The Fabulous Five

If you were asked to name your top three favorite things, what would come into your mind first?  Consistently my three are children, books and dogs in equal measure.  I have the deepest affection for them and what they teach me.  For more years than I can remember the trio have been woven into the days of my life, more than once at the same time.

One of the many gifts children and dogs give is their joy for life.  They have an ability to embrace everything they do with their entire being.  All their senses are used in each situation.  It's a total experience for them.  This approach asks adults (me) to slow down and savor the moment.  Rachel Isadora (Caldecott Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for Ben's Trumpet) invites us to do the same with her newest title, I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!)(Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House L. L. C., January 12, 2016).

HEAR
Tweet tweet!
I hear the birdie.

Buzz buzz!
I hear the bee.
Uh-oh!

I don't hear the worm.

Six pages are devoted to I HEAR, I SMELL, I SEE and I TOUCH.  I TASTE is given four pages.  Little children from various ethnic backgrounds explore their surroundings with curiosity.  They respond to their discoveries with wonder, delight, frustration, fear, disgust, puzzlement, gratitude and hope.

They walk through the woods or along a sandy beach.  They roam in their homes, make snowmen and play baseball.  They look at food anxious to eat or not sure if they want to eat.  They get colds.  A barnyard harboring a cow or field full of flowers is where they tip toe carefully and find treasures.

Up high or down low sights are revealed.  The shift between light and dark makes a huge difference.  Wishes are made, words are read, a ball is thrown and a balloon is set adrift.  Some little critters can be touched, others cannot.  Textures are felt or avoided.  Accidents happen and a wide circle is given to trouble.

Flavors are favored, spicy, salty, hot, cold and sweet.  You'll never be sure if you like something unless you try it.  Aren't shared treats the best?  Yum!


Simple, short sentences easily understood by younger readers define these children's awareness of their senses.  Rachel Isadora writes as if she is a child hearing, smelling, seeing, touching and tasting each of these things, perhaps for the first time.  The children express a fascination in the commonplace which in my mind is a little bit magical.  Here are several other sentences.

I smell the rain.

I smell the grass!
It's so fresh!

I don't like to smell cow poop.


The liberal use of white space seen on the matching dust jacket and book case is continued throughout the book.  It accentuates the delicate lines in ink and soft shades of watercolor rendered by Rachel Isadora.  A glossy sheen is on the title text, CRUNCH!, the pickle, the jar of pickles and along the pickle-filled spine.  To the left, on the back, are the words

Let's 
celebrate
our
five senses!

On the right each sense is listed as it is on the table of contents page in a vertical column with a tiny interior illustration to the right of the words,

I HEAR
I SMELL
I SEE
I TOUCH
I TASTE

The opening and closing endpapers are in pickle green.  Beneath the words on the title page is the jar of pickles.

On each of the two pages, Isadora has placed four, five, six, seven or eight small images of children enhancing her text.  Their clothing and hair styles are appropriately adorable as are their facial looks and body postures.  They are completely engaged in their activities so they are rarely directly facing the reader.

Each picture looks as though it's been plucked from a living moment.  Each little boy, girl, adult, dog or cat is placed in a complete setting.  When the child does not hear snow, they are standing in front of a snowman amid falling flakes.  A little girl who smells pizza is standing outside a shop gazing through a window at a pizza with the sign JOE'S PIZZA hanging in the window.  Behind her people are walking down the street.  A car is parked by the curb.  When a little boy kneels to smell flowers they are all around him.  A kitten is playfully reaching for two blue butterflies behind him.  Careful readers will notice changes at the top of the pages as the book is read.

One of my many favorite illustrations is of two girls playing with bubbles.  The one on the right is blowing them outward with a jar in one hand and the wand in the other.  To her left the other is standing on her tiptoes reaching to pop them.  A puppy is between them on his/her two back legs trying to catch one.  This scene is marvelously normal but beautiful when depicted by Isadora.


I Hear a Pickle (and Smell, See, Touch, and Taste It, Too!) written and illustrated by Rachel Isadora has convinced me that I need to start a list of books that are huggable.  Readers and listeners will be compelled to do so even before they've heard a single sentence.  Look at the front dust jacket image!  I also predict the entire book will not be finished without readers or listeners thinking of similar experiences or wanting to add other things they hear, smell, see, touch and taste.  You might want to have a huge jar of pickles handy too.

