Seasonal Celebrations

In cultures and countries around the world, especially in the northern hemisphere, this time of year represents a pause.  Mother Nature is at rest, so perhaps it is a time for us to reflect on the past seasons and celebrate.  Possibly, there are small, everyday things to honor, elevating the ordinary to extraordinary.  There are centuries-old traditions to commemorate; many steeped in religious beliefs or holiday observances.  Cold, snow, and wind bring their own special events.  For many, a new year is welcomed.

Following are six titles (with one more to arrive soon), which you might consider for reading during these several months.  The first book, Season of Light (Farrar Straus Giroux, September 13, 2022) written by Jess Redman with illustrations by Ramona Kaulitzki, takes eight single words and wraps them in activities and elements, defining those words for those who participate and for those who wish to understand.  From beginning to end, this book is uplifting.

After red and green dreams,

We wake up before the sun.

We're counting down December days

But savoring each one.

Joy, wonder, together, giving, song, story, faith, and light are featured through observing three families residing in a community.  We see them making snowflakes, hanging ornaments and stockings.  Relatives are welcomed and visited.

Kindness is presented through the giving of gifts and food. Caroling sends music throughout the town, bringing happiness to families, businesses, and those now residing in communal spaces.  Stories of Christmases past and present are shared.  Together the children in the three families participate in a Christmas play before they and their parents step outside into the snowy night for a final gathering.

Author Jess Redman focuses on people preparing and participating with an emphasis on placing others first.  Her four-line rhyming text supplies a rhythm readers enjoy and anticipate as the pages are turned.  For each of the eight words, they are preceded by the same phrase---

This is a season of . . .

This technique binds all the portions of the narrative together and references the title of the book which is also the final thought.  Here is another passage.

Our voices ring out

Silver bells and midnights clear

First noels and glorious morns

Offerings of goodwill and cheer.

On the right side, front, of the dust jacket readers can see the three families circling the community tree.  Windows, tree lights, and handheld candles are alight amid the snow falling at night.  The title text is embossed in gold.  On the back, to the left of the spine, on a crisp white canvas are four of the children from the families.  Above them the words read:

This is a season of joy . . .

of faith . . .

of light.

On the book case the image from the back of the jacket is moved to the front beneath the title text.  The same words are used on the back of the case, but they are set in a bird's eye view of the city as snow falls on the hills, road, and homes.  A snowman is featured on the right side on the top of a hill.

The opening and closing endpapers in a muted red highlight a pattern of reindeer, a branch of berries, a pine bough, and snowflakes all done in muted brown and cream.  A double-page picture of a glowing sky, snowy landscape and bare trees provides a place for the title and verso pages.  

These illustrations by Ramona Kaulitzki, digitally rendered, are colorful and embrace the emotions of the holiday. They are full-page pictures, smaller visuals grouped together, and two-page images for the single sentence text announcing the next word. The use of light in each scene elevates the narrative.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a two-page picture.  The sky, near the horizon, is glowing.  Buildings, windows lighted, line the background on the left, crossing the gutter.  Another building stands alone on the right.  In the distance is the church and another building.  In the town center is the Christmas tree.  Gathered around it are shoppers, dog walkers, children and families.  They are listening to the three musicians.  Snowflakes gently swirl in the air.

Warmth flows throughout Season of Light written by Jess Redman with artwork by Ramona Kaulitzki.  This title is both a reminder and a nod to tradition.  You will want to add this title to your personal and professional holiday collections.

To learn more about Jess Redman and Ramona Kaulitzki and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Jess Redman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Ramona Kaulitzki has accounts on Behance, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior images.

Back in 2002, author illustrator Matt Tavares illustrated 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Or Account Of A Visit From St. Nicholas (Candlewick Press).  This volume measures seven and one-half inches by eight and three-quarters inches.  Along the spine is a deep cranberry cloth binding which sets off the sage green border around St. Nicholas as he visits a home.  There are delicate gold elements in that sage green border.  That same green shade is featured within the book, outlining text and pictures with a fine line frame.  The opening and closing endpapers are patterned in shades of red, somewhat like wallpaper in homes during the time period in which the poem was penned.  The exquisite and highly detailed artwork done in pencil elevates this pictorial interpretation of the poem to spectacular.  

This year 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Or Account Of A Visit From St. Nicholas (Candlewick Press, September 13, 2022) written by Clement C. Moore with illustrations by Matt Tavares has been recreated in a larger volume measuring just under ten by twelve inches.  On the front of the book's dust jacket and book case, we can see a close-up of St. Nicholas driving his reindeer-pulled sleigh off into the Christmas night as he calls out his famous exclamation.  The golden text is embossed.  On the back, to the left of a bright red spine, the same bright red color provides a border for an interior picture.  It is Papa looking out the bedroom window  

to see what was the matter.

The same A Note from the Illustrator appears prior to the beginning of the poem with a few alterations.  The dedication to his wife, Sarah, remains in this edition.  The title page is artwork depicting town buildings glowing from snow covered objects and a full moon just as in the prior edition.  We look between those buildings, their shadows stretching from one side of the street to the other side.

