Piecing Together Home

The resilience of children is clearly tested when they move from all that is familiar to them.  For many of them, the challenge is not in leaving a home, neighborhood, school, and friends.  They have been uprooted and replanted in an entirely different country.  They have to navigate through all that is new, finding a balance between what was and now is.

For these reasons, many new children in communities and schools are quiet.  They are observing.  They are trying to figure out their place in these circumstances.  The Color Collector (Sleeping Bear Press, April 15, 2021) written by Nicholas Solis with illustrations by Renia Metallinou is a beautiful portrait of bravery.  One child has the courage to seek the truth.  Another child has the courage to share their truth.

She was new.

She was quiet.

I think she was lonely.

That was the day I met Violet.

It began with a hello.  It began with a smile.  Each day the boy walked on one side of the street.  Violet walked on the other side of the street.  They lived close to each other.

One day this changed.  Violet picked up a red piece of paper the wind blew to her.  The boy watched her place it in her backpack.  Violet saw him watching.  She lifted her hand in a greeting.

The boy saw her picking up all kinds of things in all kinds of colors.  Curiosity getting the better of him, the boy asked Violet what she did with those items.  She wanted him to follow her.  She took him to her home.  They entered her room.

What he saw was stunning!  She explained her creation in stories as he listened.  Her sadness was less.  Aloneness became togetherness.  And on his way home, the boy found . . .

The simple declarative sentences spoken in the voice of the boy give this story touching authenticity.  Though the writing of Nicholas Solis we are both bystanders and participants.  Day by day a kind of suspense is built, a mystery grows until dialogue is introduced.  We know something wonderful is going to happen.  We are not prepared for the spectacular reveal, but we are shown the generous spirits of children.  Here is a passage.

The day she picked something up.

The wind blew strong.

A red candy wrapper did somersaults.

It landed at her feet.  It hugged her shoe. 

The crisp white canvas on the open and matching dust jacket and book case is ideal for the depiction of a story focusing on color and its part in forming a friendship.  On the front we are introduced to the narrator and the new girl, Violet.  We sense her determination and his questioning.  The design choice to have the title text shift in colors is fabulous.

To the left, on the back, in black and white Violet is walking home from school.  The red wrapper floats by her.  She bends to pick it up and it vanishes inside her backpack.  

The opening and closing endpapers, the same, are a collage of collected bits of paper, trash, and natural objects.  On the title page, the boy and Violet are walking together framed by the text.  A red leaf swirls and loops top to bottom.

Each of the images is animated and richly detailed.  On the first double-page picture the only color is the purple ties holding Violet's pigtails in place.  Illustrator Renia Metallinou alternates between image sizes to follow the pacing of the story.  The first double-page visual is followed by a full-page picture and three vertical panels on a single page.

Gradually, as Violet picks up items, the colors of those are added to the illustrations.  Each subsequent picture is more colorful than the previous one.  After we are as astonished as the boy with what he sees in her bedroom, both children are in full color.  The final two double-page pictures are as warm and inviting as the newly formed companionship.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is a full-page picture.  The boy and Violet are standing in the open doorway to her bedroom.  The doorway fills most of the picture except for a portion of the door on the right.  We are close enough to them that all we see is the upper part of their bodies.  It is the expressions on their faces readers will remember.  One is of intense surprise and respect.  The other is of joy in one's accomplishment.  

This book, The Color Collector written by Nicholas Solis with illustrations by Renia Metallinou, is a wonderful symbol of the power of a single act of compassion.  A friendship is formed.  It also reminds us, we can never truly know someone until we understand their stories.  I highly recommend this title for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Nicholas Solis and Renia Metallinou and their other work, please visit their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Nicholas Solis has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Renia Metallinou has accounts on Behance, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr.  This title is highlighted at Kathleen Temean Writing and Illustrating, Jena Benton Simply 7, Math Is Everywhere, and Write Away.

It Only Takes . . .

It only takes one.  One shy glance, one delectable taste, one resonating note, one gentle touch or one sweet smell to effect a change.  We never know how a simple act, freely given, can alter someone's life.

In those sensory moments, short or long, small or large, we are joined with another being.  It is a force for good.  One Hug (Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, December 10, 2019) written by Katrina Moore with illustrations by Julia Woolf explores a memorable day in the life of a family.  All kinds of hugs convey a range of emotions centered in love.