To learn more about the art work and books created by Rachel Isadora please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  Her dancer paintings are lovely.  This title was part of a NPR episode, The Children's Bookshelf, on Central Michigan University's station. They have some activities and discussion questions listed at the end.

UPDATE:  February 4, 2016 Author, reviewer and blogger Julie Danielson interviews Rachel Isadora at Kirkus today. 

Then. Now. Always.

It's no longer there, the small building with white siding and a long greenhouse attached.  Memories of walking through the moist air, tending the flowers and plants, delivering arrangements and, if fortunate, helping create corsages during a busy time like the senior prom are still vivid in my mind.  At sixteen my first job outside of home was working in a local flower shop located on the same street where I lived.

After graduation from high school it was waiting tables during every vacation from college for four years, arriving at work at five in the morning, getting home at four in the afternoon and sleeping until the next day.  On campus employment was found in the food commons and at the university library.  Upon graduation the salary for my first position as a teacher librarian was $7, 986.00.  To this day one word comes to mind when I think of these various employments.  It's gratitude.

To be one person in millions contributing to the everyday life in this great nation is surprising and an honor.  To be a tiny part in this amazing whole is deeply rewarding. Three years ago to the day, on January 21, 2013 President Barack Obama was sworn into his second term of office.  The inaugural poem was released as a picture book on November 11, 2015.  One Today (Little, Brown and Company) written by Richard Blanco with illustrations by Caldecott Honoree Dav Pilkey is a stunning tribute to people in the United States, to all people.

One sun rose on us today, kindled over our shores, peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.  

A city and the people residing within the homes and apartments are waking.  Mothers and fathers, men and women, and girls and boys begin their day, walking and riding, laboring and learning. Each person has a purpose; no one is greater or smaller than the other.  We all do this under

one light.

One ground

sustains and supports us.  It provides a platform for all the sights, sounds, and smells associated with our work and play.  It gives us the opportunity to exist in harmony, different but alike.

Like a dome over our world

one sky

watches our accomplishments, as distinctive as the individuals performing them.  It tells us the time of day.  It predicts the weather and seasonal changes.  It shelters and supplies a roof for our love.

At the close of the day when homes are again filled with those mothers and fathers, men and women, and girls and boys the sun passes the task to the moon and stars.  Some will slumber under the light and others will watch and wonder.  As we began, we will end...as one.

Whether you listened to this poem read by Richard Blanco three years ago at President Obama's inauguration or not, the words he wrote are worth reading again and again.  He takes the grandeur of our natural landscape, the sun, ground, sky and moon, using it as a canvas upon which he paints the cherished details of our collective lives.  He mentions school buses and fruit stands, busboys, teachers and cashiers, "I have a dream" dreams, school children gone forever, public places, fields and mines, roads and bridges, the greeting of everyday people, and love.  It is a song of us and for his parents. Here is another sample passage.

Hear:  the doors we open for each other all day, saying: hello / shalom / buon giorno / howdy / namaste / or buenos dias in the language my mother taught me---in every language spoken into one wind carrying our lives without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.


A single illustration, moving from left to right and night to day, displays a rolling-hills landscape dotted with homes and buildings, trees and a body of water on the dust jacket and book case.  We are introduced to an older sister walking with her younger brother and their cat.  They are integral to the illustrative interpretation of the poem along with their mother.

On the opening endpapers Dav Pilkey includes the characters' home in the foreground with bare-branched trees on either side (Is this a nod to The Little House?).  It is very early in the morning, still dark outside, as trucks roll out from the city across a bridge in the background.  On the closing endpapers the scene is repeated with the trucks returning to the city at night without the stars. A recent snowfall coats everything.

Rendered in acrylics and India ink the illustrations move through a day, the light and shadows reflecting the changes.  Each image includes wide rays of shifting colorful hues.  Most of the pictures span two pages with the text carefully placed within the picture, along the bottom, or in a side column.

The portrayals of families within their homes, the city streets and buildings, a portion of a church, a park, the river and bridge, with the two children and their cat going about their day amid these pictures as they wait for their mother's shift at the grocery store to finish are strikingly beautiful.  Pilkey alters his perspective with eloquent results; the children dancing down a quiet street as the cat leaps, only their feet and lower half of their bodies showing during an achingly sad moment, a chalk drawing joining the sister and brother along the bottom of an illustration, and the two of them gazing at the city street with their backs to us, the tip of the cat's tail showing next to them.  The color palette conveys every mood and emotion.

