Tag Archives: compassion

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 – The Cat Man of Aleppo

Posted on June 4, 2021 | 6 comments

Today’s Perfect Picture Book is one that I’ve been meaning to read, and review, for some time. It’s set during the Syrian war, a conflict that I think we all thought would be history by now, but that, sadly, endures to this day.

Title: The Cat Man of Aleppo

Written By: Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha

Illustrated By: Yuko Shimizu

Publisher/Date: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House/2020

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: Syrian Civil War, cats, compassion, animal rescue, non-fiction

Opening:

Alaa loves his city of Aleppo. He loves its narrow alleys and covered bazaars selling pistachios, jasmine soap, and green za’atar. He loves the boiled corn and dried figs offered on the stree.t Most of all, he loves the people of Aleppo. They are gentle, polite, and loving—like him.

Brief Synopsis: This is the true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, an ambulance driver who rescued cats and helped orphans and others as war raged in the city of Aleppo, Syria.

Links to Resources:

  • Learn about the history, culture, and geography of Syria (information is all pre-war) and Aleppo;
  • Have you ever visited a spice market or bazaar? Describe the spices you saw and smelled;
  • Ask an adult to help you bake Za’tar bread;
  • Learn more about Alaa’s efforts and the animal sanctuary that now exists on the outskirts of Aleppo;
  • Enjoy coloring the detailed coloring pages.

Why I Like this Book:

War is always a difficult topic in children’s literature, especially in picture books. But compassion in the face of adversity, and especially compassion for defenseless animals, is a very kid-friendly topic. By focusing on the heart-warming, and true, story of a man who rescued hundreds of cats left behind when their owners fled the war-torn city, Latham and Shamsi-Basha have written a picture book that enables children to learn about the ongoing struggles in Syria and to feel hopeful that people like Alaa are caring for the animals and people affected by the conflict.

I love how the story begins before war broke out and how the authors highlight what Alaa loves about the fascinating city of Aleppo, a city most readers will not have visited. While not sugar-coating the horrors of war and its effect on Alaa, the story quickly turns to the cats left behind, the cats with “lonely, confused faces” that remind Alaa of “loved ones he has lost”.

Once he meets a few of these cats, Alaa realizes that he can’t change the world and the situation in Aleppo, but that he can do something: he can take care of these abandoned animals. Starting small, with just a few cats, he soon expands his efforts, and gains support, both from people still in Aleppo and from people around the globe. An international not-for-profit now exists to support this work!

This is a wonderful lesson for children wanting to make a difference in the world of how one person can help others, and how they can do even more when they join forces and work together with others. From helping cats, readers learn that Alaa built a playground for children, dug a well, and helped feed people in need. By the end of the book, I felt hopeful that Alaa and people like him will help Aleppo return to its pre-war condition. And when the refugees return, hopefully someday soon, it’s comforting to know that the pets left behind will be there for them.

Shimizu’s award-winning, realistic, and very detailed illustrations bring Aleppo, Alaa, and the many cats to life.

A Note about Craft:

In an author’s note, Latham reveals that she was moved by the story of the cat man of Aleppo, but she was not from Syria nor had she ever visited the country, ie, she was not an #OwnVoices author. When she met a “striving children’s book author” who had emigrated from Syria and who had visited Aleppo before the war, Latham joined forces with Shamsi-Basha, and together they wrote the story.

Similarly, Shimizu, a Japanese illustrator based in the US, explains in an illustrator’s note, that she had never visited Syria. To make the illustrations authentic, she “spent half of the nine months I had to complete this book solely on research”. That The Cat Man of Aleppo is a 2021 Caldecott Honor Book is a testament to her diligence and attention to detail.

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 Seed of Compassion: Lessons from the Life and Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Posted on March 20, 2020 | 9 comments

During this unprecedented time of stress and worry, a gentle reminder of the power of compassion may be just what we need. Thankfully, there’s a new picture book releasing next week written by and about a world expert in that practice.

Title: The Seed of Compassion: Lessons from the Life and Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Written By: His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Illustrated By: Bao Luu

Publisher/Date: Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House/March 2020

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: compassion, peace, Tibet, autobiography, Buddhism

Opening:

I was born in Taktser, in the Amdo province of northeastern Tibet. It was a place of tall mountains, clear streams, blue skies, and many animals—mastiffs, sheep, horses, yaks, scorpions, chickens, and cows.

Our home was in the shadow of the Ami-chiri, The Mountain That Pierces the Sky.

Brief Synopsis: Written by His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, The Seed of Compassion recounts early memories with his mother who planted the seed of compassion within him and includes ideas for children to help nurture compassion and improve the world.