One hug.

A boy's day begins with a hug from his mother as they watch a plane pass by his bedroom window.  The hugging continues with an embrace from his father.  The boy hugs his sister right out of her bed.  Special hugs are given to the boy from his canine companion.

Each member of the family is busy, moving items from their home to their back yard.  Is it a picnic?  Is it a sleepover?  The letters on a banner spell WELCOME.  Soon shouts of happiness announce a long-awaited arrival.

A grandmother hugs her daughter.  An uncle hugs and whirls his nephew around as three cousins laugh and jump for joy.  The boy's sister, hesitant, joins the hugging jamboree when given some extra tender care.

A shared meal, catching-up conversations and the gentle capture of fireflies spread warmth inside the family members' hearts and a gentle glow outside as dusk descends.  Pajama-clad children build blanket beds inside a tent.  A grandmother's song envelops the nestled gals and guys as they end their day looking at a star-studded sky.


In her debut picture book, author Katrina Moore meticulously builds a narrative featuring enthusiastic embraces within a family.  Her selection of words creates a symphony of rhyming sounds; read aloud it sounds like a song.  Repetition of a refrain is a connecting chorus.  Here are two sentences.

Chasing, racing, to and fro,
sometimes hugs are on the go!

Open arms that swoop around,
some hugs whoosh you off the ground.


When you look at the open dust jacket (I'm working with an F & G. My hard copy is arriving soon.), one word comes to mind, bliss.  It is a bliss born of the embrace between a grandmother and her grandson reunited at last.  It is a bliss born of running at night among fireflies.  Notice the use of circles and loops in the design.  That's what hugs do.  By placing the grandmother and her grandson on the "o" it's as if they are seated on a crescent moon.  It makes a reference to the expression "over the moon."  All the elements on the blue are varnished.

To the left, on the back, the boy and his sister are standing together.  The boy holds his dog in his arms.  His sister is reaching out to hug the dog.  On the title page an interior image of the boy and his sister laughing and hugging is enlarged and placed between the text.

Rendered using

ArtPrint printers ink by Seawhite of Brighton and Photoshop

these digital illustrations by Julia Woolf depict all the delight found in a family whose affection for each other is expressed by hugging.  The close-up portraits of the family's faces when they are hugging supply readers with the sure knowledge of the shared contentment.  Careful readers will also find humor shown on some of those same faces.

Full color pictures are layered with the people and specific elements slightly darker than the background.  Details in the visuals show the blend of two cultures.  Julia Woolf shifts the sizes of the illustrations from full-page pictures, double-page pictures and several grouped together on a single page to heighten the cadence created by the narrative.

One of my many favorite illustrations is on a single page.  It's nighttime.  From the left a trunk of a tree forms a triangle in the upper corner.  A full moon shimmers as fireflies flutter on either side of the open-door tent.  The five children, now wearing pajamas, are getting ready to sleep in the tent.  The two boys are playing with their pillows and laughing.  A girl is laughing and dancing on the grass.  Another girl is hanging a lantern inside the tent.  The littlest girl, the boy's sister, is seated and yawning.  This is a picture you'll want to hug.


You can't read One Hug written by Katrina Moore with illustrations by Julia Woolf without smiling.  The charm of the combination of rhythmic words and images full of merriment surrounds you from beginning to end and long after the story is finished.  For a story time full of mirth pair this with The Runaway Hug, Hug Machine or Hug It Out!  I can't imagine a professional or personal collection without a copy of this book.

To learn more about Katrina Moore and Julia Woolf and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their websites.  Katrina Moore has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  Julia Woolf has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  At Harper Stacks Katrina Moore writes about one of her students and the beginning of this book.  Katrina Moore is featured at 12 x 12 Twelve Picture Books Twelve Months and KidLit411.  The cover reveal is hosted by teacher librarian Matthew C. Winner here.  At the publisher's website there are two pages of printable activities.

You Belong

As an educator, as a teacher librarian, all the children in any given school in any given year enter your classroom, the school library.  They arrive from an assortment of families, economic conditions, ethnic and racial backgrounds with a range of personalities and potential.  They are all beautiful, important and of immeasurable value.

