The Friendship Doll, by Kirby Larson

Bunny stood on the top step at Mrs. Newcomb’s Academy for Young Girls, careful to avoid getting slush on her new white kid boots, peering around the statue of the school’s namesake to watch for Carson.  Most of the other fifth-levels were in a knot on the far side of the landing.  It’d been that way since Bunny started at Mrs. Newcomb’s in the fall, but today she didn’t give a fig about those other girls.  Just wait until they saw her name and picture in the paper.  That would show them.
Father’s new Minerva Town Car glided up to the curb.  Carson stepped out and came around to open the door.  With a posture that would’ve made their beleaguered charm teacher proud, Bunny swept down the fifteen marble steps — head high, shoulders back — placing her feet daintily to keep her boots dry…As Carson closed the door, Bunny stole a quick peek out the window, catching Belle Roosevelt sticking her tongue out at her.  Bunny didn’t even bother to stick her tongue out in return.  Absolutely nothing was going to spoil her day!
…Mr. Reyburn, president of Lord & Taylor, one of the oldest and best shops on Fifth Avenue, had telephoned to ask Father if Bunny might like to try out to give a speech.  The occasion would be a welcome ceremony for some Friendship Ambassador Dolls sent from Japan.  Bunny had said yes straightaway.  Even though she always got high marks in elocution, she could scarcely sleep for two nights afterward for the excitement of it.

In 1927, fifty-eight elegant dolls were sent by schoolchildren in Japan as ambassadors of friendship to the United States. This fictional story traces one of them, a 3-foot tall, ebony-haired beauty named Miss Kanagawa, as she moves about the country, passing from one set of hands to another, over a period of fourteen years, with a final leap forward to the present.  Beginning with the glittering display in New York City, Miss Kanagawa finds herself at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933, in the hills of Kentucky during the heart of the Depression, in a small museum in Oregon at the outbreak of World War II.

Along the way, four young girls, from widely differing stations of life,  encounter this doll —  Bunny is from the upper-upper-crust in New York City, while Willa Mae is a poverty-stricken girl whose one bright spot is the visits from the Pack Horse Librarian; Lois visits the Chicago World’s Fair with her aunt, while Lucy is an Okie, fleeing dust and misery with her father.  As each of these girls meets and interacts with Miss Kanagawa, a lovely, mysterious, mutual connection happens.  Though elite Miss Kanagawa prefers to hold herself aloof from these children, she cannot help but see into their hearts, to understand their woes or errors.  As she silently counsels them, the girls grow in kindness towards others, grow in love with Miss Kanagawa, and in turn, her stiff doll’s heart is awakened, Velveteen-Rabbit-style.  Her role as a Friendship Ambassador is fulfilled beyond what she ever imagined.

This intriguing historical-fiction title offers a tasty sampler of American history and settings, aimed at girls, 9-12. Each new place is delightfully colored in with many historical details, before we’re whisked off somewhere else.  The narrative flips back and forth between the doll’s perspective and the girls’ stories, and includes news clippings and letters which add extra spice to the text.  Although a doll story could  become a bit precious, this one is quite grounded in reality, especially as much of the story takes place during the Depression.  In fact, there are several periods of deep grief in the story, so be aware — about on the scale of Little Women, I would say.  An interesting Author’s Note at the end speaks of which elements in the story were factual, and which were pieced together from known facts.

Reminiscent of Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, this is a shorter, more emotional story, published just last year, that I really enjoyed.

Here’s the Amazon link:  The Friendship Doll

King Jack and the Dragon, written by Peter Bently, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury

Sturdy Jack, his pal Zack, and tag-along baby brother Caspar, are set for adventure!  Armed with a hefty cardboard box, an old sheet, a few stout sticks and some other odds and ends, these guys build a keen fort and promptly become knights for the day.  They joust with dragons.  They do battle with beasts to rival The Wild Things.  They feast like kings.  Jack is having such a grand time, he declares they’ll all spend the night in the fort.

However.  Parents from the outside world intervene.  First Zack, then Caspar are hauled off, and Jack finds himself alone…in a box…in the gathering dusk…and it’s more than a bit scary.  When a Thing with four feet approaches, Jack’s courage seriously flags!  What can it be?!

