Disabled girl triumphs when she finds way to dance

 

I Will Dance

Written by Nancy Bo Flood and illustrated by Julianna Swaney

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020

Eva dreams of dancing. She can think of nothing else.

At her birthday party, she has only one wish: a pink tutu to dance in.

She watches other dancers and imagines joining them.

But she has cerebral palsy. She can hardly move. She is in a wheelchair and can only move her head, her arms, and her fingers.

Mom tells her to imagine she is dancing. She doesn’t want to imagine; she wants to dance.

Her teacher tells her to pretend she is dancing. She doesn’t want to pretend; she wants to dance.

“I want to feel the music, sway, swing, fly over and under. Together. Not alone,” she says.

Then one day, Mom sees an ad in the newspaper, “Audition for Young Dancers --- all abilities, all ages. All are welcome.”

Eva is afraid. Maybe the others will stare and whisper. They’ll say she can’t move, she can’t dance.

But she reads again, “all abilities, all ages.” She decides to try. She and Mom go to the dance studio. There she sees others with canes, crutches, walkers, and wheels.

At first, she is nervous again and turns away, but the others reach toward her and welcome her. The instructor dances up to her, touches her, and nods.

She turns to the person next to her and swirls her fingers around. He reaches, echoing her movement, adds one of his own and passes the torch until the circle is complete. 

The instructor helps the students listen to the rhythm in the music. The students partner up and move across the floor, mirroring each other. They dance.

They continue to try different moves, moving across the smooth, wooden floor. They practice again and again.

Finally, they perform.

“Lights dim. A hush falls. Music begins, swells. I count the beats.”

They swirl and glide across the floor. They dance! The lights pour over them.

“I roar, spin my chair, circle around, soar.”

After the dance is over, they line up at the front of the stage. Eva hears clapping, whistles, and cheers.

“For me, for all of us, together: Dancers. Not imagine. Not pretend. Not alone. I dance!”

The joyful ending is satisfying. Children learn to see disabled people differently. Also, the story encourages them to believe in themselves, and not to give up on their dreams.

The watercolor illustrations by Julianna Swaney move the story along and help communicate Eva’s emotions.  

About the Author

Nancy Bo Flood has worked with families and educators on the Pacific island of Saipan to develop educational programs for students with disabilities. She is the author of award-winning books including “Warriors in the Crossfire,” “Cowboy Up!: Ride the Navajo Rodeo,” and “Soldier Sister, Fly Home.” She has a PhD in experimental psychology and child development. She lives in Colorado. Visit her at nancyboflood.com.

About the Illustrator

Julianna Swaney is an illustrator whose delicate watercolor paintings are inspired by whimsical details of daily life and a childhood spent outside in nature. She has illustrated many books including "Dr. Jo: How Sara Josephine Baker Saved the Lives of America's Children," by Monica Kulling and the New York Times bestselling "We Are the Gardeners," by Joanna Gaines. She lives in Portland, Ore. Visit her at juliannaswaney.com. 

Story focuses on cat’s adventure when family sleeps

 Only the Cat Saw

By Ashley Wolff

Beach Lane Books, 2020

“Only the Cat Saw” is a beautifully illustrated read-aloud for children. All the colorful illustrations are full-page or double-page spreads. Looking at the pictures is a joy.

The story is simple. It tells about a young, brown-skinned family going through their evening and nighttime routines. While they are busy eating dinner, giving young Tessa a bath, reading before bed, nursing baby Sam, and sleeping, their marmalade-colored tabby cat explores the farm.

We go back and forth between the family and the cat. We learn about each activity the mom, dad, sister Tessa, and baby Sam does. Then the story repeats the refrain, “So only the cat saw …” Children are invited to look at the double-page spreads and complete the sentence again and again.

When the family eats dinner, the cat gazes outside at the sheep.

Tessa has finished her bath and Father is singing to Sam. The cat plays with fireflies.

Mother and Father read, while Tessa reads under her covers. Meanwhile, the cat watches an owl hunt a mouse. 

