"Sojourner Truth: Ain't I A Woman" by Patricia C. McKissack and Frederick McKissac

Sojourner Truth was a self-made, deeply spiritual advocate for equal rights who lived in dignity as a slave and a free woman.  In her mid-forties, she renamed herself and began traveling the country as an evangelizing abolitionist.

Isabella Van Wagener was born into slavery in New York State in about 1797.  In the unlit, unventilated cellar of their Dutch-speaking owners, “Belle” grew up listening to her parents weep as they remembered the ten older siblings who had perished in the brutal living conditions or been sold away by the slave owners.  With her mother’s deep spirituality as sustenance, Belle endured her sale at the age of eleven to an abusive owner and two subsequent sales over the next two years.  She learned to speak English, married another slave, and mothered five children on this farm until running away from her owner in 1826 after he reneged on a promise to free her.  She took refuge in the home of the Van Wageners, a nearby Quaker family who then bought her freedom.  In retribution for Belle’s departure, her former owner sold her five-year-old son into permanent slavery in Alabama.  In one of the earliest U.S. cases of a black woman bringing a suit against a white man, Belle successfully fought her son’s sale in court. 

New York State emancipated slaves in 1827 and Belle moved to New York City.  There, she discovered that two of her older siblings were members of her church and that another sibling had recently died.

“Belle shrieked in surprise.  She knew the woman as one of the elderly mothers of the church.  They had prayed beside each other at the altar and sung hymns together.  They never knew they were sisters.  ‘Here she was,’ Belle told her biographer with tears streaming down her face.  ‘We met; and was I not, at the time, struck with the peculiar feeling of her hand – the bony hardness so just like mine?  And yet, I could not know she was my sister; and now I see she looked so like my mother….  What is this slavery,’ Belle asked, ‘that it can do such dreadful things?”

On June 1, 1843 Belle had a vision to “Go East” and walked out of the city onto Long Island.  That day, she renamed herself Sojourner Truth to identify herself as someone who would spend her lifetime traveling as an evangelist whose “only master I have now is God and His name is Truth.”  She told her personal story as testimony against slavery.  “All her life Sojourner had been a victim of oppression, despised because of her race, and disregarded because of her sex.  It was out of the fog of this life that she emerged at age forty-six, dedicated to the elimination of human suffering.  She would speak out against slavery!”  Truth dictated her biography, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, in 1850.  The following year, this illiterate former slave gave the speech for which she is most renowned.  “Ain’t I a woman?” she challenged repeatedly, bravely asserting that sexism and racism contradicted the principles of American equality and justice. 

The McKissacks’ thorough and inspiring biography is appropriate for older elementary students.  The clearly written narrative is organized into manageable chapters and supported by photographs, illustrations, and other relevant graphics.  In studying Sojourner Truth, students also learn about other key figures in the American abolitionist and suffrage movements. Truth worked with or met Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, and Susan B. Anthony.   Understanding Truth’s biography serves to broaden students’ knowledge of American slavery by highlighting Sojourner Truth’s bondage in a northern rather than a southern state, the wide scope and lengthy efforts of the abolitionist movement, and the vigorous activism of freed and runaway African Americans.

Sojourner Truth, Denmark Vesey, and the Amistad case have been longtime interests and inspirations for me.  Growing up in Connecticut near the Harriet Beecher Stowe house and museum, I was focused on the history of abolition from as early as third grade.  Upon reading The Narrative of Sojourner Truth in middle school, I traveled to Northampton  http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/truth.html

to visit historical sites associated with Truth.  I also charted the nearby Farmington, CT homes that had housed the Amistad Africans, and searched encyclopedias (often fruitlessly in this pre-Internet era) for information on the slave rebellions of Denmark Vesey, George Boxley, and Nat Turner.  Although they took widely disparate paths, I have always been particularly moved by Truth and Vesey and their activism and selflessness in trying to free enslaved Americans.  Truth’s story is accessible and appropriate for early elementary and even preschool audiences.  Anne Rockwell's Only Passing Through  and Catherine Clinton's When Harriett Met Sojourner  were regular read-alouds in our preschool.  I am not yet aware of an elementary level text about Denmark Vesey but David Robertson's 2000 biography is a comprehensive and dispassionate account of Vesey's suppressed rebellion.  It might prove accessible for more advanced and mature student readers.  

I often wonder about the committee meetings that determine which few iconic Americans will be included in curriculum standards.  I envision the debate and consternation when changes in this elite list are proposed and must certainly acknowledge that prominent contributors to American democracy are far too numerous to include in any concise educational guidelines.  However even with these caveats, I would like to make an impassioned plea to the power players of history curriculum standards to make room for Sojourner Truth.  I would politely listen to the proponents of Betsy Ross and nod with understanding when they explain the symbolic importance of her one-month financial contract to sew the first American flag.  But then I would simply offer the clear evidence of Sojourner Truth’s five decades of activism, laboring to attain common decency and basic human rights for disenfranchised American citizens.  Sojourner Truth endured unspeakable hardship and tragedy to advocate for the rights of African Americans and women.  Her personal story exemplifies the perseverance and lofty vision that characterize the iconic American character.  Sojourner Truth merits study, admiration, and appreciation.  She should – and must – be remembered.

"How I Came to Be a Writer" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Creativity and drive are elusive traits, perhaps glimpsed in early childhood activities or blossoming later in university but often difficult to trace back to early development and initial inspirations.  Authors’ memoirs offer readers the opportunity to glimpse these origins, not only of the technician but also of the creator of worlds and characters who become part of our own experiences. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, best known for her Shiloh series, shares her personal history in How I Came to Be a Writer, written when she was 54 years old.  In this personal narrative, Naylor remembers early life landscapes and towns that share some connections with the characters and setting of her 1992 Newbery Medal Award winner. 

Born into the struggles of the Great Depression, Naylor found refuge in books.  They were her literary entertainment as well as her building block toys.  Naylor recalls her kindergarten writing experiences when, in a 1930s version of Writing Workshop, she would sit in the middle of the floor next to her teacher and dictate stories.  Happily, Naylor includes one of these earliest efforts (a decapitation tale!) in her highly enjoyable book.   Clear-eyed and often with a keen sense of humor, Naylor tells of her focused pursuit of a writing career in the face of poverty, familial mental illness, and repeated rejections. 