Links to Resources:

  • Learn about the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and read some fun facts about him. There’s also a timeline of his life in back matter, as well as a note to readers at the front of this book;
  • Discover Tibet;
  • Learn about Buddhism and try some activities that help you become more aware of the natural sights and sounds that surround you;
  • How can you nurture the seed of compassion and inclusivity in your school, at the playground, or in your family?
  • Listen to a sample reading of The Seed of Compassion (found near the bottom of the page).

Why I Like this Book:

In straightforward language, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shares scenes from his rural childhood during which his mother showed him by example the importance of kindness towards others. I love the analogy to planting a seed that will grow, something that I think kids will relate to and understand.

I also appreciate that His Holiness addresses children directly and with respect in the latter part of the book, recognizing that they have within themselves the seed which can grow into compassion, for their peers and the world. As an example, he rhetorically asks children whether they would rather approach a smiling group or a scowling group on the playground. Of course, they would rather approach the smiling, welcoming group. The leap to becoming one who shares a smile is obvious. From there, His Holiness states, “When you approach someone with true warmheartedness, they can feel it. Doing so only brings more joy to you and them.”

And with practice, like with a sport or musical instrument, His Holiness assures children that compassion will grow.

Golden tones run through this picture book, tying His Holiness’ early life to his later ministry. I think caregivers and teachers will appreciate the diversity of children presented, including in a final scene showing His Holiness part of a circle of multicultural children.

A Note about Craft:

I’ve already mentioned a few of the tools that His Holiness utilizes to share his message, the seed and growing analogy and addressing children directly. These techniques, I believe, encourage children to believe that they have the power within themselves to practice compassion. Perhaps as importantly, His Holiness also reminds these children that if they slip and fail to act compassionately, tomorrow is another opportunity to “try again.”

A relatively new imprint of Penguin Random House, “Kokila (pronounced KO-ki-la) brings together an inclusive community of authors and illustrators, publishing professionals, and readers to examine and celebrate stories that reflect the richness of our world.”

I reviewed an electronic review copy of this book, downloaded from Edelweiss+.

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 – is Bicycling

Posted on October 15, 2019 | 2 comments

Tomorrow is my husband’s birthday, and he loves to bicycle. So I thought I’d share two picture books featuring children who also love to cycle.

 

In a Cloud of Dust

Author: Alma Fullerton

Illustrator: Brian Deines

Publisher/Date: Pajama Press/2015

Ages: 4-8

Themes: bicycles, diversity, education, disappointment, compassion

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In a Tanzanian village school, Anna struggles to keep up. Her walk home takes so long that when she arrives, it is too dark to do her homework. Working through the lunch hour instead, she doesn’t see the truck from the bicycle library pull into the schoolyard. By the time she gets out there, the bikes are all gone. Anna hides her disappointment, happy to help her friends learn to balance and steer. She doesn’t know a compassionate friend will offer her a clever solution—and the chance to raise her own cloud of dust. Brought to life by Brian Deines’ vivid oil paintings, Alma Fullerton’s simple, expressive prose captures the joy of feeling the wind on your face for the first time. Inspired by organizations like The Village Bicycle Project that have opened bicycle libraries all across Africa, In a Cloud of Dust is an uplifting example of how a simple opportunity can make a dramatic change in a child’s life.

Read my review.

 

 

The Patchwork Bike

Author: Maxine Beneba Clarke

Illustrator: Van T. Rudd

Publisher/Date: Candlewick Press/2018 (first published in Australia by Hachette Australia/2016)

Ages: 6-9

Themes: bicycle, resourcefulness, play, poverty, imagination, North Africa, multicultural

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

What’s the best fun in the whole village? Riding the patchwork bike we made! A joyous picture book for children by award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke.

When you live in a village at the edge of the No-Go Desert, you need to make your own fun. That’s when you and your brothers get inventive and build a bike from scratch, using everyday items like an old milk pot (maybe mum is still using it, maybe not) and a used flour sack. You can even make a numberplate from bark, if you want. The end result is a spectacular bike, perfect for going bumpity-bump over sandhills, past your fed-up mum and right through your mud-for-walls home.

A delightful story from multi-award-winning author Maxine Beneba Clarke, beautifully illustrated by street artist Van T Rudd.

Read my review.

I paired these books because they feature bicycles and children, and, in both cases, economic hardship necessitates the use of either a homemade or donated bicycle. While the focus of In a Cloud of Dust is riding bikes to and from a rural school, the children in A Patchwork Bike use their creation to explore and have fun. In both books, I think readers learn the importance and joy of bicycles, even if they aren’t shiny and new.

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PPBF- In a Cloud of Dust

Posted on October 4, 2019 | 14 comments

With its cooler but not yet cold temperatures and the promise of multi-colored leaves on the trees, October can be one of the best months to take a bike ride. I think it’s also a wonderful time to read about bicycling, as featured in today’s Perfect Picture Book.

