Boy-Like

The girls I nanny for are on vacation this week which means I have a lot more free time.  It also means I will be able to showcase a few Newbery books this week.  It took me quite awhile to get through Harold Keith's Rifles for Watie, but don't let that discourage you. I started this book at the very end of family vacation and between moving, starting a new semester and a new job it got a little lost in the shuffle but I finally got the chance to finish it this week.

Rifles for Watie tells the story of Jeff Bussy a young teen from Kansas who joins the Union Army during the Civil War.  Keith provides such a great insight into Bussy's personality and character and he does it in a way that is easy to read creating a text that just envelopes you.  Take this scene for example.  Jeff was out tending the cattle and would be out all day so his mom packed him a lunch, "but, boylike, he had eaten all the pone at ten o'clock int he morning and now he was hungry again."  By the end of the book this boy who couldn't wait to eat his lunch has become a decorated, well traveled solider with stories to tell and a...oh I can't tell you everything that happens but you will grow to love Jeff as you watch him grow up.

Jeff is in the army for an extended period of time before he every sees a battle.  And, boylike, he's pretty upset about it, "Just my luck [he says] I'll never get in a real fight." "That's what I'd call good luck youngster [says an older, wiser, and much beloved fellow solider]."  Jeff does see battle, but more than that he sees a lot of the country, he sees people with different beliefs, he sees the wisdom and foolishness of war, he sees the good and the bad on both sides but he doesn't let any of this change who he is.  What I loved most about this book was that Jeff didn't ignore what he saw, he thought about things and let his experiences develop his mind but he didn't every compromise his principles or character. His southern manners come through even when he is interactin wtih rebels-the enemy!  

My little brother is a marine and I often worry about how war can change a person.  Stories like Jeff's give me hope.  Hope that not every solider will come back broken, hope that even the hell of war can produce some positive experiences, and hope that you can come back better, stronger, but still the same person you always were. 

Staying true to yourself...that's kids stuff.

Wait, what?

Macaulay's Black and White has something unique about it.  Here is the way the dust jacket describes it, "this book appears to contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time.  But it may contain only one story.  Then again, there may be four stories."  See, now you're thinking, "wait,what?" but stick with me.  Black and White has divided each double page (so when you open the book the page on the left and the page on the right count as one complete page) into quadrants and there are 4 pictures per page.  Each of these four quadrants tells a different story...or does it?

I read this to Eva, Leah laughed at some of the cow pictures but was then very distracted by the family cat. After I finished she looked at me and said, "I don't get it."  "Well," I said, "lets look back, how many stories do you think are in this book."  "Ohh so maybe there are four stories but it still doesn't make sense."  "why not?," I ask, thinking that the four stories make sense as individual stories and you can spot at least some of the overlap.  "Well," she said, with a tone that implied I was the young one and she needed to educate me, "Newspaper doesn't just fall from the sky.  It doesn't make sense."  She was referring to one detail on one page but that stuck with her-kids are noticers. 

Isn't it interesting how kids will accept superpowers, magic, and fairies but if a story is mostly realistic they will catch anything that doesn't fit with how they see the world.  There is the way the world actually works with clear boundaries of what can and cannot happen, and then there is their pretend world which can have anything they can imagine. I like to live in both of those worlds. 

Looking at different stories, noticing the details...that's kids stuff. 

Wait, there's no color?

Robert McCloskey's Make Way For Ducklings is really cute.  Ok so I try really hard to avoid words such as cute and nice on this blog because I'm talking about children's literature and those are the same words that everyone uses and I want to move a little bit past them.  But this is a story about a daddy and mommy mallard duck who find a new home in Boston to raise their ducklings.  Then, yikes I almost gave you a spoiler (and these books are like literally 20 pages with exquisite pictures on every page so the 'i don't have time to read' excuse really isn't cutting it anymore).  But as you can probably imagine the ducks must face a couple of challenges living in a big city like Boston.  

The illustrations are delightful, they are pencil sketches that capture everything-the hustle and bustle of the city, the serenity of nature, the concern of new parents, and the absolute cuteness of baby ducklings (I understand that duckling implies baby but I'm also using the word cuteness so I decided to just go all the way).  Little Leah loved this book, as did I.  She said, "oohh duckies" and watched each page carefully for the status of her new duck friends.  Afterwards she quacked all around the house, also very cute.

 Miss hard-to-please Eva looks at the first two pages and says, "wait, there's no color? I don't want this story."  To which I said, "that's fine I'll read it to Leah."  Of course once you start reading a story everyone in the room listens in and Eva gasped in all the right places, so though she didn't appreciate the pictures she still let herself get absorbed in the story.

Cuteness...that's kids stuff. 

Too Much Outside?

