Tag Archives: determination

PPBF – When Things Aren’t Going Right, GO LEFT

Posted on March 15, 2024 | 3 comments

When my children were young, we visited Disney World with dear friends. One of those friends had read a guide book and instructed the kids at every junction to “go left” to avoid the crowds. As that friend has a birthday next week, I thought this was the Perfect Picture Book to share as we celebrate.

Title: When Things Aren’t Going Right, GO LEFT

Written By: Marc Colagiovanni

Art By: Peter H. Reynolds

Publisher/Date: Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc./2023

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: optimism, determination, perseverance, obstacles

Opening:

One day, for no particular reason, nothing was going right.

Brief Synopsis: When nothing seems to be going right, a young boy pivots and chooses to go left.

Links to Resources:

  • What do you do when things aren’t going your way? Think of some ways to solve your problems, diminish your worries, or overcome your fears. Draw a picture that shows you doing something you’re afraid to do or that shows that problem solved;
  • Try these games to distinguish between your right and left hands; which do you use most of the time?

Why I Like this Book:

As this charming picture book begins, an unnamed protagonist is having a bad day, “for no particular reason, nothing was going right.” Sound familiar? I think this is a problem that resonates with kids and adults of all ages.

But rather than complain or become immobilized over seemingly immense obstacles, the plucky child pivots and, one by one, sheds those things holding him back: worries, doubts, fears, and frustrations.

Using first-person point-of-view and addressing the reader directly, Colagiovanni creates a very relatable narrator. Reynolds furthers the relatability by showing the unnamed main character looking straight towards the reader during several key scenes. And to further help the reader understand what’s going on, Colagiovanni personifies the worries, doubts, fears, and frustrations, and Reynolds illustrates them as small monsters. I think any child will feel better about whatever is troubling them after reading When Things Aren’t Going Right, GO LEFT.

A Note about Craft:

I’m one of those writers who often starts with a title. And how I wish I had thought of the title of today’s Perfect Picture Book. Everyone knows that when things aren’t going well, you need to drop what’s holding you back and pivot. But how many people would pick up a picture book entitled, “When Things Aren’t Going Well, Pivot”? And how many kids would understand that? By incorporating a double entendre into the title, and weaving it through the text, the concept is so much more comprehensible – and fun!

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 – KHALIDA and the Most Beautiful Song

Posted on September 11, 2020 | 2 comments

As I remember the events of nineteen years ago and reflect on the crises the world faces today, I find solace when I read picture books such as today’s Perfect Picture Book that reminds us of the power of creativity and the arts.

Title: KHALIDA and the Most Beautiful Song

Written & Illustrated By: Amanda Moeckel

Publisher/Date: Page Street Kids/2018

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: music, piano, creativity, determination, unscheduled moments, the power of art

Opening:

Perhaps it was the twinkling of a bright star or the wings of a high-flying owl that awoke the song one night.

It was time.

Brief Synopsis: An elusive song awakens a young pianist, but she struggles to capture it as the demands of everyday life get in the way.

Links to Resources:

  • Carve out some space and time to be creative, with musical instruments or art supplies;
  • Try to schedule some unscheduled “me” time each day or week and let your inner artist loose;
  • Read, or reread, Peter H. Reynolds’ The Dot, and join in the fun of International Dot Day 2020.

Why I Like this Book:

KHALIDA and the Most Beautiful Song is a lyrical, joyous celebration of creativity and a reminder that we need to step back from everyday tasks, schedules, and concerns to enable our creativity to flourish.

I was hooked from the opening, as the song mysteriously found young Khalida. As Moeckel notes in the opening scene, neither the song nor the reader knows why the song was awakened. But once awakened, and once it “tickled” Khalida’s “fingers and dipped into her ear”, Khalida knew that she had to recreate it on the piano, and share it with others.

I think even young children will relate to the obstacles that Khalida faces as she tries to express the creative impulse growing inside her. And I think everyone will appreciate the results of her determination as listeners “forgot everything else,” including meetings, being bullied, and a sick relative.

Moeckel rendered the illustrations in graphite, watercolor, and digitally. I especially loved how the song, depicted as graceful swirls, weave through the pages and become more colorful as Khalida performs them for an audience comprised of a diverse group of listeners.

