Leaf-ing Through The Pages

When the summer season shifts to autumn, the world and its living residents seem ready.  It's as if there is a collective sigh of relief to be rid of the excess heat, drought, and high humidity.  Granted there are days of much-needed rain in the fall, but the days of crystal-clear air, startling blue and cloudless skies and a warming sun with dazzling sunrises and sunsets are worth those gray days.   

The adornment of golden yellow, ruby red, and brilliant orange on the trees has resulted in longer walks with my canine companion.  There are dazzling panoramic views and leaves along our pathway which appear to have been carefully placed in particular spaces for our enjoyment.  Two 2022 titles focus on the enchantment of leaves and autumn.  In the first title our imaginations are set free by the discovery of a leaf.  If You Find a Leaf (Random House Studio, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, July 12, 2022) written and illustrated by Aimee Sicuro is an opportunity to create with abandon.  It is a time to think and wonder without limits.

If you find a leaf

You could dream the day away.

You can use the leaf to make a fashion statement or a vessel to ride the waves.  This leaf may take you to new heights or gently return you to woodlands, fields, farms, and yards brimming with leaves.  Have you thought about using a leaf or a cluster of leaves to weave a place to relax and read?

Depending on your size and a leaf's size, it can be a part of a Halloween costume.  There is no end to the type of apparel a leaf can become.  It might be a cape that lifts a superhero away to save the day.

More than one leaf can transport you and your friends to autumn activities.  Held aloft leaves can act as balloons in a sunny day parade for you and those same friends.  As darkness falls, you can pretend a large leaf is a glowing fire around which you all can continue to have fall fun.

Could a leaf be a cozy comforter?  All too soon it seems winds blow and leaves drift down from branches and boughs.  Then, we, like the world, wait.  We wait for one season to shift into another until we spy the first new green herald.

Author Aimee Sicuro opens her narrative with the title text and uses it throughout the book to bind sections together making for a flawless flow.  A rhythm as subtle as a leaf soaring on a gentle gust is made by the final word in sentences rhyming.  Her sentences are more like possibilities than declarations, inviting readers into the story.  Here are four contiguous sentences.

You could float high above the trees.

Parachuting down to see all the other leaves.

If you find a leaf, it could be a hammock.

A place for you to rest and sway in a gentle breeze.

The visual we see on the right side of the open dust jacket, the front, continues on the other side of the spine.  There, other children ride the watery swells in boats propelled by leaf sails.  On a grassy knoll on the far left, smoke comes from the chimney of a small cottage.  Other people there wave in greeting at the boaters.  You have to wonder if the other boaters are trying to catch up to our protagonist and her loyal canine companion.  The sky is filled with the light of a new day.

On the book case, from the left side to the right side is a single continuous illustration.  The golden orb, the sun, is rising over colorful autumn tree tops along the bottom on the left side.  The sky is awash in hues of blue and yellow.  On the left side, three birds fly upward.  On the right side, a large basswood leaf is a hot air balloon.  Riding in the basket is the girl and her dog.  She is focused on the autumn display beneath them.  Her dog is watching the birds.

On the opening and closing endpapers is a crisp white canvas.  There twenty-nine autumn leaves have been placed in rows.  They are labeled so all naturalists can use them to identify any leaves they encounter.

The crisp white background is used for the verso and title pages.  The text on the verso is shaped like a leaf.  A rough black line along the bottom of the two pages joins them together.  On the title page the girl has her arms raised toward a yellow maple leaf escaping through the title text.

These illustrations were rendered with

ink, watercolor, charcoal, photographs, and collage.

Readers will be fully captivated by the blend of mediums and the details included in each scene, especially the girl's bedroom.  Aimee Sicuro gives us vast landscapes to view and intimate portraits of captured moments.  Most of her visuals span two pages unless she wishes to highlight special creations.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a two-page picture.  Covering most of the right side is a rolling hill.  At the top of the hill is the children's destination, a barn.  The left side is a large roadway, tapering as it goes up the hill.  On this roadway are five cars formed from five different kinds of leaves.  Some of these vehicles have a single driver and others have a driver and a passenger behind them.  The dog is riding behind his girl, mouth open and tongue flapping in the breeze.  The leaves here and throughout the book are real leaves.  Other autumn leaves, painted, are blowing in the air.

