But For Them . . .

There was immense uncertainty.  There was little knowledge.  There was too much knowledge.  This was not at the local level, the state level, or at the national level.  This was worldwide.  It consumed every aspect of our lives.

It has been 110 days since receipt of the second dose of the vaccine to combat COVID-19.  Prior to that time, 395 days were spent sheltering in place with my constant canine companion.  Without the dedication of essential workers, it would have been far more difficult.  Mail, packages (usually with books), and food were delivered.  Conversations with those marvelous people were conducted through the window glass.  Deep appreciation compelled the leaving of notes and gift cards for these wonderful human beings.  Keeping The City Going (A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, April 27, 2021) written and illustrated by Brian Floca is a melodic, visual expression of gratitude.  It echoes eloquently what many feel and believe.

  

We are here at home now,

watching the world through our windows,

and wondering what will happen next.

The world beyond those windows is not as it has been.  It is nearly silent, businesses are closed, and neighbors are inside.  There are still some people outside moving in all directions.  They are the ones serving the city and its inhabitants.  They are the ones needed to survive this unfamiliar happening.

They bring food from restaurants to our doorsteps.  They bring food to our markets, making sure the shelves are rarely empty.  There are people operating the vehicles providing transportation to those who work in those restaurants and markets.  Taxis still race from place to place.

Sanitation workers tirelessly strive to keep the city clean.  Postal workers deliver mail.  Other services leave packages we can hardly wait to open.  

Utilities we rely on 24/7, internet, electricity, gas, and water, continue because these essential workers are on the job.  Firefighters, police officers, and EMTs work above and beyond committed in honoring their obligations.  All members of hospital staffs push themselves to limits they are unaware they have.  Though we are seeing this city through a window, we witness the steady continuation of vital activities.  Each evening we honor them, at seven o'clock. Listen.

With that first sentence, author Brian Floca portrays a moment felt by many people in cities (in all communities) around the world. With each subsequent thought he builds on the actions of all those not at home looking out at the world.  He heralds their daily accomplishments needed by us.  He does this by speaking plainly, but also poetically with veracity.  Here is a passage.

They're delivering letters and packages---

boxes full of things people need

but can't go out to buy.

And maybe . . . 

just maybe, they're brining

that one thing we ordered

that we don't really need . . . 

If someone were to look at the open and matching dust jacket and book case for this title, their first thought might be about the masks people are wearing.  This gives this book a timely quality for readers now, but also a timeless trait for readers in the future.  Why are people wearing masks?  Each of those vehicles and the people on and in them have a particular purpose necessary to this narrative.  The fine lines, the attention to detail, the realistic but soft colors, are identifying qualities of Brian Floca's artwork throughout this book, throughout many of his books.

To the left, on the back, amid a white canvas is a single, loosely framed circular image.  It is a close-up of a window placed in a block building.  A tree branch hangs over the left corner.  Taped to the window, on the inside, is a piece of paper.  On the paper a rainbow has been drawn.  This symbolizes hope.  This action spread around the world.

A rich, earthy dark tan covers the opening and closing endpapers.  Opposite the verso and dedication (In memory of Richard Jackson, editor and friend) page, a panoramic view of New York City is featured.  These illustrations rendered in

watercolor, ink, acrylic, and gouache  

are placed surrounded by white space, grouped together on a single page to emphasize a point, span a single page, edge to edge, or across two pages, edge to edge.

The images are replete with action in contrast to those sheltering inside, peering out their windows.  All the elements in each picture, large or small, ask us to pause.  They encourage us to remember the people who, whether we are in a lockdown or free to go about our daily lives, keep our communities working properly.  

One of my many, many favorite images is toward the end of the book.  It highlights an overview of two street corners, one street running along the bottom of the page and the other going away from us in the central area.  Buildings line this street on both sides.  It is the same scene shown earlier in the day.  Now a golden hue covers the buildings as the sun moves lower in the sky.  The street is still nearly quiet except for the portion of an ambulance driving off the left side.  There is comfort in this picture, knowing there are those caring for us.

This book, Keeping The City Going written and illustrated by Brian Floca, is a gift.  It is a gift to all those who worked day in and day out to maintain services for everyone.  It is a gift to all readers, reminding us to never forget those who forged paths for creating easier lives for us amid one of the most challenging times in the last one hundred years.  I highly recommend this title for both your personal and professional collections.  

