Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
Betty Smith expertly recreates the 1912 Brooklyn of 11-year-old Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Through Betty Smith’s words, I learned of the awfulness of enduring agonizing hunger and dire poverty in the tenements of Brooklyn during a volatile time. But Francie’s poverty is only part of Francie’s story. As Francie grows from
My son is getting better at sitting still for board books! This month, he took control of turning the pages of a few of them, wanting to turn them over and over again. It fun to watch him try to read: I tell him the book is upside down and turn it over for him.
While Mo Willems hasn’t been awarded the Caldecott Medal for his children’s picture books, he has been nominated a number of times. Do multiple Honors equal a Medal? I doubt he’d think so. Nevertheless, I think his simple illustrations are award-worthy and therefore worthy of my review. Here’s a rundown of some of Willems’ books,
My son is musical. As a newborn, his body would instantly start to relax if I started to sing to him. Now, at 13 months old, he doesn’t calm so easily. But if he hears music, he dances. He laughs when he hears any rhythm. His favorite toys make music. He likes to touch the
Time for Bed by Mem Fox and illustrated by Jane Dyer, is a relaxing bedtime book. The go-to-bed phrases have a wonderful rhythm just right for rocking a child to sleep. It’s time for bed, little mouse, little mouse,Darkness is falling all over the house. The richly realistic paintings of animal mothers and babies evoke
George and Martha by James Marshall. George and Martha are best friends, and James Marshall’s storybooks show us what that means. They tell the truth to each other, even if it hurts; they respect each other’s privacy; they learn what it means to be friends. They are also hippos, and that makes the illustrations to
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. When Max is sent to his room without supper, he finds himself on a journey to where the wild things live. But, in the end, he longs to return to where there are people who love him and he returns to his room to find supper waiting.
Bedtime books are the best. One of my favorites is Sandra Boynton’s Going to Bed Book. It’s a silly goodnight book because after taking a bath and getting jammies on, the animal kids all exercise for a few minutes before they head to bed. Boynton’s illustrations are as whimsical as always. The animals are acting
This week, I got Walk On! by Marla Frazee from the library. Walk On! is a manual for babies to learn to walk. It is very amusing. I believe it is intended for adults, not babies. In fact, most Amazon reviewers suggest it as a gift for high school grads. (In fact, in terms of
Sandra Boynton’s Pookie books are a lot of fun. My son received Let’s Dance, Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton for his first birthday, a previously unknown (to me) new Boynton classic. In Let’s Dance, Mama helps Pookie dance the “Pookie Shimmy.” I think it’s very cute. My son likes the part where we march all
The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman is a clever alphabet book. While it’s clearly a children’s book, it has an element of spookiness to it and somber, spidery illustrations that make it just right for adults too. The illustrations by Gris Grimly are not my normal preference. I tend to like more realistic illustration and
In medieval children’s primers, the alphabet was the main tool of learning and was often portrayed in a way that also taught religion (Seth Lerer, Children’s Literature, page 61). Poems and teachings would be in the order of the alphabet. This had biblical precedence, as the 22 stanzas of Psalm 118 “use the twenty-two letters
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