In this stunning book, the artwork extends to each page edge, whether it is a single-page picture or a dramatic double-page visual.  The illustrations are darker, still as detailed, but have a slight grainy effect.  In this book the text is framed on the top and bottom with an intricate leafy border in red and white.  If the picture is a two-page illustration the border is only along the bottom.  On some of the pages of text, just as in the original book, there are smaller images representing a moment in time, like a candle just blown out or a jack-in-the-box jumping up.

One of my many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  It is if we are standing outside in the street at night.  Two different fence styles border the sidewalk, close to us as we look left to right down the street.  Behind the fences are trees and landscaping in front of magnificent homes.  When we can see the sky above those structures there are some clouds among the stars.  Santa and his sleigh are landing on one of the housetops on the right side.  It is the variety of perspectives which I find wonderful.

This volume of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas Or Account of A Visit From St. Nicholas by Clement C. Moore with artwork by Matt Tavares is a title to have in every collection, personal and professional.  It is one to compare with other artwork by other artists.  Some versions change the text, but this book keeps the text the same as it was originally published 200 years ago in 1823.

To learn more about Matt Tavares and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  There is a page dedicated to this book where you can view interior illustrations.  Matt Tavares has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

For fans of the one-of-a-kind, buttered-toast loving pig, a new title takes readers to Deckawoo Drive for a Christmas journey.  One of the residents has a deep desire to go caroling, but not one other person wishes to join her.  They all have excuses, but our carol-loving child is not deterred.  A Very Mercy Christmas (Candlewick Press, September 27, 2022) written by Kate DiCamillo with artwork by Chris Van Dusen is a faith-restoring, miracle-believing, and soul-brightening tale which is utterly charming.

Stella Endicott felt joyful.  She felt like something

miraculous might happen.  She wanted to sing.

Frank, Stella's brother, was not ready to go caroling at the drop of a hat.  Mr. and Mrs. Watson were in the middle of a fruitcake disaster.  However, Mrs. Watson suggested Stella take Mercy with her.  Mercy was happy to accompany Stella.  They headed to the Lincoln sisters' house.  

There grumpy Eugenia Lincoln refused to go caroling with a pig and her happy sister, Baby, was told no one was at the door.  At this point, Stella is feeling a wee bit less happy.  General Washington, the Lincoln sisters' cat joins Stella and Mercy.

Horace Broom is too attached to celestial gazing to carol, so Stella, Mercy and General Washington decide to do it on their own.  The trio sing out Joy to the World, and are surprisingly joined by Maybelline, LeRoy Ninker's horse.  

As dusk descends, Stella, Mercy, General Washington, and Maybelline are greeted with new sounds, joyful sounds.  Each voice chimes in to affirm the personalities we know and love.  As they travel for a feast of buttered toast, a true miracle quietly surrounds each person.  

With her beloved skill of blending narrative and dialogue, Kate DiCamillo tells a tale of neighbors realizing the truest definition of the word, neighbor.  Each time Stella stops at a neighbor's home, another layer is built into the story.  Although Stella's original spirit is dampened, she believes that Mercy and General Washington are the best kind of pals to go caroling.  Adding in Maybelline is a stroke of genius.  In this story, Kate DiCamillo uses Stella, (and Mercy, General Washington, and Maybelline) to remind all of us miracles are possible when joy is involved. (It is guaranteed the final sentence will give you goosebumps of happiness.)  Here is a passage.

The pig looked over at Stella, and then she put her

snout up to the stars and let out a strange sound.

It wasn't an oink.  It wasn't a squeal.

It was a noise full of hope and wonder and longing.

It was---almost---melodious.

Words like bright, colorful, and bold come to mind when you look at the open dust jacket made by Chris Van Dusen.  The snow-covered landscape of Deckawoo Drive with lights and wreaths sends out a holiday hello to readers.  Mercy and Stella are looking their Christmas best.  The title text is embossed in silver.  To the left of the spine, framed in a star-studded scalloped sky, is an interior image.  It shows the neighborhood group gathered around a table as Mrs. Watson approaches with a huge stack of buttered toast.

The book case is done in a hue of blue with thin lines fashioning stripes.  Tiny diamonds make a pattern in these stripes.  A wide red cloth band covers the spine.  On the front of the case is Mercy Watson looking at an open box or ornaments.  The opening and closing endpapers are yellow and white check.  With a page turn, we see a snowpig, Mercy, alone in a white setting with a blue scalloped border.  It is the attention to details that sets the work of Chris Van Dusen apart.  Above the dedication is Mercy's Christmas stocking with a piece of buttered toast peeking out the top.

Single page images opposite text framed in the blue scalloped border followed by brilliant double-page visuals encourage readers to turn the pages as fast as they can.  What will happen to Stella, Mercy and General Washington next?  It is the final double-page picture with the final sentence that will have readers releasing a long and satisfied sigh.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a single-page picture.  Here Stella, Mercy, General Washington, and Maybelline are standing and sitting together on the sidewalk.  Snow covers the nearby lawns.  Lights twinkle in outside trees.  Windows glow with lights inside the homes.  The sky is studded with stars as the horizon shows the sun recently set.  Stella, Mercy, General Washington, and Maybelline have their heads raised and are singing Deck the Halls.

Regardless of how you feel when you first start reading A Very Mercy Christmas written by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Chris Van Dusen, you will feel much more joyful when you finish it.  In fact, you'll probably read it again right then and there.  Your personal and professional collections won't be complete without a copy of this title.