Depending on the community in which they live, some of them for reasons of physical characteristics, language, clothing, cultural or religious practices feel as though they don't belong.  They are asked questions they are unable to answer to the satisfaction of other children or adults.  Where Are You From? (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, June 4, 2019) written by Yamile Saied Mendez with illustrations by Jaime Kim gives readers the best and only responses of true worth.

Where are you from?
they ask.

A little girl is questioned by her classmates.  Adults want to know if her parents are from here or from there.  When her reply prompts them to continue to question her, she is confused. She decides to ask her grandfather, her Abuelo,

because he knows everything.

Walking together with his granddaughter, Abuelo stops for a moment to think. He tells her she comes from the Pampas, the gaucho and the brown river.  He further describes the meaning and value of each geographical feature and person.  He continues this journey by taking her to mountain peaks and oceans painting pictures with his words of the flora and fauna dwelling there.

She also is a part of wild unexpected weather found in this portion of the world as well as the calmer ebb and flow of sunshine and rain.  Each sentence from Abuelo to his beloved little girl speaks of the land and the people and the histories attached to both.  The child, like those who questioned her, wants more.  She needs a specific place.

His response is certain to cause gasps in all readers.  Without a doubt, his granddaughter stops for a moment as joy and warmth fill her soul.  As Abuelo takes her home and holds her close, he speaks of universal, timeless beliefs which will resonate with all of us.


There is not a child (or an adult) who reads the words written by Yamile Saied Mendez that will not feel a connection.  The desire to know who came before us in our families is strong but even more urgent when others press us for answers other than those we know.  Abuelo's descriptions are lyrical and simply lovely; almost like a lullaby.  Through his words we walk through all aspects of a land, its inhabitants and the history of its people.  Each of these portrayals, like layers, are designed to lead us back to the girl's original question.  This makes Abuelo's final words more potent.  Here is a passage.

You're from mountains so high
they tickle Senor Cielo's belly,

where the condor roosts his family
and the jaguar prowls the night.


In a word the image seen on the open and matching dust jacket and book case is bliss.  You can see the shared pleasure in each other's company on both faces.  The path through the field with birds against the afternoon sky contributes to the golden emotional glow.  The field stretches over the spine to the far-left edge.  There are color variations in the grass as if a gentle breeze is blowing.  Even more birds in the same flock are shown flying.  On the jacket the title text, the child and her grandfather are varnished.

On the opening and closing endpapers a vista of mountains and an ocean spreads edge to edge.  In the first a palette of green shades and yellow depicts the start of a day with the large sun rising between peaks and glistening on the water.  Birds are flying from both directions.  On the final endpapers hues of purple color the sky, mountains and water.  A darker golden yellow and orange paint the setting sun.  Birds are again flying from both directions.  Both scenes present serenity.

The pictures rendered in watercolor and digital techniques to create the digital illustrations by Jaime Kim are brimming with animation.  The sizes move from full-page pictures to double-page pictures when the little girl is chatting with Abuelo.  With each page turn you can sense the mood and emotions intensifying by Jaime Kim's use of color.

To enrich the warmth of the narrative Jaime Kim alters her points of view.  Sometimes the pair are viewed close-up or as part of a larger landscape.  Their attire might change depending on the sentences.  They are seen riding horses and wearing appropriate attire when gaucho is mentioned.  Sometimes the reader is given more of a bird's eye view of a scene as in the plaza with reference to Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.  Readers will finally notice the sky changing color as dusk descends on the pair.  This enhances the final sentences and the final image.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations spans two pages.  It is night.  A few golden stars sparkle in the deep blue and purple sky.  This spreads as a canvas on the two pages.  Along the bottom of the page, outlined in those blue and purple colors, are grasses from the field enlarged as if we are peering through them lying on our stomachs.  On the right behind some of the grass the grandfather and his granddaughter sit.  Their backs are to us.  They are looking up.  One of Abuelo's arms is around the little girl; the other is pointing at the North Star.  Simply precious.


Lovingly written by Yamile Saied Mendez and lovingly illustrated by Jaime Kim, this book, Where Are You From?, tells readers all they need to know about their origins.  At the close of this title, readers will realize the human heart is a landscape large enough to include everyone.  I highly recommend this book for your professional and personal collections.