This book, If You Find a Leaf written and illustrated by Aimee Sicuro, will have readers racing outside to find their own leaves or stopping more often to look as they are outside in autumn.  Can you envision all the other things that will be dreamed into existence?  At the close of the book, Aimee Sicuro has dedicated two pages to describing How to create your own (collage) world with fall leaves.  I highly recommend you add this title to your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Aimee Sicuro and her other work, please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  Aimee Sicuro has accounts on Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior images, including the endpapers.  Aimee Sicuro and Uma Krishnaswami visit Cynsations, the site of author Cynthia Leitich Smith to talk about Aimee's work.

If You Find a Leaf by Aimee Sicuro from Let's Talk Picture Books on Vimeo.

For members of the leaf world, the cycle of tiny buds on a branch to completely unfurled and fully-grown leaves is quite an accomplishment, a marvel.  This second title, A Very BIG Fall (Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, August 2, 2022) written and illustrated by Emmy Kastner is about the change three leaves are about to experience.  Each of them will approach the transformation with a different attitude; much like humans.

All the leaves had ever known

was the sway and stretch and

green of the trees.

Then one day, the wind blew colder . . .

Each of the leaves, optimistic Birch, worry-wart Oak, and grumpy Maple, knew something was about to happen.  Two squirrels decided to tell the leaves that fall was coming.  Birch couldn't wait to change colors.  Oak was totally satisfied to stay green.  Maple was in denial.

"Oh, squirrels think they know everything."

Maple rolled her eyes.

Oak was soon golden and Birch was orange.  Maple was still green.  Waiting was intolerable.  Despite their current situation, the leaves were shocked further when one of the squirrels told them they were going to fall on the ground.

As you might surmise, the leaves burst into conversations loaded with questions.  Then, the wind began to blow.  Birch loved falling.  Oak cautiously proceeded.  Maple was still green.  She tried to hurry the process until another squirrel told her about all the bad things on the ground, things like boot bottoms and rakes.

Maple, now red from green, fell.  Chatting with Birch and Oak, she tried to warn them but more wind swirled around the leaves, carrying them away.  Then, the trio heard something new.  Change could be the best thing in the world in the right hands guided by a charming heart.

Through the words of Emmy Kastner, readers realize each of us embraces transitions dictated by our personalities.  For every event the trio shares, their views are clearly expressed.  This is how we come to understand no way is better than the other.  This technique brings readers into the story with the cadence of three, even when green seems to be stuck green.  The squirrels' commentary heightens the slight tension and comedy.  Here is a passage.

The wind blew harder yet.

And then it started to happen.

For Birch, it was a joyous leap

through the windy sky.

Oak had more of a hesitant trip downward.

"Am I close?" 

"Not really.  Keep going!"

said Birch.

Created using

acrylic gouache, colored pencil, and collage, with digital editing,

the images for this book are colorful and highly animated as we note initially from looking at the right side, the front, of the open dust jacket.  Each of the leaves has a distinguishing characteristic, boots, a floral pin, an acorn cap and a caterpillar companion.  Notice the facial expressions on all the other smaller leaves.  On the front the text and portions of the leaves are raised to the touch.  The colors here and on the back, to the left of the spine, are varnished.

On the back, a furry brown squirrel reaches out to touch the ISBN, as if it is a nut to be hidden for winter.  Around him red, orange, and yellow leaves fall from tree branches.  Gray brush strokes signify wind in both scenes.

On the book case, matte-finished, readers get a hint of the conclusion to this story.  Here is a collage of artwork, a combination of crayons, construction paper, and imagination.  This is certain to inspire even the most timid artists.

The opening and closing endpapers are a vibrant green.  On the title page, three trees represent each of the three leaves.  The verso and dedication pages follow with the tops of green trees bordering the bottom of both in a continuous line.  A robin flies left to right on the left side.  

Each page turn reveals a variety of illustration sizes, some double-page pictures, other smaller images grouped together and single-page pictures.  We are happily surprised by a two-page vertical picture.  Sometimes Emmy Kastner will have more than one perspective within a single visual.  We might be looking down on a setting or close among the leaves.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  The background is a wash of red, orange, and yellow.  Maple, still green, is seated on a pale brown branch with her knees up.  She is grumpy and frowning.  Each of her hands is placed on a knee.  Around her are branches from at least eight trees.  On them are all kinds of leaves in various moods.  There are red, orange, yellow, and brown leaves.  Most of them are happy.  One is wearing glasses.

Whether you are a one of those people who receive autumn with happiness or not, this book, A Very BIG Fall written and illustrated by Emmy Kastner, will have you smiling by the first page turn.  Readers will find themselves in the individual personalities of Birch, Oak, or Maple.  Use this title for a storytime on the seasons, autumn, change or the life cycle of leaves.  I know you will want to have a copy on your professional and personal bookshelves.