To discover more about Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Kate DiCamillo has another site linked here.  Kate DiCamillo has an account on Facebook.  Chris Van Dusen has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  Mercy Watson has a site linked here.  At Penguin Random House, you can view interior images.

One of the best parts of this season is discovering something new done by a person, a family or an entire country.  How wonderful it is to encounter an Icelandic tradition presented in The Christmas Book Flood (Farrar Straus Giroux, November 1, 2022) written by Emily Kilgore with pictures by Kitty Moss.  Once you've read this book, you'll agree this is a tradition to spread around the world.

Darkness blankets the land,

covering forests and homes,

mountains and bookshops.

Northern lights shine down on a village with people trying to stay warm inside and outside their homes.  Snow is coming.  So is the Book Flood.  Book Flood?

On December 24th, people give books to those they love.  

Reading is magic when you have the right book.

People shop in earnest for the perfect book for each person in their lives.  There are so many choices it is hard to select a title.  

Snow has started to fall as people hurry to make their purchases.  Each heart is happy as they move within the shops.  It is mere hours until the gift giving begins.  A final treasure is located!

Now wrapped, the waiting is nearly over. It's time!  Each present is opened.  Each book is a new beginning.  Hot chocolate is savored as are all the different books.  Reading throughout the night, stories travel throughout a community and beyond its borders.

With each sentence, author Emily Kilgore paints a picture as deftly as an artist.  She supplies us with a place and time rich in descriptive words.  We cannot help but join with the townspeople as they get ready for the Book Flood.  We feel the anticipation growing until we, like those in this town, can hardly wait.  Happiness flows from the pages as people seek the right book.  And then, satisfaction settles like a warm blanket as the reading commences.  Here is a passage.

There's laughter and hope

and holiday cheer:

bright twinkling lights,

hot cocoa, soft music,

Clouds of warm breath,

tight hugs of hello,

the soft crunch under boots

as they trudge through fresh snow.

When opening the dust jacket, the reader will first notice the city scene extends flap edge to flap edge.  The brightness of the setting sends out merriment along with the falling snowflakes and airborne books, moving like birds through the night.  The tree in the town center, made of books, draws our eyes to the main character, a child longing for the Book Flood and also seeking the right book to give.  Her furry friend is eager to start their next adventure.  The title text is embossed in gold.

On the book case, some of the shops are still the same.  The sky is darker with fewer snowflakes but books still fly.  The ground is covered in snow.  Our protagonist rides her bike down the street with her dog running alongside her.  The tree in the town center is now an evergreen trimmed in lights and ornaments.  There are so many small details on the book case and dust jacket, readers will spend hours looking at all of them.

The opening and closing endpapers feature the town before and after the Book Flood.  One shows the end of autumn with a crescent moon in the upper right-hand corner.  The other shows a snowy landscape with northern lights, flying books, and magic in the air.  The moon, still in the right-hand corner, is full.  The verso and title pages highlight a single image with the girl riding through town with her pup in the bike's basket.  It is as if they are riding inside a book.

Rendered by Kitty Moss, the illustrations appear to be alive.  The layers in each collage are intricate and well-defined covering single and double pages and once, a smaller one wrapped in white space.  They ask us to pause, and we do.  Her choice of colors mirror the time, place and mood of the narrative.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a two-page picture.  The sky is now very dark with hints of snow and stars.  On the left side, buildings in the community are a backdrop for bustling people trying to make final selections.  A couple walks up a snowy hill outside of town on the left.  On the right side, our young girl rides her bike up a large snowy hill.  She appears as a silhouette with a long shadow.  The skeletons of several trees are visible.  An owl carrying a book in its beak flies over the town.

In case you've ever wondered why some people say books make the best gifts, this title makes it abundantly clear as to why this is a truth.  The Christmas Book Flood written by Emily Kilgore with artwork by Kitty Moss is a gift.  In an Author's Note more is explained about this tradition.  Be sure to place a copy of this title in your personal and professional collections.  Let the Book Flood begin!

To learn more about Emily Kilgore and Kitty Moss and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Emily Kilgore has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Kitty Moss has accounts on Instagram and Pinterest.  This title is highlighted by John Schu at Watch. Connect. Read.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior images.

In my humble opinion, you will never forget the first time you see the northern lights.  For me it was very late one night, nearly very early in the morning.  I was traveling home after an event as my school's junior class advisor.  At the time, I was living in a community in northern Michigan, less than an hour away from the top of the Mitt.  As I turned off a major highway onto my road, I was stuck speechless by the sight before me.  The entire sky was pulsating in pinks and greens, in a wide arc from horizon to horizon.  It was incredible!

In his newest title, The Lights That Dance In The Night (Doubleday Books for Young Readers, November 1, 2022), author illustrator Yuval Zommer brings his considerable talents to bear in showcasing the natural spectacle known as the aurora borealis.  In this book, we follow the beginning and journey of these lights.  Through the words and artwork of Yuval Zommer, we experience this phenomenon as if we are standing beneath them.

We are the lights

that dance in the night.

We started our journey as specks

of dust blown to Earth

from the Sun.

The lights traveled to the far reaches of the north.  They cast a colorful, shimmering glow to animals below them.  Polar bears, Arctic hares, seals and puffins all noticed their presence.  They shone on boats traversing the seas and on whales beneath the water.  