One of my favorite illustrations is of the sister, brother and cat dancing down the street.  On either side of them are hills, houses and buildings.  There is a cloud in the sky, shades of pink and purple shooting upward, a large halo of light mirroring the white bright sun.  It continues around and beneath the two.  This image is filled with laughter and joy.

One Today written by Richard Blanco with illustrations by Dav Pilkey is breathtaking.  It's an ode to America by two distinguished artists.  Dav Pilkey's choice to follow the mother, her children and the cat on one of their days in his illustrations reaches out and embraces readers.  This is a book for everyone.

To learn more about Richard Blanco and Dav Pilkey and their other work please follow the links embedded in their names to access their websites.  If you visit the publisher's website they offer a six-page reading group guide.  At the BNKIDSBlog (Barnes & Noble) there is an extensive interview with Richard Blanco and Dav Pilkey about this title.  Susan Rich, Editor-at-large at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, is interviewed at BookPage. Enjoy the video below where Susan Rich is interviewed by Director of School & Library Marketing, Victoria Stapleton.  If you did not hear Richard Blanco reading the poem on January 21, 2013 please listen now as you turn the pages of this marvelous book.



LB School Book Chat with the Editor: ONE TODAY by Richard Blanco & illustrated by Dav Pilkey from LB School on Vimeo.

A Sunday Space

In the course of our lives there are places we hold within our memories for individual reasons. No matter how much time passes the beauty of a moment there and the collected sensory elements remain.  It may be the first time we walk through the landscape of a natural monument like the rock formations in The Theodore Roosevelt National Park, stand within an architectural wonder such as The Library of Congress or stroll through a gallery of masterpieces at The Art Institute of Chicago.  

Certain locales hold even greater significance because of the people who assembled there and continue to gather there even today.  It's as if their spirits and the activities in which they engaged linger.  Freedom In Congo Square (little bee books, an imprint of Bonnier Publishing Group, January 5, 2016) written by Carole Boston Weatherford with illustrations by R. Gregory Christie is about such a location.



Mondays, there were hogs to slop,
mules to train, and logs to chop.

Slavery was no ways fair.
Six more days to Congo Square.

For each day of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we become acquainted with the arduous tasks performed from daybreak to darkness in the first couplet.  These slaves care for livestock, plow and plant crops, maintain entire households, preserve the buildings and landscaping, and provide child care.  No job is too large or too small.  They do it all.

The second couplet is a cry for freedom, an abolishment of slavery, followed by the counting of days until Congo Square can be visited.  It gives voice to the conditions in which the slaves worked.  It tells of no rest, severe punishment, songs lifted in prayer and running away.

Continuing with thirteen more verses we are told the never ending work of six days pauses. Sunday is different, a time when free people and slaves can meet in New Orleans at a specific place.  There is dancing, music, the selling of wares, and the exchange of information.  The customs of the land from which they came are kept alive.  So is their hope for their bondage to be broken.


The poetic words, the rhyming couplets, written by Carole Boston Weatherford evoke a deep emotional response.  The weight of the backbreaking, endless work grows heavier as the burdens are listed.  When Weatherford follows with the counting of the days until Congo Square we see it as a small flame which grows as Sunday gets closer.  The joy of those Sundays, those shared afternoons, bursts forth in the final phrases.  Here are two more couplets.

Grouped by nation, language, tribe,
they drummed ancestral roots alive.
They played triangles, gourds, and bells,
banzas, flutes, fiddles, and shells.


Looking at the matching dust jacket and book case, readers are greeted by the bright, bold primary colors and green.  The title text and stones for the square are raised on the dust jacket.  The man dancing on the front is joined by two other men and a woman on the back, to the left.  Their raised arms are an indication of the joy this time brings to them.   A line of instruments are displayed along the top.  The opening and closing endpapers are a loosely painted pattern of diamonds in golden yellow, red and black.  This is also the background for the title page.

All of the illustrations rendered by R. Gregory Christie span across two pages, edge to edge.  Those leading up to the Sunday celebration are heavier in the line work and darker in the hues of color.  The perspectives are more panoramic alluding to the enormity of the slaves' position.

