwich.
---graham cracker
---marshmallow
---chocolate
---graham cracker

And then you eat it.  S'mores are scrumptious!


In looking at the open dust jacket, readers are given their first hint of the illustrative technique employed by Jennifer K. Mann for this book.  It's a delightful mix of picture book and graphic novel.  Many times, a group of smaller visuals will convey portions of a single event.  For the front we are given snapshots of the entire weekend.  To the left, still on a canvas of sky blue, is a larger image of Aunt Jackie, Samantha and Ernestine climbing up a steep hill.  Ernestine is looking less than happy.

For the book case a stunning, wordless interior spread is used.  It's nighttime at Cedar Tree Campground.  Done in deep midnight blue, black and white, it's a portrait of the trio, holding hands and standing on the shore of the lake.  Above them is a starry sky with a crescent moon.  The lake is so smooth, stars shine in its water, too.

On the opening and closing endpapers are black ink drawings of items needed when you go camping.  They are placed on a rusty brown background.  They are all labeled.  With a page turn we see along the bottom of two pages a cityscape on the left which blends into a wooded scene on the right.  We can see a tent among the trees.  This is the illustration for the verso and title pages.

Rendered in pencil on tracing paper, then digitally collaged and painted, these illustrations vary in size to accentuate pacing and enhance the story. We enjoy a double-page picture, a series of three square images in a vertical column opposite a gathering of items to be packed, six panels of varying sizes on two pages and then a wonderful panoramic setting with four insets.  Some of the illustrations coincide with text and dialogue.  Others tell their own story without words.  In this way Jennifer K. Mann is able to convey a range of emotions and moods. When Ernestine is flashing back, the pictures are shown in shades of blue.

Readers will enjoy the detailed, fine line work.  Characters' expressions will promote empathy and laughter.  The clothing worn by Ernestine, Samantha and Aunt Jackie provide a pleasing contrast to the great outdoors.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a two-page picture after the trio first come to the campground.  Spread before them is the lake, rolling hills on the opposite shore and clouds spanning the pale blue sky.  Jennifer K. Mann has pieced together what appears to be pages from a specific book to form the hills.  On the lake a bright red canoe is guided by two people.  On either side of Ernestine, Samantha and Aunt Jackie are tall evergreens, lowers shrubs and ferns with some water plants along the lake.  In the foreground is the grassy campsite and their loaded and parked car.  The color of the car is a hue of orange.


You can expect to hear frequent requests to go on your own outing after reading the heartwarming and splendid The Camping Trip written and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann.  The voice of the protagonist rings with truth, touching our minds and hearts.  The images take us exactly where we need to go.  I hope everyone will place a copy of this book in both their personal and professional collections.  This is happiness you can hold in your hands.

To learn more about Jennifer K. Mann and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her personal website.  Jennifer K. Mann has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  You can view interior images at the publisher's website and at Penguin Random House.  Jennifer K. Mann and this book are featured at author Kirby Larson's Friend Friday. If you would like to see the stunning book case, it's revealed at Let's Talk Picture Books on the Vimeo shown below.

The Camping Trip by Jennifer K Mann from Let's Talk Picture Books on Vimeo.


Update:  Today, June 23, 2020, this title is featured by author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

A Recipe for Perfection

Food, like stories, connects us.  We need it to physically survive but it represents more.  Food preparation and delivery is an art form.  Culinary schools train the best chefs who work in a vast array of restaurants and private homes.  Numerous cookbooks published each year become bestsellers; some, decades old, are classic staples in any collection, public or private.  Food videos, shows and networks are highly popular.

For every professional chef, there are thousands more cooks who assemble ingredients and supply meals for their families, friends or community members every day.  Of these meals some are traditional, cultural or commemorative.  They evoke sensory memories and, yes, for some of these foods there are stories told about them year after year, generation after generation.  In Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao (Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, October 1, 2019) written by Kat Zhang with illustrations by Charlene Chua a little girl loves the taste of the bao made by her parents and grandmother. Her one wish is to make this savory delight as delectable as theirs is.

Amy can do a lot of things.