Unlike Spilling Ink, How I Came to Be a Writer does not instruct readers about how to write but instead provides a vivid backdrop to the influences in Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s life.  I was particularly struck by Naylor’s honesty in confessing that “writing a book frightened me [because] I thought I would be bored with it long before I was through….  What if halfway through I discovered that I simply could not stand the people I was writing about?”  I certainly can understand that the commitment to writing a book must sometimes feel overwhelming but I do not recall having read an author explicitly express such thoughts. 

Upper elementary students will enjoy Naylor’s memoir as a companion to the Shiloh trilogy and as a resource when researching authors’ backgrounds.  Naylor’s personal photographs create a direct connection with her readers and her prose is accessible to young children without feeling trite or overly simplified.  She did not achieve success easily or without personal setbacks.  She persevered through numerous rejections and pushed through her fear of boredom.  Thank goodness.  Without her drive, Naylor would never have created one of children’s literature most enduring treasures, the tale of a kind boy extending himself to rescue an abused and frightened animal.

"Life in the Boreal Forest" by Brenda Z. Guiberson

Brenda Z. Guiberson’s profile of the great northern hemisphere forest sings, crackles, and growls.

“Plish, ploosh! A loon dives for minnows and leeches.”

“Pitpatpat, the hare packs down easy trails with her huge snowshoe feet.”

Life in the Boreal Forest is a feast for the ear as well as the eye.  Guiberson includes rich auditory textures in describing the intricate web of life that lives in these vast but diminishing forests.  Her language transforms a comprehensive description of a habitat into an engaging and melodic read.  This beautiful book focuses on the wildlife that inhabits the snowy forests of Russia, Canada, Alaska, and Scandanavia..  Young children will enjoy the glorious paintings and their vivid depictions of animals and habitats.  A closer look at the art reveals animals hidden in the underbrush, in trees, or perhaps clutched in the talons of a swooping owl.  Older students can use this detailed text as a resource when researching global ecosystems and can make productive use of the end-notes, including a map of the world's boreal forests and information about deforestation and conservation. 

Author of more than a dozen non-fiction books for children, Guiberson was honored with a 2010 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor for Life in the Boreal Forest, recognition of "outstanding nonfiction for children."  On http://www.brendazguiberson.com/, she shares her personal interest in and connection with nature and that the source of her inspiration is her innate curiosity: "I write for the child in me, the one who thrives on adventure and surprises, on learning new things, on understanding and being understood."  Guiberson advises aspiring young authors to "explore, and look closely."  Perhaps, a walk in the forest would provide student writers with such an opportunity as well as a comparison point to the animals and landscapes of the world's boreal forests.

"The Grand Mosque of Paris" by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix

The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Rescued Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland DeSaix

Even in the midst of wartime horror and human atrocity, examples of altruism and compassion exist.  The Grand Mosque of Paris relates such a tale of human connection and kindness in Nazi-occupied Paris.  As in other German-controlled European countries during World War II, the Jewish citizens of occupied France faced grave peril.  “In France 11,402 Jewish children, toddlers, and even tiny babies, were deported to death camps.  Only about three hundred of them survived the war.”  Some French citizens hid their Jewish neighbors and worked to smuggle them out of France to safety. 

This richly illustrated picture book tells the role of Algerian-born Si Kaddour Benghabrit, rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris.  With his staff, the rector hid Jews within the mosque and in the vast tunnels underneath its foundation.  The Kabyle people from the Atlas Mountains of Algeria were the majority Muslim population in Paris.  They spoke a distinct language that they used to communicate as a form of code.  The Kabyles organized a complex operation to transport Nazi opponents out of France.  The Grand Mosque was a Kabyle station where French Jews waited until safe escort could be arranged through its catacombs and out to the banks of the Seine.  Refugees were then hidden in huge wine barrels and smuggled away on transport barges to safety. 

The Grand Mosque of Paris is a print-rich text that would prove a valuable resource for upper elementary students.  Ruelle and DeSaix have included extensive detail and background notes that allow for further study.  Much of this tale remains lost to history.  Participants have now perished and records were not maintained during the operation in order to protect the identities of the rescued and rescuers alike.  The authors include one telling artifact unearthed in their research.  Written in Kabyle, the letter states:

 “Yesterday at dawn, the Jews of Paris were arrested.  The elderly, the women, and the children.  In exile like ourselves, workers like ourselves.  They are our brothers.  Their children are like our own children.  Anyone who encounters one of his children must give that child shelter and protection for as long as misfortune – or sorrow – lasts.

Oh man of my country, your heart is generous.” 

"One Giant Leap" by Robert Burleigh

Robert Burleigh’s One Giant Leap is a wonder.  Edge-of-the-seat suspense and lyrical, exquisitely-crafted language transport the reader alongside Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969 as they descend to the surface of the moon:

“The Eagle dips.  Hovers.  Zigs.  Zags.

Dances over its own shadow.

The seconds tick toward eternity.  Time stops….

An endless, mysterious wasteland,

Whose distant hills are as sharply outlined as nearby stones.

No water. No wind.  No sound.”

Mike Wimmer’s paintings create intriguing perspectives and also feature casual personal portraits of the astronauts completing their work inside the capsules and on the lunar surface.   Burleigh's narrative focuses on small details that shed new light on mankind’s most famous footstep.  Kangaroo-hops and flag planting may be well-known but have you ever considered the scent of the lunar surface?

“This world is not theirs.  Not their own.

Streaks of dirt cover their spacesuits.

The smell of the moondust hits them as they remove their helmets.

“Like spent cap pistols,” they tell each other.”

As the astronauts make their last orbit of the moon, they crowd the portholes to snap a few pictures of the moon’s “billion-year-old landscape.”   Burleigh asks “Can a photo capture the wonder of what they’ve seen?  Not likely.”  I ask, “Can a picture book capture the intensity and monumental accomplishment of human’s first visit to the moon?”  “Absolutely.”  Any elementary, middle, or high school lesson on space exploration will certainly be enhanced by this poetic and gloriously written book.

