Zen Shorts, written and illustrated by Jon Muth, has been named a Caldecott Honor book this year for its wonderful illustrations, complementing an equally strong text.  The idea of presenting Zen philosophy to the young children for whom this book is intended may appear a slightly impossible one, but Muth succeeds superbly.  He applies the Buddhist method of meditation—sitting still while remaining completely alert, and presents in Zen Shorts several brief “meditations” or “ideas to puzzle over.”  These ideas can “challenge us to reexamine our habits, desires, concepts, and fears."

In the actual story, three young siblings encounter a giant panda named Stillwater who has moved to their neighborhood.  Through their visits with him and the stories he tells, their thoughts and habits are indeed challenged.

One story contrasts material belongings which can be taken from us with belongings we all share such as the moon and its light—things that can neither be stolen nor given away.

Another story considers what really constitutes good versus bad luck, remembering that there is potential for good in everything, even events that may initially seem bad such as a broken leg or a runaway horse.

The final Zen tale addresses the problem of continuing to carry with us the weight of anger and grudges when the events attached to them are long past.  Why not just put them aside and enjoy freedom from their heaviness?

Zen Shorts includes wonderful stories that young children aged seven through eleven will enjoy pondering and discussing.  All readers, however, can learn something to apply to their lives from these simple tales.  Muth’s beautiful illustrations maintain a perfect balance, changing from the bright colors of the children and their panda friend to the more muted, simple sketches attached to the Zen tales.

Jon J. Muth.  Zen Shorts.  New York:  Scholastic Press, 2005. 

Discussion questions for Zen Shorts

Rosa, by accomplished poet Nikki Giovanni and award winning illustrator Bryan Collier, is a beautiful telling of the Rosa Parks story from the very morning of the day she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, on Thursday, December 1, 1955, to the Supreme Court ruling that segregation on buses was wrong, on November 13, 1956.  After having completed a full day of work as a seamstress Rosa quietly but resolutely felt that no one had the right to ask her to give up her seat.  The text shows how the women of the community gathered round to make posters declaring a bus boycott in support of the jailed Rosa Parks and how the Women’s Political Council was instrumental in getting Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak for them.  “We will walk until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream,” he said.

Defining Feature: There is a magnificently painted double page pull out depicting the Montgomery walkers and the nonviolent movement.  A collage technique fills the four pages with a sense of “the epic.” Even the trees silhouette the struggle and the clouds depict the relentless around the clock and around the seasons commitment.

Quoting the book: “And the people walked.  They walked in the rain.  They walked in the hot sun.  They walked early in the morning.  They walked late at night.  They walked at Christmas, and they walked at Easter.  They walked on the Fourth of July; they walked on Labor Day.  They walked on Thanksgiving, and then it was almost Christmas again.”

Rosa shows how an individual can and did change the course of history by one courageous act.  Nikki Giovanni has given a beautiful voice to the story and Bryan Collier echoes it with striking orange, yellow, brown and black colors. 

Rosa is ideal for ages 8 to 12 (published by Henry Holt and Company in 2005).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Discussion questions for Rosa

This year’s Caldecott Medal* for best illustrated book has been awarded to The Hello, Goodbye Window.  Written by Norton Juster, best know for his very popular Phantom Tollbooth, the illustrations are the splashy, colorful, and energetic work of Chris Raschka, recent recipient of a Caldecott Honor medal for Yo! Yes?

The Hello, Goodbye Window is the simple story of a young girl’s visits to her grandparent’s house, where much of life centers around the kitchen and its very special “hello, goodbye” window.  When she visits, this window provides her first glimpse of her Nanna and Poppy.  They can make funny faces at one another, can watch their reflections while eating dinner, and can say good night to the stars.

She describes the patterns of her visits which include necessary rules such as not touching anything under the sink because “you could get very sick,” and riding her bike, but “not in the street, please.”  These visits also include the fun of her Poppy’s harmonica, special oatmeal with hidden bananas and raisins, chases with the garden hose, and special pepperoni and cheese pizza.

When her parents come to pick her up, she is pleased to see them but also sorry to leave because, as she explains, “you can be happy and sad at the same time.”  Now her special window becomes the “goodbye” window through which she can blow her last kiss to her grandparents, with dreams of someday becoming a Nanna herself and having her very own “hello, goodbye window.”

Young children aged three to seven will enjoy this simple story and the bright, fanciful illustrations provided by Raschka in The Hello, Goodbye Window.  Color is everywhere to relish from bright splashes on the carpet to stripes, plaids, and circles on clothing.

Norton Juster.  The Hello, Goodbye Window.  Illus. Chris Raschka.  New York:  Hyperion Books for Children, 2005.

*The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the best illustrated children’s book of that year. Additionally, three or four Caldecott Honor Medals are awarded to the year’s runners up. For more information on this award and others given by the ALA, check their website.