When the narrative shifts to Sunday, the viewpoint is more intimate, closer to the people.  There is more warmth and lightness in the selected shades.  The body postures and facial features express their true feelings.

One of my favorite illustrations is toward the back of the book.  The background is awash in brush strokes of golden yellow.  Three women and one man, two on the left and two on the right are dancing.  The women's skirts flow about them as ankle bracelets and necklaces move to the beat of their tambourines.  The fringe on the man's shirt flies away from his body almost like wings.  I see several tiny hearts in the details.  All of them are singing.


Freedom In Congo Square written by Carole Boston Weatherford with illustrations by R. Gregory Christie is a remarkable work of nonfiction bringing to light an important place in history.  The writing and images work to create symphony of sound and soul.  No professional or personal bookshelf should be without this book.  An expert on Congo Square, Freddi Williams Evans supplies a two-age introduction.  At the close of the book are a glossary and an author's note.  Congo Square is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you wish to discover more about Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Two interior pages can be viewed at the publisher's website. Carole Boston Weatherford is interviewed at BrassyBrown.com  There are also older video interviews at Reading Rockets.

Remember to visit educator Alyson Beecher's Kid Lit Frenzy to see the other titles selected by bloggers participating in the 2016 Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge this week.

Left Behind

One had just turned twenty and the other was still nineteen when the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place on December 7, 1941.  The man would enter the army spending a portion of his service for an entire year on two of the inhabitable islands in the Aleutian chain.  The woman would remain home continuing to work in a secretarial position, joining the USO and selling enough war bonds to earn special recognition from the United States Treasury Department.  Their oral and written recollections, photographs and memorabilia informed me in a very personal way as to the effects this war had for those at home and those serving in the armed forces.

Carefully researched nonfiction, Barbed Wire Baseball, and historical fiction, Echo,  Dash and Duke, are a few examples of children's literature which built on the understanding given to me by my parents.  There are many stories making up the collective whole of an event as large as a world war in human history.  Paper Wishes (Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux, January 5, 2016) written by Lois Sepahban speaks to life of Japanese Americans held at the internment camp, Manzanar, located in California. 

MARCH

Grandfather says that a man should walk barefoot on the bare earth every day.  Mother says that a man can do so if he likes, but her daughter will wear shoes.  

Manami and her grandfather are spending time at the beach on and near their special rock on Bainbridge Island in Washington.  The family dog, most dear to Grandfather and Manami, Yujiin runs along the beach toward the duo.  At school that day as the rest of the students leave, the Japanese American children are asked by their teacher to stay.  She tells them this is their last day of school.  Manami is frightened and filled with questions.  

She and her family along with all the other families of Japanese descent on Bainbridge Island have to leave relinquishing their home, their belongings and their entire way of life.  The family endures medical checkups and is assigned a number and given tags to put on the one suitcase allowed per person.  Manami's older brother, Ron, and older sister, Keiko, are attending Earlham College in Indiana.  Plans have been made for the local pastor to care for Yujiin in their absence.  

On the day they leave Manami cannot bear to part with Yujiin.  She tucks him inside her coat to keep him close.  The dog is not detected on the ferry ride to the mainland.  As they are boarding the bus taking them to trains and then the camp, a solider stops Manami.  Yujiin is discovered, taken from her and left in a crate by a deeply saddened grandfather.  

Days, weeks and months pass in silence.  Ten-year-old Manami does not speak; deep grief and guilt fill her throat like the dust which is everywhere.   Life with her family and the other thousands of internees swirls around her as the community grows.  Always she watches and looks for Yujiin.  Always she hopes for a return to normal.  

After several months the arrival of her brother Ron causes subtle tension and shifts in old and new relationships.  His position as a teacher at the school and his intentions are the subject of scrutiny and misinterpretation. Big changes are coming to the Tanaka and Ishii family members.  What will Manami do this time?

Within the first few pages Lois Sepahban builds a connection between the reader and the characters.  We sense the coming differences in normal life with the mention of the war, the presence of the military and the children being told they can't attend school any more.  By revealing the circumstances of Yujiin becoming a member of the family, we are keenly aware of the dog's importance.  

Using Manami's voice to tell this story brings poignancy to the events.  We come to know each character through their responses to her and to each other.  Dialogue, her thoughts and actions capture a complete picture of their lives at this camp.  By relating simple but everyday moments we feel as though we are there with them.  