To discover more about Brian Floca and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Brian Floca has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  The cover reveal is hosted at Publishers Weekly.  This title is showcased at author, reviewer, and blogger Julie Danielson's Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  You will enjoy the conversation between her and Brian along with a lot of artwork.  At the publisher's website you can view the entire jacket and case as well as interior pictures.

From Them Comes Life

From their heights, the world spreads before us. (Even when we get stuck at the tip top and have to ask for help getting down.)  When a slight breeze blows, walking among rows of evergreens planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps is like strolling through whispers of angels, a gift from heaven.  Leaning against the trunk of a single tree can strengthen you; the tree lends you resolve and resilience.  Most of all trees hold memories.

With the passing of my sweet Xena, now almost six years ago, two kind-hearted author friends give me a tree with a metal label, Xena's Tree.  That tree and label have traveled with me in multiple moves.  It is now joined by five other trees, one for each year she has been gone.  I am so comforted by the sight of those trees when a dear author friend lost her beloved dog companion, I did the same for her.

Trees freely give to all around them, representing more than we can at first imagine.  BE A TREE! (Abrams Books for Young Readers, March 30, 2021) written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Felicita Sala is a lyrical declaration in words and art about the immeasurable worth of trees.  It explores the similarities between trees and humans, offering us a pathway to be our best selves.

Be a tree!

Stand tall.

Stretch your branches to the sun.

It would be wise for us to root ourselves, be grounded, as are trees.  Human spines and tree trunks both house integral elements necessary for sustaining life.  Can you think of your skin like bark?  I can.

Under the bark are systems upon systems functioning to further growth.  At each's center is a beginning beat.  At the top, the tree's crown, like our hats, gathers, filters, and protects.  What will your leaves do?  Together, the top, the bottom, and what hums in the middle, we and trees are not so different.

When you stand in a forest, you see all kinds of trees.  Together they work, speaking, sharing, and sustaining each other.  Together they help the air we breathe, the soil upon which we stand, and the high winds which howl.  Around the globe trees are home to a multitude of plants and animals.  Can you name some?

Did you know trees reach out to immigrant trees?  No tree regardless of its age or physical condition is ever alone.  Trees know helping other trees strengthens them and the forest as a whole.  Can we not do the same for our fellow humans?  

Every poetic line in this narrative takes readers to a tree.  The words penned by Maria Gianferrari mirror the attributes of a tree.  They are strong, deeply fixed, and all-encompassing in their reach.  Single sentences hold profound truths about trees.  In these truths she asks us to see ourselves in the same aspect.  Here is a sentence.

Beneath your bark

are layers,

such as sapwood,

carrying nutrients

to help you grow bigger

and taller;

and heartwood,

strong as bones

to support you.

When you open the dust jacket you find yourself either gasping or reminding yourself to breathe.  The image spans flap edge to flap edge.  The tree you see on the front, right, of the jacket spreads to the right edge and nearly across the entire back, left side.  The plentiful children with birds among them are both heartwarming and hopeful.  You can almost hear the chatter of the gathered girls and boys mingled with birdsong.  On the back, left, is a single white bird.  Two children, hand in hand, in the grass are watching it.  The grass, roots and communicative fungi end at the flap edges.  On the heavy matte-finished paper all the children and birds are vanished.  In a word, exquisite.

An interior image of a large ancient tree spreads across the book case.  A child in reading among the gigantic roots.  Another is climbing up a rope, as a third one rests a hand on the tree.  Two people are seated in a bench to the right of the tree with a large red balloon tied to the back.  Two birds rest in the branches of the tree.

The opening and closing endpapers are a botanist's delight.  In two shades of green, they feature twenty different leaves and three seeds.  Each one is carefully labeled.  Portions of these endpapers are repeated on the first and final page turns.  Prior to the title page, two children play on the sprawling large branch of a tree.  The boy awaits the girl climbing up a rope ladder.

A double-page image moves from left to right on a crisp white background for the title page.  In a series of five vignettes, we see a child plant a seed.  It grows, grows, grows, and becomes a tree, roots fanning out below the surface.