"How Many Baby Pandas?" by Sandra Markle

A charming informational text organized as a counting book, How Many Baby Pandas? takes readers through the development stages of a panda from birth until it is weaned at eighteen months.  Along the way, award-winning author Susan Markle answers eight essential questions about pandas in the wild and in captivity:  “How does a mother panda care for its young?”  “How do people help baby pandas grow healthy in captivity?”  “What do pandas eat?”  Italicized words correspond to the glossary and text boxes emphasize key panda details such as birth weight, diet, and the fact that baby giant pandas do not open their eyes until they are about two months old.  Large red colored numbers and questions frame playful and interesting photographs of pandas at Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center in Sichuan, China.  End-notes include a glossary, index, map of the panda’s natural range, resource list, and additional information on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake’s impact on the Wolong Center.  The book is appropriate for a wide range of readers.  Young children will be naturally drawn to the beautiful photographs as well as the counting challenge and older readers will be able to use the numerous facts for research purposes.

Pandas are highly engaging, adorable animals and this photo-illustrated text fully capitalizes on their appeal to promote a strong message of wildlife conservation and the importance of breeding endangered animals in captivity.  In response to the title question: “How many baby pandas live wild and free?” Markle writes “Not enough.”   The final photograph features staff members of the Wolong Center holding sixteen panda cubs born in 2005.  It’s a hopeful message of a brighter future for one of the world’s most visible and beloved endangered species.

"Bad News for Outlaws" by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Bad News for Outlaws:  The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Bass Reeves was an outsized character.  He was taller than most men in the 1800s, could wrestle cattle down to the ground, and tracked down gunslingers in the wild and lawless Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) for the famous pioneer judge, Isaac C. Parker.  We first meet him in the midst of a gunfight where Reeves survives four gunshots and ultimately brings down the fugitive.  As author Vaunda Micheaux Nelson writes in her “Author’s Note,”  “Bass’s story is so incredible it comes close to sounding like a tall tale.  But it isn’t.  It’s true.  And I’ve done my best to tell it true.”  Reeves was a deputy U.S. marshal renowned in his day for his impeccable character and his commitment to justice.  As a former slave, Reeves enforced the law in a society that sometimes could not hide its dislike about “the notion of a black man with a badge.”  Yet Bass Reeves continued to uphold the law in the face of racism even when it meant arresting his own son for murder.   When Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907, Reeves’ job ended after more than three thousand arrests and thirty-two years of service, longer than any other deputy marshal.

In reading this captivating biography of an illiterate runaway slave who became the face of the law on the Oklahoma frontier, I was struck by the number of valiant unheralded individuals who contribute to world history.  Bass Reeves is not a well-known figure in American lore yet his story touches upon many important aspects of U.S. history and the idealized American character.  This inspiring narrative, winner of the 2010 Coretta Scott King Award, can be integrated into lessons on slavery, the western frontier, perseverance in the face of racism, and general discussions of citizenship and character values. 

Author of ten books, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2009/02/16/vaunda-micheaux-nelson/) has plowed new ground in researching Bass Reeves.  Her richly detailed vignettes are paired with R. Gregory Christie's striking sepia-toned art, resembling the daguerreotypes of a bygone era.  Nelson also provides end-notes that include a timeline, glossary, history of Indian Territory, and a brief summary of Judge Parker's role on the frontier.  However, the biography’s most powerful image is a photograph of Bass Reeves himself, a truly remarkable man.  Thanks to Nelson, Reeves is no longer fading into history.  We are now all able to appreciate a man for whom “duty was his guide.  Right and wrong were clear and simple.” 

"A Drop of Water" by Walter Wick

A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder  by Walter Wick

Is it possible to be captivated simply by a book title?  A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder stayed in my brain for weeks after it first appeared in a book search when gathering resources for a science lesson.  I would be washing up in the kitchen, see a drop of water, and the phrase "science and wonder" would spring forward and obscure relevant topics that should rightfully have been occupying my thoughts.  "Science and wonder."  Like a musical earworm, the title phrase appeared unbidden (often at inconvenient times) until I finally sated my curiosity, tracked down the book, and quelled my restless unconscious.

Happily, this beautiful and intriguing book measures up to its evocative title and is indeed full of science and wonder.  Photographer Walter Wick is best known for his I Spy series of children’s books.  In A Drop of Water, Wick presents remarkable images of various states and properties of water.  Wick explains that he collects vintage science books, most intended for children and published more than 100 years ago.  Intrigued by the illustrations and the simple experiments, he was inspired to recreate and photograph many of the activities.  These explorations gave rise to this wondrous (yes!) book, Wick’s first solo publication. 

Wick uses full-page photographs, close-ups, and multiple panel sequential images that reveal eighteen distinct properties or states of water.  In “Water’s Smallest Parts,” Wick launches his text with a glorious photograph of a drop of water careening onto a table in an explosion of droplets.  The next drop is suspended in mid-air, a translucent orb frozen by the camera awaiting its imminent fall.  Wick presents images of elasticity, surface tension, adhesion, capillary attraction, water vapor, evaporation, condensation, and refraction of light.  In recreating century-old science activities, he also addresses properties of soap bubbles, molecules in motion, and how clouds form.  Wick’s arresting photographs  of snowflakes are based on techniques dating from 1885.  While his treatment of the water cycle is dispersed throughout the book, Wick offers an abbreviated summary to accompany the final photographs and concludes with a short paragraph emphasizing the indispensable and finite supply of Earth’s water.

The precision and splendor of Wick’s photographs will captivate most students regardless of their reading level.  The accompanying narrative offers thorough but not overwhelming descriptions of the water property being depicted.  Definitions of key terminology are provided in context.  As an addendum, Wick offers suggestions about how to conduct these activities and experiments, recommending ideal weather conditions and equipment specifications. Wick's book of "science and wonder" is appropriate as a read-aloud for younger elementary students and as a resource or independent text for older elementary students.  On a dewy morning or when snow or sleet blankets the ground, I can envision a nature walk comparing first-hand observations with the luminous photographs in this book. Sharing that exploration with a young child is indeed a wonder.  Now, Wick's book will provide the science.

