Tag Archives: Community

PPBF – Pigeon & Cat

Posted on September 16, 2022 | 5 comments

After a brief pause that lasted longer than anticipated, I’m happy to be back and to share this recently-published Perfect Picture Book. Regular readers may notice that one of the themes is a recurrent one for me: home. Given that I’m about to embark on the third move of 2022, I guess neither I, nor you, should be surprised that I return to this theme so often.

Title: Pigeon & Cat

Written & Illustrated By: Edward Hemingway

Publisher/Date: Christy Ottaviano Books, an imprint of Little Brown & Co/2022

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: friendship, creativity, home, community, compassion

Opening:

In an abandoned city lot there sits a cardboard box. Inside the box lives Cat.

Brief Synopsis: Cat and Pigeon become unlikely friends and roommates. When Pigeon flies away, Cat leaves the only home he has ever known, faces his fears, and sets off in search of his friend.

Links to Resources:

  • Cat uses materials that Pigeon finds to creatively decorate the city lot where they live. Use materials you find to decorate your home. What will you make?
  • Make your mark by participating in International Dot Day and creating your special dot;
  • Discover ways to help your community by weeding or planting in a community garden, cleaning up a park, contributing to a food or clothing drive, or visiting a senior facility;
  • Use only symbolic pictures to tell a story, as Pigeon does and as the ancient Egyptians did with Hieroglyphics.

Why I Like this Book:

The first things that drew me to this book were the old-time cartoony features of the main characters, the retro color palate combined with what looks to be an emoji on the book jacket, and the title – I wanted to know what a book with such an unlikely pair of characters was about.

At the outset, we meet Cat, who lives in a cardboard box, the one set off to the side of the first spread. It’s clear he’s alone, set in his ways, and wary of others. But as he says, the lot is “his home and his alone.” (emphasis in the original). But when Cat finds an egg and Pigeon hatches from it, Cat discovers a friend.

As their friendship grows, Pigeon gifts Cat discarded treasures, which spark Cat’s creativity. Readers see the lot begin to transform, even as we feel Cat’s solitary heart begin to embrace beauty and the joys of friendship.

But when Pigeon goes missing, Cat’s true transformation begins. He ventures out into the scary city to find his friend, only to discover that the city isn’t as scary and noisy and awful as he had imagined. What a wonderful message for kids of all ages who fear the unknown!

I won’t spoil the ending, but I will recommend that you compare the first and last spreads after you finish reading to discover the transformative power of friendship, creativity, and community.

Hemingway created the detailed illustrations with oil on board with hand-cut paper and Photoshop. The textured backdrops as well as the inclusion of emoji-like speech bubbles and artwork adds to the appeal of this poignant picture book that, I think, kids of all ages will love.

A Note about Craft:

Hemingway deftly combines the old with the new in Pigeon & Cat. In addition to a soft palette of yellows, oranges, and aquas that brought to mind the 1960s and 70s, Cat wears a bowler hat and suspenders. Pigeon, on the other hand, speaks in what appear to be emojis. The use of small, emoji-like pictures to translate Pigeon’s speech has the effect of making Pigeon seem youthful, which he is, and also caused at least this reader to pay closer attention to the detailed illustrations.

Hemingway also uses present tense, rather than the usual past tense found in picture books. I felt closer to the action because of this, similar to the effect of first-person point-of-view.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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PPBF – Home is a Window

Posted on November 19, 2021 | 9 comments

Have you ever wondered what makes a house a home? As someone who has moved more times than I can count, including several moves when our kids were young, the desire to create a home is never far from my mind. Especially as we head into a season filled with family holidays, feeling at home wherever you live is so important. Which is why I knew I had to read and review today’s Perfect Picture Book which addresses just that question.

Title: Home is a Window

Written By: Stephanie Parsley Ledyard

Illustrated By: Chris Sasaki

Publisher/Date: Neal Porter Books, Holiday House/2019

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: home, family, community, moving, comfort

Opening:

Home is a window, a doorway, a rug, a basket for your shoes.

Brief Synopsis: A young girl reflects on what’s special about her urban home, and when she moves, discovers special aspects of her new home.

Links to Resources:

  • Describe with words or pictures what you like best about the house or apartment where you live;
  • If you could change one thing about your home, what would it be? Why?
  • Have you ever wanted to design features of your own home? Check out these kid-friendly DIY design ideas;
  • Check out the Educator’s Guide for more ideas.