These illustrations by Felicita Sala rendered

with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencils

are bold but intricate two-page displays with every page turn.  A variety of trees are represented.  Perspectives shift and ask readers to pause, noticing each item contained in the picture.  The four-page gatefold is stunning in the variation between the previous two-page visual and what is revealed.  This is the goal toward which we must endeavor.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations has a wide trunk taking up half the page on either side of the gutter.  It only fills the top third of the image.  Climbing up the bark on the left side is a tiny snail.  On the right side a girl crouches next to a snail, her fingertip reaching to touch it.  For the bottom two-thirds of the picture, we see a vast network of roots and fungi.  Three animals are burrowing among the roots and dirt. 

This book, BE A TREE! written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Felicita Sala, presents the grandeur of trees and their vital place on our planet.  It invites us to learn what they can teach us.  At the close of the book is an Author's Note, Five Ways You Can Help Save Trees, Be A Forest: How You Can Help In Your Community, two pages dedicated to a graphic and textual Anatomy Of A Tree, Further Reading And Viewing and Websites.  You need to make sure you have a copy of this book on both your personal and professional bookshelves.  

To learn more about Maria Gianferrari and Felicita Sala and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Maria Gianferrari has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  Felicita Sala has accounts on Facebook and Instagram.  This book is highlighted at Beagles and Books, Picture Book Builders, and Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  At Beagles and Books is a list of blog tour stops.  At each site you can view interior images.

Maria Gianferrari has climbed fig trees in Italy, stood under stately coastal redwoods and twisted Torrey pines, marveled at mitten-shaped sassafras leaves, colorful coral trees and sawtooth oak acorn nests.  She lives with her family, including dog, Maple, in a house encircled by trees. 

Seeking Sanctuary

This summer there is an abundance of wildlife, from the smallest to the largest.  There are biting bugs and feasting bugs.  Honeybees buzz from clover patch to clover patch.  A toad as big as my fist moves from the front gardens to the back gardens. There are several colors of swallowtails and monarchs fluttering past during the day and moths gather around lights at night. Red squirrels play tag.  The other afternoon a newly arrived resident, a chipmunk, raced from a garden to chase one of the many robins from the yard. There are chickadees, sparrows, blue jays, cardinals, brown thrashers, goldfinches, a variety of woodpeckers, crows, ravens, turkey vultures, hawks, geese, seagulls, sandhill cranes, and sometimes bluebirds.  Rabbits shelter under landscaping at night and a tiny baby bunny squeezes in and out of the chain link fence.  Before the sun lifts over the horizon, two large deer graze just beyond the yard.

To witness their presence and interactions is a thing of wonder.  If we chose to observe and understand them, animals will guide and enhance our lives.  Together We Grow (A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, May 26, 2020) written by Susan Vaught with illustrations by Kelly Murphy brings us a tale of a stormy night, and the plight of a fox family.  Sanctuary is essential for survival.

Lightning gash!
Windy lash!

Rain and thunder,
home asunder.

Flood waters rise and wash out the home of a fox family.  One member leaves to seek a dry place to shelter at a nearby barn.  Many domestic animals are in the barn with a few wild friends.  They do not want the fox family with them. 

As the fox family slowly walks from the barn, a tiny duck stands in the open, glowing doorway.  The wee bird goes into the storm and chats with the foxes as the inhabitants in the barn watch.  One by one a change is taking place.

Slowly, all inside come to realize this place, this space, is for everyone.  Fears are set aside and replaced with compassion.  All shapes, sizes and textures need a haven.

All through the night the storm rages.  All through the night sleeping animals find peace as more arrive.  In the light of a new morning, a realization and a resolution remain.


Rhyming couplets penned by Susan Vaught invite us into this narrative.  Each captivating series of phrases conveys authentic place, and time.  We are involved in every emotional moment, fear, hope, discouragement, courage, acceptance, and affection.  Here is another couplet.

Shell and scales,
love prevails!


The diverse selection of animals, domestic and wild, shown on the front of the open dust jacket signifies an unspoken agreement among this gathering.  It clearly depicts how in the worst of times, the best can and does happen.  The palette exudes warmth and affirmation.  You want to pause and name all the animals rejoicing in this portrait.  To the left, on the back, in shadowy blues of night and storm, the three kits are around their parent.  They are looking up at a snail saved by the adult.  It is resting on its nose.  A salamander is stopped on the head of one of the youngsters.  Three butterflies and a several fireflies move about them.  The title text is raised and varnished.