To learn more about Yamile Saied Mendez and Jaime Kim and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Yamile Saied Mendez has an account on Twitter.  Jaime Kim has an account on Instagram and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images from the beginning of the book.  There is also a printable activity, a family tree to complete.  Here is a link to a letter written by Yamile Saied Mendez about this book.

Each Day Start Anew

It does not matter how old you are.  It does not matter how many times you've done this in the past.  Each time, it's like starting over.  You step into an unfamiliar setting, glancing around only to discover your outward appearance is different.  Your brave, confident, inside-self grows a little bit smaller.

It should not be, but for children this is particularly challenging.  Children are courageous, compassionate and more willing to embrace change.  They are in the process of becoming their best selves and this is what makes them vulnerable.  The Day You Begin (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group, August 28, 2018) written by the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jacqueline Woodson with illustrations by award-winning Rafael Lopez explores through beauty in words and images first time apprehensions.

There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.

One or more things about you set you apart from the other people.  The language you speak or the accents given to the words you use are unique.  Saying your name out loud makes laughter fill the room until your teacher repeats it.  Then it envelopes you in welcoming warmth.

What do you say when the other children speak of summer visits to other countries and states, proudly holding mementos in their hands?  Your summer was a comfort to your sister.  Days of shared joy and love, quiet naptimes and hours of reading filled your shimmering-hot weeks.

What do you do when your beloved ethnic food is looked upon as strange at lunchtime?  What if no one will play with you at recess because you don't share the same skills?  This is when you call out to your inside-self asking it to be bold.

You realize, as you tell the tale of your summer, the light of awareness sparks in the eyes of those listening.  You are still a wonderful individual, as are they, but little similarities reach out to join in friendship.  Be strong, little one, your confidence is contagious.


There is a question at Jacqueline Woodson's website,

Do you think you'll ever stop writing?

Her reply shines through each word she carefully places on the pages of her books.

When I stop breathing.

In this title, the unseen narrator softly chats with a child (all children) eloquently using language to fashion scenarios so real you can recall the familiar ache of being different.  The repetition of specific phrases supplies a gentle refrain. Each portion of this story is a layer building toward a marvelous result waiting to be found and released.  Here is a passage.

And in that room, where no one else is quite like you, you'll look down
at your own empty hands and wonder What good is this
when other students were flying
and sailing and
going somewhere. 


All of the poetic truth of Jacqueline Woodson's words is depicted by the vivid, lively and heartwarming images of Rafael Lopez.  The uncertainty the little girl senses is reflected in her body posture and face on the front of the matching dust jacket and book case.  The shifting shades in the varnished colors of the text hint at the color palette. The beauty coming from her book is symbolic of the power of shared stories.  The ruler placed on the door is used several other times within the interior of the book.  This is sure to promote discussions on its significance.

To the left, on the back, text is framed with leaves, trees and flowers from the children's native countries.  Shades of muted green paint a pastoral scene on the opening and closing endpapers.  A grasshopper perches on a stem and a bird rests on a flower stalk.  A single rose-colored blossom, petals closed, is the only other hue on the opening endpapers.  The conclusion of the story is mirrored in the closing endpapers as the grasshopper leaps into the air with two other insects.  Two other birds join the first in flight.  How many flowers do you think are in bloom now?

Rendered

with a combination of acrylic paint on wood, pen and ink, pencil, and watercolors, and put together digitally in Photoshop

these illustrations begin their story on the verso and dedication pages as the child sits in her apartment window reading on a summer day.  All of the pictures extend from page edge to page edge across two pages with the exception of the final wordless single page, the perspective a birds-eye view of pure bliss found in contented children.  Rafael Lopez's rich visuals focus on the children striking a chord in our hearts.

At times we are drawn close to their faces to accentuate a moment.  Other times we step back as imagining and wonder resonate from his scenes. Birds and natural landscapes flow from page to page.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is of the boy dismissed from playing with the other children at recess.  He walks to the edge of the ground bordering a pool of water.  The sky glows with the heat of those first few days of school, a full-bright sun hanging in the sky on the left over a single home.  The boy also on the left, closed book in hand, looks into the water. The water does indeed reflect what is above with a brilliant alteration.  The boy is grinning holding a now-opened book.  There is a yellow glow around him.  From the book loveliness pours forth in vines, leaves and blossoms.

