‘The Last Tree’ tells ecological fable about hope

The Last Tree

Written and illustrated by Emily Haworth-Booth

Pavilion Books Company Limited, London, 2021

“The Last Tree” is an ecological fable for children.  The story begins when a group of friends look for a place to live and settle in a forest.

They’re happy playing among the trees and sleeping on the mossy ground until winter comes. They cut down branches for firewood.

They need more protection from the weather so they chop down trees to build shelters. When their shelters aren’t warm enough, they chop down more trees to build cabins.

“Soon it seemed the more wood they took, the more they needed to take,” writes Haworth-Booth.

When summer returned, the sun was hot but there weren’t enough trees for shade. The people cut down more branches to make porches.

When the fall winds came, there were no trees to stop it.  The people decided to cut down the rest of the trees and build a wall. They left one scrawny tree standing because they thought it was worthless.

With nothing to look at but a wall, the villagers changed. They forgot their games and songs, and became cold and hard. They became suspicious of one another.

All the parents asked their children to cut down the last scrawny tree before anyone else could.

But when the children crept out beyond the wall and found one another by the little tree, they laughed and played. They tended the tree, and each day it grew taller and prouder.

The children talked to their parents about the tree and how it made them feel, but their parents wouldn’t listen. To satisfy their parents’ desire for more wood, the children secretly cut down boards from the wall and brought them to their parents.

They boarded up their windows and built fences, but when the wind rushed into the village, the people ran outside and saw that in spite of all their new wood, the last tree still stood.

When they heard their children playing by the tree and saw how the cool wind twisted gently though the tree’s branches, they remembered how things used to be. Suddenly, they understood what they had done wrong and decided to try to begin again.

They took the wall down, planted seeds and tended the saplings. They talked and sang, and as their children grew, a new forest grew with them.

The story ends, “And the last tree became the first.”

The simple brown, green, and blue drawings complement the story, and give it an old fashioned, classic feel.

About the Author-Illustrator

Emily Haworth-Booth is an award-winning author, illustrator, and educator who teaches at the Royal Drawing School in London. In addition to her children’s picture books, Emily is working on a graphic memoir. Her short comics have appeared in print in the “Observer” and “Vogue.” She is a passionate environmentalist.  

Picture book celebrates joy of being Dominican

 

If Dominican Were a Color

Written by Sili Recio and illustrated by Brianna McCarthy

Denene Millner Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2020

“If Dominican Were a Color” is a gorgeous picture book about the colors of the Dominican Republic. The author says her goal in writing the book is to encourage black children to love the color of their skin no matter what shade it is.

The story is told in lyrical, rhyming prose. “If Dominican were a color…” it begins.

“It would be the sunset in the sky, blazing red and burning bright.

The shade of cinnamon in your cocoa, the drums beating so fast, they drive you loco.”

The author Sili Recio goes on to list her grandma’s mahogany skin and her other grandma’s yellow tint, shades of orange in the sunrise, deep green tints of palm trees, and neutral browns of lips and café con leche. Later, she refers to the curls and kinks of her hair, the blue-black of dreams, and all the seasons of the year.

 She also makes more poetic references to the color of swaying hips, neighbors’ chatter, a Dominican accent, games of hopscotch and jacks, and the roar of the ocean in the deep of night.

She includes several Spanish words in italics, maiz (corn) and amarillo (yellow).

Brianna McCarthy’s mixed media illustrations are stunning in their bold use of color to portray the beauty of the Dominican people and their land. “The lush foliage, the impossibly blue skies, and the otherworldly pinks and oranges spring off the page with joy and verve," writes a Kirkus reviewer. 

Just as Recio mentions her grandmothers’ different skin tones in the text, McCarthy depicts Dominican people in all shades from white to all hues of brown.

In the author’s note at the back of the book, Recio writes that she grew up in the Dominican Republic surrounded by family and friends in all tones of brown. She was showered with love and taught to love herself and “appreciate the skin she was in.”