She brushes her teeth.  She ties her shoes.  She really wants to make the perfect bao, but she can't.  Every time her bao are flawed.  Their size is wrong.  The filling is the incorrect amount.  Unfortunately, her bao tend to fall apart, not always, but sometimes.

Today, Amy decides is the day her bao will be perfect.  Her father mixes the dough.  Together they knead it, punch it and leave it to rise.  Then her father punches it again, rolls it and cuts it into slices.

Amy's mother is in charge of combining delicious elements with the meat.  When Amy, her grandmother, mother and father sit around a table to make the bao, she is hopeful.  Her grandmother's bao is perfect.  Her mother's bao is perfect.  Her father's bao is perfect.  Amy's bao is not.  She is crestfallen.

Suddenly Amy looks at the dough and draws a wonderful conclusion.  She shares an idea with her grandmother.  Her grandmother's actions help to fulfill a heart's desire.  And Amy . . . discovers something else, something we all need to discover and remember.


With her first sentence, author Kat Zhang invites readers into this story.  We want to know what things she can do, and Kat Zhang tells us, inserting a bit of humor, too.  Then she tells us what Amy cannot do and the tale unfolds.

Reasons for her lack of perfection in making bao follow; along with those who can make perfect bao.  Already we are cheering for this girl.  Repetition of key words and phrases further bind us to the narrative.  Each short, descriptive sentence builds on the others fashioning a tender tension until we truly feel every emotion Amy Wu experiences.  This is why we all love the ending.  Here are two passages.

Amy's first bao turns out a little
funny.  So does the second.

It's hard to know how much filling to
add.  Too little and the bao is sad and
empty.  Too much and ---oops!


Look at the front of the open and matching dust jacket and book case!  The expression on Amy Wu's face and her kitten's face is enough to make anyone smile or laugh.  I love that they are waving on top of an enormous bao with light and clouds radiating from it as if they are heroes.  (Which they are!)  To the left, on the back, standing among clouds in the lower, left-hand corner, Amy's arms are extending as a bao slips from her grasp.  It arcs toward her sitting and kneeling grandmother and parents.  Here in a thought bubble Amy defines bao for readers.  On the dust jacket, the characters are varnished as are the yellow lines in the clouds.

A vibrant sea green covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the initial title page, the title text appears in a large bao.  With a page turn a muted shade of the sea greens spans two pages.  These pages are peppered with a variety of bao.  In the lower, right-hand corner the kitten assists readers in the pronunciation of bao.  At the bottom is an author's note about the pronunciation.  Illustrator Charlene Chua on the next double-page image gives readers pure delight.  Beneath the publication information Amy Wu is peaking over a pale orchid-colored table.  All we see is her face, close to us.  Her eyes are on a perfect bao, larger than life, sitting on a plate on the right.  You feel a surge of happiness when looking at this visual.

The digital illustrations, in varying sizes of several smaller ones on a single page, to full page, edge to edge, and several double-page pictures are full color.  They are animated with lively depictions of the characters.  Readers will be fascinated and filled with joy at all the details.  Amy Wu's kitten reinforces emotions and adds touches of humor.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is one of several close-ups of Amy Wu's face.  On this single-page picture Amy is attempting to pinch the bao closed.  With the dining room wallpaper as a background on a small portion of the left, the remainder of the image is filled with Amy's face and hands.  Her intense expression of concentration is fabulously portrayed.  She is holding the bao in her left hand and trying oh so hard to pinch, pinch, pinch it closed perfectly.  (You have to love this little girl.)


As a read aloud, one-on-one or with a group, Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao written by Kat Zhang with illustrations by Charlene Chua is a wonderful choice.  For those striving to perfect something of importance to them, they will find a clever champion in Amy Wu. At the close of the book Amy's Family Recipe is included on two pages.  I highly recommend this for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Kat Zhang and Charlene Chua and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites. At Kat Zhang's site there is a link to a coloring page.  At Charlene Chua's site there is an interior illustration not included in those shown at the publisher's website.  At the publisher's website you can also watch a video on how to make bao along with being able to print out the recipe.  Kat Zhang has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Charlene Chua has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  I think you'll enjoy the cover reveal on Pragmatic Mom (Mia Wenjen).  At author Tara Lazar's site, Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) she chats with Kat Zhang and Charlene Chua about this title.  Kat Zhang writes a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club about this book.

