“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.

Mister Rogers tells kids, ‘I like you just the way you are’

Fred’s Big Feelings: The Life and Legacy of Mister Rogers

Written by Laura Renauld and illustrated by Brigette Barrager

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2020

It is a good time for the publication of this picture book biography, “Fred’s Big Feelings,” about Fred Rogers, host of a popular preschool children’s television show, “Mister Rogers Neighborhood,” which aired from 1968 to 2001.

A critically acclaimed movie starring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” is in theaters now. In 2018, celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” included a commemorative U.S. postage stamp and the release of a well-received documentary about Mister Rogers called “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

Freddy Rogers was a shy boy who had trouble making friends. Bullies taunted him about his weight. Asthma kept him indoors for much of the summer, making him feel even lonelier. He stayed at home, playing with his puppets.

He found consolation in music, learning to play the piano and enjoying many hours at the keyboard.

Also, his grandfather Fred Brooks McFeely helped him feel better about himself with his message of unconditional love. “You made this day a really special day just by being yourself,” he told Freddy, “and I happen to like you just the way you are.”

In high school, Fred was kind to a popular athlete who was in the hospital with a football injury. He brought Jim his homework, and a strong friendship grew between the two of them. Jim encouraged Fred and Fred’s confidence skyrocketed and he became a leader.

When Fred saw a children’s show on his parents’ new television, he was shocked and disgusted by the endless pranks, jokes, and gags. He thought a television show for children could help them feel welcomed, loved, and special. In 1954, he would help create “The Children’s Corner” on a community-supported television station. The show was a hit.

When it went off the air, he began hosting a new show, “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” in 1968 on public television. He welcomed children with his songs, encouraged their curiosity, and honored his grandfather by naming a character after him, Mister McFeely, the Speedy Delivery man.

Mister Rogers taught preschoolers that it was OK to have feelings of shyness, playfulness, joyfulness, and even negative emotions like sadness, anger, and selfishness. But he told them there were good ways to express their emotions.

When the show was only one year old, the government threatened to cut off funding to public television. Mister Rogers went to Washington and testified in front of a Senate committee. He said he tried to teach children about how to express their emotions constructively. He sang a song he’d written for his show, “What Do You Do with the Mad that You Feel?”

A hush fell over the room and the chairman of the committee, Senator Pastore, said he’d gotten goose bumps. “Looks like you just earned the twenty million dollars,” he said.

In over three decades, Mister Rogers was a friend to his preschooler viewers. He showed them affection, compassion, and respect. His message was that it is normal to have feelings, good to talk about feelings, and important to share feelings.

The book closes with a friendly, supportive message from Mister Rogers, “You always make each day such a special day. You know how? Just by being you! There’s only one person in the whole world like you, and people like you exactly as you are.”

Barrager’s lively, cartoon-style gouache paintings bring this story to life. Sometimes she uses streams of hearts to show Mister Rogers' love and warmth toward his viewers.

About the Author

Laura Renauld also wrote “Porcupine’s Pie,” Beaming Books, 2018. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and their two sons. Visit her online at LauraRenauld.com.

About the Illustrator

Brigette Barrager is an artist, designer, writer, and the illustrator of “Pocket Full of Colors” by Amy Gugliellmo and Jacqueline Tourville as well as the New York Times bestselling “Uni the Unicorn” by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, dog, and cat. Visit her online at BrigetteB.com.

Cinderella spoof imagines twist on classic fairy tale

If the Shoe Fits …

Written by Deborah Guarino and illustrated by Seth Hippen

Schiffer Kids, an imprint of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., Atglen, PA, 2019

“If the Shoe Fits” is a funny twist on the “Cinderella” fairy tale. Told in verse, the story re-imagines the classic tale with Murray, a humble shoemaker, and his clerk Mona at its heart.

Murray narrates the story, explaining how a year earlier he made a pair of glass slippers for a frantic fairy godmother whose wand had run out of power. This sets off a chain of events that may force him to disappoint a prince, risk the fairy’s wrath, and lose the secret love of his life.

