MY LEGS AND I (Monday Poem)

by Leland B. Jacobs


I say to my legs,
"Legs," I say,
"Let's go out
To run and play."

So off we go,
My legs and I,
Skipping, romping,
Jumping high.

Then I say to my legs,
"Legs," I say,
"I'm much too tired
To run and play."

So legs and I
Toward home we go,
Walking, walking,
Slow, slow, slow.



from Is Somewhere Always Far Away? Poems About Places by Leland B. Jacobs, illustrated by Jeff Kaufman, 1993, Henry Holt and Company

A Celebration of Love and Friendship (FAMILY magazine reviews)

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Get ready for Valentine’s Day by choosing from these unconventional titles to enjoy.  Pull out your scissors and glue; hunt up paper and pencil; turn up the music; and prepare your best and most thoughtful language – you and a lucky child in your life are invited into a unique opportunity.  These titles offer the perfect occasion to create an original and distinctive offering to share with ones you love.  Get busy and Have fun!!

A Giant Crush  

by Gennifer Choldenko

illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Putnam, $16.99, Ages 5-8

            Jackson has a secret crush on Cami, and anonymously gives her little gifts before Valentine’s Day.  But show-off Carter isn’t shy, and begins demonstrating his interest in Cami, too.  Jackson’s friend, Cooper, who narrates this sweet tale, urges his friend, “you have to at least tell her” you like her.

            Caldecott Honor illustrator Sweet accents this charming school story of bashful first love with watercolor, gouache and mixed media.  She uses reds and pinks judiciously, without overwhelming the greens and blues that represent the daily life of the rabbits who populate Newbery Honor author Choldenko’s lively and entertaining text.

Based on an incident in the author’s childhood, realistic dialog advances this gentle, authentic story with its cheerful illustrations and happy ending. 

                       

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Ten Things I Love About You 

by Daniel Kirk

 Penguin, $16.99, Ages 5-8

            Rabbit, who adores Pig, shows up on Pig’s doorstep to ask for help in making a list of all the things he loves about his best friend.  Back and forth several times when he runs out of ideas, Rabbit is encouraged to leave so Pig can finish what he is busy working on.

            Patient and kind, Pig is also complimentary, and always polite.  But even his usual good humor is stretched by Rabbit’s many interruptions.  Outlined in ink, the digitally colored paintings on paper and plywood deliver expressive faces, and vivid body language to accompany the breezy, animated text.

            In the final pages, we realize why the two are such good buddies -- Rabbit discovers, what readers may be already guessing, that Pig had the same idea. He’s been creating a list of his own about his good friend Rabbit.

            The two lists are included at the book’s end, suggesting an idea for young reader’s to generate their own lists of what they love about their own good friend.

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I’m in Love with a Big Blue Frog  

by Leslie Braunstein

performed by Peter, Paul and Mary

illustrated by Joshua S. Brunet 

Charlesbridge, $17.95, Ages 4-10

            Neither a typical holiday nor love story, this newly illustrated folk song, made famous by the well-loved musical group, Peter, Paul and Mary, makes humorous use of clever lyrics and a peppy melody, becoming an endearing vehicle for strengthening an important message.  The book delivers a dynamic dose of optimism and tolerance, injecting a quirky measure of merriment into a “painful remnant of slavery days.”

            A girl announces her love for a six foot three blue frog, whose mother is from Philadelphia, and whose daddy was an enchanted prince.  Clearly a representation of African-Americans, the blue frog is loved by the girl, who symbolizes Americans committed to ending segregation. 

            Beginning with disapproving onlookers as they share a float in a soda shop, the bold illustrations supply readers a candid view of community censure of the loving couple.  The positive final double page spread shows a happy community sharing frog-shaped popsicles.  While welcome, this transformation remains unexplained by either text or illustration.

            Back matter includes both an Illustrator’s Note and a Performer’s Note.  A CD recording by Peter, Paul and Mary is enclosed.

SKY (Monday Poem)

by Deborah Chandra


A huge eye---
Blue and moving,
The sky
Opens wide,
Silently
Surrounding me
With its
Gaze.


from Balloons and Other Poems by Deborah Chandra, illustrated by Leslie Bowman, 1990, Farrar Straus Giroux

BALLOONS (Monday Poem)

by Deborah Chandra


Such swollen creatures,
Holding their breath
While they swim
Dreamily from
Room to room.

Swaying slightly,
They wander the air-wisps,
Bumping and rubbing along the walls
Until they feel their fat backs
Bob against the ceiling.