New in 2011, this is definitely one of the best new offerings for preschoolers I’ve seen in years.  I adore it!  It’s got a great story arc, with just enough suspense, plenty of zest, and oodles of comfort.  The topper is,  Helen Oxenbury has adorned it with her trademark, genius watercolors.  Her soft line and palette capture those delightfully-rounded, preschool tummies in their slightly saggy pants so charmingly they make your heart ache.  The postures of her children, and the meanderings of the baby on the periphery of the make-believe, are spot on.  Her dragons and beasts are gloriously lumpy and snurgly and bumptious.  Her families love on each other with the sweetness of a summer peach.

Okay.  Have I convinced you?  If you have someone 2-5 years old in your life, find this book!  You’ll read it many times!

The Little Red Hen, told and illustrated by Paul Galdone

You know this story.  A lazy cat, sluggish dog, and loafing mouse all decline to help busy little red hen with all the work around the house. So nervy they are!   Likewise, when she asks who will help her plant and tend some wheat, mill it into flour, and bake a cake, they all reply in the same limp words, “Not I.”  With nary a murmur, that little red hen does it all herself.  However, when the delectable aroma of cake wafts its way through the house, and the three sluggards follow their noses to claim a slice, wise little red hen puts her wee foot down.  She tells those good-for-nothings that they shall not have a share of the reward since they didn’t do any of the work!

Ah…sweet justice.

Paul Galdone is one of my favorite nursery tale illustrators.  He’s done quite a number of them, and I have sought them out for my own kids.  He packs so much personality into his ink-and-watercolor illustrations!  These are not sweet, precious renditions; they zing with bold line and radiate with indolence or indignation or industriousness as the scene requires.  The page layouts are fantastic; even the repeated dialogue from cat, dog, and mouse is given Galdone’s clever treatment.

Read this one with your kids, and let them chorus aloud along with these lazy buggers!  A Swanson family favorite!

Ginger, written and illustrated by Charlotte Voake

Ginger is a glorious armful of orange marmalade cat who lives with a charming little girl, enjoying tasty meals and lounging in his comfy basket bed.  It’s a great life for a cat.  Until…

…a springy black kitten arrives on the scene.  Botheration!  This little furry annoyance gives Ginger not a moment of peace, steals Ginger’s food, and even has the audacity to clamber into Ginger’s very own basket bed!  Harumph!  So, Ginger leaves.

Things are mighty lone and lorn without Ginger around.  Plus, the kitten gets into all sorts of mischief.  When the little girl finally finds Ginger, miserably sheltering from the rain, she smartly solves the problems, including providing a nice box bed for the kitten.  All seems settled.  But Ginger still manages to surprise us in the end!

Ahhh.  This is such a lovely book.  The story is fantastic, with a nice arc to it, and a couple of happy twists at the end that make each page turn a delight.  The watercolor-and-ink illustrations, set on creamy, cafe au lait pages,  are superb.  A bit of Edward Ardizzone’s line to them; full of that homely, old fashioned British flavor, and quiet warmth; bursting with cat personality.  Then, the text is set in large, clear, beautiful type, set about the pages in pleasing tidbits.  It’s like Mary Poppins — practically perfect in every way!  We loved checking this one out of the library when my kids were small.  You’re sure to love it, too.

Leap Back Home to Me, by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Here we have a jolly green froggy mama and her froggy youngster.  This froggy young’un cannot wait to see the world.  He wants to leap, sproing, whoosh about the world in ever farther bounds!  Whoopee!

Froggy mama is good with that.  She encourages him to leap.  First, come small, easy hops over tiny critters and bitsy clover patches.  Then come bigger ventures — creeks, trees, seas.  Before long, this little fellow is touching the stars!

After he’s had his jump, though, he leaps back home to mama for the luxuries of home — a story, hot supper, a hug.  No matter how far he roams, Mama will always be there for him to come home to.  Such a comfort.

Think of this as a contemporary (2011), sprightly version of Runaway Bunny.  It’s zippier than Margaret Wise Brown’s story, and Mama Frog cheers her daredevil on as he strikes out from home, but the steadfast mama and the rock solid home that’s there for returning adventurers is similar.  It’s a happy, loving combination.  The text is set in pleasant, loosely-rhyming verse, that will easily be memorized and chanted by young listeners.

Cordell’s ink-and-watercolor illustrations are carefree, loose, summery glimpses of an eager, confident little frog and his proud, doting mama.  There’s so much exuberance and motion and glee, I dare you to read it without a smile on your face!

Each Peach Pear Plum, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

The peaceful, rolling, green hillsides and dusty, country lanes, English country gardens and charming, whitewashed, cottages of fairy tale land are the setting for this classic “I spy” book.