Dividing the chapters into the months spent at the camp helps us to understand the smaller portrait of this one family within the larger picture of Manzanar.  The matter-of-fact, realistic sentences overwhelm you with sadness except for the undercurrent of resilience like the carefully tended plants in Manami's mother's garden.  The introduction of Miss Rosalie as Manami's teacher adds more layers to the story.  When she gives Manami paper and pencils daily, in which to express herself, the child's talent and desires are shown to us.  It is particularly heartbreaking to watch her release a paper into the wind thirty-one times with special pictures and words, paper wishes.  Here are a couple of sample passages. 

I soon discover that if I crouch down low with my eyes next to the ground, I can pretend that the dirt looks like sand here.

If I stand tall with my feet bare, I can pretend the dirt feels like sand here.

But when I open my mouth to speak, the dirt no longer feels like sand.  It sticks to my lips and tongue like red mud.  It coats my throat so that I cannot speak.

I think this is what has happened to me

I wish the dirt would cloud my eyes too, so that I would not see this place that is and is not my home without Yujiin.

And then the rain comes.

Mother pulls us outside.  She holds my hands, spinning us around and around.  Others join in our rain dance.  The yard in front of the mess hall is a muddy swirl of people.

The rain does not drip or drop.  The rain pours.  Like the water pump.  Like the showers.

It pours until the laughing faces and twirling feet stop their happy dance.

It pours until Mother begins to frown.

"Hurry, children!" she says.  "We must save my plants."

We run to Mother's garden.  The water pours so fast that there is already a pond forming in the yard.

Mother touches her battered plants one by one.

The pouring rain has pounded them into the ground.  Fragile stems are broken.  Tiny leaves float free.

Mother kneels and pulls me to her, wrapping her arms around my waist.  She cries into my stomach. 

Paper Wishes written by Lois Sepahban brings vividly to life the past.  The weight of sadness for the people who spent years in those camps is profoundly felt.  It is an important book asking us to remember.  It is a book about many kinds of love.  This title has my highest recommendation.  An author's note at the end offers further explanations. (This post is based upon the reading of an advance reader's edition.)

To learn more about Lois Sepahban and her other books please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  You can read an excerpt at the publisher's website.  Lois Sepahban is interviewed at Literary Rambles and the swanky seventeens.  You can find her on Twitter at @LoisSepahban

Update:  Lois Sepahban is interviewed by author Caroline Starr Rose on her blog, January 20, 2016.

Update:  Lois Sepahban is interviewed at The Horn Book Spring 2016 Publisher's Preview Five Questions for Lois Sepahban

Barnyard Boogie

Many Saturday nights the air in our home brimmed with excitement.  The doorbell rang announcing the arrival of the babysitter.  My parents emerged from their bedroom to answer the door, dressed for an evening of dancing.

Dad wore cowboy boots, a special white shirt with elaborate embroidery, decorative buttons down the front and on the cuffs and a bolo tie.  Mom wore a puff-sleeve blouse, a matching skirt with coordinating trim and several petticoats to make the skirt stand out and swirl as she moved.  Hours of do-si-do, allemande right, allemande left and honor your partner were about to begin.

Elizabeth Rose Stanton who introduced us to Henny, a chicken with human arms, released her second children's title early this year.  Peddles (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, January 5, 2016) is a pig with thoughts taking him beyond the boundaries of the farm.  Peddles dares to dream.

Peddles was just a pig.

For the most part Peddles did the everyday things pigs do.  As he did those everyday pig things, his mind wandered.  He dreamed about eating pizza instead of slop.  He imagined speaking in English instead of the usual grunting and snorting.

Peddles may have looked normal but his vision was extraordinary.  When he looked at birds, frogs and stars this pig left terra firma, if only in his mind.  Despite all this wishing everything remained the same until one night.

As his pals slept, Peddles left the group. He heard voices lifted in joy and saw people moving inside the barn.  A happy hoedown was happening.  And Peddles, being the kind of pig he was, got an idea.

Oh, he tried with all his heart to put his plan into action but nothing worked.  He looked and looked for the final items.  Then he found exactly what he needed but something was still missing.  Then they found him!


The first sentence in this book and the use of a single word suggest to us this may not be an ordinary story.  By using the word just Elizabeth Rose Stanton cracks open the door of possibility.  As she explains how normal Peddles is, she is carefully widening the entrance into the potential for difference.  As Peddles' open-mindedness is revealed we can feel our spirits lifted by the bliss he experiences.  Her fun-filled verbs and adjectives take us into Peddles' world. Here are several sample sentences.