Why I Like this Book:

As the first lines of Home is a Window make clear, home can mean many things, as long as they contribute to feelings of comfort and safety. In the first section of this picture book, we see the many things that make this living space a home from the perspective of a young girl and her family. They include such universal pleasures as comfortable furniture, tasks done together, neighbor’s lights shining warmly into your bedroom, and a “table with something good and the people gathered there.” As the text makes clear, “Home is what feels the same each day”.

But what happens when you have to leave the comfort and safety of a familiar living arrangement and move someplace new? By bringing our traditions and the things we love with us, we can recreate home in a new place, as Home is a Window shows.

I love that Sasaki features the family coming together in the new house to share a meal. They might sit on a “patched-up quilt” on the floor and eat take-out food, but it’s clear that this family is well on their way to establishing a home in their new house.

With its low word count and earth-toned images of a loving mixed-raced family and their home, I think Home is a Window is a wonderful book to share with your littles, whether you’re contemplating a move, adapting to a new living situation, or wanting to share what makes your house or apartment a home.  

A Note about Craft:

I love the imagery and symbolism of the title, that home is a window – a means to look in to see the lives lived within its walls, and to look out to view the family’s interactions with their old and new communities.

Note the use of background colors: they become increasingly darker as moving day looms, and then lighten as the family creates a home in their new house.

A House, written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow Books/2021) would be a good book to pair with Home is a Window, especially with younger children.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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PPBF – My Two Border Towns

Posted on October 22, 2021 | 11 comments

A few weeks ago, I shared Yuyi Morales’ latest picture book, Bright Star, about the Sonoran borderlands between Mexico and the United States. Today’s Perfect Picture Book showcases the similarities, and differences, of two communities in a more urban area of the borderlands.

Title: My Two Border Towns

Written By: David Bowles

Illustrated By: Erika Meza

Publisher/Date: Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House/2021

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: US-Mexico border, immigration, family, community

Opening:

Every other Saturday, my dad wakes me up early. “Come on, m’ijo,” he says. “Vamos al Otro Lado.”

Brief Synopsis: The narrator and his father cross from the US into Mexico to run errands.

Links to Resources:

  • Do you ever run errands with a parent? Where do you usually go and what do you do or purchase there?
  • Have you ever traveled across a border? Describe in words or pictures how you felt crossing from one state or country to another, and what seemed the same or different;
  • Check out the Teacher’s Guide for more ideas.

Why I Like this Book:

In My Two Border Towns, Bowles showcases the fluidity of the US-Mexican border for families with ties to both sides of the border, while offering a glimpse into the difficulties faced by those who find themselves unable to cross that border.

As the story opens, readers meet the young narrator and his father who, every other Saturday, cross the border to run errands in a sister town. Brightly colored and detailed illustrations show the similarities and differences between the two towns. The text, in English with Spanish terms sprinkled through, further indicates that this is one metropolitan area, with a border in the middle. As the narrator remarks about the Mexican town, it’s “a twin of the one where I live, with Spanish spoken everywhere just the same, but English mostly missing till it pops up like grains of sugar on a chili pepper.”

Breakfast in a favorite restaurant is followed by a trip to visit relatives in their jewelry store, a pick-up soccer match with primos (cousins), and icy treats from a paletero. All of this, and more, will show young readers that life on one side of the border or the other may not differ much – in so many ways, people everywhere are the same.

But from the beginning, there are clues to another reality: With the right passports, the narrator and his father are able to cross the border whenever they desire. Others, including friends the narrator has met during his frequent crossings, are not as fortunate. For these friends, the narrator purchases candies, and he shares beloved comics. Sadly, the friend’s “hair is longer than when we first met, almost six months back”, and the friend’s family relies on the generosity of people like the narrator and his father for necessities like food and medicine.

With its showcasing of these two realities, I think My Two Border Towns is a wonderful mixture of celebrating the richness of cultures in border communities while introducing the complexities of the border crisis.

A Note about Craft:

As noted above, Spanish terms are sprinkled throughout the text, which, I think, is further evidence of the close relationship among residents of these border communities.