The story continues as the cat watches a rainstorm from the porch and sees the sunrise from the roof. In the morning, the perspective shifts to Tessa as she watches the cat sleep through a window. Her mom is busy cracking eggs and dad is feeding Sam.

The author Ashley Wolff has set new illustrations to a story she first published in 1985. Several modern adaptations include how the family is ethnic and the father shares in housework and childcare. The intimacy of the story is enhanced with pictures of the mother nursing her baby and Tessa sitting on the toilet.     

About the Author-Illustrator

Ashley Wolff is a children's book author and illustrator who lives in San Francisco, CA. She has authored or illustrated over 40 books. She loves to be outdoors, whether gardening, watching birds, or hiking and skiing. She is married to a newspaper reporter and the mother of two teenage boys and a border collie named Lucy. Visit her at ashleywolff.com.

 

Migrant children face dangers, share hope for better life

 

A Journey Toward Hope

Written by Victor Hinojosa and Coert Voorhees and illustrated by Susan Guevara

Six Foot Press, 2020

Four children from different Central American countries join forces during their long and perilous journey to America in “A Journey Toward Hope.” They are “unaccompanied minors,” but they find strength in one another.

Ten-year-old Alessandra of Guatemala and 14-year-old Rodrigo of Honduras intend to rejoin their parents, who came to America seeking a better life for their families. Laura, 13, and her brother, Nando, 7, of El Salvador plan to live with their aunt and uncle. Their parents are sending them to America so they will have better lives.

Award-winning illustrator Susan Guevara brings the story to life with beautiful, colorful two-page spreads. She adds Central-American folk art-influenced details to her artwork.

“I’m coming to meet you, Mama,” whispers Alessandra as she begins her journey.

Nando cries and says he does not want to leave. His sister Laura comforts him.

”I’ll be with you, Nando,” she says. “We can be strong together.”

Rodrigo leaves a note on his sleeping little sister’s bed before he leaves. He tells her that soon the whole family will be together and be happy.

Alessandra and Rodrigo meet in El Ceibo as they are about to cross into Mexico. Right away, both sense that they can trust one another. 

Soon the two of them meet Laura and Nando. Then the four children form a team to complete their journey. 

Halfway across the Suchiate River, Laura slips off the raft and tumbles into the rolling water. A stranger rescues her. Nando hugs her tightly.

The four children continue to face hunger and danger along the way, but they also enjoy the kindness of strangers and the friendship of one another. Together they dream and hope for bright futures. The author says Alessandra will become an artist, Rodrigo will be a doctor, Laura will be a chef, and Nando will be a track star.

This book is a collaboration between Baylor professor Victor Hinojosa, his students, and children’s author Coert Voorhees. Every year, about 50,000 unaccompanied minors arrive at the U.S. – Mexico border seeking asylum and related visas. Most of them are fleeing poverty and violence in Central America’s Northern Triangle (Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala}. Hinojosa and his students wanted to tell their story to children.

Four pages of backmatter in the book tell more about the problems raised by the book, the Global Hunger and Migration Project at Baylor University, and illustrator Guevara’s folk art-influenced artwork.   

“A Journey Toward Hope” is a moving story and an important one, especially in the current political climate. It will help children and adults alike better understand the plight of migrant children.

 

About the Authors

Victor Hinojosa, PhD, is an associate professor of political science in the Honors Program at Baylor University. His primary research is in Latin American politics and U.S. – Latin American relations. He directs the Global Hunger and Migration Project, a social innovation laboratory at the Baylor University Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty. In this project, faculty and students address the challenges of child migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador). Dr. Hinojosa lives in Waco, TX.

Coert Voorhees is the author of the Grammaropolis and Storm Wranglers children’s book series. He also wrote the novels “On the Free, In Too Deep,” a Junior Library Guild selection; “Lucky Fools,” a Junior Library Guild selection; and “The Brothers Torres,” which was named to the ALA Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults.

About the Illustrator

Susan Guevara has illustrated more than 20 children’s books including the best-selling “Chato’s Kitchen.” She is two-time winner of the Pura Belpre Award. Visit her at susanguevara.com.