To learn more about Emmy Kastner and her other work, please access her website by following the link attached to her name.  You will want to watch the book trailer there for this book.  Emmy Kastner has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Travis Jonker, at School Library Journal, 100 Scope Notes, interviews Emmy Kastner about this title, her other work, and her process artwork is discussed and shown.

Better Together #5

When individuals are confronted with an unfavorable situation, they want to remedy the circumstances as soon as possible or at the very least, ensure the same incident is not repeated.  Moving forward on a new path is often challenging.  In fact, the first step is often the hardest.

To hear a voice offering encouragement gives you strength.  To find someone willing to shoulder the work with you is inspiring.  To know you are not alone adds a lightness to your soul.  Change Sings: A Children's Anthem (Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, September 21, 2021) written by the youngest presidential inaugural poet in the United States of America, Amanda Gorman, with artwork by Loren Long is a beautiful portrait guaranteed to encourage, inspire and bring the lightness to every soul who savors the words and images.  Each reader, of all ages, will understand their destiny to make a difference for the good of all.  No action, however small, will fail to offer a positive impact. 

I can hear change humming

in its loudest, proudest song.

I don't fear change coming,

And so I sing along.

This song is not soft, but strong.  The narrator screams and dreams.  What is done, again and again, fuels hope.

They join voices across our planet, past and present.  They offer help to those who need it the most.   They are staunch in their support of others who seek change.

For those who do not understand, a compassionate person asks them to join in the song.  Being right is never wrong.  Working together constructs sturdy structures for all to enjoy.

Countries of origin are recognized.  Those things which seem to imply distinctions are doors into similarities.  Like poets and songwriters of the past, this narrator realizes real change begins in each individual.  When that thinking shifts inside us, we sow it.  We release it into the world and grow love.

When you read these words written by Amanda Gorman, you don't know if you should do so silently or break into song, so you do both, separately and then together.  Each rhyming sentence adds a layer, building from a single soul to many.  We know this because the sentence beginnings alter from "I" to "We" with the concluding pages.  Here is another couplet.

I hum with a hundred hearts,

Each of us lifting a hand.

I use my strengths and my smarts,

Take a knee to make a stand.  

Rendered 

by hand on illustration board, using acrylics and colored pencil

these pictures by Loren Long we first see on the open and matching dust jacket and book case radiate in a rich color palette. The image spans from the left edge on the back and continues to the right edge on the front.  The pieces of color on the wall behind the main character are like stained glass alluding to the sun, its rays and the symbolic rings of rainbow colors.  The girl's face shows an open expression.  In her hands, the guitar is offered to readers as an invitation. The text on the front and on the back is varnished.  The text on the back is the first two sentences of the anthem.

A sunshine yellow covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the title page, between the text, a tuba, tambourine and drum sticks rest in grass.  The first image spans two pages.  A crisp white background provides the perfect space for us to meet the girl again as she sits strumming her guitar.

With each page turn, Loren Long supplies readers with his pictorial interpretation of the words.  It is a journey, double-page illustration, by double-page illustration, from the girl to another child and then to another child.  With each meeting a new instrument is given to the new character.  We get a real sense of something growing.

We see the children cleaning up litter on a playground, feeding someone on the street, delivering groceries in a red wagon to those who cannot get their own, building a ramp for a child in a wheelchair, and cleaning up a storefront in their city.  The children represent a range of ethnicity with endearing expressions.  Their faces amid each setting glow with confidence and anticipation.  They believe they are making a difference.  They are.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a paved basketball court in the city.  We are looking down on the scene.  Basketball hoops are positioned on either side of the image.  Chalk hopscotch boards are below each of them.  Other chalk drawings are featured on the left and right.  Chalk is scattered on the left near a bucket of chalk.  In white a large outline of the continental United States spreads from basketball hoop to basketball hoop.  Inside this outline is the girl with the guitar.  She is handing a trombone to a boy who was playing basketball.  With her is the reluctant boy with his dog, now holding a trumpet, the boy wearing a religious hat with the tuba, and a girl in a wheelchair holding a drum and accompanying sticks.  This illustration is for a single sentence.

I talk not only of distances,

From where and how we came.

What a wonderful representation of those words and a beautiful lead to the next two sentences and a joyful visual.

No matter how many times you read, Change Sings: A Children's Anthem by Amanda Gorman with pictures by Loren Long, and believe me you will read it repeatedly, you will find a promise of great things in these pages. You will hum, sing and share this title.  Be sure to have a copy on your personal bookshelves and professional bookshelves.  Gift it to someone often.