Across Time, Country And Culture

It's sitting on my kitchen counter, framed.  It's on a single piece of note paper. (He always kept a pad ready to use with a pencil or pen nearby.)  It's a handwritten recipe for navy bean soup penned by my dad in his signature style of writing.  He made his letter "a" differently than we were taught in school, as an architect or engineer might.  It's probably from watching his father, an engineer, work.

Next to me as I write this post are two of my mom's go-to cookbooks, Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book: Every Recipe Tested in Better Homes & Gardens' Tasting-Test Kitchen (November, 1946) and The Joy Of Cooking (1953).  To be honest, of the two, my dad was more comfortable in the kitchen, but for every meal, daily or for the holidays, each had their specialties to make.  We always knew certain foods would be prepared in a certain manner and our mouths watered in anticipation.  Eventually we were allowed to help and that, too, was a highly desired milestone.

Holding Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story (Roaring Brook Press, October 22, 2019) written by Kevin Noble Maillard with illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal for the first time was believing I was about to step into a tale of tradition based on family and food.  I knew it would be an emotional experience and it was.  It was poignant for two reasons.  It stirred up wonderful memories of my own, of specific recipes and family gatherings.  I know, too, there will be numerous others who will see themselves and their families in this book and this fills my heart with infinite happiness

In this deeply intimate, poetic book with luminous images, thirteen declarations are written about fry bread.  For each of the first twelve there follows four or five descriptive phrases inviting readers into moments stored in collective hearts and minds.  Within these forty-eight pages, including the opening and closing endpapers, a transformative journey awaits all readers.

FRY BREAD IS FOOD
Flour, salt, water
Cornmeal, baking powder
Perhaps milk, maybe sugar

For making this food all the ingredients are blended in a large bowl.  Depending on the cook and the cook's helpers, the dough is formed into a variety of shapes and sizes.  When this dough is carefully dropped into hot oil the noise is like hearing a friend's voice.

The shades of fry bread are an assortment of those associated with comfort, security and natural truths.  The other foods served with fry bread are dictated by family favorites.  Fry bread means time taken to enjoy each day.  It brings people together to share other forms of creativity manifested in their arts.

Fry bread is a way to enter into meaningful conversations about Native American history and forced relocation into unknown lands without ingredients for making customary meals.  This bread is consumed beyond the lines of cities, states and countries.  It is eaten by many wherever their homes are.

All the known names of Native American tribes within the United States are celebrated in this statement:

FRY BREAD IS NATION.

In this meaning it becomes everything, then and now.  It is everyone, then and especially now.  It represents resilience. When readers look in the mirror, they will understand the final declaration, a single sentence.


There is strength in the words meticulously chosen by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard.  Each of the phrases combine to form an essential awareness about each declaration.  They act as defining support.  Here is one of the declarations with the four phrases.

FRY BREAD IS COLOR
Golden brown, tan, or yellow
Deep like coffee, sienna, or earth
Light like snow and cream
Warm like rays of sun


On the front of the dust jacket, the curve of the elder's arm around the bowl brimming with fry bread and the other arm holding the youngest child supplies us with a circle representing generations of familial traditions.  The look shared by the duo is one of affection.  Faint shapes similar to fry bread are placed on the background.  The background continues over the spine to the left, the back, of the jacket.  There are spots on the canvas signifying the splatters of oil from the cooking.  Centered on the back are three generations of family, grandparents, parents, six children, one dog and a small cat.  Several of the children are holding fry bread.  The youngest is still chewing on a piece.

On the book case an image spans across both sides.  A speckled blue cloth, like the sky for the declaration

FRY BREAD IS EVERYWHERE

covers most of the right side and nearly a half of the left.  On this cloth is fry bread in multiple shapes, sizes and colors.  Off to the left two hands are holding a cup of Te de manzamilla.  The sleeves on their top are pale blue with white scrolled stitching.  Six different hands are reaching for the fry bread on the table, young and older.  A fork and knife are on the cloth.