She and her mother are both “java,” she writes, a term used on the island to describe people with light-colored skin and black features. Her father and sisters are as dark as Embajador chocolate, a Dominican brand of dark chocolate. As children, she and her sisters thought all of their skin colors were beautiful.

But as she grew up, she learned that others thought it was better to have lighter skin and insulted those with darker skin. She found this prejudice in her native country and after she moved to the United States.

Recio says she wrote this book “for the little boys and girls who felt as if they did not belong because of their dark complexions or curly hair texture or the width of their noses,” she writes. “This is for those who’ve been told they are ugly simply because they wear their African ancestors’ beauty on their faces and in their hair.”

“If Dominican Were a Color” is published by Denene Millner Books, a new imprint of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. The imprint, which launched in the spring of 2020, is directed by Denene Millner, an award-winning journalist and bestselling Afro-American author. The imprint publishes books by African American authors for readers of all ages.

About the Author

Sili Recio is an Afro-Dominican storyteller. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rollins College. She lives in Florida with her daughter, whose nickname is the Frog Princess. This is her first picture book. Visit her at SiliRecio.com.

About the Illustrator

Brianna McCarthy is a mixed media visual communicator and self-taught artist interested in the issues of beauty, stereotypes, and representation. She works in masking and performance art, fabric collage, traditional media, and installation pieces. She lives in Trinidad and Tobago. This is her debut picture book. Visit her at BriannaMcCarthy.com.

Biography introduces youngsters to folklore storyteller

 

Jump at the Sun: The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston

Written by Alicia D. Williams and illustrated by Jacqueline Alcantara

Athenium Books for Young Readers, 2021

Alicia D. Williams has written a lively biography that will make young people curious about Zora Neale Hurston, an African American writer of the 1920s and 1930s.

 Also an anthropologist, Hurston was interested in folk tales. Williams, a storyteller herself, tells Zora’s story using colorful, folksy language.

“Jump at the Sun” begins when Zora is a child in Eatonville, FL. Williams writes that Zora was “attracted to tales like mosquitoes to skin.” She liked to listen to townsfolk swap stories at the general store.

She made dolls from a bar of soap and ears of corn, then she told stories about her characters. She enjoyed telling stories to anyone who would listen.

Her mother approved of her storytelling and thought she might use her talent to go far in life. She encouraged her to “jump at de sun.”

Unfortunately, her mother grew sick and died when Zora was still a child. Her father shipped her off to boarding school. Zora was happy enough because she enjoyed school.

But then her father remarried a woman who “was stingier than a peacock.” School fees went unpaid, and Zora had to come home.

Zora said, “The walls were gummy with gloom.” Her little brothers were dressed in ragged, dirty clothes. She was angry at her stepmother and the two of them didn’t get along. Finally, when she was 14, her stepmother threw her out.

She stayed with friends and tried to earn a living working, but she was better at storytelling than holding down a job. For twelve years, she went from job to job. She moved from town to town, and was in and out of schools.

In Baltimore, twenty-six-year-olds couldn’t go to public school for free, so Zora said she was 16. She stayed there for two years and graduated. Then she got into Howard University. She was in the literary club and wrote for their magazine. She met one of her favorite authors, W.E.B. DuBois.

Then she decided she’d like to be a writer, too. She got a typewriter and began writing stories. She left school to go to New York City, where she met other writers. She sent stories to writing contests and won many awards.

Bernard College offered her a scholarship and friends also helped her. For her last semester, she traveled through the south collecting Negro folklore. Folklore includes stories and beliefs passed down from generation to generation, like the tales Zora listened to as a girl at the general store.

Even after she graduated, Zora kept collecting tales. She traveled all over the South and even to Haiti and the Bahamas gathering folklore. Then she settled in Florida and began typing up her stories in books. She also wrote her own stories.

Jacqueline Alcantara used markers, gouache, and Photoshop to create the lively, colorful illustrations for this biography. She details them with snippets of dialogue and storytelling in speech bubbles.

At the back of the book, Williams offers more background about Hurston in an author’s note and lists additional reading including two books for children, “The Skull Talks Back: and Other Haunting Tales,” and “Lies and Other Tall Tales,” both by Hurston and Joyce Carol Thomas.