Arctic foxes, musk oxen, wolves and wild cats played under and called out to the lights.  Birds flew and gathered.  Reindeer looked up at the skies.  Animals were not the only ones to marvel at this display of dancing lights.

People paused and stared.  Storytellers told tales.  All animals and all people regardless of their size or age wondered at this natural magic.  Piercing the darkness, this magic offered something for all.  

Whether you read the words penned by Yuval Zommer to yourself or aloud, they convey an extraordinary truth of the northern lights.  We know the science behind them, but they still reveal themselves as enchanting and otherworldly.  The rhythm supplied by the words mirrors the movement of the lights, rhyming beautifully like a melody.  Here are two separate passages.

Our dancing lights made whales sing 

and bells on boats began to ring.

We lit the skies for forest birds,

we sparkled over reindeer herds.

The signature artwork of Yuval Zommer begins to shimmer on the open dust jacket.  Here, on the front, animals and people are drawn to the lights in the night sky.  Different colored glitter covers most of the elements in this scene.  On the back, to the left of the spine, swirls of color cross the sky as white birds glide upward through the glow of the lights and stars.  Text describes the book above the snowy landscape.  

On the book case, a single polar bear stands amid hues of blue above the title text in white on the right side.  A few stars are positioned above the bear.  On the left side, we are brought close to puffins who fly and play and seals who clap beneath the lights that dance in the night.

A pale dusty lavender covers the opening and closing endpapers.  A trio of white stars and a single star with a tail above them makes a pattern across these pages.  Yuval Zommer's dedication reads:

Dedicated to all

light seekers.

A two-page picture covers the verso, dedication and title pages.  A boat, puffins, northern birds, reindeer, a polar bear and whales are together here.

Two-page visuals or a series of three panels fill the pages of this volume. The intricate elements in each illustration beckon us to look and wonder.  We feel as though we are in a northern forest or near the shores of an Arctic sea.  Which animal are we?  Or are we only observers?  As humans gather, will we listen to the tales told by tellers or stand outside and watch the lights?  Or perhaps, we will do both.  

One of my many favorite illustrations is a two-page image.  Across the blue-hued sky, the northern lights pulse in yellow, purple, and green.  Forest trees are shown in white, standing among a landscape in blue and snowy white.  A reindeer on the left and a reindeer on the right face each other.  They wear traditional domestic blankets and harnesses.  Birds fly above them and rest in their antlers.

No matter how many times you read The Lights That Dance In The Night written and illustrated by Yuval Zommer, you are mesmerized by the marriage of the words and illustrations each time.  You cannot help but yearn for your next sighting of the northern lights.  Maybe it will be this year.  I highly recommend you place this title in all your collections and gift it to those you love.

To learn more about Yuval Zommer and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name which takes you to his agency's website.  Yuval Zommer has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Yuval Zommer frequently posts pictures from his books on both platforms, as well as artwork done by readers of his books.

After the December rest amid the celebration of holidays, families, and friends, January heralds in a new year, the start of something unlike the past filled with potential and possibilities, but typing the final entry in this post, my eyes fill with tears.  Carols, now Silent Night, are playing on an Ambient Worlds music video.  When I enter in the title, and author and illustrator names, I find it hard to believe Patricia MacLachlan is no longer with us.  In this book, Snow Horses: A First Night Story (Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, November 8, 2022), she is collaborating again with artist Micha Archer.  Together they have created a vision of beauty, a story of tradition and hope.  This is both a memory and a captured moment.

SNOW FALLING

all day---

all night.

Drifting over

meadows

and gardens

and roads. 

In a nearby barn, sheep, covered in snow, gather inside.  Patiently waiting in their stalls are two horses, Tim and Tom.  They long to pull the large sleigh outside.  Jenny, their driver, takes them from the barn, putting on their bell-decked bridles and turns on the lights on the sleigh.  Horses and driver leave the barn gleaming with tiny white lights.

Happily, the horses move toward town.  They love this time of year.  In the town's market, horns blare.  Children climb into the sleigh, their laughter and chatter filling the air.  A golden dog races alongside the sleigh.

Children, Jenny, Tim, Tom and the golden dog move through the streets with houses lit with white lights.  After the children go home to sleep, the sleigh again fills with riders.  These are the grandparents, uncles and aunts, and old friends who were once children riding in the sleigh on this last night of the old year.  They, too, fill the air with laughter and chatter and memories.  The golden dog runs with them, too.

Finally, Jenny, Tim and Tom go home. The sheep are fast asleep.  Soon the horses rest.  And the little golden dog . . .

Patricia MacLachlan was an author with the ability to bring readers into a specific time and space through her descriptive, lyrical language.  In this book, her characters, human and animal, are fully realized.  We want to be with them.  We want to know them. We understand what it is to be the sheep on a snowy winter night and the horses who can hardly wait to pull the sleigh.  Regardless of our ages, we experience the joy of both the children and the older adults.  This is the gift of Patricia MacLachlan's writing.  Here is a passage.

Tim and Tom pull the sleigh past the

library with a light in every window,

across the old stone bridge,

along the icy river,

up the hill,

and down the hill,

where in every window

of every house

there are little lights.

The town sparkles. 