First up is a fruit orchard.  The trees are laden with golden pears, plump, purple plums, rosy apples, and…who’s that perched among the leaves in his dandy blue breeches and lemon yellow stockings?  It’s Tom Thumb!

Turn the page.  There’s Tom Thumb again, this time easily seen, plunked in Mother Hubbard’s cupboard sampling strawberry jam.  But, can you find Mother Hubbard herself in the picture?

Turn the page.  Now Mother Hubbard is center stage.  She’s down in her cellar in her jaunty polka-dot dress, getting ready to do the wash.  But wait — there’s someone else in the cellar, too.  Can you spot Cinderella?

On and on it goes.  Each nursery character you find hiding on one page, is front and center in the next scene, and someone new is lurking there.  A very short couplet tells you who to search for in each charming picture.  So much fun!

Janet and Allan Ahlberg teamed up on many confections for toddlers before Janet’s sad, early death.  This is one of the dearest.  Her detailed, cheery scenes are warm, homely, delights.  The variety of ways she tucks these wee characters into the settings is so clever.  Countless children adore this book; my own can still recite it word for word after how many years?!  That’s how good it is.

Here are Amazon links for these five books for the animal cracker crowd:

King Jack and the Dragon

The Little Red Hen (Folk Tale Classics)

Ginger

Leap Back Home to Me

Each Peach Pear Plum (Picture Puffins)

Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went out in his carriage to visit the King,
But everyone pointed and said, “Look at that!”
Jonathan Bing had forgotten his hat!”
(He’d forgotten his hat!)
Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went home and put on a new hat for the King,
But up by the palace a soldier said, “Hi!”
You can’t see the King; you’ve forgotten your tie!”
(He’d forgotten his tie!)
Poor old Jonathan Bing,
He put on a beautiful tie for the King,
But when he arrived an Archbishop said, “Ho!
You can’t come to court in pyjamas, you know!”
Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went home and addressed a short note to the King:
“If you please will excuse me I won’t come to tea,
For home’s the best place for all people like me!” 

Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World, by Susan Hughes

The Druk White Lotus School, tucked in the breathtaking Himalaya Mountains, enables Ladakhi children to live at home rather than move to a remote boarding school, separated from family, language, religion, and culture.  Its gorgeous, award-winning building is constructed of local materials such as grass, poplar, and mud bricks, and is powered by the sun, with thick walls to trap that warmth inside the school during harsh winter days.

A train platform in Bhubaneswar, India, is the spot for another set of kids to learn to read and write, eat some lunch, and get a check-up from a doctor.   Seeing hundreds of children scrabbling for their livelihood during crowded rush hours — begging, selling tea, polishing shoes — one woman began reading them stories after rush-hour…and then teaching them to read the stories for themselves.  She now serves over 6,000 destitute children.

A tiny one-room school hidden deep in the Amazon jungle; a spectacular school meeting the needs of an entire village in Burkina Faso; school in a tree house; school on a boat; graceful, thoughtful schools designed for the blind; quickly-erected tent schools for earthquake-stricken areas.

As many obstacles to learning as you can think of, apparently there are even more ingenious, earnest, big-hearted people out there dreaming and implementing solutions!  You can read about two dozen of these amazing solutions in locations  from New Caledonia to Scotland, Port-au-Prince to Phnom Penh in this fantastic, inspiring book.

A two-page spread is devoted to each of these stories, which are liberally accompanied by photographs.  A small inset map shows the location of the school.  Fact boxes and numerous memos from students or teachers involved in the school are also included.  There’s also a listing of a number of organizations involved in helping with these schools so you and your kids can get involved more if you desire.

I love this book.  I love hearing about these brilliant efforts being made around the world.  I love seeing kindness and talent paired up to make a difference in the lives of children.  I love the inspiration it gives us to adapt, work hard, press on to meet the vastly differing needs of learners.  Highly recommended for reading together with elementary age children; they can read it themselves at about a 5th grade level.  Any adult with a heartbeat ought to enjoy it, too!

Here’s the Amazon link:   Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World

Around the World, a graphic novel by Matt Phelan

‘I will bet twenty thousand pounds against anyone who wishes that I will make the tour of the world in eighty days or less; in nineteen hundred and twenty hours, or one hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred minutes.  Do you accept?’
Thus begins Jules Verne’s rollicking adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days.  Verne’s novel, like his previous books, was an international success.  Millions read it and pondered the possibility of racing around the planet Earth.  A few intrepid adventurers — for a variety of reasons both known and unknown — decided to attempt the amazing feat.