A Note about Craft:

Moeckel begins this story not with Khalida, the over-programmed, talented pianist, but with the song that struggles to be played. By doing so, Moeckel encourages young children to think of their creative output as a character – a “thing” that needs to be out in the world. Switching the perspective in this way helps readers understand that creative individuals need to create, that society benefits when they are able to do so, and that we need to break down barriers to creativity.

I love the lyrical name, Khalida, and, because it is an Arabic name, I think this adds a multicultural layer to this beautiful story.

See a blog post about the creation and publication of this picture book at Writing and Illustrating. Note that Khalida finally plays the song in a park, where she performs it on a piano set there. In New York City, where Moeckel resides per the jacket flap, a not-for-profit, Sing for Hope, sets up artist-embellished pianos in public spaces for all to enjoy and donates pianos to city schools. Although this isn’t mentioned anywhere in the book, I’d like to think that Khalida is playing one of these pianos.

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 – Numenia and the Hurricane: Inspired by a True Migration Story

Posted on April 17, 2020 | 10 comments

As families everywhere hunker down and shelter in place, it’s a true treat to read a story that involves a journey. When that journey is affected by a life-threatening hurricane, something arguably made more severe by climate change, I think this story is especially timely as we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day. I hope you enjoy some armchair traveling via today’s Perfect Picture Book!

Title: Numenia and the Hurricane: Inspired by a True Migration Story

Written & Illustrated By: Fiona Halliday

Publisher/Date: Page Street Kids/2020

Suitable for Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: migration, birds, hurricanes, separation, reunion, determination, rhyming

Opening:

Three sisters born/ By arctic shore/ On bare, cold rock/ As spring winds roar.

Bandit-eyed,/ They slip unseen/ Through beckoning moors/ Of tangled green.

Hunting bugs in/ Thawing creeks./ Spearing, gobbling,/ Growing beaks.

Five weeks old,/ They’ve reached the sky!/ “Curlee, curlee,/ Curloo,” they cry.

Brief Synopsis:

A brave, young whimbrel migrates from the Arctic to the Caribbean, but when a hurricane separates her from her flock, she must persevere to reach her destination.

Links to Resources:

Why I Like this Book:

In gentle, rhyming text, Numenia and the Hurricane recounts the story of a young whimbrel, a small, Artic bird, from her birth through her first migration to the Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean. But as readers learn, this isn’t just any continent-spanning migration. Instead, Numenia and her flock encounter a hurricane. During the storm, the poor bird is separated from her family and the flock. How will she survive to complete her journey and reunite with her sisters? You’ll have to read this gorgeous picture book to find out! But rest assured, since it’s geared to young children, this story has a happy ending.

But before we reach that ending, readers are in for a treat with Halliday’s lyrical imagery, including two of my favorites: a “great stampede” of “ten thousand hissing raindrops”, and “storm-tossed birds like ragged ghosts”.

Halliday’s illustrations in soft tones of blues, golds, greens, ivory and gray drew me into this story. If only I could have joined Numenia at her final destination!

Numenia and the Hurricane is based on a true story, which Halliday shares in an Author’s Note, along with information about this fascinating species.

A Note about Craft:

A non-fiction picture book about Hope, the inspiration for Numenia, would have been an interesting story. But Halliday ups the stakes by including fictional elements, most especially the inclusion of Numenia’s sisters. What child isn’t  interested in a creature who has not only lost her way, but also her family?

Fictionalizing this story also enables Halliday to anthropomorphize Numenia, again enabling children to more readily identify with her reactions to her problem and to learn from her hope and determination.

The use of rhyme quickens the pace, I think, which is perfect for a story about a bird, and it suits the lyrical images Halliday utilizes. And in the Author’s Note, we learn that the name, Numenia, is a derivation of Numenius phaeopus, the Latin name for whimbrels. What great 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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Perfect Pairing – Loves to Dance

Posted on October 1, 2019 | 1 comment

I love to dance into a new month, don’t you? Here’s two picture books to help!

Lena’s Slippers

Author & Illustrator: Ioana Hobai

Publisher/Date: Page Street Kids/2019

Ages: 4-8

Themes: ballet, dancing shoes, perseverance, economic hardship, determination

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Lena can’t wait to twirl and swirl on stage for her school dance recital, but her family does not have the money to pay for new dance slippers. Despite this, nothing is going to stop Lena from dancing. As the day of the recital draws closer, Lena works hard come up with a creative solution and enjoys her shining moment on stage, learning along the way that what you do is more important than what you wear.