But the rollicking, silly story comes to a happy ending as true fairy tales always do.

Seth Hippen brings the story to life with funny, vivid illustrations. He uses his talent for animation to enliven the characters with wonderful facial expressions and body language.

This would be a fun story for youngsters, especially if they are familiar with the classic Cinderella.

About the Author

Deborah Guarino is best known as the author of the popular “Is Your Mama a Llama?” which has been entertaining readers for three generations. A produced playwright, lyricist, artist, editor and actor, Deborah was inspired to create Murray, this book’s narrator, by her admiration for Mel Brooks and her long friendship with author Isaac Asimov. She lives in New Jersey with a dog, two cats and a parrot.

About the Illustrator

Seth Hippen is a character animator for movies. This is his first children’s book.

Rhymes, decorative pictures teach alphabet to tots

Wee Witches

Written by Beth Roth and Ted Enik and illustrated by Ted Enik

Red Feather Mind, Body, Spirt, an imprint of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2019

“Wee Witches” is an alphabet book that entertains children with decorative full-page illustrations and rhymes.

The first page on A reads:

"We begin with an Acorn,

The seed of an oak,

the king of all trees

to us magickal folk." 

The words have a theme of Wicca, also called pagan witchcraft, a modern religious movement. However, readers do not get any clear understanding of Wiccan beliefs.

It may have been helpful to include an author’s note with a simple explanation of Wicca. The book is in Schiffer's Red Feather Mind, Body, Spirit imprint,  which explores religion, spirituality, and metaphysics. 

The M page reads:

"Go over, duck under,

Run faster, turn round!

With streamers of satin

The Maypole is wound."

 

The pretty, detailed pictures and lighthearted rhymes make this a fun alphabet book for youngsters.

About the Author

Beth Roth is lifelong practical pagan. By profession, she is an astrologer and tarot reader. She lives in Bucks County, PA, with her non-pagan husband of forty years and their French bulldog, Patty Mayonnaise.

About the Author-Illustrator

Ted Enik has worked for most of the better-known publishing houses in New York. He illustrated “Eloise in Hollywood” and for nearly a decade, he was an artist for the “Fancy Nancy” I Can Read series. He recently switched hats and is now happily writing and rhyming up a storm. He lives in New York City.

Swedish teen energizes children to protest for the planet

Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet

By Jeanette Winter

Beach Lane Books, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, 2019

Greta was 15 when her teacher talked to the class about the climate. She taught them that the planet is getting warmer, the polar ice is melting, and life on Earth is threatened.

Greta started reading for hours and watching films, educating herself about the warming world. She became more and more upset.  She thought, “Our house is on fire!”

Would there be a world to live in when she grew up? She wondered what she could do.

She decided to go on strike from school to call attention to the problem. She would skip school every Friday and sit on the steps of the Swedish Parliament building with a sign. Her parents supported her.

She sat on the steps every Friday, no matter the weather.

Then word of the strike began to spread. Other children joined her. On Fridays, the Stockholm schools became almost empty.

The media began talking about the strikes, and word spread through cyberspace.

Greta was asked to speak at the United Nations climate talks in Poland. She had always been very quiet and kept to herself. But she cared so much about this issue that she accepted the invitation.

“You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes,” she said.

She was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She spoke because she thought she needed to speak.

“I don’t want you to be hopeful,” she said. “I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day … I want you to act as if the house was on fire. Because it is.”

Greta’s protest sparked a worldwide children’s march. “Her quiet voice, joined by thousands of voices, became a roar,” writes Winter.

Winter’s colorful illustrations bring the story to life.

This book will teach youngsters about climate change and pique their interest because they see what a big difference one young person can make.

This week Greta has again made the national news for speaking out at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York. She chastised world leaders for not doing enough about climate change. “How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.”

About the Author and Illustrator

Jeanette Winter is an American author and illustrator, best known for her children's books, many of which are about notable women in history, especially artists. She is particularly known for her painted illustration style, which uses flat planes of color and "uncluttered" compositions, a style which has drawn comparisons to the folk art tradition. She lives in New York City.