Surely this title has been used to start many classroom sessions.  The Day You Begin written by Jacqueline Woodson with illustrations by Rafael Lopez transcends age inspiring all who read it to bring out our brave, willing to speak our truths with others.  How else are we to make our world better for everyone?  How else are we to discover our connections while preserving our singularities?  This book has my highest recommendation for your personal and professional collections.

To read and learn more about Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael Lopez and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names. Both Jacqueline and Rafael maintain Twitter accounts and Instagram accounts here and here.  At the publisher's website is a teacher's guide for Jacqueline Woodson books, including this title.

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.

Putting Yourself Together

We all know what it's like to start over.  It may be a new grade level at the beginning of a year.  Or we may have moved to a new community.  This means we will adjust to a new neighborhood, a new school or a new job.  We leave behind the familiar entering into the unknown.  Some aspects of our lives are better.  There are other reminders of those things we love that are left behind.

For those who come from one country to live in another country it's more difficult, especially if circumstances have forced them to make this choice.  Lucky Broken Girl (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, April 11, 2017), a debut middle grade novel by Ruth Behar, is based upon her real life experiences. It is a powerful, moving story about the ability of a girl to heal herself physically and emotionally.

When we lived in Cuba I was smart.  But when we got to Queens, in New York City, in the United States of America, I became dumb, just because I couldn't speak English.  

This is how we are introduced to Ruthie, placed in the alternative class of fifth grade at P. S. 117 for students who struggle with math, reading and discipline. (She and her Jewish family came to America fleeing a Cuba under the rule of Castro in the 1960s.)  She is joined by another student from a different country, Ramu, from India.  He and his family live on the same sixth floor as Ruthie and her family. They both have younger brothers in kindergarten, Izzie and Avik.  After eight months on a Friday they pass a spelling test allowing them to move to the regular class on the following Monday.

On that same Friday Ruthie and Izzie receive gifts from their Papi when he comes home from work.  This is as unexpected treat as the family has little money.  They live in a one bedroom apartment with Ruthie and Izzie sharing a bedroom and her parents sleeping on a fold-out couch in the living room.  It prompts a heated discussion between Mami, Ruthie's mother, and her father.

An even bigger surprise is in store for them when Papi returns home from his Saturday job with a brand new car, a sky blue Oldsmobile.  The next day they all, including Baba, their grandmother, drive to the home of friends on Staten Island.  The return ride back to their apartment will alter the course of Ruthie's life.

In a multi-car collision leaving many dead, the Mizrahi family is uninjured with minor cuts and bruises except for Ruthie.  Her right leg is severely fractured.  In order for her leg to heal in the best possible manner, offering her a good chance to walk again, she is placed in a body cast up to her chest.  Initially the doctor tells Ruthie and her family she is to be immobile for six months, only moved by a pole between her legs, to relieve herself and to sleep.

Family members, Papi, Mami, little Izzie, Uncle Bill and Aunt Sylvia (Mami's sister), young twin cousins Dennis and Lily, Baba and Zeide, her maternal grandparents, neighborhood girlfriends, a teacher, Joy Hoffman, Ramu and Avik, a new tenant called Chicho and a nurse named Amara swirl in and out of Ruthie's small world. Small and large kindnesses feed Ruthie's soul, Nancy Drew books to read by daylight and flashlight thanks to Joy, a necklace with the god Shiva dancing on it from Ramu, a mural painted on her cast and painting supplies brought to her by Chicho, Halloween candy collected for her by Izzie, the gift of a typewriter from Papi, a generous present on New Year's Day arranged by special friends, and a woman who won't give up.  Four months pass and an x-ray dictates a new body cast for four more months.  Finally Ruthie has a cast from her toes to the top of her thigh on only her right leg.  Will the Hopscotch Queen of Queens ever heal and walk again?


As compelling as an edge-of-your-seat thriller the voice of Ruthie rings out right into your psyche on the first page.  Someday every reader will be ten going on eleven, is ten or soon to be eleven or remembers those years as if there were yesterday.  Ruthie's perspective is so true to life we feel every single moment with her.  Through her thoughts, conversations with others (especially her Baba's stories), conversations she overhears, and daily incidents we live in her skin.  We are keenly aware of her family's (immediate and extended) structure and everyone's place in it.