Harold and the Purple Crayon, by author Crockett Johnson has just completed its 50th Anniversary.  First published in 1955, this charming picture book celebrates what all children have in common . . . an active imagination.  Harold’s awesome crayon can draw him into any environment, any time, and any place.  The story, simple and genuine, takes Harold from his bedroom to a forest, to an ocean, into a boat, on to a beach, up a mountain and back home again.  It is visually delightful for the child/reader to see one scene after another constructed one line at a time by the wondrous purple crayon.  Like magic, Harold draws anything he needs.  Quoting the book where Harold falls off a mountain:

“He was falling in thin air.  But, luckily, he kept his wits and his purple crayon.  He made a balloon and he grabbed on to it.  He made a basket under the balloon big enough to stand in.  He had a fine view from the balloon but he couldn’t see his window.  He couldn’t even see a house.  So he made a house, with windows.  And he landed the balloon on the grass in the front yard.”

Harold and the Purple Crayon is available in eleven languages from Chinese, Spanish and German, to French, Italian and Hebrew, among others.  The Harold Series includes six other books, namely Harold’s Fairy Tale, Harold’s Trip to the Sky, Harold at the North Pole, Harold’s Circus,  A Picture for Harold’s Room, and Harold’s ABC.  All of these books showcase the wonder of the imagination, and all of these books reveal the creative process by allowing the child the opportunity to see the process in action

Harold and the Purple Crayon is ideal for ages 3 to 6 (published by Harper Collins in 1955).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books . . . The Dean’s List

The Art of Reading:  Forty Illustrators Celebrate Reading is Fundamental’s 40th Anniversary is a joyous experience for the reader, providing personal reflections by forty well-known illustrators about early reading events that helped shape them as artists.  Not only do they each provide written reflections on books that were meaningful during childhood, but they provide new illustrations as responses to the books.

Artists selected include David Wiesner, Paul Zelinsky, Susan Jeffers, Peter Sís, Jerry Pinkney, Lois Ehlert, Steven Kellogg, Gerald McDermott, and Eric Rohmann. 

Special childhood books identified include enduring classics such as Charlotte’s Web, the Narnia tales, the stories of Hans Christian Anderson, and the adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The Art of Reading will be a delight for adult readers who may be newly introduced to these forty contemporary illustrators as well as reminded of their own favorite childhood books. 

Children will enjoy seeing new artwork by these forty much-loved illustrators, and teachers will find this book a wonderful resource for the classroom.  A few illustrators even invite readers to visit their own websites for more information and artwork.  Robert Sabuda, the “Prince of Pop-ups,” who identified The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as his childhood favorite, includes on his website “a cutout pattern and step-by-step instructions” for a pop-up Emerald City.

For the reader, the single disappointment in The Art of Reading is that there are only forty illustrators included.  The end of the book comes far too soon.

The Art of Reading:  Forty Illustrators Celebrate Reading is Fundamental’s 40th Anniversary is ideal for all ages. 

This is Karen Adams for Children’s Books… The Dean’s List

The Art of Reading:  Forty Illustrators Celebrate Reading is Fundamental’s 40th Anniversary.  Reading is Fundamental.  New York:  Dutton, 2005.

A Family of Poems:  My Favorite Poetry for Children, edited by Caroline Kennedy and illustrated by Jon J. Muth, is a very warm collection of 106 poems gathered into seven comfortable sections:  About Me; That’s So Silly; Animals; The Seasons; The Seashore; Adventure; and Bedtime.  It includes sturdy, classic poems such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Swing” and Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” and breezy newer poems such as Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to a Pair of Socks” and Jack Prelutsky’s “Today is Very Boring.” There are also a number of nonsense poems full of giggles by Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, Lewis Carroll, and an anonymous poem called “Moses:” 

“Moses supposes his toeses are roses,

But Moses supposes erroneously;

For nobody’s toeses are posies of roses

As Moses supposes his toeses to be."

Jon Muth’s watercolors lend a gentle and authentic feel to each page.  The double-page close up for William Blake’s “The Tyger” is outstanding in radiant orange, yellows and black, as is the image of the red wheelbarrow, standing solitary and forthright, that accompanies the William Carols Williams poem of the same name.

Defining Feature: A special feature of the collection is the two pages devoted to the 10 poems that were originally written in a language other than English.  They are shown as they were first published in German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and French.  Caroline Kennedy has also included two of her mother’s poems under the pen name Jacqueline Bouvier.

From A. A. Milne to E. E. Cummings, from Langston Hughes to Nikki Giovanni, and from Emily Dickenson to Sylvia Plath, this celebration of children’s poetry has something for every family member be they grandparent, mother, father, sister, brother - - - a real opportunity for a family share.

A Family of Poems:  My Favorite Poetry for Children is ideal for ages 8 to 12 and up (published by Hyperion in 2005)

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List

Coming on Home Soon, named a 2005 Caldecott Honor Book for the beautiful watercolor illustrations of E. B. Lewis, possesses an equally strong text by award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson.