Title: In a Cloud of Dust

Written By: Alma Fullerton

Illustrated By: Brian Deines

Publisher/Date: Pajama Press/2015

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: bicycles, diversity, education, disappointment, compassion

Opening:

In a Tanzanian village, a little schoolhouse sits at the end of a dusty road.

Brief Synopsis:

When the bicycle library arrives at her school, Anna hopes to find a bicycle to ride to and from school, but she is too late to find a bicycle of her own.

Links to Resources:

  • Try drawing a bicycle or creating a bicycle with colorful accordion wheels;
  • Ride your bicycle to school and back, around a park, or in your neighborhood;
  • Learn about Tanzania, the setting of this story;
  • Read the Author’s Note to learn more about bike sharing and giveaway programs;
  • Discover more ideas in the Reading Guide.

Why I Like this Book:

In a Cloud of Dust provides a window into life for children lacking transportation to and from a rural school in Tanzania. Readers learn that Anna, the main character, does her homework during the lunch break, as her journey by foot to and from school is so long that it’s dark by the time she reaches her home, a home without electric lights. When a “Bicycle Library” visits her school during the lunch break, the other students already have chosen all of these used bicycles. It’s clear that these children are excited about the bicycles and eager to learn how to ride them. But what about Anna? Her disappointment leaps from the page. What does she do?

If I were reading In a Cloud of Dust aloud to a group of children, I think I’d stop at this point and ask them what they’d do if they were Anna or if they were the other children. By including this universal feeling of disappointment at the heart of the story, I think Fullerton broadens the appeal and offers an opportunity to discuss what’s fair or not, how to handle disappointment, and how to be a true friend.

Because Anna overcomes her disappointment with the help of her friends, the story has a happy ending. I won’t spoil it by revealing how she overcomes this disappointment or the solution – you’ll have to read In a Cloud of Dust yourself!

Deines’ earth-toned illustrations transported me to Tanzania and expressed the emotions that the children felt.

A Note about Craft:

Fullerton utilizes spare, lyrical text to tell Anna’s story. By using few words, she enables the illustrations to do much of the storytelling, which added to the emotional appeal for me.

In a Cloud of Dust is a work of fiction based on bicycle lending and give-away programs that help those without access to transportation in places like Tanzania. I think by wrapping the information about these programs in a fictional account that includes disappointment and compassion, Fullerton gives a more complete picture of the importance of these programs to so many people throughout the world.

Visit Alma Fullerton’s website to see more of her works.

See more of Brian Deines’ artwork on his website.

Independent, Canadian publisher Pajama Press “is a small literary press” that “produce[s] many formats popular in children’s publishing across a fairly broad range of genres”.

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 visits Korea

Posted on May 14, 2019 | 1 comment

Although much in the news lately, I’ve seen very few picture books written in English about North Korea and South Korea. Following are two recent ones that I’ve enjoyed reading, as I learn more about the fascinating history of this divided peninsula.

Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans

Author: Tina Cho

Illustrator: Keum Jin Song

Publisher/Date: Little Bee Books, an imprint of Bonnier Publishing USA/2018

Ages: 4-8

Themes: South Korea, North Korea, hunger, rice, compassion, making a difference

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Rice from Heaven is based on a true story about compassion and bravery as a young girl and her community in South Korea help deliver rice via balloons to the starving and oppressed people in North Korea.

“We reach a place where mountains become a wall. A wall so high, no one dares to climb. Beyond that wall and across the sea live children just like me, except they do not have food to eat.”

Yoori lives in South Korea and doesn’t know what North Korea is like, but her father (Appa) does. Appa grew up in North Korea, where he did not have enough food to eat. Starving, he fled to South Korea in search of a better life. Yoori doesn’t know how she can help as she’s only a little “grain of rice” herself, but Appa tells her that they can secretly help the starving people by sending special balloons that carry rice over the border.

Villagers glare and grumble, and children protest feeding the enemy, but Yoori doesn’t back down. She has to help. People right over the border don’t have food. No rice, and no green fields.

With renewed spirit, volunteers gather in groups, fill the balloons with air, and tie the Styrofoam containers filled with rice to the tails of the balloons. With a little push, the balloons soar up and over the border, carrying rice in the darkness of the night over to North Korea.

Read a review at Picture Books Help Kids Soar.

 

When Spring Comes to the DMZ

Author & Illustrator: Uk-Bae Lee

Translators: Chungyon Won and Aileen Won

Publisher/Date: Plough Publishing House/2019 (originally published in Korean/2010)

Ages: 4-12

Themes: South Korea, North Korea, nature, demilitarized zone, division, barriers

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Korea’s demilitarized zone has become an amazing accidental nature preserve that gives hope for a brighter future for a divided land.