"Akiko on the Planet Smoo" by Mark Crilley

Okay, everyone, listen up!  Time for a little “Stranger Danger” review.  Suppose you are ten years old and receive a cryptic, silvery metallic letter that does not bear a return address and is emblazoned with the warning that it is to be read by you alone “and no one else.”  Would you show the envelope to your loving and attentive mother hovering outside your door?  Lets say you push on and open this mysterious envelope as your best friend looks on giving you advice (yes, you ignore that pesky “for your eyes only” command).  Imagine that it contains a note saying, “We are coming to get you.  Meet us outside your bedroom window tonight at 8:00.  Don’t forget your toothbrush.”  Lets recap, stranger-danger pupils: “We are coming to GET YOU”  (emphasis added by a concerned mother). Perhaps it would be wise not to listen to your best friend tell you that it’s probably a joke and heed your years of instruction and hand that note over to a supervising adult.  NOW.  Finally, assume that you shrug off your extensive stranger danger training and wait until 8:00 to make your decision.  At the appointed time, you discover that two aliens have arrived in a spaceship to take you to the planet Smoo.  Would you balk when they produce a robot in your exact likeness to replace you for the two weeks you’ll be gone?  Well, as a mother, I am happy that you are bringing your toothbrush but am not too keen that you are ready to hop in that spaceship and take off!   In a stranger danger scenario, you would be evaluated (kindly) as “Needs Improvement.”  But as an adventurer and children's fantasy book  heroine, you would be deemed intrepid and engaging.  Just like Akiko!
Akiko is the heroine of ten fantasy adventure books by Mark Crilley.  Akiko on the Planet Smoo launches this popular series, based on Crilley’s comic book series of same name.  The books are humorous, highly readable texts that chronicle Akiko’s adventures as she leads a cohort of misfit alien characters on missions for King Froptoppit.  In this first book, Akiko and her companions embark on a mission to rescue Prince Froptoppit from the evil and crazy Alia Rellapor, the sworn enemy of the King.  On Earth, Akiko was reluctant to become captain of the fourth-grade safety patrol but when called upon for this mission on Planet Smoo, she girds herself and agrees to serve as leader. 

Crilley employs a light conversational tone and displays a flair for dialogue in this humorous and lighthearted book.  This alien world is bright and positive and poses few frights or sad moments.   His short chapters are manageable and serve to drive the action at a strong pace.  In addition, Crilley remains true to his cartoonist roots and offers charming illustrations that support his plot.  For example, he describes Poog, one of Akiko’s stalwart companions, as “really little more than a floating head.  He had two eyes, one mouth, and no nose.  He was almost perfectly round and covered by pale purple-white skin that shimmered like smooth leather.”  Fortunately, Crilley juxtaposes this passage with a detailed drawing of Akiko’s introduction to Poog, thus scaffolding our understanding of the appearance of this key character.

The Akiko series is appropriate for third grade readers and above.  On www.markcrilley.com, the author introduces the Billy Clikk series and “Miki Falls” manga books, his other fantasy books geared for older readers. My son enjoyed the Akiko books from third to sixth grade.  I remember him laughing out loud at Akiko’s encounters with alien life and eagerly sharing funny stories from the first five books in the series.  I had never read the books myself.   I appreciate the humor and the appeal to young readers and certainly would recommend their inclusion in a classroom library.  The Akiko books might prove highly appealing for independent reading, especially for students who gravitate to fantasy, science fiction, adventure, or a text with a comic sensibility.

"A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Richard Peck offers a glimpse of Depression era rural Illinois in his masterful episodic “Novel in Stories” that is A Long Way From Chicago.  Peck is the author of more than three dozen novels for young adults. His 1998 Newbery Honor book is ideally suited as a read-aloud for older elementary students.  The stories provide strong characters, humor, and relatable depictions of life told from the perspective of a boy visiting with his younger sister for a week with their grandmother.  It might be an annual trek a long way from the bustling excitement of Chicago but siblings Joey and Mary Alice find small-town domestic adventure in the house alongside the railroad tracks.  Peck depicts the small pleasures of immersing a bare arm in a cool ice bucket on a hot August day as well as the chills and scares of walking home from an outdoor viewing of a Dracula movie.

Grandma Dowdell is a strong quirky woman who is decidedly not the sort of grandma who smothers her visiting grandchildren in hugs as they step off the train.  Instead she’s the kind of woman who is certainly not averse to bending (or breaking) a few rules (or laws).  With her two city grandchildren following behind, Grandma sits up overnight with a corpse, brings them poaching for fish, lies in wait for robbers, and tells many a whopper of a tale looking straight in the eyes of her neighbors.  However, Grandma stands up for her view of justice.  She feeds hungry drifters being escorted out of town, hides a young girl from her abusive mother, and succeeds in restoring a foreclosed home to her “worst enemy.”

As the novel progresses and the children grow from young children to teenagers, Grandma Dowdell also transforms.  In glimpses, we see her soften.  A gift plane ride is wrangled in one story and a tear is wiped away in a later tale.  Slowly a more nuanced portrait emerges of a woman who was first presented as a towering and uncommunicative enigma.  Words of familial love and affection are not depicted in Peck's novel.  Even during the children's last summer visit, protracted grandmotherly squeezes and cuddles are not proffered:  “She came to the depot to see us off on the day we left.  It was to be our last visit together, and I suppose she knew.  But she didn’t say so.”  Commitment and love are shown through Grandma Dowdell’s fierce loyalty and actions.  In the final page of this humorous and ultimately poignant novel, Grandma Dowdell’s love for her grandson blazes with light out into a dark night and my tears flowed. 

Tomorrow, I’m heading straight to the library to get Peck’s sequel: 2001 Newbery Medal winner, A Year Down Yonder.  Years ago both of my children enjoyed and recommended these two novels yet I did not read them.  Perhaps I was too engrossed in my own reading or simply busy with work.  What a lost opportunity to share these wonderful tales in our family.  Time to rectify my omission.  Stay tuned.  I wonder if my now-adult children still remember Grandma Dowdell.  I am unlikely to forget her.  Especially that last image of an old woman waving at a passing train in the wee hours of a wartime morning.