On the opening and closing endpapers is a listing, a tribute to,

the Indigenous nations and communities within the United States. . . .
This list also includes groups who were not successful in their attempts to achieve official status with the U. S. or state governments, like the Duwamish or the Little Shell Chippewa.

You cannot see these hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of names, row after row, without being deeply affected.

On the verso and title pages artist Juana Martinez-Neal begins with a double-page picture of the elder woman leaning forward and carrying a plate of fry bread.  Behind her on the left (her body begins on the left, crosses the gutter and continues on the right), the publication information is shown in what could be a recipe taped to the wall.  Both dedications are taped on hanging cooking pans.

The illustrations

were done in acrylics, colored pencils, and graphite on hand-textured paper.

Each page turn reveals a double-page image, a visual interpretation of words, extending and enhancing their meaning.  All the people featured are Native American with different physical characteristics, a reflection of the truth.  In the first illustration all five of the young children are happily following the grandmother, each carrying an ingredient.  The grandmother carries a bowl and the baby.  For the next picture, Juana Martinez-Neal shifts the perspective showing a table covered in ingredients, cooking utensils, hands shaping dough, and the large bowl with the elder stirring.

In each illustration the expressions on the children, the adults and the elders mirror their emotional state with perfection.  Many elements from Native America culture are included.  A portrait of an important woman is shown several times.  You'll go back and look at the pictures and study each one for the work of art it is.

For one of my many, many favorite pictures we are in the kitchen with a row of pots hanging from the top of the pages.  A counter spans from page edge to page edge.  On the counter is an assortment of food; beans, tomatoes, leaf lettuce, cut-up small corn cobs, a jar of sorghum, honey and cherry jam, and grated cheese to name some of them.  The children are lined up along the counter; their faces a mixture of excitement, bliss at the tastes to come and calm.  The father carries a plate of fry bread in front of them and partially off the right side.


This book, Fry Bread written by Kevin Noble Maillard with illustrations by Juana Martinez-Neal, is a masterpiece.  Kevin Nobel Maillard's Author's Note is nearly eight pages of detailed explanations about each of the declarations.  Items in the illustrations are explained as well.  This is an outstanding addition.  On the final page of text are three references and a list of fifteen notes.  Prior to his Author's Note Kevin Noble Maillard shares his recipe for fry bread.  The illustration shown on the back of the dust jacket is enlarged and opposite this page.  This is an essential title for all professional and personal book collections.  It is an honor to have read this work.

To learn more about Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal and their other accomplishments, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Kevin Noble Maillard has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Juana Martinez-Neal has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  The cover reveal for this title was hosted by Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher at Watch. Connect. Read. with an interview with both the author and illustrator.  There is a question and answer forum with both creators at Publishers Weekly.  This book is showcased on NPR Morning Edition.  Kevin Noble Maillard is interviewed at School Library Journal.  The Horn Book has five questions for Kevin Noble Maillard.  Author Chris Barton interview Kevin Noble Maillard on his blog, Bartography. Both Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal visit with teacher librarian Matthew Winner at The Children's Book Podcast.  I believe you will enjoy this article in Indian Country Today about this title.  At the publisher's website you can view interior illustrations.

Days Of The Year Divided By Four Equals Fabulous Fun

Autumnal winds have been howling for days.  Roads and pathways swirl with golden pine needles and leaves fashioning a natural carpet.  Large expanses of hillsides turn a rainbow of rich colors overnight.  Rains saturate the land.  It's autumn in northern Michigan.

Jack Frost is playing tag with the nighttime temperatures, promising he'll soon be the victor.  For those who enjoy the four seasons, this time of year is a favorite of many.  It's a blend of the best of summer and winter.  In a recent release, Come Next Season (Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC, October 1, 2019) written by Kim Norman with pictures by Daniel Miyares, each season is celebrated through the eyes and memorable activities of children.