 

'Hurry Up!' urges children to slow down, enjoy life

Hurry Up!

Written by Kate Dopirak and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

Simon & Schuster, 2020

Told in rhyme, “Hurry Up!” addresses the reader, urging us to stop hurrying and slow down.

“Slow things down. Take a break. Look around for goodness’ sake.”

The illustrations show a girl, who starts out looking anxious as she hurries out of bed, down the stairs, onto the school bus, and to school.

Finally, there is a double spread and the capitalized word, STOP.

The girl lies in the grass and looks at a snail as her dog looks on. The story urges the reader to breathe slowly, make a wish, take a walk, listen to the forest talk.

“Go explore. Make new friends. Find out where the rainbow ends.”

The girl looks more relaxed and happier after she slows down.

The day ends as the girl and her dog sit in the grass and look up at the stars. The girl smiles in the glow of a firefly she holds in her hands as her dog looks on.

“Mosey home. Stretch and yawn. Race is off, and rest is on.

No more fast – slooooow instead. Dreams and lazy days ahead.”

The colorful illustrations help to tell the story, making it about one girl and her dog.

This book urges children to slow down, so they can notice more and enjoy life. It is a good lesson because today children's lives are often so busy and over-scheduled. It was published posthumously after the author died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare degenerative brain disorder. 

About the Author

Kate Dopirak wrote several picture books including “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Car,” illustrated by Mary Peterson and “You’re My Boo,” illustrated by Lesley Breen Withrow. She passed away in 2018 of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare degenerative brain disorder, leaving behind her husband and two sons.

About the Illustrator

Christopher Silas Neal has illustrated many award-winning children’s books including “Over and Under the Snow,” by Kate Messner, “From Tree to Sea,” by Shelley Moore Thomas and his own “I Won’t Eat That.”

“Prairie Days” celebrates prairie of author’s youth

Prairie Days

Written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Micha Archer

Margaret K McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster, 2020 

“Prairie Days” is a beautifully illustrated picture book about author Patricia MacLachlan's memories of growing up on a prairie farm. The images wonderfully bring the prairie to life in vibrant colors.

Illustrator Micha Archer’s beautiful two-page images are created with acrylics, inks, and collage. She uses origami, tissue paper, and patterned papers made with homemade stamps.

“Where I was born, there was a sky so big, there was no end of it,” writes MacLachlan.

The author remembers the smell of wild roses when she lay in the fields, the funny-sounding names of nearby towns, and getting cold drinks from lift-top tanks at filling stations.

She remembers prairie birds, the farm horses, farm dogs and worker dogs who herded the cattle and sheep.

She remembers lying in the grain in a wagon, swimming in the farm pond, and going into town with Mama and Papa.

When the day was over, she and her siblings played kick the can in the road until it got dark. They kept playing until their parents came out to bring them to bed. 

In bed, she read under the quilt with a flashlight.

MacLachlan’s story is gentle and nostalgic, but the best thing about this book is the imagery. Children will enjoy finding many small details in the beautiful illustrations.

About the Author

Patricia MacLachlan Patricia MacLachlan was born on the prairie, and to this day carries a small bag of prairie dirt with her wherever she goes to remind her of what she knew first. She is the author of many well-loved novels and picture books, including “Sarah, Plain and Tall,” winner of the Newbery Medal; its sequels, “Skylark” and “Caleb's Story;” and “Three Names,” illustrated by Mike Wimmer. She lives in western Massachusetts.

About the Illustrator

Micha Archer illustrated “The Wise Fool,” “Lola’s Fandango,” and “Prairie Days,” and wrote and illustrated “Daniel Finds a Poem.” Working in collage and oil, her use of color and pattern is influenced by the folk art, crafts, and architecture of the countries she has visited and lived in. She realized the importance of the book as a teaching tool after teaching kindergarten and raising two children. Micha divides her time between Costa Rica and western Massachusetts, where she lives in the house she and her husband built, surrounded by gardens and forest to roam in.