"Feathers" by Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson’s spare, beautiful novel bursts with powerful emotions of grief, love, hope, faith, and yearning.  As the title suggests, the plot and language of Feathers seem to float lightly for our consideration, giving the reader time to ponder and appreciate the strength and beauty of human connections and our shared hope for the future. 
This lovely, quiet coming-of-age story is set in the 1970s and references Vietnam and the Black Panther movement. Woodson delicately addresses weighty topics such as bullying, segregation, isolation, infant mortality, and religion.  The eleven-year-old African American protagonist, Frannie, lives in an insular and safe community separated by a highway from a white world of opportunity and privilege.  She lives in a loving home with her parents and an older brother who is deaf.  Frannie feels different from her peers not only because she communicates in sign within her family but also because they have suffered the death of one infant and the miscarriage of two other pregnancies.  In addition, a virulent case of chicken pox kept Frannie from entering this new school on time with her classmates one September and left her with a pox in the middle of each palm “like nail holes.”  She feels an enduring separation from most of her classmates.

When a new boy enters the classroom in the middle of the school year, Frannie empathizes with his isolation. She is discomfited by his caucasian appearance and his serene tone but when he spontaneously communicates with her using American Sign Language, Frannie feels a further connection to this unusual boy.  Why is a white boy living and going to school on this side of the highway?  Why does he not respond to taunts?  Some classmates wonder if this nameless boy might in fact be Jesus.  Frannie questions why she is so intrigued by him and must admit that she too wonders about whether Jesus would come back to a community like hers.

Woodson bookends her novel with an Emily Dickinson poem that has captivated Frannie.

“Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.”

Frannie wonders about the meaning of the metaphor eventually concluding, “the writer was thinking about how light feathers are and they can just float everywhere.  And I guess that’s how hope is too – all light and everywhere like that.  There’s hope in this house.  And at your church… Everywhere.”

I relished the quietness of the book.  "Snow coming down like feathers" provides the backdrop to the majority of the novel and seems to muffle the anxiety of school, home, and community.  Families embrace and then fall asleep in one another’s arms.  Music is enjoyed through vibration rather than sound.  Friends hold hands as they walk together to church.  I particularly enjoyed Woodson’s depictions of mundane household vignettes that illustrated the deep love and connection within the family.  The entire book seemed to read like a graceful poem.  My library copy is rife with sticky notes marking beautiful passages and pages that brought me to tears.

Jacqueline Woodson is the author of more than two dozen picture and young adult books.  She is a winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Miracle’s Boys and of two Newbery Honor Awards for Feathers and Show Way.  Although familiar with some of her picture books, I have been unaware of Woodson's young adult fiction.  After Feathers, I am now planning to read her other works.  My interest (like Frannie's) is definitely piqued.

On  her website, http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/, Woodson notes that she loves writing “because it makes me happy. Even when the words are slow in coming and the story seems all lopsided, writing keeps me happy.”  Her joy shines through in “Feathers.”  Even with its pervasive undercurrent of pain and worry, hope and optimism win out and I felt moved and positive.  While I am uncertain whether young adults can reap the full benefit of Woodson’s many themes, I am confident that late elementary and middle school students will relate to Frannie’s life and dilemmas.  Woodson’s novel rings true and her message is uplifting.

"Ride a Purple Pelican" and "Beneath a Blue Umbrella "by Jack Prelutsky

Ride A Purple Pelican and Beneath A Blue Umbrella
by Jack Prelutsky

Books can transport you  - not just to the scene or setting described within but also to a past moment when that book loomed large in your life.   For me, Ride A Purple Pelican and its sequel Beneath a Blue Umbrella warp time and distance to transport me back to the years of early parenthood when I would sing these rhymes to two small children lounging contentedly in my lap.  Prelutsky’s rhymes are often wacky, sometimes lyrical, and undoubtedly delightful when sung to a self-created melody or simply just read straight.



"Ride a purple pelican,
ride a silver stork,
ride them from Seattle
to the city of New York,
soar above the buildings,
bobble like a cork,
ride a purple pelican,
ride a silver stork."

Often incorporating the names of American and Canadian cities, states, regions, and provinces, these poems are alliterative, funny, and highly rhythmical.  Young children soon become familiar with North American place names from Chicago to Saskatoon as they read these animal, human, and nature fables. Each collection includes 28 short poems and is organized with a single poem on the left page and its accompanying framed illustration on the right.  The book’s structure, Garth Williams’ watercolors, and Prelutsky’s highly readable poems work together to render these two collections highly accessible for even young preschoolers. 

Williams, illustrator of Charlotte’s Web and The Little House series, does not overload the reader with distracting details but enhances Prelutsky’s poems with beautiful visual counterparts.   He created colorful and whimsical depictions of frogs in tuxedoes, turkeys in cowboy hats, and even sad looking potatoes:

"Poor potatoes underground
never get to look around,
do not have a chance to see
butterfly or bumblebee.

Poor potatoes never look
at the fishes in the brook,
never see the sunny skies –
what a waste of all those eyes!"

Prelutsky is a highly prolific author of more than 50 poetry collections for children. He confesses to disliking poetry as a child but later realized that “poetry was a means of communication, that it could be as exciting or as boring as that person or experience.”  (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/68)   Prelutsky was named the inaugural winner of the Children’s Poet Laureate award by the U.S. Poetry Foundation in 2006.  At http://www.jackprelutsky.com/, he offers tips for reading to young children and suggestions for classroom activities including “How to Write a Funny Poem.”

As a parent, I found these poems utterly charming and appealing for my children and for myself.  They are highly enjoyable to read; the alliteration and rhythms make the stanzas trip off your tongue.  Ride A Purple Pelican and Beneath a Blue Umbrella are not stored in the attic but remain on our bookshelf, readily available for visiting nieces and nephews. In homage to the Tidewater Virginia area, I close with a favorite Prelutsky poem from Beneath a Blue Umbrella:

"Four fat goats upon a boat
sailed south from Newport News,
and there the four ate clothes galore,
they swallowed socks and shoes.

They chewed on boots, on shirts and suits,
they shared a sweater vest,
a dozen coats went down those goats
before they reached Key West."

After all, what’s not fun about clothing-eating goats on a boat?  Well, just try singing it and it’s even more amusing both for you and your audience.