On the book case in two shades of blue, dark on light, are a series of various animals prints moving from left to right, back to front.  The canvas is textured.  The text on the spine is done in copper foil.

Illustrator Kelly Murphy begins her visual interpretation and extension of the narrative on the opening endpapers.  From the left, the sky is darkening, and rain falls as the animals make their way to the barn in the distance.  In the wind birds flock toward the building.  Even a frog leaps from the pond.  On the verso and title pages, a double-page picture features the raging storm, wind bending trees with leaves swirling. The barn is in the distance, light shining from the windows.  On the left, a wet and worried fox emerges from the now-flooded den.

Each double-page, or single-page picture is rendered in

acrylic paints, oil paints, and gel medium on paper.

To accentuate pacing and dramatic effect, there is a single series of four smaller images on two pages.  Exquisite details and atmospheric lighting permeate throughout the title.  The shift in perspectives from very close to the characters, to a more bird's eye view, and then a wide-angle study of a scene increases the reader's participatory feeling.  A single two-page wordless illustration is stunning.  At the end of the book, the closing endpapers herald a fresh understanding between all the animals.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the five-word quote above noted.  It is the same one as shown on the back of the dust jacket.  This exhibits the playful, and gentler side of foxes.  Each of the kits has a different expression on their faces, curious, contented, and amazed. The adult, holding the snail, is demonstrating how they can express the same type of kindness shown to them by the other animals in the barn.


This book, Together We Grow written by author Susan Vaught with illustrations by artist Kelly Murphy, is a welcome sensory presentation of what all living beings need to do to not only survive, but flourish.  We are indeed better together.  This title has received four starred reviews, one in Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.  Your personal and professional collections need a copy.

To learn more about Susan Vaught and Kelly Murphy and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the links attached to their names.  Susan Vaught has accounts on Facebook, and Twitter.  Kelly Murphy has accounts on Behance, Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view additional illustrations.

Holding Hope In Your Hands

It is said keeping a bit of seasonal cheer visible all year long brings you good luck.  For many years a tiny Christmas tree covered in miniature ornaments with a tiny train running around the bottom has held a position of honor on my desk.  Next year it will be joined by another item.

Some people collect these items to commemorate a visit or an event.  Our family collects them to celebrate Christmas.  A few are my mother's; a few are mine.  As if bound by an invisible chord memories are attached to each snow globe.  There is a special kind of magic in memories made of love.  Snow Globe Wishes (Sleeping Bear Press, September 15, 2019) written by Erin Dealey with illustrations by Claire Shorrock is about the serendipity of wishes coming true.  It's about the contagious character of spontaneous and shared joy.

Lights go out!
   Fierce clouds blow in.
      Garlands fly on frozen wind.

A wild wintry storm is brewing.  The power goes out.  As workers head for home, roadways become covered with snow.  Residents snuggle in for the night with warmth from fireplaces and light from candles.

Near the fire one family builds a cozy camp from blankets and a mattress on the floor.  After a bedtime story, everyone (the kitten and dog, too) sleeps, except for the oldest child.  Holding the family snow globe in her hands, she makes a wish. 

A new day dawns with sunshine and snow, lots of snow.  As the girl gazes out the window, words seem to call to her.  These unspoken words are calling to all the children.  Their parents join them.  Soon the neighborhood is filled with play and laughter.

Something wonderful is happening.  When it seems as if the day can't get any better, it does.  One at a time, person to person, a single thought and a single action is shared.  Anything can happen on a

snow globe day.


Those first three words

Lights go out!

are nearly as powerful as once upon a time.  They announce the beginning of a spell; the spell of possible stories in the making. Erin Dealey's vividly descriptive and flawless rhyming text take us into the center of this snowstorm, of the evening with one family and of the following day with an entire community.

Her words weave a wondrous world around us.  As the cadence carries us deeper into the narrative, we can literally feel marvelous magic growing.  It is an enchantment we all would gladly embrace as reality.  Here is a passage.

Blanket forts.

Crawl in.
Scoot over.

