MARTIN AND MAHALIA: HIS WORDS, HER SONG

 A quick pre-Thanksgiving post from my CYBILS nonfiction stack. The Pinkneys, who wrote SIT-IN, which is one of my all time favorite civil rights picture books, have done it again, with a book that captures the friendship of Martin Luther King and Mahalia Jackson.

"They were each born with the gift of the gospel."

Martin SPOKE the gospel
            PRAYED the gospel
            SOUGHT the gospel
            TAUGHT the gospel

Mahalia SANG the gospel
              WORKED the gospel
              LED the gospel
              SPREAD the gospel

The book focuses on the March in Washington. Martin could not speak until he could get the crowd quieted. Mahalia stepped forward and sang, then said, "Tell them about your dream, Martin." That's when MLK gave his famous speech.

I love, love, love the design of this book.  Everything from the fonts and colors to the illustrations is perfect. Certain words, words of power are larger, and in a different font and color, and lend to the poetic feel of the book.   Brian Pinkney's illustrations convey the feeling of moving along a route toward a goal, I especially love the page where Marin is speaking in Washington, DC, and Pinkney elected to turn the book sideways to convey the size of the crowd. In "Painting Parallels" in the back of the book, Brian Pinkney talks about some of the decisions he made about the art, weaving words into his illustrations, an image of a dove on almost every (maybe every?) page, his decision to use blue and green for the Martin and read and orange for Mahalia and then purples and magentas for the two of them. I loved seeing into the illustrator's head in this way.

Other back page material is also really helpful. There is a a two-page spread, "His Words, Her Song" that tells more about the March on Washington, as well as a timeline. There is a list of other books to read, and "discography" by Mahalia Jackson.

Here's an interview of the author and illustrator team.

Definitely one you will want to own. 

SLICE OF LIFE

Tomorrow night my guys come home.

I can't wait to head to the airport

Can't wait to see

those gorgeous guys

And give them great big hugs.

And yet I must confess 

a little trepidation. 

Holidays

for my guys

are sometimes

really hard. 

I am remembering

 our first Thanksgiving.

I dressed my sons in matching sweaters.

We went to my mom's house

Took pictures

of our six month old family.

Watched parades

Played board games

ate turkey and pumpkin pie

My sons entertained everyone

by singing a shark song

they had learned at daycare.

We seemed so ordinary.

I wish I had known

that my boys expected

deep fried turkey

sweet potato pie

cornbread and honey

and I gave them 

roasted turkey

pumpkin pie

and crescent rolls

maybe I am glad 

I did not understand

the complexity 

of fitting together

two very different families

Maybe bigger

I wish I had understood

that holidays

for kids who have never had holidays

Can be really, really hard.

I wish I had understood

that some kids remember

drunken brawls

unfilled promises

fear and sadness

those kids, my kids,

 grieve for a family 

that never 

really

 was.

And so tonight

I can't wait to see my guys

And yet I steel myself

because I know 

holidays

for my guys

are sometimes

really hard.

THREE CHAPTER BOOKS

I really wanted to be at NCTE in Boston this weekend. Since I wasn't, I drowned my sorrows by reading. I finished an adult novel for book club, then read two chapter books that I have been wanting to read since last summer.

ORPHAN TRAIN by Christina Baker Kline is an adult book (but could easily be read by a middle school reader). Seventeen-year-old Molly is growing up in the foster care system in Maine. When she steals a copy of JANE EYRE from the library, she is sentenced to fifty hours of community service with Vivian, a 91-year-old woman who needs her attic cleaned. Molly doesn't expect to enjoy the experience, but soon discovers that she and Vivian, who was part of the Orphan Train from New York to Minnesota as a young girl, have much in common. Alternating chapters tell the two women's stories.

COUNTING BY 7's is a story about another orphan. Willow Chance is a very gifted (genius) twelve-year-old, who finds herself an orphan after her parents are killed in a car accident. Through a series of "chance" encounters, she is taken in by Pattie, a Vietnamese woman who lives in a garage behind a nail salon, and her two teenagers, Mai and Quang-Ha. Willow and Quang-Ha are both under the care of a less than competent school counselor, Dell, who also becomes part of the Willow's extended family, as does Jairo, a taxi driver. Sloane has done an amazing job knitting together the lives of these quirky characters; I cried at the end of this story.