Jane Yolen's Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr, is one of my favorite Caldecott winners (but not my very favorite-you're gonna have to wait for that one..oohh suspense).  It is the story of a little girl who goes on her first nighttime owling expedition with her father. I find it to be a sweet story filled with all of the excitement and responsibility of a child who is finally allowed to do something grown-ups do.

Leah loved this book.  She hooted along like the owls and was fascinated by each of the beautiful watercolor illustrations.  On one page it looks like the owl is flying right out of the page at you.  Once we got to this page she gasped and said, "I can fly like that?" and as soon as the book was over she ran around the kitchen hooting and "flying" around the kitchen.  Isn't it great how kids are inspired and engaged by story?

Hard to please Eva had a slightly different reaction. Though she was also intrigued by the story and hooted right along with us when asked for her reaction she said, "the story was good, the pictures were so-so."  "Why so-so?" I asked.  "It was too much outside," she answered.

Hooting along with the story...that's kids stuff. 

Because it Was DIfferent

Here it is the start of the Caldecott  project.  Like when I read the Newbery's (or most of them-it's still a work in progress) the Caldecott winners will be read in no particular order.  First up was David Wisniewski's Golem.  Quick side not David Wisniewski was both the other and illustrator and since the Caldecott is an award given for the illustrations I will be sure to give a strong shout out to the illustrator, if one is not mentioned you can assume that the author was also the illustrator. 

Personally, I loved this book.  It is the story of a mythical clay figure brought to life by a Jewish rabbi to protect the persecuted Jews of Prague.  The illutrations are a layered mixed media which makes them look really unique. The story is full of Jewish culture, and when reading it I really felt as if I had a Jewish heritage and that this story was also my story.

Well that's all great but what did the kids think.  Well Leah was napping and, as she's only 2, I did not read this book to her (she doesn't quite have the attention span to handle this many words per page).  Now I am a firm believer that kids can handle more than we think they can, but I think Eva was a little young to really grasp a lot of this text. Listen to her feedback, "It was good because it was different, but it was also hard because it was different-so I guess it was so-so."   For Eva, this book was entirely out of context she had no prior knowledge of Jewish customs or Poland so this book was really different.  That being said she could still relate to the story and loved the fact that the pictures were different.

Trying something different...that's kids stuff.  

Superpower

Sorry for the lack of posts recently.  New semester+ new job= very busy me.  Anyway my new job is nanny-ing for two delightful little girls, Eva (age 5) and Leah (age 2).  When I was playing with Eva she pulled out 2 dolls and told me, "we're superheros."  "Really!?" I replied, "what are your superpowers?"  Without skipping a beat Eva replied, "reading" for one of the dolls and the other doll replied, "spelling."  Wow, reading and spelling are superpowers.  It's so true though-with literacy comes power.

In light of my new busy schedule this blog will change a little.  I hope to start reading Caldecott books, which are books that receive honor based on their illustrations.  They are picture books, perfect for the girls I am currently spending my days with.  I hope to share a little bit about the books as well as the girls reactions.  I will work in the remaining Newbery books as I finish them but there is no way I can come anywhere near the book a day pace I had in the summertime.  I hope you enjoy the changes, it should be fun!

Superpowers...that's kids stuff. 

I Love History

Little known fact: I had a history minor in undergrad.  Surprised?  Probably not, I have alluded to my love of history on the blog before.  In the minor you are supposed to take a variety of history courses, which I did between the courses I took in Greece and the ones I took in Messiah, but there are also some free credits where you can take whichever history course is most appealing to you.  With those credits I built a nice little block of American History courses, my favorite of which was Dr. Fea's Colonial America course (and here's a plug his blog is here).

My Immigrant America Class, also with Dr. Fea , at Ellis Island

So since I love history, especially American history, I was thrilled by the tagline of Ester Forbes Johnny Tremain, "a story of Boston in revolt."  Listen to the way Forbes describes the spirit of the time, "Doctor cooper was putting more politics than gospel int his sermons that fall and more fear of 'taxation without representation' than God into his congregation." This book did such a good job at making the past an accessible place that anyone who reads the book can clearly picture and understand.

This book is all about Johnny Tremain and he is one of the most fascinating characters I have encountered in all of the books so far.  He was working as a silversmith until he burned and disfigured his hand in a terrible accident.  Then young Johnny has to figure out exactly what it is he wants to do with his life, and this is a long hard process. "For a little while it had been touch and go with him. If pushed a little farther, he might have taken to crime because that was what was expected of him."  This just reminded me how hard it is for kids to figure out who they are and what they want out of life.  It also reminded me of the great responsibility everyone who works with children have.  For many kids it is touch and go.

So what happens with Johnny?  You're going to have to read the book to find out.  I can guarantee that it is a fantastic read with an incredibly satisfying ending.

Learning who you are, even during revolt...that's kids stuff.