Rendered in collage with homemade papers and ink by Micha Archer, the illustrations we first see on the dust jacket and book case are an introduction to the wonder waiting inside the pages of this book.  On the right side of the jacket, children in the town come to pet Tim and Tom, standing patiently amid the falling snow.  This visual continues over the spine and to the left edge of the back of the jacket.  The author, illustrator, and title text are varnished.  You can almost hear the jingle of the bells on the horses' harnesses.

On the book case is another two-page picture.  Here we are privy to a vast country landscape as the sun sets in the background behind a grove of trees and rolling, snowy hills.  In the foreground Jenny is in the sleigh with Tim and Tom pulling.  The little golden dog runs behind the wagon.

The opening endpapers are also the dedication and verso pages.  This showcases an even more vast pastoral panoramic view.  Lines of trees, etched in darker colors line rolling hills.  We see the barn on the far right side and in the distance is the town.  A full moon hangs in the sky with a frosty circle of light around it.  This is a bird's eye perspective.  On the closing endpapers, everything is colored in hues of blue now.  Snow is heavily falling.  Lights dot the path to the barn and light windows in the town.  Anticipation hangs in the air.

Readers will study each illustration, noting the details Micha Archer brings to each scene.  On the title page, a double-page picture brings us near to the barn amid lines of trees, groves of trees, rolling hills and a fenced area for the horses, now wearing blankets. (Be sure to study the branches of the trees and the materials used to form them.)  Each of the following two-page illustrations or one and one half page pictures with varying perspectives takes us on an exploration of this New Year's Eve festivity.  You will have to remind yourself to keep breathing after seeing the sheer loveliness before you.

One of my many favorite illustrations is for the above-quoted text.  The sky and landscape are done in shades of turquoise.  The homes are varied in color with snow on their rooftops.  Some of the houses are in the foreground and others are on the other side of the river in the background.  The streetlights cast large glowing balls of light.  Each window is glowing with light.  Snowflakes fill the air and cover the tree branches.  The children ride in the sleigh driven by Jenny and pulled by Tim and Tom.  The little golden dog runs next to the sleigh.  (A portion of this image appears on the cover of the November/December issue of The Horn Book Magazine.) 

This work by Patricia MacLachlan and Micha Archer is certain to become a seasonal and holiday classic.  Readers of all ages will find themselves in the pages of Snow Horses: A First Night Story.  You cannot help longing for a sleigh ride on New Year's Eve.  Do yourself a favor and make sure a copy of this book is on your personal bookshelves in case the sleigh does not appear in your town.  Your learners will enjoy reading a copy hopefully found on your professional shelves, too.

Here is a link to the obituary for Patricia MacLachlan appearing in Publishers Weekly on April 5, 2022.  To learn more about Micha Archer and her other work, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Micha Archer has an account on Instagram.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior images including the entire dust jacket and book case.

Three Days Of Reading

On Friday, very early in the morning, life delivered an unexpected break in my daily routines.  It lasted for several days.  So, I read and read and read.  And I am still reading.

The first book I finished I started on Thursday night.  Your Heart My Sky: Love in a Time of Hunger (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, March 23, 2021) written by Margarita Engle is an exquisite portrait of living on the island of Cuba in the summer of 1991.  It is told in three voices of two teenagers, Liana and Amado, and a wise singing dog.  In this novel in verse, each poem, no more than three pages in length, is breathtaking.  You pause after reading each one.  I am still thinking about how Margarita Engle could embed such heartbreak, longing, and beauty into these poems.  Each poem is titled.

Although the government of Cuba is calling this el periodo especial en tiempos de paz, the special period in times of peace, for the majority of people it is a painful, frightening time of starvation.  Liana and Amando, have decided to forgo the government summer camp of farm labor.  It puts them both at a future disadvantage and on the radar of a government in total control of its people.

A chance encounter (or not if you believe the dog and I do) finds the duo working together in their desperate search for food for themselves and their families.  Their relationship gives them courage to do things like trading on the black market, helping those who shelter in caves before trying to make it off the island, and growing their own food in their family’s patios.  They do all this under the threat of discovery.

As their love grows, feeding their bravery, a tension enters their story.  Decisions need to be made.  Which comes first, hope or love?  Does one invite the other?  Or do they arrive together? 

Here is one of the poems.

Ode of Paz

Amado and Liana

Roaming

nomad

unpredictable

visitor

exhaling

aromas

of 

love’s

hunger

and hunger’s

love.  

There is a two-page author’s note at the conclusion of the book.  At the publisher’s website is a curriculum guide.  There is a short conversation with Margarita Engle and additional poems at The Book Page for the cover reveal.

On September 28, 2021, The Beatryce Prophecy (Candlewick Press) written by Kate DiCamillo with artwork by Sophie Blackall was released.  One of several reasons I was eager to read this was after watching a video on Instagram posted by Sophie Blackall. (https://www.instagram.com/p/CUXUk2cAZxC/)  Sophie Blackall was right.  Once I started the book, I did nothing else until I finished it.  Hours passed as the stories of a goat, a monk, a girl, and a boy unfolded and intertwined.

The goat, Answelica, is believed to be a demon by the monks of the Chronicles of Sorrowing.  Brother Edik dreads being anywhere near the beast who thrives on butting and biting the monks.  One morning his fear spikes as he enters the barn.  He finds a feverish young girl sleeping next to the goat, holding one of the goat’s ears.

The girl cannot remember anything about herself except her name.  Her name is Beatryce.  There are others who know exactly how she came to be alone with bloody and muddy clothing.  It has to do with a prophecy.