Last night, I read ELEANOR AND PARK, another story about a brave young woman, growing up on her own. Eleanor is in high school. She's overweight, has a mop of red curls, and wears Goodwill clothes that never quite fit. When the book opens, Eleanor has just moved back in with her family- her mom, an abusive stepfather, and four younger siblings (who are all sharing a bedroom). On the bus to school, Eleanor begins a relationship with Park, a Korean boy who has a loving family, but never quite feels like he fits in either. A teenage love story with a shocking ending. I can think of so many middle schoolers who need this book.

TWO BOOKS FOR READERS

 I love books about readers! Here are two from my stack of CYBILS Nonfiction Nominees.

"Thomas Jefferson learned to read. And then, he never stopped. 

He sat and he read. 

He walked and he read. and then, lying in bed,

 instead of sleeping, he read. "

So begins Barb Rosenstock's picture book biography, THOMAS JEFFERSON BUILDS A LIBRARY. Rosenstock traces Jefferson's love of books and reading from childhood (he supposedly read every book in his father's library before he was six), through his long political career. While he was president, Jefferson helped build the nation's Library of Congress,  then, after more than three thousand books were lost when British soldier burned them in 1814, he donated his extensive personal library to create the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.  

Rosenstock's text (which would be a great mentor text for teaching about voice in nonfiction) is hugely complemented by John O'Brien's illustrations; I really can't understand why I'm not seeing this book on Caldedcott lists. Very, very clever- there are books everywhere! The title page, for example, is a Library of Congress, made of out of books. On another page, Jefferson is astride a horse, with a book saddle.  Interesting facts and quotes are contained in book-shaped sidenotes and inserts on each page.

Another reading related biography, MISS MOORE THOUGHT OTHERWISE, details the life of Anne Carroll Moore, the woman who created the New York City Public Library's Children's Department. Anne Carroll Moore, grew up in LImerick Maine, where libraries included some books for older boys, not many for girls or young children. Moore moved to New York to attend the Pratt Institute's Library School, then became the librarian at the Pratt Free Library, where they had a children's room. Eventually, she was asked to take on the children's rooms for all libraries in New York City. Moore set an example for children's libraries across the country-William Howard Taft attended the dedication, and people like Theodore Geisel came to read at special events. Debby Atwell's gorgeous, brightly colored folk-artish kind of paintings add much to this story.

CELEBRATE ON SATURDAY

 

About six weeks ago, Ruth Ayres launched Celebrate Saturday. It's a fun way to review the week and after you will want to head over to Ruth's blog and read more celebrations.

I've been a teeny bit, OK, actually more than a teeny bit, sad for the last couple of weeks. Everyone has been posting about NCTE 2013, held this weekend in Boston.

And even though NCTE is one of my favorite, favorite conferences, I'm not there. With two kids in college, out of state conferences are just not a possibility.  I am sad about missing all of the great sessions. I'm sad about missing the rich conversations. And I'm saddest of all about not seeing dear friends.

I decided, then, to celebrate this weekend by reconnecting with a dear friend.

Cyrene was one of the first people I met when I moved to New Hampshire. A former middle school teacher, Cyrene was a year ahead of me in the doctoral program. She and her husband Jim sort of adopted me, and made me part of their family for the four years I spent in New Hampshire.

Cyrene was one of my biggest cheerleaders during my years at UNH. She responded to one pagers, helped me hammer out the chapters of my dissertation, shared syllabi from courses she had taught. When I turned in the last edit of my dissertation, we celebrated by riding the Matterhorn at IRA.

Cyrene and Jim were avid Patriots fans. I spent many a Sunday afternoon in their family room, cheering for their favorite team. I lost more than one bet when the Broncos played the Patriots. Cyrene and Jim have a cabin on an island in New Hampshire and they introduced me to the joys of island life.