Starting with the cover with its mirror images of the narrator sitting in front of the main shopping streets of these towns, Meza’s illustrations highlight many similarities and differences of these twin cities, and, I think, brilliantly capture the conflicting emotions that many people with ties to both sides of the border must feel.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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PPBF – 30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring Story of the National 9/11 Flag

Posted on September 3, 2021 | 9 comments

I’m happy to be sharing a recently published picture book that I had the good fortune to win from the wonderful crew at Kidlit 411 earlier this summer.* I knew when it arrived in the mail that I wanted to save my review of it until now, as we reflect on the events of September 11th, on its 20th anniversary.

Title: 30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring Story of the National 9/11 Flag

Written By: Amanda Davis

Illustrated By: Sally Wern Comport

Publisher/Date: WorthKids, an imprint of Hachette Book Group/2021

Suitable for Ages: 5-8+

Themes/Topics: 9/11, American flag, hope, community, healing, non-fiction

Opening:

On September 11, 2001, New York City was attacked. Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center. The Twin Towers collapsed, and thousands of people lost their lives.

It was a tragic day in America’s history.

Brief Synopsis:

The story of an American flag that flew at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, that became tattered and torn, and that was repaired by people coming together in a journey through all 50 states.

Links to Resources:

  • Check out the Back Matter, including a link to the national 911 flag website;
  • For the 20th anniversary of 9/11, 30,000 Stitches embarked on a tour of many of the places where the 9/11 Flag was stitched. Click on reflections from some of the many people who helped repair the Flag in this Voices from the Flag Tour;
  • Learn more about the American Flag.

Why I Like this Book:

It’s not easy writing a feel-good, hope-filled story about a tragedy, but this is exactly what Amanda Davis has done in 30,000 Stitches.

Although the story begins on that fateful day 20 years ago, readers’ attention quickly is drawn to the flag that construction workers hung over Ground Zero in the aftermath of the bombing. From there, readers learn that the flag became “Torn. Tattered. Tired.” It was stored away, where it languished until a tornado destroyed a town in Kansas several years later.

A team from New York volunteered to help rebuild that town, and town residents asked that they bring along something from the World Trade Center for a new memorial park. But instead of placing the ragged flag in the park, the residents repaired the 9/11 Flag.

As Davis notes, “a grand idea was born.” The Flag would journey to all 50 states, where in ceremonies, new stitches and new pieces of fabric would join together to fully restore the flag. From World War II veterans in Hawaii, to members of Martin Luther King Jr.’s family in Georgia, and many places in between, the flag and a team of volunteers crisscrossed the nation as the fabric of America united to commemorate the victims of 9/11 and showcase the strength, hope, and unity of our nation.

I love how Davis weaves sewing terms throughout the text. And in her collaged illustrations, Comport includes stitches that bring to mind the 30,000 stitches that Americans in each of the 50 states used to restore the Flag. One two-page spread tracks the journey across a multi-colored map of the US, with the journey indicated by stitches and the locations of the restoration ceremonies indicated by Xs. A single sentence accompanies the map: “The flag wove its way across America—crisscrossing borders, cross-stitching lives.” I love the image those words convey.

I think children and their adults reading 30,000 Stitches will gain not only a greater understanding of the postscript to the 9/11 tragedy, but a better appreciation of the importance of national symbols, like our Flag, and of communities rallying to overcome tragedy.

A Note about Craft:

As Davis relates in an Author’s Note, she first learned about the 9/11 Flag and its journey to rebirth while searching for an art project for her high school students to commemorate “the lives lost on that tragic day” and that “also focused on the strength and unity that America displayed” afterwards. She discovered the National 9/11 Flag, and its story wouldn’t leave her. In addition to basing an art lesson on it, she crafted this story, weaving in many sewing terms and a refrain-like tag line, “The fabric of America…” In the end, readers learn, “The fabric of America endures.”

*I received a copy of 30,000 Stitches in a contest, with no expectation, nor requirement, of reviewing it. The opinions expressed are purely my own, and they are not predicated on receiving a copy of the book.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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PPBF – Be A Tree!

Posted on August 20, 2021 | 4 comments

The end of summer is nearing, at least in my neck of the woods. Although the temperatures remain high, the sunflowers are past their prime. School buses search out new routes, and my inbox is filled with “Back to School” promotions. Before we turn the corner to fall, I think it’s the perfect time to be out exploring the natural world, or reading about it, don’t you?

Title: Be A Tree!