There will one day come a girl child who will unseat a king and bring about a great change.

The boy, Jack Dory, lost his parents in the dark woods by the hand of a wicked robber.  He lived with an older woman, Granny Bibspeak, until she died when he was twelve.  He remains in her home in a village that admires and respects the boy.  Jack Dory has the gifts of speed, remembrance, and mimicry.

Kate DiCamillo with this tale of mystery, intrigue, betrayal, haunting pasts, revenge, love and stories casts a spell that lingers long after the last word is read.  She reminds us how profoundly some things have changed, and others have not.  Sophie Blackall with her luminous endpapers, gorgeous first letters of each chapter, and full- and partial-page images breathes life into the characters and their circumstances.  Here is a passage.  

They were three:  Jack Dory, Beatryce, and a goat.

Jack Dory did cartwheels as he walked down the road.

He followed the cartwheels with several handsprings.

“You cannot do this, can you?” he said, calling back to Beatryce.

“I cannot do it because I must walk along and pretend to be a monk,” said Beatryce.

The satchel was slung across her chest.  It bumped against her hip as she walked.  Her heart felt heavy.

But the goat did not seem worried.  Answelica ran to Jack Dory, kicking up her heels and shaking her head, and then she ran back again and walked at a sedate pace beside Beatryce.

Jack Dory started to whistle a jaunty song.

Beatryce looked down at the goat.  She said, “I think he pretends to be happy.  I think that deep inside he is sad.  Those he loves are dead.  He is alone in the world.”

Answelica looked up at her, listening.

“I am not afraid,” Beatryce said to the goat. “I will not be afraid.”

Answelica nodded.

She bumped her head against Beatryce’s leg.  Beatryce took hold of her ear.

“I am not afraid at all,” said Beatryce again.

At the publisher’s website you can download a teacher’s guide, a curriculum guide, and a sample chapter.  You can also view an interior illustration. The cover reveal and a conversation between Kate DiCamillo, Sophie Blackall, and John Schumacher, librarian, guest lecturer at Rutgers, and writer, on his site, Watch. Connect. Read., is enlightening.

A graphic novel, an ARC, kept me turning pages faster than the lightning flashing during a weekend afternoon storm.  City of Dragons #1: The Awakening Storm (Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic) written by Jaimal Yogis with illustrations by Vivian Truong follows Grace as she absorbs the death of her father, the move to Hong Kong with her mother and new stepfather, starting classes at a private school, meeting three new distinctive friends, and the hatching of a dragon egg in her bathroom.  It seems the tales of an emperor and nine dragons she remembers her father telling her are not myth but reality.

Ramesh, her first-day friend, and Grace, through Ramesh’s tech skills, sneak away from a class field trip.  An old woman in the market speaks one word repeatedly to Grace as she holds her hand.  Then she gives her an egg.  The hatched egg, now concealed in Grace’s backpack the next day at school, brings two more students, Jing and James, into the group.  

That evening as the foursome try to figure out what the creature (Nate, named after Grace’s father) is, their only conclusion is that it is a dragon, a water dragon.  Very quickly they are pursued by unsavory characters who are part of a cult seeking to bring an enemy of the ancient Yellow Emperor back to power.  Unable to find the original old woman, they ask an elderly fishman known as the Southern Prophet for help.

Non-stop action heightened by realistic and witty dialogue by Jaimal Yogis amid detailed, expressive, and highly animated panels by Vivian Truong are certain to keep readers on the edge of their seats.  Hank, Grace’s stepfather, is not as he appears.  His boss, Dr. Kim has secrets of her own.  The Southern Prophet mourns the loss of his one true love, Mazu, a woman of the sea.  A trip to an island, a kidnapping, a wicked storm, and a series of earthquakes that might not be earthquakes elevate the tension.

This title is the first in a series.  The final page builds anticipation for the next book.  At the publisher’s website you can view eight interior pages.  Jaimal Yogis and Vivian Truong are interviewed about this title at The Beat.

Nothing Ordinary About This Porcine

Great storytelling takes the ordinary and places it with the extraordinary.  It shocks us.  It captivates us.  It endears us to the characters and their narratives.  Some elements in these marvelous tales are so powerful and positive, they leave a permanent mark on our lives. We seek those elements when we wish to recreate those remarkable moments.

Since the summer of 2005 a very special pig and the characters surrounding her have entertained readers. It all begins with Mercy Watson to the Rescue (Candlewick Press, August 23, 2005) written by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Chris Van Dusen. It is followed by five more titles featuring this pig and her signature activities.  To the delight of readers another series showcasing other characters, Tales of Deckawoo Drive, starts with Leroy Ninker Saddles Up (Candlewick Press, August 26, 2014).  To date the last book in this series is Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package (Candlewick Press, October 10, 2017). While fans of these books believe nothing can possibly get better, something wonderful happens.  A Piglet Named Mercy (Candlewick Press, April 2, 2019) written by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Chris Van Dusen tells about the arrival of Mercy as a tiny pig on Deckawoo Drive.

Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson lived
in a house on Deckawoo Drive.

There is nothing about Deckawoo Drive or the town it runs through which is anything but typical.  Each and every day, Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson engage in pursuits one would say are perfectly normal.  In fact, their lives are so routine, Mrs. Watson brings it to the attention of Mr. Watson.  Mr. Watson dismisses her desire for something out of the ordinary.  Why would anyone want to change that which is familiar?