Kitten purrs.
Me, too! barks Rover. 


Looking at the open and matching dust jacket and book case, readers know there is a promise of happiness radiating from the images.  The girl who makes the snow globe wish is looking directly at us.  Her expression is saying to us, Trust me.  Have faith.  Her smile and the people merrily engaged in activities behind her all point to the benefits of believing.

To the left, on the back, on a background of cream, illustrator Claire Shorrock has taken a portion of one of the interior illustrations, enlarged it and framed it in a crisp white border.  Our protagonist and her family are enjoying the snowy morning.  Here and on the front, details are varnished in glittery white.

On the opening and closing endpapers, on a pale muted green canvas amid snowflakes, is a pattern of a sled, a pair of ice skates and a cup of a hot beverage.  Between the text on the title page, the little girl, her father, younger brother, seated on a sled, and her mother are holding hands in front of the row of houses on their street.  They are accompanied by a handsome, smiling snowman.  The mother is holding the stick hand of the snowman.

Readers will find themselves stopping at each page turn to enjoy each intricate line.  Within her illustrations Claire Shorrock combines perspectives and artistic styles.  Although she employs a full color palette, the hues are soft.  There is no doubt in your mind about the cold and wintry weather, but you also get a very real sense of a glow inside and outside the homes and on the inside and outside of the people.

Her picture sizes vary from double page to full page and sometimes on her page without words, several smaller images are grouped together. Different races are presented in the people, even in the girl's family.  Claire Shorrock is one of those artists who can convey a range of emotions with dots for eyes.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is on a full page and enhances the text above noted.  The two sides of the blanket fort fashion a large "v" opening.  On the left the light from a camp lamp shines on the red plaid blanket.  On the left the mother is holding the younger brother on her lap.  On the right, the father is reading a book aloud.  The little girl is in front of him.  She is holding a stuffed-toy rabbit.  Her bunny slippers are next to her on the floor.  The kitten is already asleep on a pillow.  The dog is barking.


This book, Snow Globe Wishes written by Erin Dealey with pictures by Claire Shorrock, is pure delight in every aspect.  This is a book to be read over and over and enjoyed every time as if it's the very first time.  You'll want to add this charming story with its beautiful words and images to your seasonal collections at home and at work.  I want to hug this book!

To discover more about Erin Dealey and Claire Shorrock and their other work, please follow the links attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Erin Dealey has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Claire Shorrock has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  This book is showcased at author Kathleen Temean's Writing and Illustrating.  At the publisher's website there is a link to an activity page.  Enjoy the book trailer.

If Only We Would Listen

In this new home, to make a back yard space, a fenced-in place for Mulan, my chocolate Labrador, a tree service was hired to remove sixteen trees.  My apologies on that fateful day, to the trees, were profuse.  Trees have always been a huge part of my life.  Climbing to the tops of a special willow and another maple as a child, our entire neighborhood was spread before me.  Swings were tied to their sturdy boughs for hours of dizzy contemplation. Picnics were consumed and game board competitions were played in their shade.  Yellow ribbons were bravely tied all over one particular maple on another street in a different town years later.  A now tall, majestic blue spruce still grows in the back yard of my parent's former home, a tribute to my father.  Author friends sent me a tree in memory of my sweet Xena when she passed away.  The Xena tree moves with me.

The weather here has been unseasonably dry and very hot.  Even though the calendar has declared it's autumn, Mother Nature has other ideas.  Walking outside now, the katydids are singing.  It's still seventy-eight degrees.  There's not a breath of air.  Tears still fill my eyes as I walk up to one of the thirty-three trees remaining on my corner lot.  My arms wrap around the rough bark of one as I lean my head on the trunk and whisper an apology and a thank you.  I have just finished reading Katherine Applegate's newest title, Wishtree (Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group LLC, September 26, 2017).  I am listening.  I know you will, too.

It's hard to talk to trees.  We're not big on chitchat.

Red, a northern red oak, is speaking to us.  Two hundred sixteen rings count the days he has spent rooted to the land on a street near one small green and one small blue house.  Across the street another larger home stands.  This resident owns the little green and blue houses and the tree. You should know Red is the name given to him by his animal friends.  Humans know him as the wishtree.