Author Ruth Behar accomplishes this by breaking the narrative into five parts and thirty-one chapters.  Each chapter has a heading revealing the essence of its place in Ruthie's story; go-go boots, poco a poco, if Mami stops taking care of me, help me not to hate, applause, applause, birthday wish, the shell is inside me now, true friend, or you can't hug the wall forever. Several of the chapters conclude with Ruthie talking to God, Shiva, Frida (Kahlo), or all three of them.  Here are some sample passages. (I am working with a bound galley.)

In the bedroom I notice my rag doll is missing.  She usually sits on my bed, on top of my pillow.
I run back to the kitchen.  "Mami, where's my doll from Cuba?"
"It was falling apart.  Didn't you notice the stuffing had come out and was getting all over everything?"
"But where is it?"
"I threw it in the garbage."
"Mami, why? That was my doll from Cuba."
"We'll get you a new doll when we have a little money.  Now hurry up and get changed so you can help me."
"Mami, that was so mean!  You should have asked me first."
I knew I was getting too old to go to sleep cuddling a doll, but with her in my arms I felt that Cuba wasn't so far away.  Now she is gone and I feel like I could cry.  But I want to be strong, not weak and sad like Mami, so I try to cheer myself up.

Papi shakes his head and sighs.  He tries to speak English but mixes Spanish in.  "My wife no sabe appreciate that she can complain all she wants because she's in America.  Este en un pais libre, the best country in the world."
Mami wipes her tears with her embroidered Cuban handkerchief that I think is too beautiful to soil with her sadness.

Out of the darkness a man appears.  He looks in through the broken windows, struggles with the lock on the back door, and finally flings it open.
Who is this man? Blood is dripping from the top of his head.
It's Papi!
"Papi! Papi! Why did you all leave me?  Papi, I lost one of my boots.  Can we go look for it?"
"Later.  The car might catch fire."
He bends and picks me up, trying to cradle my right leg in the crook of his arm.  But the leg flops down like the legs of my old rag doll from Cuba.
"Stop, Papi!  It hurts!"
"Calma, calma."

"She's been in bed for over four months," Mami says to him, as if I can't talk for myself.  "The doctor says she'll have to be in bed another four."  Then she lifts the covers in one swoop.  She lets him gaze at the cast on my legs and at the pole between my ankles.  I feel like I'm her freak-show daughter.
But Chicho looks me straight in the eyes and I can tell that he commiserates with me.  He rubs the corners of his dark eyes and pushes back his thick black hair that stands on end.
"You want to sign my cast?" I ask him.
"Mi amor, could I make a picture for you instead?"
"Please, yes, a picture!" I say eagerly.
"Okay, just a minute, and I'll get started."
He runs to his apartment and brings a wooden box filled with paints in many different colors and a few small jars of water.
"This might take a little while, he says.  He smiles and starts arranging the paints and brushes along the edge of my bed.
"No rush, I'm not going anywhere," I reply.
He glances at me, "Ay corazon, that's so sad, it's funny."


You simply can't read this book only once.  I drank it in the first time all in one sitting like I was parched from days on a desert.  On the second reading of Lucky Broken Girl written by Ruth Behar, I paused multiple times moved by the situations endured by this girl.  She gains the wisdom of a lifetime within a year.  Does she get sad, angry, frightened and discouraged? Yes, yes, yes and yes, but her strength of character and willingness to seek happiness when it's difficult to find is truly beautiful.  I highly recommend this book for its rich portrayal of immigrant life within a historical setting, diverse cast of characters, and introducing us to this remarkable girl who put herself together.
To learn more about Ruth Behar and her other work please visit her website by following the link attached to her name.  At her site is a link to an eight-page Educator's Guide.  You can view the title pages, dedication, contents and read an excerpt at the publisher's website.  Here is a link to the cover reveal at the Nerdy Book Club with an essay by Ruth Behar.

UPDATE:  You will want to read this interview of Ruth Behar by author Deborah Diesen on her blog, Jumping The Candlestick.

Enjoy the book trailer.