Have you caught the recent headlines of the amazing Dutch 16-year-old who just completed her journey, sailing solo around the world?  Laura Dekker is now the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe.  She’s got a million-dollar smile and quite a story to tell.

This fantastic graphic novel by Matt Phelan, tells the stories of three of Laura’s predecessors, three daring individuals who chose to journey around the world.  There’s Thomas Stevens, who set out in 1884 to bicycle around the world.  Nellie Bly, the spunky reporter for the New York World, who determined in 1889 to beat Phileas Fogg’s record and make the trip in just 74 days.  And Joshua Slocum, who sailed his beloved Spray around the world from 1895 to 1898 — the first man ever to sail solo around the globe.

Each of these was quite a different person, with different motivations and back stories to their fabulous adventures.  Phelan’s stories encompass the interesting personalities and intriguing journeys of all three.  His sophisticated illustrations capture the spirit of each with changes in style and color and even volume of text — Nellie gets the most words; fitting for a newspaper reporter.  These really are amazing feats!

I haven’t read many graphic novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one and recommend it for perhaps 4th grade and up.  The first two tales are accessible to those a bit younger; Joshua Slocum’s story is a bit stranger and darker and may confuse younger readers.  As an added bonus, the vocabulary in the book is quite rich, and you’ll get quite a little geography lesson along the way!

Here’s an Amazon link:  Around the World

Pumpkin Soup, written and illustrated by Helen Cooper

Cat, Squirrel and Duck are three long-time friends.  They live together happily in a quirky little cottage, making music, snuggling under a cozy quilt, and concocting delicious pumpkin soup.  All goes well, as long as each one sticks to his appointed task.

But.  One day, Duck decides to Branch Out.  He is tired of his puny task in the soup-making department, scooping up a pipkin of salt and tipping in just enough.  Duck wants to be in charge of stirring!  Squirrel and Cat vigorously disagree, and after a most unhappy row, Duck departs.  For awhile, his friends are sure that he will be back shortly.  When supper-time rolls around, though, with no sign of Duck, the two at home begin to worry.  And search.  And imagine terrible things.  And regret not letting Duck help as he wished.

Finally, most happily, the three friends are reunited.  Squirrel and Cat generously put Duck in charge of stirring the soup, and…Wow!  It’s a disaster!  Duck is the most exuberant soup-stirrer you’ve ever seen; pumpkin soup everywhere!  His dear friends determine to be tolerant…until… another hare-brained idea pops into Duck’s energetic mind!

Darling story, with toasty-warm illustrations blooming here, scampering there, in many, clever sequences.

Limelight Larry, written and illustrated by Leigh Hodgkinson

Limelight Larry is a peacock, and me-oh-my, is he ever thrilled to be the star of a book that is about him, himself, only-and-ever him!

So, Larry is understandably peeved when Mouse tiptoes into the story.  And bird.  Aaand Elephant.  And on and on it goes, with Larry’s cute, smart, funny, popular friends showing up and Taking Over His Story!  Outrageous!

Finally, Larry comes up with the only reasonable plan he can think of.  First, he delivers a short, irate, speech, and then, with a flourishing swoop, he unfolds his magnificent tail feathers!  Whoopee!  Larry has taken over center stage at last!

The problem is, it’s not so fun to show off to nobody.  Nor to be all alone in a spooky dark place.  Suddenly, those annoying friends sound pretty good to Larry.  What can he do to bring them back?

This funny, clever,  boisterous story bursts from the pages in snazzy fonts, plucky graphic design, and bracing colors fit for a peacock who loves the limelight and his marvelous, spirited, friends.  It’s a boat-load of fun to read again and again!

Frog Goes to Dinner, a wordless book by Mercer Mayer

The story opens with a young boy all spiffed up, getting ready to go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant with his family.  His great friends, Dog, Turtle, and Frog are sad to be left behind, and at the last second, Frog decides to take matters in hand, leaping unseen into the boy’s suit coat pocket.

As the family sits in great decorum at the linen-covered table, looking over the menus, listening to the music of the jazz ensemble, Frog emerges.  With one enormous leap, he flies out of the boy’s jacket pocket…and…lands in the bell of the saxophone!  Squnk!  When the saxophonist tips his instrument upside down, peering up into that bell to figure out why the sound is suddenly wonky, the frog tumbles out, Splat!, on his face!  This surprises the man so that he falls backward, crashing right through the snare drum.  While the musicians have a heated argument, Frog takes his leave, leaping this time into a fresh, leafy salad, borne on a serving tray towards an unsuspecting diner.