Rhyming book teaches youngsters about voting rights

Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America

Written by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Magdalena Mora

Beach Lane Books, Simon & Schuster, 2020

“Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America” teaches children about how different groups of people have fought for and gained the right to vote in America.

Our nation’s founders believed it was vital that the people have a voice in their government, the book says. This would happen through voting, elections, and representation.

But for many years, only a few people were given these rights. This led to many people speaking up because “they heard equality’s call,” the book says.

“A right isn’t a right till it’s granted to all,” is a refrain repeated many times in the book.

The states set the rules about who could vote, and it depended on one’s gender, race, and wealth. At our nation’s founding, only white men with property could vote.

First, white men who didn’t own property gained the right to vote. Then people spoke out against slavery, there was a war, and slavery ended. An amendment was passed.

Then all men could vote, according to the law. Yet, taxes and tests denied some the right to vote.

Next, suffragists fought for women’s right to vote. The Nineteenth Amendment gave them the vote.

Still voters of color were oppressed and denied the vote. Legislation was passed to extend voting rights to them.

The mission of protecting the right to vote isn’t over, the book says. “Democracy’s dream must be constantly tended.”

When we vote, we acknowledge all those who have fought for voting rights. We honor those rights and answer equality’s call, the book says.

Author Deborah Diesen tells the story in a regular anapestic dimeter rhyming every other line. The word choice is usually pretty good, but occasionally a little forced or unnatural sounding.  

  

Magdalena Mora’s colorful illustrations bring the book to life.

After the story, Diesen gives more detailed information. She explains amendments and legislation pertaining to voting rights. Then she lists voting rights activists.

It’s interesting how she includes small pictures of many of the activists, pictures that have appeared in the book. Children will enjoy going back and finding these pictures.

About the Author

Deborah Diesen is the author of many picture books for children, including the “New York Times” bestseller “The Pout-Pout Fish.” She loves words and rhymes and rhythms. “Equality’s Call” is her first nonfiction picture book. She and her family live in Michigan.

About the Illustrator

Magdalena Mora is an illustrator who is passionate about visual storytelling and graphic design as a tool for social change. “Equality’s Call” is her first picture book. She lives in Minneapolis, MN.

Poet offers free critiques to writers in Peek & Critique

Talented poet Renee LaTulippe is offering a free service for children’s book writers called Peek & Critique. It is weekly educational videos on YouTube in which she critiques children’s writers’ work.

Writers can also access the series through the Facebook group, KIDLIT411, which is for children’s writers.


LaTulippe, who also teaches online courses, invites writers to submit rhyming picture book manuscripts, children’s poetry, or prose for any age children. Every Monday she critiques work that has been submitted.


This series is invaluable to children’s writers. Getting rhyme and meter right is a challenge to any writer. Making writing lyrical greatly improves it and makes children love it.


This week LaTulippe reviewed several stanzas of my rhyming bedtime picture book manuscript, “Crickets Sing Me to Sleep.” Her insights will help me improve the story and make it more likely to be published one day.


Here’s a link to LaTulippe’s YouTube channel, The Lyrical Language Lab.

The Lyrical Language Lab Youtube Channel


About the Poet:

Renee LaTulippe has published poems in anthologies including School People (ed. Lee Bennett Hopkins), the National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (ed. J. Patrick Lewis), and many others. She has co-authored nine award-winning leveled readers, a collection of poetry titled “Lizard Lou: a collection of rhymes old and new (Moonbeam Children’s Books Silver Award for poetry), and the workbook All About Homophones (Finalist, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards) for All About Learning Press, where she is also the editor.

Renée developed and teaches the online course The Lyrical Language Lab: Punching Up Prose with Poetry and blogs on children’s poetry at NoWaterRiver.com. She earned her BFA in acting/directing from Marymount Manhattan College and her MA in English Education from NYU; worked and played in the theater for almost two decades; and taught English, theater arts, and public speaking in NYC. She lives in Italy with her husband, twin boys, and baby daughter.