Each year on the first day of May people come, hang and tie their wishes, hopes and dreams to his branches.  Some are whispered aloud as the paper, cloth, and even a pair of gym socks are attached.  Red keeps all the softly spoken conversations on this day and throughout the year a secret.  It's a rule trees and animals have to remain silent even though they can communicate.  Currently owl, raccoon and opossum babies and their mamas reside in Red's hollows.  Nearby a group of skunks, living under a porch, visit regularly.  A crow named Bongo is Red's best friend in every respect.

This past winter a new family moved into the little blue home.  One early morning at 2am the ten-year-old girl, Samar, visits Red leaving a wish.  She longs for a friend.  Thereafter when she comes to the tree, as the rest of the neighborhood sleeps, the baby animals come to her as she sits on a blanket.  She is no ordinary girl but there are those who do not like her or her family.  Everything is about to change.

One day a boy, an older boy, not known to Red approaches.  He carves something in the tree.  Red wonders if it is an early wish.  It is not.  It says

LEAVE.

Two local police officers investigate, a reporter asks questions, and Francesca, the owner of the tree and two small houses, one blue and one green, arrives.  She makes a decision which shocks and saddens the animal realm.  It rallies Red.  There isn't much a tree can do, but Red like Samar is no ordinary tree.

A wish must be fulfilled.  A story stretching back through generations must be revealed.  A key must unlock forgotten history.  A four-letter word first uttered by one and then by many ignites the truth hidden in hearts.


By page two the first of thirty-two sticky notes was placed in my copy of Katherine Applegate's marvelous masterpiece.  Completely captivated by the voice of Red readers will eagerly embrace the ways of trees and animals learning about names, family dynamics and observations current and over the course of two-hundred plus years.  Red describes his domain as

Different languages, different food, different customs.  That's our neighborhood:  wild and tangled and colorful.  Like the best kind of garden.

Now something has changed.  A Muslim family in the small blue house is not welcomed by the adults in the small green house.  When Katherine introduces readers to the boy, Stephen, living in the green house, she sends out the beginning of hope.

Each of the short but insightful chapters ends with a sentence, a thought, which propels you forward and promotes reflection.  Through the conversations between the animals and Samar and Stephen we find ourselves trusting the unbelievable and wishing, yes wishing, for it all to be true.  And that's the gift Katherine Applegate has given readers with her words in this book.  She has given us the means to make a difference, to be agents of change, and to raise up the beauty found in human hearts and the world in which we live.  Here are a few sample passages.

Trees can't tell jokes.
But we can certainly tell stories.
And if all you hear is the whisper of leaves, don't
worry.  Most trees are introverts at heart.  

Hollows are proof that something bad can become
something good with enough time and care
and hope.

Animals compete for resources, just like humans.
They eat one another.  They fight for dominance.
Nature is not always pretty or fair or kind.
But sometimes surprises happen.  And Samar
every spring night, reminded me there is beauty in
stillness and grace in acceptance.
And that you're never too old to be surprised.


I've read Wishtree written by Katherine Applegate with artwork on the cover and final black-and-white illustrations throughout by Charles Santoso (Ida, Always) twice in one evening.  I have returned to those thirty-two marked passages and read them repeatedly.  Every page sings out hope.  I will be ordering multiple copies to give away at Halloween.  You will want multiple copies on your professional bookshelves and one for your home collection.

A special website is dedicated to Wishtree.  You can leave a virtual wish there.  This coming Thursday is Nationwide Wishing Day.  Read how you can participate.  There is an event kit and a teacher's guide you can download.  The cover was revealed on the Nerdy Book Club by Katherine Applegate.  Katherine answers four questions at Publishers Weekly.  This book trailer was premiered on Scholastic's Ambassador of School Libraries, John Schumacher's blog, Watch. Connect. Read.  You will enjoy the chat there about this title with Katherine.

Together...

Every educator knows more than one person is responsible for ensuring our children develop to their full potential as citizens of the world.  And I know I have said this before but school librarians are in an invaluable position to see all the children in the school for at least three years, usually four or five, sometimes six, depending on the type of school.  This brings a singular understanding of the web woven by the children's personalities and their families.  We get to see the forest and the trees.