About the Author

Alicia D. Williams is the author of “Genesis Begins Again,” which won many awards including the Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award for New Talent. She graduated with an MFA from Hamline University. She is an oral storyteller in the African American tradition and a school teacher in Charlotte, N.C.

About the Illustrator

Jacqueline Alcantara is the illustrator of several picture books, including “Freedom Soup” and the critically acclaimed “The Field.” Her favorite days are spent drawing, painting, writing, and walking her dog. In 2016, she was awarded the inaugural We Need Diverse Books Illustrator mentorship. Visit her at JacquelineAlcantara.com.   

Albie the warthog doesn’t want to go to bed

 

Bedtime for Albie

Written and illustrated by Sophie Ambrose

Candlewick Press, 2019

Most children can relate to Albie the warthog in “Bedtime for Albie.” His mommy tells him it is time for bed, but he doesn’t want to go to bed.

He runs from one friend to the next trying to find someone to play with him. The baby cheetahs won’t run races with him because they’re listening to their bedtime story.

The elephants won’t play splish-and-splash because they’re having their bedtime shower. The meerkats won’t dig holes with him because they’re too sleepy.

It is getting dark and Albie begins to feel nervous. He hears rustling and scratching, and  asks, “Who’s there?”

Snake says, “It’s just me!”

Then he’s frightened by two big eyes staring at him from the bushes.

Owl speaks up and asks him, “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Albie decides he doesn’t want to play by himself anymore. He just wants his mommy. He wanders and sniffs the ground until he finds a familiar, wet, muddy smell.

The hippos offer to take him home, and he rides on a hippo’s back the rest of the way home.

Finally, Albie tells Mommy he’s ready for bed.

She is pleased, but tells him first he needs to take a mud bath. He rolls around, splishing and splashing, and having a wonderful time. His friends hear him and come to join him.

They have the “gloopiest, splashiest, noisiest mud bath party” until it really is bedtime for Albie and he falls asleep lying on top of his mommy.

Ambrose’s soft watercolor and colored pencil illustrations help make this a warm bedtime story for youngsters.

About the Author/Illustrator:

Sophie Ambrose teaches illustration to children and adults when she’s not working on her own projects. She is the author-illustrator of “The Lonely Giant,” Candlewick Press, 2016. She lives in London.

Youngsters learn all about owls at Owl School

 

So You Want to Be an Owl

Written by Jane Porter and illustrated by Maddie Frost

Candlewick Press, 2020

“So You Want to Be an Owl” provides a large amount of information about owls, but it makes it fun. The story is told from the perspective of Professor Olaf, a wise old owl, and speaks directly to the reader.

Professor Olaf says, “We’re always on the lookout for sharp-eared, keen-eyed, silent types to join Team Owl.”

It begins with a little humor, “Let’s take a look at you. Hmm. You are rather LARGE for an owl,” says Professor Olaf. Owls might weigh anywhere from a tablespoon of sugar to the size of a small cat.

“Are YOU heavier than a cat? I thought so … And I see you have no feathers! This is going to be a LONG day. Still, we’ll see what we can do with you.”

Then the book goes through nine lessons about owls comparing the reader to owls all along. The reader learns about how owls fly, how they use camouflage, their vision, their hearing, how they hunt and eat, their communication, their habitat, and how they raise their young.

Finally, Professor Olaf asks the reader if he/she still wants to join Team Owl.

“You’re not the best I’ve ever seen, but you’ve tried hard, so I’m making you an honorary member of Team Owl,” he says.

“Welcome to Team Owl! Congratulations!”

Maddie Frost keeps the story moving along with colorful, fun-loving illustrations.

About the Author

Jane Porter has written or illustrated many books for young readers, including “Pink Lion” and “Brian the Brave.” She lives and works in London.

About the Illustrator

Maddie Frost has illustrated or written many children’s books, including “Wacky Birds.” She lives with her husband and dog outside Boston.