And so it goes.  Before you know it, the entire restaurant is in an uproar!  What will happen when the head waiter discovers the culprit?!

This hilarious, wordless book was written almost 40 years ago, and has not lost a ribbit of appeal!  My copy is completely tattered from so many, many readings.  There are a number of wordless stories about this Boy and his various pets, all worth looking for.

Madeline and the Bad Hat, story and pictures by Ludwig Bemelmans

Madeline and her 11 friends in the two straight lines have a new neighbor — the Spanish Ambassador has moved in, along with his young son.  Miss Clavel thinks that’s delightful!  Madeline discovers quickly, however, that this fellow, Pepito, is a bad hat!  A mischievous rascal!  An incorrigible terror!

As Miss Clavel continues to think the best, Pepito continues to use his energy for the worst, until one day, his escapades land him in bed, wrapped in bandages from head to toe!  When spunky Madeline pays him a visit, does she console him?  Oh dear, no.  She tells him he had it coming!  With that, Pepito determines to turn over a new leaf.  Zealous as he is to reform, will the new Pepito win Madeline’s friendship?

The classic Madeline stories have been animated and filmed, but you miss out if you don’t read the original books.  Featuring the irrepressible, red-haired Madeline, the stories are full of moxie, and Bemelmans’ loose, bold paintings and line drawings surge with energy.  Pepito is so scandalously bad in this third story of the series, but he meets his match with Madeline.  So satisfying!

Samantha on a Roll, by Linda Ashman, pictures by Christine Davenier

Samantha has some new roller skates and she’s desperate to try them out.  ”Not today,” says Samatha’s mother.  It seems Samantha is yet too small for them, and besides, Mom doesn’t have time to help her just now.

Did you think that would stop Samantha?

Nope.

While Mother is busy with Other Things, Samantha straps herself into those glorious skates and takes a few turns about the house.  Hey!  This is easy!  Next up is trying them outside.

Samantha smoothly skates up to the tip top of Hawthorn Hill where she is just enjoying a fabulous view of the countryside when…uh oh…gravity and skates take over, and down the steep slope goes Samantha.  Whoosh!  She rockets past her house, through butterfly-chasers and ball-players, kite-flyers and, oh dear, an outdoor wedding!  Odds and ends of equipment is snagged on her as she careens along, wide-eyed!  How will this wild ride ever end?!

This hilarious, high-spirited adventure is written in clever rhyme that follows the delightful twists and turns with just the right speed.   In addition, the breezy watercolors by Davenier are a joy!  Samantha is a remarkably unfazed heroine in her jaunty lemon dress and striped leggings.  The lemon, lime and sky blue world she whirls through will surely put a smile on your face.

Here are Amazon links for these five frenetic finds:
Pumpkin Soup
Limelight Larry
Frog Goes to Dinner (Boy, Dog, Frog)
Madeline and the Bad Hat
Samantha on a Roll

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans,
and I’ve seen it’s muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

Langston Hughes, the major poet of the Harlem Renaissance, was just eighteen years old when he wrote his signature poem.  Now, E.B. Lewis, whose work I admire so deeply, has illustrated the poem in a stunning picture book.

Lewis’s watercolors are drenched in light, and these scenes, in which water plays a title role, are resplendent with light dancing on wavelets, glistening in droplets on sunbaked bodies, mellowing an evening scene with a golden glow.  The depth of emotion and life-experience he packs into the  individuals in these pages — their worn feet and loving embraces and dignified faces and strong hands — is really an incredible artistic experience.

This is a gorgeous book to share with a child, but the artistry in poem and painting is anything but childlike.  Don’t miss it.

Here’s an Amazon link:  The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Frederick Douglass: A Noble Life, by David A. Adler

“Give him a bad master, and he aspires to a good master; give him a good master, and he wishes to become his own master,” wrote Frederick Douglass in his book, My Bondage and My Freedom.

Douglass was brutally-well acquainted with a bad master, relieved for a time under a good master, then went on as a free man to become one of the nation’s most influential abolitionists and spokespersons for equal rights. A brilliant orator, bold news journalist, best-selling author, advisor to several U.S. presidents, diplomat to Haiti — at his death it was said of him, “No man started so low and climbed so high as he.”

David Adler, a talented biographer,  has written a riveting account of this extraordinary man.  His description of the brutality experienced by Douglass is searingly painful; the smothering oppression Douglass endured as a man — an intelligent, ambitious man, from whom education, opportunity, and basic human rights were withheld because of the color of his skin — is palpable.