Written By: Maria Gianferrari

Illustrated By: Felicita Sala

Publisher/Date: Abrams Books for Young Readers/2021

Suitable for Ages: 4-8 and up

Themes/Topics: trees, community, strength, free verse poetry, environment, cooperation

Opening:

Be a tree!

Stand tall.

Stretch your branches to the sun.

Brief Synopsis: A comparison of trees and people, showing our strengths and need for community.

Links to Resources:

  • If you were a tree, what type would you like to be? Draw a picture of your favorite type of tree;
  • Take a walk and check out the different species of trees that grow in your community;
  • Check out the Back Matter that includes an author’s note, five ways you can help save trees, how you can help in your community, anatomy of a tree, and further resources.

Why I Like this Book:

Using lyrical language, Gianferrari explores the similarities between people and trees. Like trees, we have an outer layer. Our spines are a trunk, giving us shape. At our tops, we have crowns of leaves or hair.

Like people, readers learn, trees communicate and help each other “share food, store water, divide resources, alert each other to danger.” Trees create, as it were, a “wood wide web of information”.

Gianferrari shows that both people and trees are stronger when they live in communities. A fold out spread shows diverse groups of people and various animals enjoying the shade of many different types of trees. A final spread featuring people of different races, ethnicities, ages, and abilities drives home the point that when we live in harmony with one another, as trees do, we are stronger, like a forest.

I really love how Gianferrari’s sparse language encourages kids, and their adults, to draw similarities between ourselves and such an important part of our natural surroundings. I also love the overarching message that we’re all better off when we take care of each other.

Sala’s watercolor, goache, and colored pencil illustrations include sweeping vistas of many types of trees and forests, and anatomical close-ups.

Be A Tree! is an engaging read-aloud and fact-filled book for school and home libraries.

A Note about Craft:

In Be A Tree! Gianferrari uses strong verbs to exhort readers, whom she addresses directly, to picture themselves as trees, to act as trees, and to live in a community that includes humans and nature. I love the analogies between tree and human anatomy. I also love the metaphor of people being part of a forest, a community that is better together.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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PPBF – The Wisdom of Trees: How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom

Posted on April 23, 2021 | 6 comments

With Earth Day this week, and National Poetry Month in full swing, I couldn’t resist sharing this Perfect Picture Book that includes poetry, gorgeous forest vistas, and even suggestions to help our forests.

Title: The Wisdom of Trees: How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom

Written & Illustrated By: Lita Judge

Publisher/Date: Roaring Brook Press/2021

Suitable for Ages: 7-12

Themes/Topics: trees, nature, community, ecology, poetry, botany

Opening:

A Secret Kingdom

I am a single beech,/ but I am not alone./Together with my fellow trees,/ we form a secret kingdom.

Brief Synopsis: A series of free-verse poems and informative sidebars explore the hidden communities, communications, and cooperation that help strengthen trees and the world.

Links to Resources:

Why I Like this Book:

With gorgeous two-page watercolor illustrations, free verse poems, and informative sidebars, Judge introduces children to a world of trees. After the introductory poem of the opening, readers are asked to imagine the stories that ancient trees could tell. We then learn that trees have a “secret language” that humans can’t read or hear, that they communicate with each other to help trees live longer. How cool is that! What child wouldn’t be intrigued, especially when they learn that trees’ communication “begins deep underground.”

With catchy titles that invite reading and rereading, such as “How to Speak in Tree” and “Like the Bear”, the poems provide some basic information, like the role of fungal partners in communication and the role of hibernation. In sidebars that accompany these poems, Judge delves deeper, sharing the secrets of the “wood wide web” and the cork layers that form as temperatures drop to keep wood tissue from bursting like frozen water pipes in unheated houses.

Younger children can enjoy and learn some basic botany by listening to the poems and examining the detailed illustrations. Even the youngest toddlers can search for the birds and other woodland creatures in each spread. Older children and adults can learn much more from the sidebars and back matter.

I especially enjoyed the poem “We Are a Village” which reminds readers that a forest is comprised of a “diversity of trees”, each serving “a purpose in the rich fabric of life.” Just as diverse human communities are stronger and just as humans need each other, readers learn that “[t]ree diversity leads to healthier forests and helps multiple species of wildlife thrive by providing a wide range of food and homes.”

The extensive back matter includes an Author’s Note, further exploration of the topics covered, ways to help our forests, a glossary, sources, and more.

Whether for a home, classroom, or library, The Wisdom of Trees is a stunning resource that children and adults will find fascinating.