Today during a break I headed down to my friend Colby Sharp's classroom to show him a book.  His students are testing so we had a whispered conversation but as I turned to leave, he handed me what I will call one of the best gifts of my day.  I was told I could take it to read overnight.  As soon as I got home and after playing with my wild child, furry friend, I stood at the island counter and read It Takes a Village (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, September 12, 2017) written by Hillary Rodham Clinton with illustrations by Marla Frazee.  There were several times, as I turned the pages, when I stopped and reminded myself to breathe.

Sometimes it takes a child

to make
   a village.

This village includes every single one of us.  Each one of us is valuable and essential to the success of the village.  We all learn each and every day.

It's important for children to understand adults don't always have all the answers.  It's important for adults to understand children have to ask questions.  Children need someone to speak for them.  Sometimes they need an entire group or a nation to speak for them.

Despite how strong a family may seem to us on the outside, there will come a time when they need our assistance.  In this village we have to recognize their need offering support in gestures of compassion.  Taking lessons from the natural world we have to pause and play and rest.

We need to believe...in each other...and...in our children.  It does take a village.  Our children deserve nothing less than the best.


Having read this narrative, the words in this text, several times, I can say with certainty Hillary Rodham Clinton chose each word with great care.  There are only eighteen sentences, phrases or words (with punctuation at the end) in total but each builds to a whole which speaks a profound truth.  Running beneath these words is a warmth and knowledge of children.  It honors their intelligence and acknowledges their needs.  I would like to share a favorite passage as I usually do but I want you to read this book for the first time as I did without benefit of knowing what to expect.


When you unfold the matching dust jacket and book case, the first thing you notice about the front, on the right, is the intricate details, the fine line work, of illustrator Marla Frazee.  You need to take a few minutes to notice all these people at rest and play.  They span a spectrum of ages and nationalities engaged in a variety of activities.  It is indeed a village.  To the left, on the back, is a picture, set on a canvas of white, of Hillary Clinton hugging a child.

(Oh, Marla...the endpapers.  I can't even imagine how long these must have taken you to create.) On the opening and closing endpapers, edge to edge, is an American flag.  Along the upper line of the red stripe (hardiness and valor) are the tiniest outlines of villages, one following the other.  Over some are skylines reflective of the time of day or the current weather.  In the lower right hand corner amid rays of sunlight is a double rainbow peeking through clouds.

The title page includes an image of three children and a dog moving up a winding road toward a bare, lone tree on top of a hill.  Marla begins the story here.  Rendered in pencil and watercolor on Strathmore paper the illustrations vary from single page pictures, to groups of pictures depicting a passage of time and panoramic double-page pictures.  Every element in each picture enhances the idea of a village inclusive of all people and all children.

All the clothing worn by the people, their body postures and facial expressions reveal their personalities even though we never meet them but we do recognize them.  They are people we see when out running errands, attending entertainment events or walking our dog in the neighborhood.  They are us.

One of my favorite sequences of illustrations heightens the meaning of two of my favorite phrases.  There are eleven small visuals spanning two pages.  We see children and adults taking naps, parents taking care of their children, a bumped knee getting attention and a group of children reading.  I'll focus on the five guys and gals reading.  A single blanket in red and black plaid is spread on the ground.  They are sprawled in a row across it.  Over four of them is a blue blanket with blue stars.  One child is using the blue blanket as a cover, another as a cushion and the final three as a tent.


I believe you need to have a copy of It Takes a Village written by Hillary Rodham Clinton with illustrations by Marla Frazee in your professional and personal library collections.  This book is an important, timely and timeless reminder for us.  Everything we do is for the future, for our children.  And they need to know this.  Hillary Rodham Clinton provides an Author's Note at the conclusion.

The link attached to Hillary Rodham Clinton's name will take you to her 2016 site for the presidential campaign because I was unable to find a site dedicated to her as an author.  It is important to note how often during the video she mentions being a champion for children.  This has been a constant during her life.  The link attached to Marla Frazee's name will take you to her website.  There you can learn more about her and her other work.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images from this title as well as download a four page activity guide.  Hillary Rodham Clinton was interviewed at BookExpo 2017.  Marla Frazee was interviewed at Andrea Skyberg's website (lots of art and views of her studio) and at Reading Rockets.  Enjoy the videos.


Marla Frazee from Adam Goodwin on Vimeo.