‘Round’ explores roundness all around in nature

Round

Written by Jennifer Ward and illustrated by Lisa Congdon

Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, 2020

Young children will enjoy looking for all of the round things in the beautifully illustrated picture book, “Round.”

The words are simple and repetitive. The story begins:

“Up round. Down round.

Nature all around is round.”

The rest of the words are rhyming pairs, two words to each page.

“Coiled round,” with a picture of a coiled snake.

“Foiled round,” along with a picture of a fox looking at the snake slip away.

The story points out round things in spring and summer, then fall, and finally winter.

At the end, it sums up with a two-page spread showing much of what came before: the sun, flowers, mountains, deer, a rabbit, a tree, and a bird. The words say,

“Nature all around is …”

Then the book concludes with a two-page spread of planets circling the sun, and the word, “Round!” in all caps.

 Lisa Congdon’s colorful illustrations are bold, vibrant and beautiful. They have sharp edges against a solid background, giving them a geometric look.

About the Author

Jennifer Ward is the author of many nature and nonfiction books for children, including “Mama Built a Little Nest,” illustrated by Steve Jenkins; “How to Find a Bird,” illustrated by Diana Sudyka; and “Feathers and Hair, What Animals Wear,” illustrated by Jing Jing Tsong. She writes from her home in Edwardsville, Illinois, where she enjoys the circular cycle of the seasons and is easily distracted by everything outside her windows, especially birds’ round eyes, the round flowers in her native gardens, and the round spots on the leopard frogs that splash in her round pond. Visit her at JenniferWardBooks.com.    

About the Illustrator

Lisa Congdon is a fine artist and illustrator. She has written and illustrated several books for adults, including “A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives;” “Whatever You Are, Be a Good One: 100 Inspirational Quotations;” and “The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic.” Lisa is an avid cyclist, and loves spotting round things in nature. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit her at LisaCongdon.com.    

‘Latkes for Santa Claus’ targets blended families

 

Latkes for Santa Claus

Written by Janie Emaus and illustrated by Bryan Langdo

Sky Pony Press, 2020

‘Latkes for Santa Claus’ begins after Anna has written an email letter to Santa saying she is about to celebrate Christmas for the first time because her new dad and stepbrother do. She thinks Santa must be tired of cookies, so she plans to leave him a special treat.

Her stepbrother Michael spins a dreidel, and tells Anna that Santa is happy with the sugar cookies he leaves him. But Anna wants to leave Santa a Jewish treat.

She considers matzo ball soup, but Michael tells her that Santa can’t eat matzo ball soup with his fingers. She imagines him with a bowl of matzo ball soup on his sleigh, matzo balls flying around and soup spilling all over.

Then she thinks about giving Santa a piece of noodle kugel, but it would be too messy, too. Finally, she imagines him loving Aunt Sarah’s tzimmes, a fruit and vegetable stew. But again, it would slop and spill all over Santa on his sleigh.

Anna goes to her thinking spot and her mind spins with ideas. Finally, she comes up with the perfect treat – potato latkes.

Christmas morning all of Michael’s cookies and Anna’s latkes are gone. Anna gets an email from Santa saying he loved the latkes and asking for the recipe.

Langdo's colorful illustrations complement the words beautifully. 

At the back of the book, there are recipes for potato latkes and sugar cookies, so children can try both at home.

About the Author

Janie Emaus is the author of the young adult novel “Mercury in Retro Love.” She writes both fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. Her articles and stories have been published in numerous magazines, anthologies, and websites including the “Los Angeles Times” Kids’ Reading Room Page, “The Washington Post,” AARP, “Country Living,” “Good Housekeeping,” and “Woman’s Day.” "Latkes for Santa" is her debut picture book. She lives in Winnetka, CA, and celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah.   

About the Illustrator

Bryan Langdo has illustrated more than 30 children’s books and authored two, “Tornado Slim” and “The Magic Cowboy Hat,” which won a 2012 Spur Award for Storytelling from Western Writers of America. He lives in central New Jersey with his wife, two children, and an assortment of pets.