Matched Memories

It's impossible to remember a time when I have not been collecting something.  When I was younger it was rocks, seashells, pressed flowers and stamps.  When my niece and nephew were growing up, I collected what they did, comics and Beanie Babies.  (They have since found new homes with students.)  I have a bowl beside my computer filled with Petoskey stones and beach glass from my walks with Xena.

My love of books has always been a part of my life; my collection growing (sometimes daily).  In looking around my home, it seems the collections which I still have are a reflection of who I am and meaningful points on my life line; of what is important to me.  Paul Fleischman's The Matchbox Diary (Candlewick Press) with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is a story of collections and recollections.

"Pick whatever you like the most.  Then I'll tell you its story."

A young girl is meeting and visiting her great-grandfather for the first time.  They are standing in a room with shelves and cases brimming with items he has gathered over the years, antiques, framed pictures, vases, boxes, clocks and books...lots of books.  Her selection, he says, will tell him more about who she is.

She chooses an old cigar box, empty of cigars, but full of matchboxes.  Each box is like a passage in a diary, a record of his life.  Unable to read or write when he was her age, this is how he remembered.

An olive pit inside one recalls his life in Italy.  It reminds him of the olive trees, their home with dirt floors, no heat except for the cooking fire and hunger.  To help with the hunger he would suck on an olive pit given to him by his mother.

A crumpled black and white photograph of his father, the tip of a fountain pen, a piece of macaroni, a bottle cap, a hat pin, a Saint Christopher medal, sunflower seed shells, fish bones, strips of dated newspapers, a tooth, a ticket to a baseball game, a piece of coal, type from an old printing press, each placed inside a box, are silent reminders.  When the box is opened the great-grandfather gives these items life with his voice.  They tell of a long and terrifying sea voyage, the hardships of being an immigrant, of prejudice, and desire...the desire to read and write.

As he grew older his matchbox diary took on a new form.  He looked for items representing the stories of others.  Believing every age, every person, has stories, the gift of one generation is passed to another.  Even when the cover on this book is closed, the tale will continue, person to person to person.


As a reader Paul Fleischman had me hooked after the first two sentences; a story about stories.  Told entirely through the conversations of the child and her great-grandfather, as they open each box, creates an intimacy; the feeling of readers being a part of a shared experience.  Very specific, sensory details, of people and events are attached to each of the items.  The narrative is more than a retelling of the great-grandfather's past experiences though; it's the creation of a new relationship. Here is a sample passage.

"We were headed to Ellis Island, in New York.  Someone told me that men would stick buttonhooks in our eyes there."
"What's a buttonhook?"
"A metal tool for closing up shoes, before there were laces. I had nightmares about the buttonhook men.  Then we had bigger problems. A storm hit us. Maybe a hurricane.  The boat bucked like a horse. ...


The illustrations rendered in acrylic gouache by Bagram Ibatoulline are stunning in their realism. The rich, warm, golden-brown parchment like paper background on the back jacket and cover is replicated not only in the cigar box lid on the front jacket and cover but on all the pages in the book. The opening and closing endpapers are awash in faded, textured denim blue.  Heavy matte-finished pages highlight the artwork, creating a masterful blending of the present with the past.

Whenever the focus of the text is on the great-grandfather and the child, full color visuals (nearly photographic in detail) seem to glow.  In contrast each full page (sometimes crossing the gutter) illustration, also done in intricate detail, reminiscent of the events represented by the item, is done solely in the brown tones of an old-style photograph.  Each time a matchbox is opened to reveal the object inside, the perspective shifts presenting it and the contents in actual size.

 My favorite illustration is of the great-grandfather as a boy when he, his four older sisters and mother are reunited with their father in America.  They are shown in a group hugging one another against the background of a dock with a boat and building. The manner in which the emotions are captured makes this portrayal incredibly moving.


The Matchbox Diary written by Paul Fleischman with illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline is a treasure on numerous levels; stories within a story, a gallery of exquisite visuals, and having value with nearly any age group.  Every time this title is read, the reader will notice something new.  It is unmatched in its unique presentation of the immigration experience and a young boy's need to learn to read and write.

The link embedded in Paul Fleischman's name takes you to his website where he reveals how he came to write this book.  This link take you to one of the two-page spreads in the title. Candlewick Press provides a three-page teacher's guide at this link.