Unbeknownst to Mr. Watson and Mrs. Watson, that evening something does change.  A truckload of pigs passes through town.  One of the pigs, a baby really, falls off that vehicle as it races down the street.  This tiny tot wanders to the porch of the Watsons' home.

In the morning the discovery of the piglet causes a host of surprises; Mr. Watson is only expecting to find his morning newspaper, Mrs. Watson can hardly contain her excitement and their next-door neighbor, Eugenia Lincoln is appalled.  Her sister, Baby Lincoln, is ready and willing to assist Mrs. Watson by offering a bottle of warm milk.  Inside their home, Mrs. Watson and Mr. Watson are beaming with happiness at the piglet, now wrapped in a blanket.  When the Lincoln sisters arrive with the bottle of milk, no one is happier than the piglet. Oink!  Does the milk fill up the hungry infant?  No!

Racing from one position to another the piglet discovers something even better than milk.  It brings her supreme comfort and contentment.  In the midst of cooing and commentary, a name (of which we are most acquainted) is given to the piglet much to the total annoyance of Eugenia.  And the rest, dear readers, is more than a decade of delight delivered to us with love and about love.


Even if you've never met Mr. Watson, Mrs. Watson or Mercy, as soon as you read or hear the words Deckawoo Drive and ordinary repeated twice in the first two sentences by author Kate DiCamillo, you can already feel excitement building.  In the next sentence the repetition continues adding to the promise of extraordinary circumstances.

Kate DiCamillo further enhances the narrative with conversations between Mrs. Watson and Mr. Watson.  When Eugenia and Baby Lincoln join these conversations, the comedy increases between the contrast of the bliss of the majority and the incredulity of one.  Here is a passage.

"Is that a pig?" said Eugenia Lincoln.
Eugenia Lincoln lived next door, and she
did not approve of surprises.  Or pigs.

"It is!" said Mrs. Watson.  "Can you believe our luck?"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Eugenia Lincoln.
"A pig is not lucky at all."


Rendered in gouache the lively illustrations of Chris Van Dusen as seen on the open dust jacket (and throughout the book) bring us immediately into the Watsons' home with the large black and white tile floors and contrasting yellow-striped wallpaper.  There is no possible way to resist learning more about the grinning piglet seated on the chair.  To the left, on the back, the flooring and wallpaper continue on the other side of the bright red spine.  Set in a scallop-edged white frame, we see the final image in the book.  It gives us a hint of the affection growing between the Watsons and Mercy and of the merry mayhem likely to occur.  Mercy, the piglet, seated in a green highchair is sure to produce plenty of laughter.

On the book case covered in the yellow-striped wallpaper with a wide, red cloth spine, we see piglet Mercy kneeling eagerly in front of a stack of her favorite food.  Steam rises from the top.  The opening and closing endpapers are done in a tiny, two-toned blue diamond pattern.  With a page turn the piglet appears, snout raised and looking expectantly to the right.  Perhaps she sees the small image on the verso page.  On the title page baby Mercy rests on a plump green pillow edged in yellow.

The bright, precise illustrations pair with perfection to the text.  Opposite a full-page picture text is bordered in yellow on white.  Circular and oval visuals follow with elements breaking the framing.  For pure dramatic effect a double-page picture highlights the piglet's nighttime fall and her location of the Watsons' home.  There is a rhythm to the image sizes, alternating between single page pictures, double-page illustrations and smaller visuals on a single page.  The facial features on all the characters contribute to the comedy.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is on a single page.  In the kitchen Mrs. Watson and Baby Lincoln have encircled Mr. Watson.  He is cuddling Mercy in his arms after she has devoured her new best-loved food.  They all look at her with adoration in their eyes as they give her a name.  Behind them stands Eugenia Lincoln with her back to them and us.  Her hands are on either side of her blue hair, possibly ready to pull on it, in utter irritation.  She is framed in white and facing the Lincoln home.


For fans of these books or readers new to Mercy Watson, there is no more charming explanation of her initial appearance on Deckawoo Drive than depicted in A Piglet Named Mercy written by Kate DiCamillo with illustrations by Chris Van Dusen.  This book is not only about meeting Mercy but also those people who love her the most and of course, grumpy Eugenia Lincoln, too.  You will certainly want this book or two or three in your professional collections and one for you, too, in your personal collection.

To learn and discover more about Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their websites.  Kate DiCamillo has another website located here.  At the publisher's website you can view an interior image.  Here is an activity kit.  There is a separate Mercy Watson website.  At Penguin Random House there are more interior images.  Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen are featured with interviews about this book at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read. Readers will appreciate this interview of Kate DiCamillo at Read Brightly.  Chris Van Dusen chats about this book with teacher librarian and author Travis Jonker at 100 Scope Notes and with teacher librarian and author Carter Higgins at Design Of The Picture Book.

Paws For A Friend

Even on your worst day ever or your best day ever, their appearance makes everything at least a little bit better.  Their acute senses can assess any situation.  It does not matter if they are by your side or the companion of another.  Their presence is a gift.  How we choose to accept this gift can alter our lives more than we can imagine.