Peddles heard whooping and hollering.
He saw twirling and whirling.


How can you not adore Peddles by looking at the front of the dust jacket?  I can already hear the sighs of readers uttered aloud.  The white canvas on the jacket, and for nearly the entire book, supplies the ideal background for the pencil and watercolor illustrations rendered by Elizabeth Rose Stanton.  To the left, on the back, we are given a hint as to what sparks Peddles' big idea and resolves his dilemma.   On the book case in the same blue as the title text, two circular visuals have been placed.  They show Peddles looking between his legs from the front and the back.  You won't be able to look at these without smiling.

The darker pink on Peddles is used as the opening and closing endpapers opposite the introductory title page and final wordless page of the book.  Stanton gives us another hint as to the items Peddles needs to reach his goal in a tiny image under the dedication.  The front dust jacket picture is repeated on the formal title page.

The delicate details in the illustrations bring readers further into the story.  We either discover a kinship with Peddles or begin to feel brave enough to implement our intentions.  With her images Stanton enlarges the story.  In her narrative his pig friends say

"Get your head out of the clouds, Peddles," and stop being so spacey."
This gave Peddles even BIGGER ideas.

Yes, there is planet Earth with Peddles the astronaut floating among the stars.  Without spoiling anything Stanton does include several other humorous touches sure to elicit bursts of laughter from readers.

One of my favorite illustrations of many is a double page image of Peddles and his porcine companions at night.  The two pages are washed in hues of light blue with white stars.  Along the bottom in a row we see the faces of pigs snuggled in sleep, except for one on their back with their legs in the air.  On the far right is Peddles, ears up and alert and one eye open.  The text reads

until one night...


Peddles written and illustrated by Elizabeth Rose Stanton invites us to dream, be open to possibilities and when an opportunity presents itself, don't give up.  I know you are going to get repeated requests to read this aloud.  I'm certainly glad I have a beloved pig puppet.  You might want to have some country western or square dance music handy too.

To learn more about Elizabeth Rose Stanton, her books and art work please visit her website and blog by following the links attached to her name.  Elizabeth Rose Stanton can be found on Twitter at @PenspaperStudio and on Facebook.  At the publisher's website are six additional illustrations for you to view.  Please take a few moments to read this interview at HENRYHERZ.COM--->KIDLIT, FANTASY & SCI-FI.  

In a moment of serendipity I happened to read this book for the first time while listening to Josh Groban's new Stages CD.  This is the song that was playing.  Sometimes life can be breathtakingly perfect.

Of A Feather

It was as if they were conjured and controlled by an unseen magician.  Neither a chirp nor a cheep was uttered but there was the sound, the sound of hundreds of wing beats.  It was late in the afternoon as they dove and swirled and dove and swirled as if dancing an avian ballet.  My furry friend and I paused in our walk standing as still as stone, both unable to believe this phenomenon was happening next to us.

These starlings left as swiftly as they came, flying as a unit with a seemingly single conscience.  Some scientists speculate they instinctively stay together to locate food and to repel predators; there is survival in numbers.  With humans it is sometimes a different kind of survival; a fine line we walk in choosing which paths to take, wanting to belong but maintaining our individuality.  Nerdy Birdy (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, September 22, 2015) written by Aaron Reynolds with pictures by Matt Davies follows a bird seeking to find his place among his feathered fellows.

This is Nerdy Birdy.
His glasses are too big.
His wings are too small.

He can't eat what other birds eat.  He is not one of the cool birds.  Eagle is a muscle-bound hunter.  Cardinal is a flamboyant vocalist.  Robin is a compulsive connoisseur of worms.

Nerdy Birdy is passionate about reading, video games and reading about said games.  Every time he wants to share his excitement for a particular book or the game, The Earthworm King in World of Wormcraft, Eagle, Cardinal and Robin nix his enthusiasm.  Nerdy Birdy finds himself alone and lonely whether they are with him or not.  One day a voice calls out to him.

This new bird challenges his resolve to remain with the snooty threesome.  In fact, a bunch of nerdy birdies, identical to him in nearly every way, invite him to join their roosting on a wire.  It's goodbye to aloneness and hello to being a member of the brainy bunch.