El Lugar Tranquilo

Up until college I never had to make new friends or be in unfamiliar surroundings.  After graduation seeking a position lead to moving more than once; four new school districts, communities, neighborhoods, colleagues and friends.  As an adult I had to abandon my shyness letting my passion for what I do take over.  Knowing this I can understand how hard it must be for someone coming into a new country, a strange culture and learning another language when they are young.

How a child adjusts to new circumstances is dependent on support of family, their new school environment, teachers and classmates and, in some instances, the power of imagination.  At times they (we) may dream of a more comfortable spot.  In the newest collaboration by Sarah Stewart and David Small, The Quiet Place (Farrar Straus Giroux, September 18, 2012), a little girl creates her own kind of beauty in her new home.

It is mid-spring in the year 1957.  Isabel, her older brother, Chavo, with her mother and father have left Mexico for the United States to live in a city near Lake Michigan.  In a series of letters, so she can practice her English, she writes back home to her Aunt Lupita, a school teacher.

She recounts the landscape in her journey, of making snow angels in a late winter snow and how speaking and reading Spanish makes her feel safe. Understandably, she is shy at school and although her teacher does not speak her language, she welcomes Isabel with a smile.  Something wonderful happens, too.

Her father buys a refrigerator and gives Isabel the box; her own sanctuary for writing letters and keeping her books.  Even a sudden rainstorm cannot discourage her quest for boxes. Every time her mother cooks for children's birthday parties is a new opportunity to bring home one of those cozy cubbies.

Her supportive family helps and allows her creativity to flower; a single room grows to many.  Each celebration leads to another until it is Isabel's special day.  Gifts of words, the practice of writing, paint, paper, pencil and perseverance are reflected in Isabel's joyful one-of-a-kind quiet place.


Twelve letters sent to Mexico, concise, conversational thoughts filled with emotion, convey to readers the true ups and downs felt by a child trying to fit into one life while longing for her old one.  We journey with her, seeing a blending of the two worlds, past with the present.  Sarah Stewart writes as if her heart is the heart of this young girl.

Words are carefully chosen, as if done by a person learning to think, write and read in another language. A single sentence tells us Chavo has a way with words, Father is thinking how to help his daughter adapt and Mother is understanding in so many ways.  We readers feel compassion and admiration for Isabel because of Stewart's ability to say much with little.

Here are a couple of her sentences from this story.

Chavo said, "We left a sea of blue at our feet and entered an ocean of blue over our heads."

Writing to you is easier than speaking to all the new people in my life. That is because I know you love me.


David Small begins and ends this story on the book's endpapers.  His impressive ink drawings are further brought to life with watercolor and pastel chalk wonderfully evoking a captured moment.  His altered perspectives are a ready invitation; the green landscape of the Mexican village nestled beneath the mountains with a close-up looking into the back of the retreating car, Isabel squatting, elbows to knees, and gazing at the snow angel or looking into the newly acquired refrigerator box with the house, delivery men and truck in the background.

His attention to those tiny, poignant details adds much to his two page spreads throughout the book.  At the Mexican border we see Isabel extending her arm out the car window, teddy bear in hand so he can see what everyone else is seeing, or at the diner counter (1950s Formica pattern) Chavo is reading an edition of Life magazine or when we see the created quiet place, a doll is wearing the same dress as Auntie Lupita in the farewell scene.  Isabel's teddy bear can be found in nearly every illustration.

Four illustrations, in addition to the endpapers and title spread are without text but they continue the story beautifully.  The four-page fold-out near the book's end is a stunner.  Isabel's quiet place is revealed in all it's colorful, imaginative glory.  It's a tribute to her Mexican culture, her resilience and joyful spirit.


The Quiet Place written by Sarah Stewart with illustrations by David Small is a gentle, graceful, story about coming to a new country and starting over surrounded by a loving family who embrace their heritage and their new community.  I love everything about this book; absolutely everything.

If you follow this link to Macmillan  there is a mini-slide show of illustrations.  This link  to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast shows the illustrative process David Small used for this title. There are some gorgeous drawings.

These are links to interviews given by Sarah Stewart and David Small prior to the release of this title.
To get to their main website follow the link embedded in David Small's name at the beginning of this post.