Yummy by Lucy Cousins

Yummy by Lucy Cousins

Food is central to our lives, our pleasures, and apparently our fairy tales!  In Yummy:  Eight Favorite Fairy Tales, Lucy Cousins’ lends her cheerful, bold artistry to traditional stories that, upon further reflection, do indeed focus on food.   She vividly depicts food that is savored and gobbled, well earned and stolen, vegetarian and fully carnivorous.  Meals serve as a celebration of moral instruction (e.g., The Little Red Hen does not share the fruit of her labors with her lazy friends) and the triumph of good characters over villains (e.g., the Bremen Town Musicians vanquish the robbers).

Four of the eight tales feature some degree of peril and Cousins never sanitizes the predation and menace of these time-honored fairy tales.   Disney’s Little Mermaid might have escaped the sea foam fate of Anderson’s original plot but Cousins does not spare two of the Three Little Pigs from the jaws of a voracious wolf.   Although her art and spare text gear her book towards younger children, Cousins does not shy away from the original sad fates of her traditional characters.  “Hee hee hee” reads the banner across the top of the page as “CRUNCH!  MUNCH! Foxy Woxy gobbled up Goosey Poosey” and friends in the tale of  “Henny Penny.”   Happily, the chicken heroine escapes the fate of her friends as she runs home as fast as she can.  Her text is simple, rhythmic, and accessible for preschoolers and young elementary students.

Cousins is fearless in her retelling of these tales.  In "Little Red Riding Hood," is the wolf smiling gleefully as he swallows Grandmother whole?  Why, yes, indeed he is.  In Cousins’ painting, Grandmother’s feet and nightdress protrude prominently from the wolf’s smiling mouth and the artist adds “gulp!” in large black font next to the victim’s splayed white toes.  A few pages later, she repeats this graphic technique, embellishing the wolf’s decapitation with the bold proclamation of “chop!”  The wolf’s death is portrayed as bloodless but it is still a jolt to see an axe hovering above the wolf’s body while Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother celebrate on the opposite page beneath the wolf’s flying head. 

According to Barnes and Noble and Amazon, British author-illustrator Lucy Cousins has published more than 300 books.  Her Maisy the Mouse series is ubiquitous on preschool bookshelves and in family libraries.  Personally, I have never been an avid fan of Cousins’ art.  While I am drawn to her bold palette and joyful tone, I have not been attracted to her simplistic black outlines and primitive style.  However in this particular book, Yummy‘s charming and childishly-rendered art seems to lower the emotional load of these clearly gruesome stories.  Cousins repackages the often-fearful villains in a vibrant, colorful, and naïve manner.  In so doing, she successfully declaws these villains and focuses on the fantasy aspect of the story and the ultimate triumph of the heroes and heroines.  Hungry wolves eventually end up in the stewpot and Goldilocks finally leaves the Three Bears to enjoy their porridge in peace.  The stories always end well for the main characters.
   

Parents of young Maisy fans might find Yummy to be a palatable means to introduce their young children to traditional fairy tales.  Turnips, porridge, and even a huffing-puffing wolf are all served up in this tasty collection of stories.  Dig in!

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, Illustrated by Ed Young

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein is a strikingly beautiful picture book that addresses a fundamental tenet in Japanese culture.  A Kyoto house cat is called wabi sabi after the Japanese aesthetic ideal of the same name.  On the title page, Reibstein defines wabi sabi as “a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture.  It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, natural, modest, and mysterious.  It can be a little dark, but it is also warm and comfortable.  It may best be understood as a feeling, rather than as an idea.”

Wabi Sabi, the cat, sets out through the streets of Kyoto in a quest to discover the meaning of her name.  She travels across an urban landscape and enters a wooded park where she discusses the meaning of wabi sabi with a wise monkey.   At a prominent Kyoto shrine, Wabi Sabi “ found the place to be very beautiful – in a wabi sabi kind of way.  Although the buildings and gardens were shaped by humans, they were neither fancy nor grand.”  In the end, the cat returns to the simple straw mat of her kitchen, content and warm.

This ambitious text is uneven.  The inclusion of haiku into the narrative flow is occasionally successful.  When the cat receives a cup of tea, she feels
“A warm heavy bowl
comfortable as an old friend –
not fine, smooth china.”
However, I find that the prose is generally disrupted by the clumsy inclusion of haiku that does not deepen or forward the text.  In addition, to my ear, even when eliminating most of the jarring haiku, the text itself is not smooth and might not be appropriate as a read-aloud.  Finally, I am somewhat confused about the potential audience for the upper level content of the story.  Unless they have an existing cultural grounding and understanding of wabi sabi, younger children might indeed remain unclear about this aesthetic ideal.  Reibstein makes allusions to the wabi sabi definition rather than offering explicit explanation.  I strongly disagree with the Barnes and Noble age range notation that this challenging book is targeted for infants (!) or children in preschool.  Older children will find more enjoyment and comprehension in this text.

With this caveat on the narrative content of the book, I heartily recommend Wabi Sabi for its phenomenal art.  Ed Young has created another glorious chapter in his magnificent portfolio of children’s illustrations and the publisher has augmented Young’s art with Japanese kanji haikus and chop style formats for the author and illustrator credits.  Illustrator of more than eighty books, Young won the Caldecott Medal for Lon Po Po in 1989 and has twice received Caldecott Honors for Seven Blind Mice and Yeh Shen.  Wabi Sabi has reaped numerous honors including recognition by the American Library Association and the New York Times Book Review as a notable children’s book. 

In homage to Asian scrolls and literary norms, Young’s marvelous collages are oriented vertically.  Using a broad range of found and natural materials from his home, Young creates a rich, textured, three-dimensional quality to his illustrations.  The result is impactful and engaging.  The work is an amazing accomplishment considering the fact that Young completed this assignment under a short deadline after his initial two-year project of Wabi Sabi illustrations disappeared!  Young had already discarded his original, high-quality and purpose-selected art materials, so he “decided to use wabi sabi materials” and ferreted out resources as varied as dryer lint and corn husks to create his magnificent art.
http://howtobeachildrensbookillustrator.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/the-breathtaking-collages-of-ed-young-in-wabi-sabi-2/

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon

All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, Illustrations by Marla Frazee


Need a vicarious vacation?  How about a beach outing on a breezy weekend day?  The smooth poetic rhythms and panoramic images of All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon channel relaxation and ease.  This lovely book seems a natural choice for a quiet interlude or bedtime cuddle.  Although filled with activity and companionship, the text projects a steady reassuring tone and the illustrations depict warm interactions between family and friends over the course of a summer day.