A Note about Craft:

Judge tackles a huge topic in The Wisdom of Trees, and she even shares some cutting-edge science. How does she make it accessible to children? I think she succeeds by dividing the subject matter into discreet topics, presenting basic introductory facts in each poem, offering more detailed information in the side bars and back matter, and completing the package with gorgeous illustrations of trees and forest animals. And to entice children to explore this wisdom, she begins in “A Secret Kingdom” where a single beech holds center stage. She then draws us in further by sharing that trees have their own stories and that we can learn about their communication by looking “deep underground”. What child or adult wouldn’t want to read on!

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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PPBF – The Little Island

Posted on February 28, 2020 | 2 comments

I picked up today’s Perfect Picture Book when I visited London last fall. It may not be available in the US yet, but I think it’s publishing here soon. Hopefully, US readers will be able to find it!

Title: The Little Island

Written By: Smriti Prasadam-Halls

Illustrated By: Robert Starling

Publisher/Date: Andersen Press/2019

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: community, island, working together, barriers, bridges, fable

Opening:

There was once a farm where all the animals were friends. They worked hard and each was at liberty to live and work where they chose. Together they looked after the farm and each other.

Brief Synopsis: When a flock of geese on an island at the edge of a farm remove a bridge to keep other animals off of the island, they are happy at first, until they realize that perhaps life is better when they are together with the other animals.

Links to Resources:

  • Do you have a favorite farm animal? How do you think that animal could help another one, like a goose?
  • Have you ever visited an island? What animals did you see there? How do you think each type of animal contributes to island life?
  • This story is a fable. What do you think the moral of this fable is? Think of other fables that include animals;
  • Check out the Teaching Notes for more insights.

Why I Like this Book:

When I think of kids at play, I often think about how they play at keeping some friends near and other kids further away. Who hasn’t seen the “Keep Out” signs on forts or play structures, or the dreaded “No XXXs Allowed”?

In similar fashion, the geese in The Little Island grew tired of sharing their island with the larger animals on the farm. But instead of building a wall or posting a sign, they destroyed the only route to the island for non-swimming farm animals: the bridge.

I think even young children will understand a discussion about this exclusionary action. I think they’ll also understand how this action hurts not just the other animals, those kept away from the island, but most especially the geese and ducks left alone there. And for adults or older children reading this story, my guess is that the impetus behind it, the exclusionary antics of certain politicians and governments building barriers and/or leaving multilateral organizations, will engender spirited comparisons.

Starling’s bright illustrations are engaging, and I especially loved the map on the endpapers.

A Note about Craft:

A straight-forward book about keeping others out may get to the point, but setting the situation on a farm with animal characters will, in my opinion, better engage young children and better show the ill consequences for both those excluded and those who exclude others.

This Perfect Picture Book entry is being added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

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Perfect Pairing – of Traditional Comfort Foods

Posted on February 18, 2020 | 1 comment

Looking for a fun family activity to chase away the winter chills? Try cooking together – as shown in today’s Perfect Pairing.

Freedom Soup

Author: Tami Charles

Illustrator: Jacqueline Alcántara

Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press/2019

Ages: 4-8

Themes: intergenerational, cooking, tradition, Haiti

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Join the celebration in the kitchen as a family makes their traditional New Year’s soup — and shares the story of how Haitian independence came to be.

The shake-shake of maracas vibrates down to my toes.
Ti Gran’s feet tap-tap to the rhythm.

Every year, Haitians all over the world ring in the new year by eating a special soup, a tradition dating back to the Haitian Revolution. This year, Ti Gran is teaching Belle how to make the soup — Freedom Soup — just like she was taught when she was a little girl. Together, they dance and clap as they prepare the holiday feast, and Ti Gran tells Belle about the history of the soup, the history of Belle’s family, and the history of Haiti, where Belle’s family is from. In this celebration of cultural traditions passed from one generation to the next, Jacqueline Alcantara’s lush illustrations bring to life both Belle’s story and the story of the Haitian Revolution. Tami Charles’s lyrical text, as accessible as it is sensory, makes for a tale that readers will enjoy to the last drop.

Read my review.

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Author: Kevin Noble Maillard

Illustrator: Juana Martinez-Neal

Publisher/Date: Roaring Brook Press/2019

Ages: 3-6

Themes: Native Americans, family tradition, cooking, community

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Fry bread is food.
It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate.