Come summer,
we'll visit the lake.

Before splashing into the sparkling water below after letting go of the rope swing, a cry of sheer abandon is released. Blueberry bushes are full of fruity feasts.  Outdoor picnic dinners feature mosquitoes and freshly cooked corn on the cob.  At night cooler temperatures are drawn inside by the humming pull of a floor fan.

When trees wear the colorful clothing of fall, squirrels scamper to collect winter hordes.  Children jump among the leaves and like the squirrels gather fallen nuts.  The gathered pecans are enjoyed inside after a day of delight outside. 

A weatherman's declaration of a storm promotes quiet hours working a puzzle until bedtime.  Then the soft chatter of shared memories of snowy pursuits between siblings is like a lullaby.  They acknowledge the hidden treasures beneath the white, cold blanket, a possibility of blooming flowers.

With spring a visit to an uncle's farm is an opportunity to welcome all the new babies, piglets and chicks and puppies.  A brother and sister send a pleading gaze to their mother.  A whispered conversation to a new individual on the way home promises adventures at the lake when a new season begins.


With each joyful lyrical series of sentences Kim Norman recalls experiences shared by those fortunate to be living in parts of the world with four distinctive seasons.  The activities of the siblings and their parents are indicative of a simple way of life; a life spent enjoying the out-of-doors.  The descriptions are sensory creating a participatory story for readers.  The inclusion of some dialogue adds to the intimacy.  Here is a passage.

A tree will tap the window
with branchy fingers that will turn bony and bare . . .  

come Winter.


When you open the dust jacket, the scene on the front extends over the spine with clouds and the crystal blue sky.  The white beneath the tree on the front also expands to the left edge of the open jacket.  What readers will appreciate the most about Daniel Miyares's interpretative front is his use of color on the tree's foliage.  He gives us a breathtaking view of it in the various seasons.  We are also introduced to the sister and brother.  On the back of the jacket we read the words:

Every
season
is full of its own
magic.

My hardcover copy has not arrived yet, so I am working with an F & G. If you go to Daniel Miyares's Instagram account, you can get a glimpse of the stunning book case.  It highlights the changing hues on trees in the seasons by displaying large leaves blowing across the case.

On the opening and closing endpapers Daniel Miyares begins and concludes the story without words.  On the first we see an adult loading luggage into the family car as the children play basketball, shooting at a hoop attached to their garage.  By the trees, sky and yellow glow on the house, we know summer has arrived.  On the second endpapers you will be hard pressed not to laugh out loud at the wonderful happiness expressed as the family returns to the lake the following summer.

On the verso and title pages, the family car is cruising down the road toward the lake.  In this scene the daughter has her elbow outside a half-open window, her hair billowing in the breeze.  The illustrations in this title are double-page pictures, full-page pictures or two pictures grouped on a single page.

For the beginning of the narrative on each season, we are shown gorgeous bird's-eye views or panoramic expanses with several perspectives within each image.  Readers will take pleasure in noting some of the included details; the sister putting a corn husk on her brother's head, the picture of the puzzle they are putting together on a snowy day or the brother's favorite toy.  Daniel Miyares has included yellow, however small, in every image. 

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is the first one.  It is a double-page picture.  The girl has just released her hold on the rope swing over the lake.  She is soaring toward the surface.  You can almost hear the splash soon to follow.  The color palette is a lovely blend of blue, white, shades of vibrant green on the oak leaves, brown on the tree branches, rope and the girl's hair with the vivid dark pink of her swimsuit.


For readers looking to highlight the wonder of the changing seasons, to showcase one of the seasons or to give insight on how to enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer, Come Next Season written by Kim Norman with pictures by Daniel Miyares is a most excellent choice.  Readers will feel the definitive words of Kim Norman and the lively, full-color art of Daniel Miyares transport them into the world of this family.  I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Kim Norman and Daniel Miyares and their other work, please access their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Kim Norman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  Daniel Miyares has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Daniel Miyares is featured on Picture Book Spotlight on March 4, 2019.  Please visit the publisher's website to enjoy several interior images.