To learn more about Amanda Gorman and Loren Long and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Amanda Gorman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Loren Long has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website, you can view interior pages and are offered a teacher's guide.

When something bad happens to us as individuals or to other individuals or groups, a range of emotions wash over us.  We are stunned.  We are deeply saddened.  We want to know what we can do.  Something Good (Little, Brown And Company, October 19, 2021) written by Marcy Campbell with artwork by Corinna Luyken addresses this kind of occurrence.  It follows the response of students and staff at a personal and group level.  It offers a positive answer for change.

The day the custodian found the bad-something

on the bathroom wall, all the girls from Mr. Gilbert's

class were called into the principal's office.

As Principal Martinez addresses the girls, there is a mixture of responses.  She states in no uncertain terms:

"This kind of thing won't be tolerated at our school."

Even though told not to enter the bathroom, four girls do, curious about the bad-something.  The four girls were overwhelmed by what they saw.  There was silence, anger, tears, and a flight.

The locked bathroom created a detour for the girls.  The bad-something had students looking at other students.  Who would do this?  In a short amount of time everyone knew what the bad-something was, including parents.  Their reactions, like the girls, were mixed.  In the following days, the bad-something changed everyone, not always for the good.

Principal Martinez called an all-school assembly speaking the same words as she did to the girls in Mr. Gilbert's class.  Students were given buttons with ribbons in their school colors to remind them of what their school represented.  Mr. Gilbert had a plan, too.

He spoke with his students as they all sat in a circle.  Paint, brushes, and freedom of expression were given to the students as they entered the bathroom where the bad-something was found.  Brush stroke by brush stroke the wall and the students were transformed, each contribution forming a wonderful whole.  It was so beautiful, they continued for days, until they were amazed at their achievement.  Painting, then poetry, healed a room full of students, a school full of individuals deciding to make a difference.

Through her words, Marcy Campbell presents an intimate view of an intolerable event.  Her first-person narrator brings us clearly and with intention into each moment of the evolving situation.  We experience it with all the girls, the four girls, the entire student body, and with Mr. Gilbert's students.  The thoughts and actions of the students are described with realism and a keen aptitude for the behavior of children in this position. Here is a passage.

We missed the days

before the bad-something

appeared, because everything

was different now.  Some of us

felt worried or confused or sad

or angry.  No one felt nothing.

With a limited color palette and her signature artwork, Corinna Luyken gives readers on the front of the dust jacket a foreshadowing of the good something the students and their teacher create together.  The predominant presence of yellow and the facial expressions on all the individuals suggest determination and a lightening of their spirits.  On the back, to the left of the spine, is a display of three paint cans, yellow, teal, and rose.  The colors in each rise like mist, erasing the bad-something.  In the upper, right-hand corner are the words

The bad-something

has no place here.

On the book case, on either side of the spine, is a two-page interior picture.  It shows in greater detail ten students painting an array of elements on the wall.  On the far right one student is on a ladder as the other one steadies it.  There are rosy flowers among dark teal leaves, dragons, a school, handprints, the sun and a row of people in pink along the bottom of the wall.

On the opening endpapers is the wall in the girl's bathroom.  The bad-something has been painted over by the custodian in a dull color.  On the closing endpapers we see how the students and their teacher remade the wall.  On the left-hand side is the dedication and publication information.  If you turn back a page, the title page is on the right and an author's note is on the left.  By placing this information at the back, the narrative is given greater importance.  The bad-something is never shown to readers.

The illustrations for this book were done in gouache, colored pencil, and ink on paper.  They are two-page visuals with shifting perspectives for dramatic emphasis.  While there is an overall feeling of softness when looking at these pictures, almost like chalk smudging, the linework is distinctive.  The faces on the children are highly revealing.  Each time you turn a page, it is like an emotional jolt, heartfelt and true.

One of my many favorite pictures is when Mr. Gilbert is seated in a circle with the students as he explains their art project.  These twenty-five children are actively engaged.  They know change is happening.  They know they are going to be a part of the change.  Most are leaning in with their heads raised.  Several have their eyes closed. We can see those without their backs to us wearing their ribbon pins.  The people are awash in pink, a bit of yellow and white.  Their hair and faces display a variety of ethnicity.  In front of Mr. Gilbert are paint brushes and rollers.