This unique picture book invites young readers into the natural beauty of the DMZ, where salmon, spotted seals, and mountain goats freely follow the seasons and raise their families in this 2.5-mile-wide, 150-mile-long corridor where no human may tread. But the vivid seasonal flora and fauna are framed by ever-present rusty razor wire, warning signs, and locked gates–and regularly interrupted by military exercises that continue decades after a 1953 ceasefire in the Korean War established the DMZ.

Creator Uk-Bae Lee’s lively paintings juxtapose these realities, planting in children the dream of a peaceful world without war and barriers, where separated families meet again and live together happily in harmony with their environment. Lee shows the DMZ through the eyes of a grandfather who returns each year to look out over his beloved former lands, waiting for the day when he can return. In a surprise foldout panorama at the end of the book the grandfather, tired of waiting, dreams of taking his grandson by the hand, flinging back the locked gates, and walking again on the land he loves to find his long-lost friends.

When Spring Comes to the DMZ helps introduce children to the unfinished history of the Korean Peninsula playing out on the nightly news, and may well spark discussions about other walls, from Texas to Gaza.

Read a review at Kirkus Reviews.

I paired these books because they tell stories based in fact about the divided Korean Peninsula. In Rice from Heaven, a young girl and her father in South Korea help send rice via helium balloons to hungry North Koreans across the demilitarized zone. Here the DMZ acts as a barrier which compassion breaches. In When Spring Comes to the DMZ, the DMZ is portrayed as a nature preserve, an Eden flourishing between the divided Koreas and signaling the possibility of future peace. Both books also include informative back matter to help explain the complex issues that remain decades after the international conflict that divided the land into two vastly different countries.

Looking for similar reads? See Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero (Patricia McCormick/Jacobo Bruno, 2017) about the Korean War.

 

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PPBF – Why Am I Here?

Posted on June 2, 2017 | 15 comments

I found today’s Perfect Picture Book at my local library. Regular readers know that all of the books I’ve reviewed this year have involved refugees, people and stories from areas affected by the US travel ban, and migrants, especially from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Today’s Perfect Picture Book doesn’t exactly fit within these parameters. It is, however, a book first published outside the US. I also think it promotes so much empathy for refugees and migrants that it almost is a book about them. I hope you agree!

9780802854773_p0_v2_s192x300Title: Why Am I Here?

Written By: Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen

Illustrated By: Akin Duzakin

Translated By: Becky Crook

Publisher/date: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers/2016 (first published by Magikon in Norwegian/2014)

Suitable for Ages: 5-9 (or older)

Themes/Topics: empathy, compassion, imagination, philosophy, social justice

Opening:

I wonder why I am here, in this exact place.

Brief Synopsis: A young child journeys to many places, asking what it would be like to live as s/he sees others living.

Links to Resources:

  • Become Globe Smart, and learn about life in other areas of the world;
  • Draw a picture of a person or place that you have visited.

Why I Like this Book:

Why Am I Here? is a book that begs to be read, and reread. Many of us have a child who has asked questions non-stop, who has stumped us time and time again with one three-letter word: WHY. While I think of the “why” stage for younger children more than for the school-aged kids for whom this book is written, curious children, and adults, never stop wondering.

Rather than wondering just about the natural world, Why Am I Here? invites us to consider differences in time, place, and social circumstance. In one poignant spread, the narrator asks what it would be like to live in a large city, alone, “on the street or under a bridge.” Similarly, the narrator wonders what it would be like to leave home as a refugee, to survive a natural disaster and be without food or water, or to labor as children do in other places in the world.

This is an introspective book, sensitive and thought-provoking. But while many of the places and peoples visited are suffering, the overall tenor is positive and hopeful, in large part, most likely, due to the dreamy, peaceful watercolor illustrations that help soften the reality of the words.

HEJH-Øy_båt.R-210x210

Interior spread, reprinted from Duzakin’s website

HEJH-By.R.W_edited-1-210x210

Interior spread, reprinted from Duzakin’s website

A Note about Craft:

Why Am I Here? has an other-world feel to it, in part, I think, because the “I” in the story is alone and identified by neither name nor gender. I think this helps readers identify better with the narrator and imagine themselves in his or her situation.

In Reading Picture Books with Children, Megan Dowd Lambert invites readers to contemplate the Whole Book when sharing picture books with children. In Why Am I Here? the text appears solely on the left side and the illustrations, looking like landscape paintings, appear on the right side of the gutter. This invites the reader, I believe, to think about the words before seeing what the words imply. For an introspective book, when author, illustrator and editor want the reader to contemplate the text, I think this is a wonderful technique that adds to the reading experience.

Constance Ørbeck-Nilssen is a Norwegian freelance jouralist and children’s author.

Akin Duzakin is a Turkish illustrator living since 1987 in Norway.

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

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