Generously supplied with quotes from Douglass and many others, Adler’s book follows Douglass from master to master until his escape to freedom, followed by his first days of labor for wages that belonged to himself, his enormous influence as a lecturer in America and Europe, and his work on his newspaper, The North Star.  We see the persons and events of the Civil War from Douglass’ vantage point, as well as Douglass’ role in the administrations after Lincoln’s death, including his efforts in the suffrage movements, before his death in 1895 at about 77 years.

Many historical pictures and photos are included, as well as reproductions of pages from several abolitionist newspapers and handbills, all in black and white.  There’s also a timeline of Douglass’ life, and extensive source notes and a bibliography, which I appreciate.  Unfortunately, the pagination in the source notes of my edition was deeply flawed; they are still usable, but it’s an anomaly in an otherwise well-packaged biography.

Adler writes absorbing biographies, and in this, as in others of his I’ve read, he does a fantastic job of sifting through the landslide of information to present an absorbing, highly informative, positive account of his subject.  Douglass had flaws, held views, and acted in ways which might be challenged; in that, he is like every one of us.  I very much appreciate the care in which Adler includes aspects of his subjects which aren’t tidy, without wielding these facts in a skewering fashion.  You will come away from this biography with a deep admiration for Douglass, which is as it should be.

It’s a lengthy biography, about 130 pages long, and with its gritty depictions of slave abuse, and its assumption of some background in the Civil War, I’d peg this one for 6th grade and up.  A highly-recommended choice, which can be followed by a reading of Douglass’ own narrative.

Here’s the Amazon link: Frederick Douglass (Picture Book Biography)

Jackie and Me, by Dan Gutman

The bedroom door opened, and out strolled a man with a pigeon-toed walk I had seen only in photos…Here I was, meeting the great Jackie Robinson.  The Jackie Robinson who was not only a member of The Baseball Hall of Fame, but also one of the most famous and important Americans of the twentieth century.
The old photos of Jackie Robinson don’t do him justice.  He was a very handsome man.  His skin was dark, so dark it was almost black.  He was wearing gray slacks and a white shirt, which made his skin seem even darker.  He was a little shorter than Dan Bankhead, but more muscular.  His eyes were deep, intense.  He turned toward me and stared right at me.  He gripped me with his eyes.
“Who’s the kid?” Jackie asked.
“Joe Stoshack,” I volunteered, grabbing for his hand.  ”Everybody calls me Stosh.  It’s a pleasure and honor to meet you, Mr. Robinson.”
“Everybody calls me Jack, Stosh…Where’s your mama, son?”
I wasn’t sure what to say.  I was hesitant to tell anyone the whole story of how I traveled back through time.  It was too unbelievable.  They might think I was putting them on.  Or that I was crazy.
“Where’s your mama, Stosh?” Jackie repeated.
“Home.”

Joe Stoshack,  a school-age, baseball-loving boy from Louisville, Kentucky, has a secret.  He’s discovered a curious ability to travel back in time, by wishing on a baseball card.  That’s going to come in mighty handy for him when his teacher launches a contest for best class report on an important Black American.  All he’s got to do is come up with a Jackie Robinson card, zip back to 1947 Brooklyn, and get a first-hand look at Robinson’s start with the Dodgers, breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.   Easy pie.

Things don’t go quite that smoothly, however.  For starters, when Joe lands in Brooklyn, he’s turned into a young black boy, rather than the white, Polish kid he usually is.  That’s an eye-opener!   Then, when he attempts to fulfill his father’s request to come back with a suitcase full of valuable old baseball cards, Joe runs into a whole lot of trouble.  He soon realizes that facing angry, accusatory folk as a black person in the 40s is a lot hotter than he bargained for.

Despite the difficulties, Joe has a pretty awesome time of it — living with Jackie Robinson and his wife and son, working as a bat boy for the Brooklyn Dodgers, watching Joe DiMaggio play ball, and collecting an autograph from Babe Ruth!  He also gets a pungent taste of Brooklyn in this post-war era, a city of immigrants and stick ball, Good Humor trucks and trolley cars.  Best of all, Joe is witness to the classy, disciplined way in which Jackie Robinson chooses to respond to the insults, hostility, threats, and sickening segregation laws, which dog his every step.  The lessons Joe learns from Jackie, in life, and in baseball, are definitely more valuable than rookie baseball cards  when he arrives back home.