Lena’s passion for performing will inspire readers, especially aspiring dancers. Parents will love that it teaches kids not to get caught up in artificial, materialistic ideals. With lovely illustrations, this heartwarming story highlights the power of perseverance and the joy of creativity.

Read a review at The Picture Book Buzz.

 

The Wonder Shoes

Author: Eva Bernatová

Illustrator: Fiona Moodie

Publisher/Date: Farrar Straus Giroux/1990

Ages:  4-8

Themes: ballet, dancing shoes, loneliness, persistence

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

A story of a young girl named Emma who is enraptured by the Circus Umberto, which has come to her village featuring a beautiful young dancer wearing bright red dancing shoes. Emma dreams of becoming a dancer herself, and wonderful things happen when she receives her own pair of dancing shoes.

Because of the date of publication, I didn’t find a review of The Wonder Shoes, but my kids loved it when they were young.

I paired these books because both feature dancers and the desire to obtain dance shoes. In Lena’s Slippers, economic hardship and the realities of life in a country with bare-shelved stores leaves Lena scrambling to find the right white dance slippers to join with her ballet classmates. In The Wonder Shoes, lonely newcomer Emma dreams of life as a dancer, and finds friends, and an opportunity to dance, through perseverance and creativity. Both books highlight the joys of dancing and the desire to be part of a group.

Looking for similar reads?

See Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins (Michelle Meadows/Ebony Glenn, 2019) and Firebird: Ballerina Misty Copeland Shows a Young Girl How to Dance Like the Firebird (Misty Copeland/Christopher Myers, 2014), featured here last spring, and Danza! Amalia Hernández and El Ballet Folklórico de México (Duncan Tonatiuh, 2017).

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Perfect Pairing – Dances into Spring

Posted on March 19, 2019 | 3 comments

I’m continuing the celebration of Women’s History Month with a focus on trailblazing dancers.

Brave Ballerina: The Story of Janet Collins

Author: Michelle Meadows

Illustrator: Ebony Glenn

Publisher/Date: Henry Holt and Company (Macmillan Publishing Group)/2019

Ages: 4-8

Themes: ballet; diversity; trailblazers; biography

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

A lyrical picture book biography of Janet Collins, the first African American principal dancer at the Metropolitan Opera House. 
Janet Collins wanted to be a ballerina in the 1930s and 40s, a time when racial segregation was widespread in the United States. Janet pursued dance with a passion, despite being rejected from discriminatory dance schools. When she was accepted into the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a teenager on the condition that she paint her skin white for performances, Janet refused. She continued to go after her dreams, never compromising her values along the way. From her early childhood lessons to the height of her success as the first African American prima ballerina in the Metropolitan Opera, Brave Ballerina is the story of a remarkable pioneer as told by Michelle Meadows, with fantastic illustrations from Ebony Glenn.

Read a review at Noodling with Words.

 

Firebird: Ballerina Misty Copeland Shows a Young Girl How to Dance Like the Firebird

Author: Misty Copeland

Illustrator: Christopher Myers

Publisher/Date: Penguin Young Readers Group/2014

Ages: 6-10

Themes: ballet; trailblazers; determination

Short Synopsis (from Goodreads):

In her debut picture book, Misty Copeland tells the story of a young girl–an every girl–whose confidence is fragile and who is questioning her own ability to reach the heights that Misty has reached. Misty encourages this young girl’s faith in herself and shows her exactly how, through hard work and dedication, she too can become Firebird.
Lyrical and affecting text paired with bold, striking illustrations that are some of Caldecott Honoree Christopher Myers’s best work, makes Firebird perfect for aspiring ballerinas everywhere.

Read a review at Kirkus Reviews.

I paired these books because both are lyrical picture books that explore the hard work and dedication necessary to excel at ballet and that encourage all young children, regardless of race or socio-economic situation, to soar through their endeavors. In Brave Ballerina, readers learn the story of Janet Collins, the first African-American prima ballerina in a major company. In lyrical rhymes that dance through the story, Meadows explores each component that led to Collins’ success, ending with the revelation that “This is the dancer,/bold like the sun,/a prima ballerina/in 1951.” In the fictional Firebird, Copeland herself offers encouragement to the narrator, a young dancer who doubts her abilities. With practice, Copeland assures the budding ballerina that she’ll “soar become a swan, a beauty, a firebird for sure”.

Looking for similar reads?

See Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova (Chronicle Books/2015).

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