Wanting nothing,
They drift and sleep---
Bald as babies,
Smooth moons of blue and red,
Nodding drowsy, spellbound heads.



from Balloons and Other Poems by Deborah Chandra, illustrated by Leslie Bowman, 1990, Farrar Straus Giroux

NIGHT (Monday Poem)

by Leland B. Jacobs


I wrapped the night around me--
Velvet black, a cloak it made,
With silver stars for buttons . . .
I drew the cloak around me, unafraid.

I wrapped the night around me--
Velvet black, that shimmered as I swept
Around the moonlit room.
And in the furry feel of night I slept.


from Is Somewhere Always Far Away? Poems About Places by Leland B. Jacobs, illustrated by Jeff Kaufman, 1993, Henry Holt and Company

Stimulate the Imagination, DREAM (FAMILY magazine reviews)

From the riveting to the humorous to the inventive, these biographies of significant individuals mesmerize readers with their attention to captivating details, seizing one’s interest, and often impelling one to further exploration.  This small collection of artists, a poet, and leaders, also contains two different books about the same musician.  For adults who want to read something more than the usual fare of stories with the important children in your life, these absorbing books open opportunities for conversation with your child about compelling elements in the lives of these amazing dreamers.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons 

by Anna Harwell Celenza

illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel 

Charlesbridge, $19.99, Ages 6-10

             

Eighteenth century Venice, known as the city of music, is where Vivaldi’s pieces are played by orphan girls until the board stops paying him and he leaves to make his music elsewhere.  When he is lured back by the promise of his works being played regularly, he sends two compositions every month, and later arrives to tell the story of his music as they play. 

The famous Four Seasons Concerto is the focus of this heartwarming story of friendship between the composer and the students who love him.  Imaginative watercolor paintings amplify the text and kindle the poetry of the music. 

            The seasonal Sonnets are printed at the story’s end, followed by an Author’s Note.  Also included is a CD recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau 

by Michelle Markel

illustrated by Amanda Hall

Eerdmans, $17.00, Ages 5-9

            Henri Rousseau begins painting after he’s forty years old, teaching himself by examining “paintings of his favorite artists,” and studying photographs, “postcards, magazines and catalogues.”  When he paints on canvas with bold colors, he’s often startled by what emerges, and despite ridicule and limited finances, he persists.

            After a time, younger artists are impressed, and join him when he hosts a party in his neighborhood to feature the music students he teaches.  Even Picasso throws a banquet to honor him.  At the end, an Author’s Note explains briefly about his imagination and the dreams he painted.  An Illustrator’s Note describes her trip to Paris for research and her combined use of watercolor and acrylics in her playful illustrations.

 

Colorful Dreamer: The Story of Artist Henri Matisse 

by Marjorie Blain Parker

illustrated by Holly Berry

Dial, $16.99, Ages 5-10 

            From an industrial nineteenth century French village emerged a dreamer whose early attempts to become a lawyer tied his stomach in knots so severely that he was hospitalized.  There he discovered painting and after he was released, music.  Although initially unable to earn a living, gradually his bright colors and mischievous paintings earned him both respect and an income. 

The art for this book begins in near colorless blacks, grays, and tans on white.  By contrast, the following pages roar with color as Henri’s imagination soars.  Berry’s illustrations pop with movement and bright shapes to companion the text and vividly express Matisse’s famous brilliant paintings.

In his final years, back in bed, Henri “’painted’ with colored paper.”  “As more and more people noticed” his famous collages, he drew “with scissors” until his death.  A Note about Henri Matisse is included at the back.

Monet Paints a Day 

by Julie Danneberg

illustrated by Caitlin Heimerl 

 Charlesbridge, $15.95, Ages 7-9

            Written as if Monet himself were sending a letter to his fiancé, Alice, the text speaks as if the artist were currently doing the painting.  A sidebar on each double page spread offers a short snippet of information.  On this day Monet is so focused that the sea explodes over him, washing everything away before “the ocean spits me out” on the sand with only his empty palette in his hand.

At the back are an Author’s Note, Monet’s Painting Techniques, and a Bibliography. 

 

Electric Ben:  The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin 

by Robert Byrd

 Dial, $17.99, Ages 8-14

            This picturebook biography of Benjamin Franklin is clearly for children older than the usual storybook crowd -- with its dense text and intricate, detailed, and nearly cartoon-like ink-line, watercolor, and colored ink illustrations.  Especially for those with an interest in history, the subject’s own autobiography and his writings supply an abundance of information, reflection and insight into the person of one of the most celebrated individuals of his time, and one who is still considered influential even into the current century.

            Born into a working class family, Ben, as we still familiarly call him, discovered early on the delights of reading and the written word, becoming a printer, which he considered himself all his life.  With his restless imagination and fertile creativity he not only used his skill as a writer to become a wealthy man but, investing himself in his community, he believed profoundly in organizing and planning with others, to solve problems for the “common benefit of mankind.”  From establishing a hospital, a fire brigade, a police force, and schools of many different kinds, to inventing streetlights, a heating stove, bifocals, and a twenty-four hour clock -- to name a few -- Franklin felt it was his “civic duty to share anything that improved the common good.”