Sometimes when we seek a silver lining, we have to make it.  In Something Good written by Marcy Campbell with pictures by Corinna Luyken, that is exactly what Mr. Gilbert and his students do.  As Marcy Campbell states in her author's note, this book is the result of personal knowledge.  What happens in this school is only one solution.  This title is certain to promote discussions on an individual or group basis.  I highly recommend it for your personal and professional collections.

By accessing the websites of Marcy Campbell and Corinna Luyken by following the link attached to their names, you can learn more about them and their other work.  Marcy Campbell has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Corinna Luyken has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website is a video chat with the illustrator about this book and a two-page Teaching Tips document. At Mel Schuit's Let's Talk Picture Books, there is a short video showing the book case.  At author, reviewer, and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast this title is showcased.  There are many pieces of art, process and final to view.

Here are links to Better Together #1, Better Together #2, Better Together #3, and Better Together #4.

Transition

On any given day, moment to moment, change is happening all around us.  Some of the transformations are so subtle, it is the following day before we recognize them.  Other shifts announce themselves in glorious splendor.  Mindful observers realize variations, regardless of their size, are extraordinary.

When we are grounded in extraordinary, our sensory awareness expands.  Is Was (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, May 4, 2021) written and illustrated by Deborah Freedman explores change in its many forms.  Through her spare text and distinctive paintings, she introduces possibilities for rethinking how we perceive change. 

This sky is

the same sky that

was blue,

                       but now is 

Clouds have moved into the blue sky.  Soon it is raining hard enough to satisfy a thirsty earth and its inhabitants.  When it stops, the rain goes from is to was, becoming perfect pools.

A fox approaches as an energetic chipmunk, a yellow songbird, and a buzzing bee drink and fashion a melody.   Quickly, everyone but the fox scatters.  The pools of water are no longer for savoring or singing.  Their previous purpose is abandoned.

As the story wraps around readers, there is a constant fluctuation as we follow each of the inhabitants moving in their world.  There are new sounds.  Light goes from bright to shadowed.  Safety is replaced with danger.  The world stills.  

In that stillness, other things are apt to become abundantly clear.  Reach out with all your senses and your marvelous mind.  You will discover the undeniable beauty of our living planet.    

Through impeccable pacing and word selection, author Deborah Freedman tells a story that speaks to every living individual's heart.  She has taken the essence of life and placed it within the pages of this book.  Two words, is and was, supply unbreakable connections bringing everything full circle.  Here is another sentence.

Where singing was,

a buzz is 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i z z z z z z z z z z z

You cannot simply give the open dust jacket one look.  You need to pause and study every element, flap edge to flap edge.  It pulses with quiet energy.  From the left edge at the bottom the fox moves through the grass, past a group of stones.  Overhead a raptor glides and gazes, looking for an opportunity.  Near the stones on the branches of a shrub, a spider spins a web.  To the left and under the web, the bee flies toward the fox.  As rays of light and hues of blue transition near the spine, the outline of a child appears.  Do you see?  Watch as this child swings back and forth in the changing colors.  The yellow songbird is near the leafy branches at the top and the chipmunk rests at the base of the trunk.  The golden grasses extend to the right flap edge.

For the book case, left edge to right edge, the scene is the same except it is now night.  Stars pepper the darker sky.  The chipmunk is now on the left, on top of one of the stones.  On the right side, right of the tree, a bat soars.

A pale mint green covers the opening and closing endpapers.  On the initial title page, the yellow songbird flies past the text to the right.  A single cloud frames the other side of the text.  On the formal title page an increasingly cloudy sky makes a canvas.  IS is on the left.  WAS is on the right.  You understand a transition is happening. 

Each double-page image was

rendered in watercolor and pencil

by artist Deborah Freedman.  Each one is more breathtaking than the previous one.  The placement of words and letters in the illustrations is masterful.  Sometimes we are close enough to the lovely beings to be as one with them.  We understand their instincts and responses.  In other settings, Deborah Freedman has us stand back, more as watchers, so we get an enlarged outlook.  There are two wordless visuals.  You have to remind yourself to breathe.  When humans are presented near the end, the magic increases.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for two words.

Quiet is.

We move closer to the stones on the left with the single stone in front of the spider web.  The spider rests on that stone.  The yellow songbird flies between the stones.  The chipmunk is peeking from its hiding space.  There is grass along the entire bottom.  The right side is filled with the blossoming lower branches of the tree.  Only the sharpest of eyes will see what is hidden among those blossoms.