Dan Gutman has written a couple other Baseball Card Adventure novels.  This is the only one I’ve read.  I didn’t know quite what to expect, but…I liked it!  It’s full of tangy historical details, and zips right along with its snappy, uncomplicated plot.  Entertaining, informative, revealing highlights of the important, difficult victories won by Jackie Robinson without as sober a tone as is found in most books on this topic.  Sports-lovers ages 9 and up will enjoy the story, be introduced to some significant issues, and come away with a knowledge of Robinson that might easily lay the ground for reading a more thorough biography.    A final chapter clarifies for the reader which elements are historical, and what liberties were taken, as well as summarizing Robinson’s achievements during his all-too-short life.

If you like this one, he’s written others about Satchel Paige, Roberto Clemente, Jim Thorpe, and a number of others.

Here’s the Amazon link: Jackie & Me (Baseball Card Adventures)

Rosa, by Nikki Giovanni, illustrated by Bryan Collier

We all know the iconic figure of Rosa Parks, and the domino-effect moment in her life when she sat on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama.  Here, Nikki Giovanni paints in the fascinating preamble to that moment, reveals the thoughts of Rosa as she made her weary, firm choice, and narrates the ripple effect of the bus boycott she inadvertently precipitated.

Giovanni is a poet, and her words in this story sing with quiet strength.  The Rosa she presents is a loving wife, a talented and conscientious seamstress, an every day, working woman, who on this particular day in history calmly chose to hold fast to her rights.  In the process of chronicling the events of December 1955 and the year-long bus boycott, Giovanni weaves in helpful information about civil rights legislation and abuses which created the landscape in which Parks lived.

Bryan Collier received a Caldecott Honor for his compelling, intriguing illustrations in this book.  Using watercolor and collage, Collier creates boldly textured and colored backdrops, then sets Rosa, and others, in them with such forthrightness that their faces dominate the scene, no matter their size.  I am fascinated by how he must have soul-searched in order to determine the expressions for Rosa’s eyes, face, and postures.  Several illustrations feature a medieval-looking halo of light emanating from Rosa and Dr. King which Collier explains symbolizes the light which these brave individuals have thrown onto many pathways.

This is an outstanding picture book biography, suitable for early elementary through adult.

Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down, by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Brian Pinkney

Greensboro, North Carolina.  February, 1960.  A simple lunch counter at the local Woolworth’s.  Four young friends, sitting, waiting for a cup of coffee and a doughnut.

Sounds like an ordinary, unremarkable scene.  But of course, it was not.  For these four friends were young, black men, who had the audacity to sit in a place set apart for whites.  David, Joseph, Franklin, and Ezell had committed themselves to Dr. King’s method of nonviolent protest, and had steeled themselves to apply it at the lunch counter, in the hopes of dismantling unjust segregation laws.

Andrea Pinkney tells their story, beginning with just the four of them, sitting politely and quietly, and building as more and more students join them in Greensboro, in other southern towns, as the students are abused, attacked, arrested, joined by whites, and culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned segregation in public places.  Spinning off of the lunch counter setting, Pinkney cleverly adopts a cooking metaphor throughout the story, which lifts this from a strictly factual presentation, to a colorful, joyous, creative piece of prose.

Brian Pinkney’s exuberant watercolor and ink illustrations have a fabulous contemporary line and palette.   60s harvest gold and avocado swish across the pages while dancing black lines swivel into shapes. The sweep of the ever-elongating lunch counter carries as much motion as the protest movement itself.   It’s punctuated by the many, many individuals who sit at that counter; no motion there.

A helpful, annotated, Civil Rights Timeline, and lengthy author’s note add a great deal of information to this book.  The story itself is brief and optimistic, accessible to early elementary children; the additional facts will be interesting to older elementary through adult. The entire book, from this mega- talented, often-awarded ,wife-husband team, brims with creativity and triumph.

A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis, by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

The most famous boxing match of all time took place in Yankee Stadium, on June 22, 1938, when German great Max Schmeling went up against America’s world heavyweight champion, Joe Louis.  Louis, the son of a black sharecropper was in the fight of his life against a celebrated member of Hitler’s “master race,” and millions of people around the world were listening breathlessly for the outcome.

They didn’t have to listen long.  Louis decisively won the match in two minutes.   Celebrations erupted across the U.S., as the streets of Harlem overflowed with glee.