Drawing upon a laundry list of selections from recent New York Times’ recommendations, I was initially attracted to All the World by Marla Frazee’s striking cover illustration.  Two young children are viewed from behind, highlighted against a background of a towering cumulus cloud as they stand on a sand dune overlooking the sea.  Awarded her second Caldecott Honor for All The World, Frazee features a multicultural cast of characters in her sweeping artwork including a relatively rare portrait of an interracial family.  The illustrations alternate between vast natural vistas and intimate family scenes and provide great opportunities for interaction with the reader.  Is family from the beach at the market?  Has the man with the wagon joined the gathering at the fountain?  Have the bicyclists arrived at the restaurant and house?  Frazee does a particularly effective job in conveying the descending darkness, the routines of a closing day, and the cozy connections that define human relationships.  Her paintings of hugging parents, a mother nursing a baby (while studying textbooks), and a father nuzzling his infant pair perfectly with the last pages of text: 
“All the world is everything
Everything is you and me.”

Ultimately, the poetic text clinched my decision to tuck Scanlon’s picture book into my bag and take it home.  All the World is a natural read aloud.  It has the rhythm and refrain of a classic: 
“… All the world is wide and deep.
…  All the world is old and new.
…  All the world has got its sky.”

Scanlon’s words roll out like a long-loved lullaby.  I can imagine making this assured and lyrical book a cornerstone of a bedtime routine.  When shared with a sleepy child, the poem is an enticement to put away the cares of the day and relax into the comfort of soft pillows and a warm bed:
“Spreading shadows,
setting sun.
Crickets, curtains, day is done
A fire takes away the chill
All the world can hold quite still”

The book concludes …
…Hope and peace and love and trust
All the world is all of us.”

For me, the mood created by the modulation and sounds of these words is reminiscent of some of our family’s favorite bedtime selections including Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon and Sandra Boynton’s The Going to Bed Book.  I can envision this charming and beautiful book as a natural addition to that select list of beloved books read just before a precious kiss goodnight.  All the World is a true gem.

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman, illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski

Well-worn topics in children’s picture books - colors and seasons - find new life in Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman. Paired with Pamela Zagarenski’s glorious illustrations, the colors of the seasons leap off the page in a festival of vivid language that stretch the mind and stimulate the senses.


Sidman’s poetic language dares you to sense and see color and objects.

“Red swells
on branches bent low.
Red: crisp, juicy,
crunch!”

Did you envision apples? Throughout this delightful book, the author substitutes a color name for an object. For example, snow becomes “white” in the winter section.


“White whispers
f
 l
  o
   a
    t
     s
clumps
traces its wet finger on branches and stumps.
White dazzles day
and turns night
inside out.”

This technique transforms the poem into a guessing game and focuses attention on the specific language choices of the text. I always appreciate a children’s book that plays with lyrical language and advanced vocabulary. Sidman’s delightful book thoroughly celebrates the intricacies and auditory delight of language. She fearlessly presents advanced vocabulary words.

“And where is Blue?
Humming, shimmering,
Snoozing in the lazy haze.
Dancing on water
With Yellow and Green.
In summer,
Blue grows new names:
Turquoise,
                azure,
                             cerulean.”

Try saying, “humming, shimmering, snoozing” and feel the words in your mouth. Stretch them out as you repeat them and imagine how this delivery will engage young listeners and draw them in. Do your young students know the meaning of “shimmering” or, harder still, “cerulean” and “azure”? Probably not. Yet even the youngest listeners will respond to the richness and rhythm of the text and may leave the book with a new understanding of the advanced vocabulary presented so seamlessly within the text. After all, how many Beatrix Potter lovers grew up knowing the meaning of “soporific” as a result of The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies?

With its expansive and demanding word selection, Red Sings from Treetops is not necessarily a good book for early readers. Advanced readers who are already familiar with the text may be able to make their way through such challenges as “dolloped,” “sequined,” and “lustrous.” However, it is a wonderful, lyrical read aloud for both adult reader and young listener alike.

The vibrant paintings invite exploration and provide many connections between pages. Follow a cardinal, the “Red” of the title, as it flies between the pages accompanying an unnamed human character and a small dog through the progress of the seasons. In keeping with the whimsy and fantasy of the illustrations, the characters all wear crowns and are sometimes standing on wheels Textures and rubbings often peek from beneath the painted pages and print is frequently a part of the illustrations. For instance, a wheel is decorated with the word “circle” and the main character is adorned with various clothing patterned with the names of the seasons. Zagarenski’s fanciful illustrations were recognized when Red Sings from Treetops was named a 2009 Caldecott Honor Book.

So expand your already burgeoning color and season collection with this beautiful book. Its language and illustrations make a welcome addition to any library.

Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey

Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey

Silliness sells books.  Why?  Well, goofiness grabs the attention of even the most reluctant readers and true inanity is so much fun that you simply have to read the book again and again and eventually buy it yourself or wear out the library copies.  So lets thank Dav Pilkey, master of goofiness, for maintaining his high silly quotient and keeping young readers engaged in hilarious and sometimes irreverent tales. 

The prolific author and illustrator of the Captain Underpants, Ricky Ricotta, and Dragon series, Pilkey brings his special brand of silliness to picture books in Dogzilla.  From the outset, Pilkey sets up this book as a clear spoof of the Godzilla films.  He begins with a credits page noting the true names of his animal “actors” (his actual pet dog and mice) and proclaiming an “EG” rating: “This book has been rated ‘Extremely Goofy.’ Some material may be too goofy for grown-ups.”  Well, not too goofy for this grown-up.  Dogzilla and its companion book Kat Kong are among my favorite read-alouds. 