Brilliant in concept and excellent in its achievement, this book Is Was written and illustrated by Deborah Freedman is one to be read often and shared widely.  You will want to gift this repeatedly.  You will want to have a copy on your professional and personal bookshelves.  And you cannot read the dedication at the end without being deeply moved.  (Okay, I got teary.) Thank you, Deborah Freedman for this book.

To learn more about Deborah Freedman and her other wondrous books, please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Deborah Freedman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view the entire dust jacket, book case and some interior images.

Through Their Eyes

For each person entering the field of education the reasons for doing so are varied.  Some believe each generation should strive to make the world better for the next generation.  Some know creating life-long learners leads to individuals becoming the best they can be.  Others seek to be a positive influence hoping they can make a difference.

What educators quickly learn is children equal hope.  We learn as much from them as they do from us. Sometimes they have little or no say in changes affecting their lives but they in turn exhibit extraordinary resilience.  Ella & Monkey at Sea (Candlewick Press, August 7, 2018) written and illustrated by Emilie Boon gives us an intimate look at the voyage a child makes from her homeland to America.

Monkey doesn't like good-bye hugs.
He doesn't want to say good-bye to Oma.
Oma wipes away tears and hugs Mama too.

Ella is not happy about boarding the ship with her mother.  She knows they are leaving their home permanently.  Monkey agrees with Ella.

He does not like the tiny beds on the ship.  Thankfully Ella sings a special lullaby that night.  At the ship's playroom the next day, Ella and Monkey only watch.  When the Captain and waiter approach their table at dinner the companions are polite but without Oma the food, especially the fish, is not good.

Every day in the playroom Ella and Monkey do not play.  As the sea gets wilder, the friends get sadder and crankier.  Plates slide at dinner and sleeping is impossible as the ship rocks in the howling wind.  It's a hurricane!

With all activities cancelled due to the storm, Ella and Monkey use paper and crayons to replicate its ferocity in their room until a broken crayon changes the little girl's attitude.  All the new pictures are handed out to the Captain and helpers on his crew.  The sun is always shining behind the clouds and they never stay.  Ella finally remembers.


Most readers will immediately identify with Ella and her monkey.  We have survived countless times of sadness and shared great joy with a beloved stuffed toy.  Emilie Boon understands this, projecting Ella's thoughts as if they are Monkey's feelings.  Emilie's short, descriptive and direct sentences convey Ella's emotional moods perfectly.  Here are another two passages.

The hallways are empty.
The dining room is empty.
The playroom is almost empty,
and there's nothing to watch.

So we try the crayons, I scribble with angry black.
Scared gray. Cold blue. Bluer, grayer, blacker---
until my crayons snaps.


Seeing Ella with Monkey on the ship as it arrives in the harbor allows readers to become acquainted with her in all her cheerful glory.  This is Ella being resilient.  This is Ella having endured the changes and challenges on the voyage.  We can't help but fall in love with this little girl and Monkey.  All the colors on Ella radiate warmth in contrast to the pale blues of the water and sky.

To the left, on the back of the dust jacket (I'm working with an F & G.) Ella and Monkey are peering through a porthole looking worried.  They are surrounded by the light blue gray of the ship's exterior.  Emilie Boon begins her visual story on the title page.  Ella's mama, Ella and Oma, her grandmother, are walking hand in hand to the ship.

Rendered in watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, and crayon the visuals alternate between double-page illustrations and full page pictures.  On several of the full page pictures there is a liberal amount of white space used to draw our attention to the characters.  The delicate lines and intensity of the hues convey and elevate mood.  With a few lines and dots Emilie creates facial expressions brimming with emotion.

One of my many favorite illustrations is when Ella and Monkey are tucked in bed on their first night at sea.  In this picture we are brought close to them.  We can see Ella singing the song while tenderly holding her cherished stuffed toy.  In caring for Monkey she is easing her own fears.


Giving up your home, friends and family is never easy but when you leave one country for another the change is huge.  Ella & Monkey at Sea written and illustrated by Emilie Boon reveals the heart of a child making this transition.  Readers will connect with Ella and her monkey and be inspired by her courage.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal book collections.

To learn more about Emilie Boon and her other work please follow the link attached to her name to access her website.  Emilie maintains an account on Instagram and Facebook.  Emilie is interviewed by Vivian Kirkfield at Picture Books Help Kids Soar.  Emilie has a guest post at the Nerdy Book Club about this title.  At Penguin Random House and Candlewick Press you can view interior images.  Candlewick Press provides a Teacher Tip Card here.

UPDATE:  Emilie Boon is featured at KidLit 411 on January 25, 2019.

