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Picturebooks Non-FictionAGE GUIDES: these are approximate recommendations:
* denotes San Diego writer and/or illustrator
Aston, Dianna Hutts. A Seed Is Sleepy. Illus. Sylvia Lang. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8118-5520-4. $16.95 U.S. Ages 7 and up.Who knew a seed could be so interesting and beautiful? Aston describes where seeds come from, their purpose, and how they get from one place to another. She describes different types of seeds and the different parts of a seed. What makes her descriptions so unique is that she writes about seeds as if they were baby animals or children. She personifies them, as the title indicates. She also describes seeds as being “naked,” “adventurous,” “inventive,” and “generous.” By using these adjectives she creates curiosity in the reader. How could a seed be adventurous?! Also, it’s true that people care about things they can relate to, so by personifying seeds, Aston gets the reader to care about her subject. Long illustrations done in watercolor and ink are amazing. Sylvia Long magnifies the seeds and plants so you can see all the little details we usually miss when we look at something so small. Three words: big, beautiful, bold. I’d also like to acknowledge the calligraphy by Anne Robin. I remember doing calligraphy (or trying to in ninth grade art class). Not easy. Calligraphy is an art in itself, and Robin’s is lovely. Marie Soriano Baer, Edith. Words Are Like Faces. Illus. Kyra Teis. New York: Star Bright Books, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59572-108-2. $15. 95. Ages 4 and up. www.kyrateis.comIn lyrical, brilliant rhymed couplets, Baer describes how and why we use words, how we play with words, and even how we enjoy words. She describes the amazing power of words to soothe and the power of words to hurt. Baer subtly warns readers to be careful about how they use words because words have the power to hurt others even when we don’t mean them to. Baer’s writing is perfect. None of the rhymes are forced, and neither is the moral lesson to watch what we say. Kyra Teis’s illustrations are realistic portraits, beautifully rendered. Each picture is a combination of portrait and colorful collage, which creates texture and a lot of movement. In addition, Teis’s has painted a variety of ethnic faces. Together, Baer’s words and Teis’s artwork make a lovely book. Marie Soriano *Bolthouse, Melissa. Hay! There’s a Horse in My Hospital Room. Bolthouse, 2007. In this lovely, powerful book about dealing as a child with illness
and hospitalization, Bolthouse draws on her own experience. A healthy
child, suddenly Henrietta finds herself in the big, unfamiliar hospital
for an extended stay. There she experiences loneliness, but a nurse
named Latisha says just the right things to enable her to use her
imagination to get through the night. In warm prose, Bolthouse shows
Henrietta not only using her imagination to think up enjoyable ways
to pass the time, but depicts the young girl showing others in the
hospital how to do the same. Henrietta even imagines with her doctor.
This is a fine book for families dealing with similar problems,
ones which are inherently difficult because they involve pain and
suffering in the very young. It’s important to have books
like these that not only help children but also their families. Brown, Don. Dolley Madison Saves George Washington. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. ISBN 0-618-41199-2. $16.99 Ages 5-8.Everybody loves Dolley Madison. She is beautiful, throws the most lavish parties, and her husband is James Madison: Fourth President of the United States of America. When war between Britain and America breaks out, however, and the President’s mansion is threatened, the soldiers left to guard the edifice flee, leaving Dolley behind with a difficult decision to follow suit, or to do something courageous. In a decisive moment, she rescues important government papers and oversees the removal and rescue of George Washington’s portrait—the Gilbert Stuart rendition that now hangs proudly in the White House in Washington D.C. Though the climactic moment of rescue occurs midway through the text, the book reveals the struggles Dolley undergoes in her flight from the burning city of Washington including the spite of other women who blame her husband for the war. Brown completes the story with an author’s note on Dolley’s life and death, as well as an insight into the artist Gilbert Stuart. A bibliography is also added as a reference for moments where direct quotations are used in the narrative. Depicted in pen and ink and watercolor, Don Brown chooses to depict Washington’s portrait with clarity of detail that contrasts the simplistic washes and muted palette of his other illustrations. Often, color is employed to create the ambiance of the particular environment or to reflect the vibrancy of character as Dolley stands in a scarlet dress to everyone else’s hue of brown. Although the volume of text is larger than most picture books—possibly requiring an older reader to help—there are wonderful moments by which children may understand and learn about the history of America and the people who made it. Ellen Nef Clearly, Brian P. Quirky, Jerky, Extra Perky: More About Adjectives. Illus. Brian Gable. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8225-6709-7. $15.95 U.S./ $20.95 CAN. Ages 7-9. www.lernerbooks.comEach page of this book features wordplay with adjectives. Clearly defines adjectives, gives examples of them, and explains why we use them. The way he uses silly examples is entertaining and reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. The illustrations work with the text wonderfully to demonstrate how adjectives function. Gable’s illustrations are zany and comical, featuring anthropomorphic animals in human dress and situations, for example, some wearing glasses, some wearing tuxedoes, some dressed like clowns, and some ice skating, etc. You get the picture. Pun not intended. Gable’s pictures are not just comical as in funny, but also in the funny pages sort of way. The lines seem quickly drawn and a bit squiggly. He doesn’t use straight, hard lines. The colors are not color coordinated. He uses a combination of pastels and bright colors to make pictures that are not necessarily pretty, but are interesting to look at. Marie Soriano Hatkoff, Isabella and Craig, Dr. Paula Kahumbu. Owen & Mzee: the Language of Friendship. Photos by Peter Greste. New York: Scholastic, 2007. $16.99. ISBN 0-439-89959-1.The $16.99 is worth it just for the photo on the back: Owen (a young hippopotamus) and Mzee (a 130-year old tortoise) are nestled asleep together like the trusting, lifelong, if highly improbable, soul-mates they are. They live in Haller Park, a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya. River floods, then a tsunami wiped out Owen’s family. When rescued, he couldn’t be put with the resident hippos at Haller Park, because the pods don’t take kindly to strangers.. Poor Owen! His fortunes change, though, when he’s put in an enclosure in which Mzee lives. Mzee is a big, old reptile, but somehow Owen becomes his child. The park personnel are amazed: “They often see Owen licking Mzee’s face, or Mzee resting his head on Owen’s broad belly. They seem happiest when they are together.” The young mammal and the old tortoise seem even to have created their own language. The photographs of the two animals are treasures, unforgettable. This is a fine sequel to the first Owen and Mzee book and, like that one, we highly recommend it. A. Allison Johnson, Dinah. Hair Dance! Illus. Kelly Johnson. New York: Henry, Holt and Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8050-6523-7. $16.95 U.S./ $21.00 CAN. Ages 5 and up.This book is a celebration of Black girls and their hair, their hair in dread locks, in power puff afro glory, in its many textures and ways it’s styled. Dinah Johnson has written a life-affirming lyrical poem to honor Black hair, and photographer Kelly Johnson (no relation) has taken some of the most beautiful pictures of children I have ever seen. Hair Dance! is a celebration of diversity and a fantastic book to read aloud to your kids. It might also be a pretty gift for the Black girl/s in your life. Marie Soriano Raschka, Chris. The Purple Balloon. New York: Random House, 2007, with proceeds going to Children’s Hospice International. ISBN ISBN 978-0-375-84146-0. $19.99. Chris Raschka is the Caldecott-winning author/illustrator of many
very original and beautifully illustrated books covering subjects
as diverse as John Coltrane to a little sardine named Arlene. In
this spare, colorful book, he provides solace and guidance for children
and families facing the death of the child. It is important to have
books like this one; faced with such an awful circumstance, many
of us fall silent. But silence is not the best reaction, for it
deprives the child and members of the family to talk about what
they feel, what is going on, and what they hope for. Many of us
have experienced untimely deaths in our families; Raschka’s
book can mean so much to a youngster or a parent who cannot find
words. Raschka’s prose opens by acknowledging that talking about
death is hard and that dying itself can be hard too. The illustrations
of family members’ faces on different colored balloons link
the family to the elderly person who is passing away. Friends and
family help when an older person dies. But the dying of a young
person is even more difficult. Medical staff, as well as friends
and family, help here too. A. Allison Schneider, Josh. You’ll Be Sorry. New York: Clarion Books – Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. ISBN 0-618-81932-0. $15.00 (Hard Back) 32 pp.Samantha’s parents warn her that she’ll be sorry if she hits her brother, but she worries that she’ll be sorry if she doesn’t. And so she does (Smack. Waaaaaah!) What Samantha doesn’t reckon on however, are the amazing consequences that unfold as her little brother cries, and cries, and cries some more. Schneider uses a primary palette of green hues which work well with the watery action, and the watercolor illustrations are full of humorous details that will delight children. Particularly engaging are the portraits on the wall that watch, and react to, the drama unfolding before them; one spread revealing a framed picture floating on water, and holding up an S.O.S sign as the water level climbs the stairs. Characters here are represented as mice, and though the result of Samantha’s violence is somewhat fantastical, the message behind the humor is an important one. Once Samantha has apologized, she still feels she wants to now pinch her brother, but she has learned, from experience, the disastrous fallout of her violent urges. This book is a great tool in teaching children the consequence of their actions—especially for families in which hitting has become an issue. Ellen Nef
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