A new arrival alters the community social dynamics.  Nerdy Birdy is not surprised by some of the responses but others leave him perplexed.  Recognition and compassion forge a bond setting an unforeseen precedent.


One of the first things you notice about this story of friendship is the comedic pacing conceived and supplied by Aaron Reynolds.  Two words, Nerdy Birdy, hook you.  After describing the nerdiness of this bird, Reynolds launches into the attributes of Eagle, Cardinal and Robin pointing out the more obvious physical qualities but adding humorous touches for the intended audience and as well as older readers.  When the trio leaves in pursuit of their daily endeavors he again includes more funny remarks.

The dialogue between the characters throughout the narrative clearly designates their personalities leading us to the heart of the story and the surprising conclusion.  There are groups of three statements and thoughts throughout this story which are attractive to a reader's psyche.  This plus the repetition of key phrases are a sign of excellent writing.  Here is a sample passage.

Three things Eagle is good at:
1. Hunting
2. Fishing
3. Football


If the text does not have you bursting out in laughter (you should probably check to see if you are still breathing if this is the case) the illustrations rendered in pen, ink and watercolor by Matt Davies will have you rolling on the floor.  The matching dust jacket and book case accentuate the qualities of Nerdy Birdy by zooming in on his face.  To the left, on the back, Eagle, Cardinal and Robin are acting out their pretentious, unfriendly identities. Eagle calls out nerd, Cardinal is making the well-known nerd sign with his feathered fingers around his eyes and Robin is pointing and laughing. Bird-beak yellow colors the opening and closing endpapers.

Davies enhances the text at every page turn with his gift for incorporating the smallest details.  When we learn of Nerdy Birdy's too small wings he is standing outside a toy store window featuring a T-Rex.  As he hunts for breadcrumbs he is carrying a basket.  Eagle's hunting and fishing has him attacking a rhinoceros and a shark. Nerdy Birdy is reading a book written by the same author who wrote Worm & Peace. The image on the newcomer's lunch box is hilarious.

Design, layout and perspective by Davies create a flow pairing nicely with the story.  When Eagle, Cardinal and Robin leave all we see are their feet and lower bodies as they exit the page.  Nerdy Birdy is standing alone at the bottom. White space and lightly colored backgrounds play an important part.

One of my favorite illustrations is the first one we see of Nerdy Birdy.  It sets the tone for the entire book.  How can we not want to know more about this bird with those eyes and those glasses?  We can all feel a kinship with a bird finding himself on the outside looking in.


If you have not read Nerdy Birdy written by Aaron Reynolds with pictures by Matt Davies make sure you do so as soon as possible.  If you've already read it, go now and read it again, preferably aloud.  There is nothing better than laughing and learning at the same time.

Please visit the websites of Aaron Reynolds and Matt Davies to learn more about them and their work by following the links attached to their names.  Be sure to stop over at the publisher's website to see eight interior illustrations. Aaron and Matt interview each other on Elizabeth O. Dulemba's site.  You are really going to like what you read at the end of the interview.

For some reason this video is now stuck in my head after reading this book.  It might have something to do with the birds and their words in this book.




If you want to experience visually what Xena and I saw mentioned in the introduction follow this link.  It's amazing.

Scholastic Book Fairs-Reader Leader Blog-Be The Pebble

Today the guest post at Scholastic Book Fairs Reader Leader Blog is a compilation of some of my thoughts and experiences as a teacher librarian.  We are all called as educators to devote our efforts to creating lifelong learners and readers.  Please visit after reading these two introductory paragraphs, leave comments and ask questions.  

Every person who has thrown a pebble into a puddle knows what happens.  A series of rings radiates from the spot where the stone landed.   The distance they travel is determined by a variety of factors but one truth remains.  If the puddle receives no pebble, there will be no ripples.

My first school librarian position was in an intermediate school serving grades seven through nine in a new building with an educational community that had never worked with a certified librarian.  The school library was on the second floor in the center with four sets of windows looking out on a hallway running around the perimeter.  On the other side of the hallway were groups of classrooms.  Clearly the architect and the planning committee realized the importance of this learning center in serving the students and staff.  This was a perfect opportunity to be a pebble.  Although the physical structure of the libraries over the course of my tenure as a teacher librarian have changed in location, this initial position created a vision I have continued to carry with me.  

Be The Pebble