Color Me Confident

It happens to everyone.  You walk with an air of assurance into a venue full of individuals, only to have them suddenly stop their current activity.  They are all staring at you.  Your steps falter.  Have you drawn their attention because of your projected poise or have you developed the characteristics of the one-eyed, one-horned flyin' purple people eater?

If you are fortunate a kindhearted soul will come to you offering an explanation.  Otherwise you realize it would be in your best interest to remove yourself from this place until you can assess the situation.  Blue Ethel (Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC, May 30, 2017) written and illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt is about a cat completely comfortable with who she is, until she isn't.

Ethel was old.

She was rather plump filling in her black and white fur-coated form much like a pillow stuffed to the brim with feathers.  It could be said the word flexible was not a part of her vocabulary.  Her outlook on life was extremely rigid.

Her daily routine never wavered; four essential events preceded her much anticipated nap.  One day, as the afternoon was coming to a close, her final exercise changed Ethel significantly.  Her roll on a sidewalk square, her favorite sidewalk square, altered more than one thing about this consistent feline.

Her roll unbeknownst to Ethel removed her white replacing it with blue.  That sidewalk square, her sidewalk square, had become the canvas for an artist.  As she walked home the cat community could not contain their comments.  And this made Ethel very, very, very sad.

What was Ethel to do?  Having decided to stay inside, in the morning she gazed out the window to see young, white, slim, Fluffy wearing a new look.  When life gives you sidewalk chalk a faithful follower and friend can give you freedom.


The succinct sentences penned by Jennifer Black Reinhardt, especially the first five, set the tone for the entire narrative.  They allow her to follow with evidence of those statements supplying the superb scenario for the total shift which comes next.  In this alteration of the ordinary the opportunity for another twist is revealed.  Jennifer Black Reinhardt can now introduce a compassionate character wise beyond its years.  Repetition of key phrases

It wasn't easy being Ethel, but she was good at it.

totally tie this story together as neatly as the perfectly wrapped present.


How can you not smile when looking at Ethel on the matching dust jacket and book case?  Her body shape, that skinny tail straight up in the air, the tiny legs and paws and the Cheshire Cat grin on her face tell readers a lot about Ethel even before we open the book.  The ants on the sidewalk, the dandelions growing through the cracks, the butterflies and dragonfly (to the left, on the back) all demonstrate the exquisite details found in the artwork of Jennifer Black Reinhardt.  On the back Ethel is posed like someone attempting to do the yoga position for downward dog, stretching as best as possible.

The opening and closing endpapers have a similar large, colorful, grassy and floral area covering the bottom two-thirds of the pages.  In the first one Ethel is striding down the lane with conviction as Fluffy watches hidden.  In the second one Ethel, Fluffy and other felines are parading proudly, looking other than normal but enjoying it immensely.

Large areas of white space draw our attention to important elements in the illustrations regardless of the image sizes.  They invite our eyes to move from left to right as the pictures further enhance the storyline. They also create a contrast to the two-page full color visuals.  In all of these the fine lines and loose brush strokes generate a very cat-like feel to the pictures.

One of my favorite of many illustrations is on a single page.  For the phrase

chase villains

Ethel is in hunt mode creeping on all fours, belly to the ground and tail straight up in the air.  She is stalking three ants.  Underneath her, to the left and up, is a grassy area.  On the top portion of this is a pot of geraniums.  The pot is patterned in large ladybugs.  Peeking through the flowers is the ever-observant Fluffy.


Blue Ethel written and illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt is confirmation of change is good.  No matter our age or physical traits, we can adapt to circumstances.  It is usually better and easier with the help of a friend.  And although we may survive the shift with flying colors, we can still keep our true selves right where they belong, in our hearts.  You will want a copy of this title on your personal and professional bookshelves.

To learn more about Jennifer Black Reinhardt and her other work please follow the links attached to her name to access her website and blog.  At the publisher's website you can view interior illustrations. At the Iowa SCBWI website Jennifer Black Reinhardt on Writing and Illustrating gives you further insight into her work.  At Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read., Jennifer writes a guest post about this title.

Dropping Leaves

Mother Nature insists it happen.  We see it in the caterpillar and the butterfly, the tadpole and the frog, the acorn and the oak, the cracked blue eggs, the beaks peeping from a nest top and the fledglings learning to fly.  It's evident in the speckled fur of a fawn and the many-pointed antlers on a mighty buck.  It's showcased in sunrises and sunsets.  Life is in constant motion; even when it's still, change is happening.