Who can resist intoning the mock horror narration of a B movie and saying all of these ridiculous puns?  Dogzilla, “the most terrifying creature ever known to mousekind” emerges from a volcano after smelling the savory scents from Mousopolis’ First Annual Barbecue Cook-Off.  Wacky antics ensue as the mice attempt to counter the monstrous mutt and her horrible dog breath.  For the amusement of the audience, cliched phrases are sprinkled throughout the text.  “What are you, men or mice?” and “You simply can’t teach an old dog new tricks” assume new relevance when presented in the context of this mock creature feature.  However, my favorite line has proven enjoyable for children as young as toddlers and is featured when the mouse military leader pursues Dogzilla back to her volcano:  “The Big Cheese tried to catch up to the hot dog with all the relish he could muster.”  Get it?  Silly, yes, but young children find this page hilarious because they can understand the joke even if they don't fully comprehend the terms "relish" and "muster."  Dogzilla is tremendously fun to read and together with Kat Kong became a much anticipated tradition of my preschool’s summer camp.

Pilkey melds photographs of his pets with vibrant cartoon-quality illustrations.  Children enjoy pointing out where the photographs end and the paintings begin.  Using this engaging technique, Pilkey creates hilarious vignettes of helmeted mice riding in tanks and wielding fire hoses and a bespeckled professor sporting horn-rimmed glasses and carrying a giant scrub brush.  The mild demeanor of the title character offsets any potential fear factor for young children.  Dogzilla herself is an amiable looking corgi whose photograph is superimposed on vividly colored backdrops of erupting volcanic ash and jagged lightning bolts.  Even when wreaking havoc on the streets of Mousopolis, she sports a goofy dog smile.

So remember silly Dav Pilkey when you are searching for an enticement for a disinterested reader.  Even Pilkey’s first name is a testament to his goofy outlook.  It’s pronounced “Dave” but spelled “Dav” in silly homage to a nametag misspelling from a former job at Pizza Hut.  His kind-hearted and goofy books have come to the rescue in many a home including my own.  Thank you Captain Underpants for keeping my then second grade son reading books!

For a complete list of Pilkey's work, interviews, and even goofy games, visit http://www.pilkey.com/

Dogger by Shirley Hughes

Dogger by Shirley Hughes
 
Simply put, Dogger by British author Shirley Hughes is a treasure. Grounded in family routines and sibling kindness, this simple tale may set the gold standard for modeling empathy in books for young children. I first read this book as a parent, then gifted it at innumerable baby showers, later ordered it for my preschool library, and always included it as one of our “Fifty Fabulous Reads” for our preschool summer camp reading blanket area. Although our children are now grown, Dogger remains a cherished part of our family library and I relish the opportunity to pull it out and read it aloud when young nieces and nephews come to visit. And yes, on occasion, I may indulge in a solo reading just to enjoy Hughes’ soothing portrait of tender familial connections.

Dogger captures a toddler’s fervent yet sweet attachment to a favorite toy. Dave is a preschooler who plays exclusively with a careworn soft brown plush dog called Dogger. He snuggles with Dogger every night in order to go to sleep. One day after accompanying his mother on daily errands, Dave is unable to find Dogger. The family looks throughout the house and even out in the yard “but Dogger was quite lost.” Dave’s older sister Bella offers him one of her teddy bears for a bedtime cuddle “but it was not the same thing as Dogger. Dave kept waking up in the night and missing him.”

The next morning, the family attends Bella’s school fair. Bella wins the Three-Legged Race as well as a raffle with a huge teddy bear as the prize. Feeling sad and somewhat resentful of Bella’s success, Dave wanders around the fair booths and discovers Dogger on the yard sale table! He tries to explain that Dogger belongs to him and has mistakenly been placed in the yard sale. When he is unable to persuade the seller to return Dogger to him, Dave rushes to find his parents in the schoolyard crowds. Finally, he finds Bella, explains the problem, and rushes back with her to the yard sale. When they arrive at the toy stand, they see a girl walking away with Dogger. Bella attempts to buy Dogger back from the girl and soon Dave and the little girl are both crying because each wishes to have the little brown dog.

“Then Bella did something very kind.” She swaps her brand new enormous teddy bear for the old worn out Dogger. Dave is reunited with his beloved toy and order is restored to his world.

Author and illustrator of more than fifty of her own books and illustrator of dozens of other works, Shirley Hughes art is instantly recognizable. Her work is characterized by fluid pen and ink drawings and representative illustrations of the coziness and general untidiness of homes with young children. Toys are strewn across floors, clothes are rumpled, hair appears windblown, and detailed cityscapes are full of familiar objects and characters. Her illustrations evoke inhabited and comfortable family environments. Hughes is especially skilled at portraying body language and facial gestures. In a 2003 interview coinciding with an exhibition of her artwork, Hughes stated that her drawings are created rapidly “almost at the speed of seeing” (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/shirley/index.asp). In Dogger, these rich and itemized illustrations create direct connections with Dave’s home and room. The art also allows children to speculate about the circumstances when Dogger was lost. Later, in an overhead illustration of the school fair, they are able to explore the many booths and the location of the yard sale toy table where Dogger is ultimately found. Can he be seen in the aerial painting? Many children declare that he is indeed visible.

Dogger was Hughes’ first international best-seller and won the 1977 Kate Greenaway Medal, Britain’s annual award for outstanding illustration in children’s literature. She is well represented in US libraries where earlier US editions of Dogger are sometimes found under the title of Dave and Dog. Her other notable children’s books include Tales of Trotter Street and the Alfie series including my personal favorites, Alfie Lends a Hand and Alfie Gets in First.

Hughes writes in clear simple prose without indulging in saccharine language or overwrought emotion. I particularly appreciate that Hughes never uses the term “love” in the entire book. While the story is certainly infused with love between siblings, among family, and even towards an inanimate object, Hughes chooses to avoid using what might be a pat and overused term. However, I choose to use this word in describing my own reaction to Shirley Hughes’ work: I love her charming tales of small domestic, interpersonal drama. Her work rings true. Hughes perfectly captures the stomach-dropping panic felt upon discovery that a child has lost his favorite lovey. And she always evokes a pang when I read of Bella’s loving act to help her bereft little brother.