             As a self-trained scientist, philosopher, negotiator and diplomat, Franklin’s skills became an invaluable asset to not only the city of Philadelphia (his residence), but also to the emerging American nation, as it navigated independence.  His sense of humor, lack of arrogance, innate curiosity, skill in conversation, openness, and sense of respect for others have rightfully earned him the descriptor of “Renaissance man.”

            This book, which includes an Introduction, Author’s Note, Timeline, and Bibliography, is itself inventive and engaging, especially as a tribute to a similarly appealing, ingenious and resourceful individual. 

Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies 

by Marc Aronson 

 Candlewick Press, $25.99, Ages 14+

            Professor, editor, and award-winning author Aronson, whose passion for historical detail and interest in the individuals who populate our country’s past, is once again evident in the research, writing, and archival photos, chosen to illustrate this almost novel-like biography, of one of the most influential officials in both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Government.  Arranged in seven parts that include chapters, and corresponding to eras during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they are arranged in chronological order, leading teen readers into the story, and inviting back and forth comparisons between the parts.

            Hoover’s secrecy, use of power, and tangle of control, security, and relationships characterize this book of historic intrigue, challenging readers to explore stimulating material, consider the questions the author raises, and probe the questions that surface in the reader’s own mind, as the pages unfold.

            Beginning with a tantalizing Prologue, the contents include an Epilogue, Notes, Bibliography, Index, and an exceedingly readable and absorbing section of back matter about the author’s own fears experienced during the research and writing of the book.

Desmond and the Very Mean Word: A Story of Forgiveness 

by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams

illustrated by A.G. Ford 

Candlewick Press, $15.99, Ages 6-9

            In one of South Africa’s poor townships Desmond speeds on his beautiful new bike to show his friend, Father Trevor.  A red-haired boy among a gang shouts a mean word, repeated by the others.  Desmond is hurt by this, and even forgets why he wanted to see Father Trevor, who knows something is wrong as soon as Desmond arrives.

            The illustrations done with illuminating oil paints reflect the action in the text, as we see the yelling red-haired boy in near life size, on a double-page spread, followed several pages later, by Desmond’s face in similar size and shouting mode.  The colors of the daylight contrast with the darker night and indoors, reflecting Desmond’s painful experience of bullying. 

            Desmond’s observation of the red-haired boy being bullied by his older brothers offers Desmond space to reflect on Father Trevor’s insightful comments. Later, when the two boys encounter each other, Desmond is able to make the first move toward forgiveness. 

            Based on an actual incident in the Archbishop’s early life, and also on his childhood hero, Father Trevor, this vivid tale, with its vigorous illustrations supplies readers with an unsentimental but compassionate message about forgiveness.  An Author’s Note is included.                

 

Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People 

by Monica Brown

illustrated by Julie Paschkis

 Henry Holt, $16.99, Ages 5-9

            Using poetic language, Brown shows readers Chilean poet and Nobel Laureate Pablo Neruda, who as a child loved words, although his father didn’t approve of his poetry.  As “the poet of the people,” Neftali renamed himself Neruda and became “one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century.”

            Illustrator Paschkis’ paintings twirl with words; words written on the leaves and tree trunks Neruda loved, words whirling golden orange to create the sun, and blue and white, to make the moon, words that make up the oceans waves, words written on the streets, and flowers, and swirling as the wind.

            An Author’s Note is at the end with a list of Resources.

Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra 

by Stephen Costanza  

Henry Holt, $16.99, Ages 4-8

            A daydreamer of music, Vivaldi wrote many of his pieces for the musicians of the all-girls orphanage in Venice, who were famous for their spirited playing while hidden behind a curtain.  This lyrical story, accompanied by pastel illustrations, introduces us to another daydreamer, Candida, who copies Vivaldi’s music for the instrumentalists, and begins to write words, poetry even, to accompany his notes.  An Author’s Note concludes the story.

THE SECRET (Monday Poem)

by Leland B. Jacobs

A secret! A secret!
I just heard a secret
And nobody else must hear.
     No talking!
     No telling!
     No whispering!
     No hinting!
Or a secret will disappear.

A secret! A secret!
I just heard a secret!
Must it be kept so well?
     A week?
     An hour?
     A minute?
     A second?
I'm afraid I'm going to tell.



from Is Somewhere Always Far Away? Poems About Places by Leland B. Jacobs, illustrated by Jeff Kaufman, 1993, Henry Holt and Company