Humans can't wait to grow up wishing to be adults; then wanting to slow growing old.  Sometimes we reluctantly acknowledge the need to shift our mindset in order to be our best possible selves.  We move from one professional position to another to better assist others.  We relocate from one community to one nearby to surround ourselves with more positive, like-minded people.  One day we find ourselves packing all our personal belongings to leave one state and start anew in another thousands of miles from where we've spent our entire lives.  There are times, all too often though, when we refuse to budge from our comfort zone.  Little Tree (Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), October 27, 2015) written and illustrated by Loren Long is about such a being who loves everything about his world.  Why should he be or do anything else?

Once there was a little tree
filled with little leaves...

He was not alone.  There were other little trees with loads of little leaves next to him.  These leaves protected him from the summer heat as the forest animals enjoyed the branches on Little Tree.

When fall arrived the little leaves on all the little trees traded in their green for shades of red, yellow and orange.  When the other trees dropped their leaves, Little Tree did not.  Advice was offered but not taken.  There was security in sameness.

Winter came and went.  Spring's arrival brought new growth to the other trees but Little Tree still has his now brown leaves, keeping them close.  Summer, fall, winter, and spring again arrived and left but Little Tree did not change.  Other forest animals expressed concern and offered encouragement.  Little Tree fiercely held on to his leaves.

Eventually he realized the little trees next to him were huge.  He could barely hear the forest animals enjoying their branches rather than his.  When the snow covered the forest floor once more, Little Tree gazed around him, seeing the majesty of the other trees stretched upward.  He felt a longing grow.  And he did what he had to do to satisfy that longing.


Spare text and simple sentences by Loren Long extend a hand to readers, asking us to quietly walk along with Little Tree on his journey of discovery.  We share his pleasure in being a part of a group, in the squirrels at play among his boughs and in the beauty of a morning dove's cooing.  We understand his unease and the need to maintain the protection his leaves offer.  Long reinforces the disparity between Little Tree and his fellow trees with repetition and comparison.   The dialogue of four forest animals serves to let us, along with Little Tree, know we are never alone.

A fox said, "Little Tree, it's autumn.  It's time for you to drop your leaves.  You can do it. Ready? One, two..."


Rendered in acrylic, ink and pencil the beauty of Loren Long's paintings begins on the dust jacket.  Ample white space here, and throughout the title, serves to illuminate his signature characters and the world's in which they live.  You already want to hug Little Tree but for different reasons than the definition usually implies.  On the back, to the left, Little Tree stands alone with the forest giants in the snow.  This image is circular in shape seeing Little Tree more closely as if through a telescope.

Beneath the jacket the book case reflects the color found in the raised title letters.  Embossed in a lighter shade in the lower right-hand corner is Little Tree with a squirrel gazing at him.  The opening and closing endpapers are the rich, chocolate brown of Little Tree's dried leaves.  The initial title page focuses on a small tree with a squirrel nearby.  The formal title and dedication pages' image extends across two pages, forest grass, a scampering squirrel and a cardinal in flight.

In perfect pacing with the text, the pictures appear on single pages or on double pages.  Carefully placed fine lines indicate motion.  Although Little Tree remains in the same place in each visual, as do the first three companion trees, new trees appear as the years pass giving us a sense of reality.  Life moves forward even as Little Tree does not.

One of my favorite illustrations is when Little Tree decides to

hugged his leaves tight.

It's the same image embossed on the book case.  Regardless of the advice from the squirrel, it's a huge decision for Little Tree.  It is a visible sign of his reluctance and willingness to grow.  It's a place all of us visit in our lives, again and again.


Little Tree written and illustrated by Loren Long is, as he has stated, a deeply personal story.  It's a gentle look at being courageous enough to change.  It speaks to every reader, young and old.  It's a classic gem.

To learn more about Loren Long and his other work please follow the first link attached to his name to access his website.  The second link takes you to a page dedicated to Little Tree.  You will want to stop by the Nerdy Book Club to read Little Tree and Me by Loren Long.  Loren Long was a guest on teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner's Let's Get Busy, Episode 185 podcast.  Teacher librarian Jennifer Reed offers up how she and her students read and used Little Tree in a blog post, ReedALOUD:  Little Tree.   Loren Long is a guest at November Picture Book Month A Celebration!, Why Picture Book Are Important.  Scholastic's Ambassador for School Libraries John Schumacher talks with and about Loren Long in two separate blog posts a couple of years ago, here and here.  Enjoy the video.




There are Little Trees everywhere.  I have one in my backyard.  I guess the snow storm today changed his mind.