Honestly, I am so not into boxing, that I resisted reading this book for a long time despite the many, many accolades it has received!  Once I picked it up and began reading, however, I found it to be an absorbing, moving account of one man’s battle in the rings which won a victory against racial bigotry for all of us.  Matt de la Peña tells Louis’ story in lean, poetic lines, in which every word counts.  No time to nod off.  No time for attentions to wander.  We are right in the gritty, muscular bits that matter every step of the way.  All that rides on this fight, for Louis personally, for American Blacks weary of racism, and for a freedom-thirsty, Nazi-era, world is packed into these taut lines.

Meanwhile, Kadir Nelson, such a splendid artist, gives us stunning oil paintings from exceptional, brilliant perspectives: the spotlit ring —  just a small pool of light illuminating the two-man battle amid the inky, cavernous stadium; views from the stands, from the mat;  a genius aerial view looking down from the heights at the conclusion of the fight, just three small humans, caught up in something so much larger.  Nelson’s ability to capture tension, power, defeat, hope, is phenomenal.

Admittedly, a good many 7-year-old girls will not click with this book.  It’s a great read, though, that will surprise a lot of you who wouldn’t expect to resonate with a boxing legend, and perfect for boys, especially, who may not readily connect with  Marian Anderson, for example, or even Rosa Parks .  Fantastic collaboration.

Talkin’ About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Bessie Coleman, a dazzling, daring stunt pilot in the early days of flight, was an incredible, strong woman.  At the time of her tragic death, age 34, Coleman had overcome numerous obstacles to become the world’s first licensed female pilot of African descent.  Working, studying, moving, pressing on, seizing opportunities, making opportunities where none lay, Coleman was a passionate, fearless,  unstoppable force!

Nikki Grimes has taken this charismatic woman’s story, and presented it brilliantly by letting 20 different individuals tell us about Bessie from their vantage point.   Family members, instructors, newspaper reporters, fans, and finally Bessie herself, unfold her interesting life story, and reveal the courageous, effervescent person she was.  Grimes has written several books in which she crafts multiple perspectives, and I have very much enjoyed her rich style and insights. 

And, okay, E.B. Lewis is a superb artist.  I always love his work !  His watercolors shimmer with light, float with airy grace, capture a setting .  Looking at them, I can hear the cicadas, feel the tender bulk of Bessie’s mother, the dry heat of the cotton field, and the crick in my neck from gazing up into the sky at her tilting, somersaulting airplane.  Just gorgeous.

Again, with two such incredibly talented people throwing their creativity into such a fascinating subject, you are in for a great treat with this book.  Probably best for mid-elementary and up, slightly older if they read it themselves.

Delivering Justice:  W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights, by James Haskins, illustrated by Benny Andrews

W.W. Law’s name does not roll off the tongue in the same way that names like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ruby Bridges, Sojourner Truth, or Jackie Robinson do, but Law was a stalwart, dauntless, leader in the civil rights movement in Savannah, Georgia, whose life illustrates the incredible impact of peaceful, courageous, steady forward motion.   James Haskins’ book is an interesting introduction to him for early elementary kids, right on up.

Law grew up in Savannah in the 30s, experiencing the degrading impact of segregation and discrimination, but inspired by his mother and grandmother to use his life for good.  Beginning in his teen years, Law worked with the NAACP towards voter registration.  Following graduation from college, Law worked as a mail carrier by day, and for the NAACP causes in the evenings, training students in the ways of nonviolent protest and organizing boycotts against segregation laws.  Law’s effectiveness in maintaining peaceful protests and harmonious relationships with whites in Savannah, helped bring about groundbreaking change in Savannah with very little violence.

In addition, Law, who always took a keen interest in history, worked tirelessly to preserve Black historic sites in Savannah, and was eventually awarded for his lifetime achievements by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, among others.  As a history-lover myself, I find his work in this area very meaningful.

Haskins tells Law’s story as a series of short, chronological snippets, giving us a taste of Law’s childhood, stopping at key points in his growing up years, and describing the tense, critical events of the 60s in Savannah.  The narration never bogs down; rather, we are left curious for more knowledge about this dedicated man.

Benny Andrews’ vibrant illustrations are oil and collage scenes of ordinary, almost faceless people, participating in a cause and an environment quite larger than themselves.  There are dramatic, darker colors, to be sure, yet sunny, optimism as well, as Law resolutely lives out his calling.  This is a book by an author and illustrator I had not known before, about an individual I also did not know, whom I am very happy to have met.

I’ll be reviewing more books in honor of MLK Day as the week goes on.  Meanwhile, here are Amazon links for these terrific titles:

Rosa

Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down (Jane Addams Honor Book (Awards))

A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis

Talkin’ About Bessie

Delivering Justice: W.W. Law and the Fight for Civil Rights