Dogs tend to approach humans and other dogs in distinctly different ways, usually.  They do bring, as we do, past experiences to the encounter.  The initial results are often unpredictable.  More times than not the final effect is you will have a friend for life.  A collaboration between author Kate DiCamillo and cartoonist Harry Bliss titled Good Rosie! (Candlewick Press, September 4, 2018) is a heartwarming mix of storytelling, art and all the generosity of spirit found in our canine companions.

PART ONE THE BOWL
Rosie lives with George.
Rosie is a good dog.

The morning routine of George and Rosie sharing breakfast time always ends with Rosie staring at her empty shiny bowl and seeing a dog looking back at her.  This particular dog never answers her greeting.  There is nothing lonelier than an unanswered hello. 

Their walks after breakfast are about squirrel chasing (Rosie) and cloud watching (George and Rosie).  One day they see the same thing in the clouds, a dog.  This one does not reply to Rosie's cheerful barks, either.  George, astute human he is, knows exactly where to go.

At the dog park Rosie is overwhelmed by all the dogs.  It's pretty lonely when you know no one.  A big dog named Maurice wants to play.  Rosie wants to go home.  Who needs to be around a huge, drooling dog that shakes his toy rabbit with a speed like lightning.  Before Rosie can convince George to leave, a tiny little dog, Fifi, comes bouncing into view. 

Maurice's idea of playing with Fifi is to treat her like his toy bunny.  YIKES!  Rosie springs into action. Looking on the bright side of her most recent predicament, Fifi's positivity is attractive to Rosie.  A contrite Maurice tries to explain his actions and all three dogs agree on a definition and reach a decision.  Who knows what adventures await Rosie, Fif (three rhinestones are now missing) and Maurice and the blue bunny at the dog park?


There is always a hint (or sometimes more) of the extraordinary in the stories told by Kate DiCamillo.  Her word choices and sentence structure leave room for emotional interpretation.  By dividing the narrative into nine short chapters she welcomes younger readers into this tale of Rosie.

Each of these nine chapters begins with an important thought and closes with another for readers to ponder.  Many of the sentences are bursting with truth.  When George speaks to Rosie it is separate from the text and Rosie's thoughts, her woofs and growls, and the conversations with Maurice and Fif (i).  Here are some of the passages from one of the chapters.

Look at the clouds, Rosie.
Aren't they magnificent? That
one looks like Abraham Lincoln.

George thinks that most clouds look like presidents.
Rosie thinks that most clouds look like squirrels.

One day, George see something different in the clouds.
Look, Rosie!
That one looks like a dog.

The cloud does look like a dog!
Rosie wags her tail.
"Hello, hello!" she shouts.

Woof,
woof! 


It's a given when readers look at the front of the dust jacket and see Rosie looking right at them, there will be a sigh of affection.  What's not to love about that face?  Rosie's red collar with the tiny gold tag engraved with her name are the perfectly perfect finishing touches.  Each of the four scenes around Rosie are portions of images from four separate chapters.  A teeny, tiny picture of Rosie is on the spine beneath the title.

To the left, on the back, a larger picture is framed in the same cream color.  It's an important turning point in the story.  The text reads:

A good dog
needs
good friends.

The red from the title text and Rosie's collar covers the book case.  The portrait of Rosie is again featured on the front; smaller and the title words are separated above and below her.  The four small visuals on the front of the dust jacket have been placed on the back of the book case framed and separated in red.  The opening and closing endpapers are a muted, soft rosy red like a wash of watercolor.  On the title page, Rosie appears below the text, resting.

Harry Bliss designs his art for Kate's story as if it is a comic.  The pages host a single image, two illustrations to a page, four pictures to a page or three visuals to a page all rendered in watercolor.  They are outlined in a fine black line and separated by white space.  The sizes and positions of the illustrations elevate the pacing.

Some of the images are without words as when Maurice approaches Rosie at the dog park.  Slight changes in each panel signify the size of Maurice even before he comes into view.  The qualities of each of the three dogs are depicted with marvelous realism.  You want to reach out and cuddle with them.  Yes, even with Maurice.  Their facial expressions are priceless.  One other element which caught my attention is the presence of a monarch butterfly in two of the illustrations.  Is it a reference to happiness and the chasing of a butterfly?

One of my many (Okay, all of them.) favorite illustrations is the first one.  For those initial two sentences Harry Bliss brings us into George's bedroom at daybreak.  George is soundly sleeping.  Several books relative to dogs are open and on the bed.  A tennis ball rests near Rosie, also sleeping and stretched alongside of George.  One of George's hands is on Rosie's body. And the other hand is placed on his chest.  A set of stairs is next to the bed for Rosie to use.


For early readers, for lovers of dogs, for a theme on the power of friendship and for anyone needing and wanting a story with art to hold in their heart, Good Rosie! written by Kate DiCamillo with pictures by Harry Bliss is a superb selection.  Rosie, George, Fif and Maurice are the kind of characters who live beyond their story.  They become a part of our stories.  Who wouldn't want this in their personal and professional collections? 

To learn more about Kate DiCamillo and Harry Bliss and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Kate has another site, Stories Connect Us, here.  At the publisher's website you can view an interior image.  (You are going to love it.)  The cover is revealed with an interview with Kate and Harry at Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  Shelf Awareness features Good Rosie!, Kate and Harry.  Publishers Weekly showcases this title with Kate and Harry.