Fry bread is time.
It brings families together for meals and new memories.

Fry bread is nation.
It is shared by many, from coast to coast and beyond.

Fry bread is us.
It is a celebration of old and new, traditional and modern, similarity and difference.

Read a review by Susanna Leonard Hill.

I paired these books because they involve food traditions that tie communities together, be it soup, as in the Haitian Freedom Soup, or the Native American Fry Bread. And a special bonus: both picture books include recipes, perfect for wintry days!

 

 

 

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Perfect Picture Book Friday – Under the Same Sky

Posted on August 9, 2019 | 6 comments

 

Regular readers know that I often feature picture books dealing with tougher topics. But this week, I needed to read a hopeful book that focuses on community, how aspects we share unite us, regardless of species. When I picked up today’s Perfect Picture Book in the Children’s Room of the New York Public Library, I knew I found that book.

Title: Under the Same Sky

Written & Illustrated By: Britta Teckentrup

Publisher/Date: Tiger Tales/2018 (originally published in Great Britain, Caterpillar Books/2017)

Suitable for Ages: 3-7

Themes/Topics: rhyming, shared hopes, shared dreams, community, animals, imagination

Opening:

We live under the same sky…in lands near and far. We live under the same sky…wherever we are.

Brief Synopsis: A lyrical celebration of the bonds that unite us all.

Links to Resources:

  • Think of some of the ways that you are the same as a family member, friend, someone you pass on a playground;
  • The sun shines during all seasons, all over the world. Draw pictures showing the sun shining on a snowy day, in the desert, on a lake or ocean, by your own home.

Why I Like this Book:

In short, poetic text, using lovely illustrations of different animal species, Teckentrup celebrates the many natural elements that unite the world. A quiet book, Under the Same Sky will be a reassuring bedtime favorite for families with younger children. I especially liked the last spread, showing all of the animals together under a full moon and starlit sky and its message of unity. What a wonderful way to fall asleep, reminded that our hopes and dreams unite us.

The collaged illustrations in soft, pastel hues provide soothing accompaniments to the gentle text. I think kids will enjoy the cut outs, as they follow along on this exploration of community.

A Note about Craft:

Teckentrup uses animals as the main characters in Under the Same Sky. I think this will appeal to young children, especially as many young animals are depicted.

Cut outs are used in the pages to great effect, as phrases, such as that shown above, appear on one page and then after the page turn to emphasize text.

This Perfect Picture Book entry will be added to Susanna Hill’s Perfect Picture Book list. Check out the other great picture books featured there!

 

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Perfect Pairing – of  Books about Walls, Art & Community

Posted on February 12, 2019 | 4 comments

As Valentine’s Day is coming, I thought I’d pair a few books that show how we can share love through creative pursuits that strengthen our communities.

 

Hey Wall: A Story of Art and Community

Author: Susan Verde

Illustrator: John Parra

Publisher/Date: A Paula Wiseman Book (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)/2018

Ages: 4-8

Themes: art; community; wall; street art

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

One creative boy.
One bare, abandoned wall.
One BIG idea.

There is a wall in Ángel’s neighborhood. Around it, the community bustles with life: music, dancing, laughing. Not the wall. It is bleak. One boy decides to change that. But he can’t do it alone.

Read a review at Children’s Books Heal.

 

Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood

Author: F. Isabel Campoy & Theresa Howell

Illustrator: Rafael López

Publisher/Date: HMH Books/2016

Ages: 4-7

Themes: murals; art; community; wall

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

What good can a splash of color do in a community of gray? As Mira and her neighbors discover, more than you might ever imagine! Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!

Read a review at All the Wonders.

I paired these books because they show how something that we generally think of as a barrier, something that can divide us, can also unite us. In Hey Wall, the unnamed young narrator addresses the wall directly and shows readers how that old, “lonely concrete” wall can be changed with “pencil”, “paints”, and “dreams” to tell the story of the community, that is “somethin’ to see”. In Maybe Something Beautiful, the young protagonist spreads color across a gray city, one picture at a time, until she partners with a muralist to bring color to all. I love how children lead the way to transformation in both books, I love the multicultural communities depicted, and I love the centrality of art to bringing communities together. How will you share beauty, and love, in your neighborhood or city today?

Looking for similar reads?

For another creative treatment of walls, see The Wall in the Middle of the Book  .

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