The timeliness of this story about a little girl separated from her mother during World War II can be very meaningful for children today who may have a parent, relative, or family friend fighting in the Middle East.

Young Ada Ruth is distraught that her Mama is going to Chicago where they are hiring women “since all the men are off fighting in the war.”  Ada Ruth will stay home with her Grandma, comforted by Mama’s promise that she loves her “more than anything in the world. . . .  More than rain.  More than snow.”

Seasons change, and Ada Ruth keeps writing to Mama.  Grandma lets her adopt a little kitten for a companion.  They listen to the radio and follow the war’s progress.  They hear about “the battles being fought and all the men who’ve died,” and Ada Ruth prays “for all those men who won’t be coming on home soon.”

As winter comes, Ada Ruth and her Grandma go hunting for possum and rabbit in the snow, and she remembers that Mama loves her “more than snow.”  Finally, Mama writes—“I’ll be coming on home soon,” which, to Ada Ruth, is “like a song you want to sing over and over.” 

This simple story of Ada Ruth’s time of waiting is bound with love and warmth and comfort.  It is ideal for ages 4 through 9 and will be particularly meaningful for young children experiencing a separation from someone they love. 

This is Karen Adams for Children’s Books… The Dean’s List

Coming on Home Soon.  Jacqueline Woodson.  Illus. E. B. Lewis.  New York:  Putnam, 2004.

Frederick by author/illustrator Leo Lionni is a charming story about a family of field mice who diligently gather provisions for the long, cold winter ahead.  They carry berries, corn, nuts, and straw to their winter hideaway in a stone wall.  But one little fellow, Frederick, refuses to help.  He sits day after day just daydreaming.  The others ask him why he won’t work but he says he is working gathering sun rays, colors and words.  Then it becomes time to retreat to their winter quarters to eat and talk and wait out the long gray winter.  They soon eat up all they had stored.  Quoting the book:

“It was cold in the wall and no one felt like chatting.  Then they remembered what Frederick had said about sun rays . . . ‘What about your supplies, Frederick?’ they asked. ‘Close your eyes,’ said Frederick as he climbed on a big stone. ‘Now I send you the rays of the sun.  Do you feel how their golden glow…’ And as Frederick spoke of the sun the four little mice began to feel warmer.”

The story goes on to show how Frederick’s supplies of sun rays, colors and words save the day by giving the hungry and cold mice warmth, colors, and a special poem to sustain them.

Defining Feature: Frederick is, as are most of Lionni’s forty books for children, a tale told twice, once in the text and once in his wonderful signature collage illustrations.  This Caldecott Honor book is a fable wherein the animal characters play out a human story of hard work, responsibility, planning ahead and of how one divergent thinking little mouse uses his imagination to give the gift of story to the rest of his family.

Frederick is ideal for ages 4 to 8 (originally published in hardcover by Random House in 1967)

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List.

Lewin’s illustrations provide readers with “the rest of the story.”  Thick black lines give shape to the animals as they discuss their problems and type their ultimatums.  Soft watercolor strokes and vivid pastels compliment the rollicking tempo of the story. And, most importantly, young listeners, fully immersed in the world of computers and keyboarding, see just what a vintage typewriter looks like.

Click, Clack, Moo:  Cows that Type is a wonderful book for children aged four to nine.  It begs for a sequel, which the author-illustrator pair have provided with the further adventures of the barnyard crew in Giggle, Giggle, Quack.

This is Karen Adams for Children’s Books… The Dean’s List

Click, Clack, Moo:  Cows that Type.  Doreen Cronin.  Illus. Betsy Lewis.  New York:  Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Defining Feature: Illustrator Brian Selznick wraps the whole incredible story in rich, warm browns with contrasting shades of tan, beige, wheat and white.  His two page panoramas are compelling.  The picture of her singing as a child at the Union Baptist Church and singing with the Philadelphia People’s Chorus are most beautiful.  Of particular interest is the picture of the faces in the crowd outside the Lincoln Memorial when Marian sang.   The artist captured the reverence and grace of the moment on all of the faces --- many eyes were closed and many heads bowed.  The entire book, including the cover, is a stunning visual experience.

When Marian Sang is ideal for ages 10 and up (published by Scholastic Press in 2002).

This is Sue Ann Martin for Children’s Books. . .The Dean’s List.

Soto also describes the ingredients of Chato’s Menu including guacamole, frijoles, and fajitas.  This is a great opportunity for young readers and listeners for whom Spanish is a first language to hear that language spoken, while for others it is an opportunity to learn a few new Spanish words.

Chato’s Kitchen is a delightful, rollicking book that will be enjoyed by children from ages four to nine.

This is Karen Adams for Children’s Books… The Dean’s List Chato’s Kitchen.  Gary Soto.  Illus. Susan Guevara. 

New York:  Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1995.