When I moved back to Colorado, Cyrene and I met every year at NCTE. Usually, I'd work on Thursday morning, then jet off to the conference, eager to see my favorite roomie. We'd  share dinners and sessions, stay up late exchanging book titles and family photos. And there would always be Saturday morning oatmeal with Don and Betty Graves.

When I adopted the boys, Cyrene and Jim celebrated by sending a box of Christmas ornaments for our first tree. That year at NCTE, Cyrene and I shopped for silly stocking stuffers (bodily fluids and embarassments figured prominently).

The last three or four years I have not gone to NCTE and somehow, Cyrene and I have kind of lost touch. I have been thinking about my dear friend all week. This morning I decided I would celebrate by sending her an email. I'm hoping the address that I have is accurate, and we will be able to reconnect.

Because today I'm celebrating dear friends…

TWO ANIMAL BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

A new book by two of my favorite Colorado authors? I'm definitely in!

MY FIRST DAY by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page is a collection of interesting facts about how more than 20 animals spend their first day. The Darwin Frog spends its first days inside a special pouch in the father's throat. The wood duck jumps out of its nest in a tree, falls a long way, then paddles after its mother. A baby sea otter dozes on its mama's belly while she floats in the waves. A california sea lion calls back and forth to its mama until she and the mama can recognize each other's voices and she won't get lost. A Mexican free tailed bat's mother recognizes its call and scent from millions other bats. The baby manatee's mama lifts it to the surface for its first breath, but within an hour it's swimming and breathing on its own.

Of course, the reader falls in love with Jenkins signature collage illustrations. Three pages of endnotes have tiny thumbnails and five or six more facts about each animal.

Thinking this would be a perfect sibling gift for a family with a new baby!

And then another favorite author/illustrator, has a gorgeous new book for the just-beginning-to-actually-read-the actual text set. WHAT AM I? WHERE AM I? is a riddle book. Each section of the book begins with a circular picture of part of an animal and the question, "What am I?" The reader makes a guess, then turns the page to see a two-page spread of the full animal, with the text, "I am a ________. Where am I?"  The reader turns the page again and sees, "I am in a ________."

A great nonfiction text for beginning readers. Classic detailed, watercolor Lewin illustrations. Great introduction to habitat vocabulary (grassland, tundra, forest). Another sure winner!

CELEBRATE

YIKES! I almost forgot about celebrating today. One of the reasons I forgot is because I was reading a great book, one of my favorite genre, historical fiction. ORPHAN TRAIN is two stories, woven together. Molly is a seventeen-year-old girl who has grown up in the foster care system. In trouble for stealing a book from the library, she gets assigned to do community service cleaning an attic for a 91- year-old woman named Vivian. Molly soon discovers that Vivian was orphaned in a fire, and rode an orphan train from New York to Minnesota. It's a great story and one that I could definitely celebrate.

That's not what I'm celebrating though. I'm reading the book for book club next Friday, and book club is what I'm celebrating tonight. My book club has been together for a long, long time, more than 15 years. We started out with seven or eight people (it's been so long I can't exactly remember). I think the first book we read was MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL. We've been meeting, pretty much once a month, ever since.

That's a lot of books, but maybe more importantly, it's a whole lot of living. When Karen got married, we had our own rehearsal dinner, buying the ugliest bridesmaids' dresses we could find at the Goodwill, and then surprising Karen by wearing them to dinner at a fancy restaurant. We celebrated with Terri when she was married for the first time at age 50. We had a Hello Kitty sleepover at a hotel when Val moved to Iowa. When I surprised book club by announcing that I had decided to adopt, they quickly took on the role of the "Book Aunties," bringing casseroles and babysitting and providing moral support.

We've celebrated a lot of losses too. We've struggled together through hard jobs and bad bosses. We've all lost parents- my dad and Karen and Terri's mom to cancer, Brenna's dad to Alzheimers. We've watched dreams die. And through out all, we have been together.

Those gals- Karen, Laura, Brenna, Terri, and Val (from three thousand miles away) are my home girls.

And tonight, I'm celebrating more than twenty years of reading and friendship.