Yoshiko Uchida

The Rooster Who Understood Japanese (1976, Charles Scribner's Sons) is the story of a third grader named Miyo and the relationsip she has with her neighbor, a widow named Mrs. Kitamura who takes care of her after school until her mom gets home from work. Mrs. Kitamura is upset because another neighbor has threatened to go to the police with complaints about her rooster's six o'clock wake-up calls. Despite her efforts to keep the rooster quiet, a policeman comes and tells her to get rid of the rooster. Miyo can't think of a way to help , but she finally writes an ad for her class magazine to try to find a new home or the rooster. The rooster is advertised as friendly, dignified, and understanding Japanese. No one responds, until the retiring custodian,who was the subject of her feature article, notices the ad and decides that the rooster would be a welcome addition to his new place in the country. Mrs. Kitamura has a party for Miyo, the custodian, and even the neighbor who filed the noise complaint.
The thing I like most about this story is the interdependence between Miyo and Mrs. Kitamura. Miyo is able to repay Mrs. Kitamura for all her kindness by helping her with her dilemma. Elements of Japanese culture are woven into the story. Mrs, Kitamura makes a special green tea to calm herself, and she has many Japanese paintings, dolls, and books in her home, as well as a Buddhist altar.
Yoshiko Uchida, who is no longer living, is known for pioneering the field of Japanese American literature for children, but she has books for older readers as well. Some of her most famous books include Journey to Topaz: A Story of the Japanese American Evacuation (1971, Scribner), Journey Home (1978, McElderry), and A Jar of Dreams (1981, McElderry). A more comprehensive list of her books for children can be found at http://pages.sbcglobal.net/gibrich/rpl/Professional/uchida/uchida_biblio.htm.

Laurence Yep

The Man Who Tricked a Ghost is a story from third century China, retold by Laurence Yep and illustrated by Isadore Seltzer. In it, a brave young man named Sung is on his way home one night when he encounters a fierce ghost. The ghost says he's on his way to scare a man named Sung. Sung tries to fool the ghost by claiming to be a ghost himself and suggesting that they take turns carrying each other on their backs. Sung tricks the ghost into confiding that human spit renders ghosts unable to change their shape. When they reached town, Sung grabs the ghost and tries to take him to the temple. The ghost immediately transforms himself into a sheep, but the clever Sung quickly spits on him, trapping him in that harmless form forever. He then sells the sheep and becomes rich.
Kids seem to love tales of trickery, and this is a great example. Most of the other folktales I know that have similar themes are African, so I was glad to find one from a different cultural perspective. The clever confidence of Sung helps to keep kids from becoming too alarmed about the ghost, who does appear rather threatening in some of Seltzer's illustrations.
Yep has written dozens of books, including several series, and the best place I found to see all of the titles was at http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/y/laurence-yep/. He is probably best known for his Dragon series and his Golden Mountain Chronicles series, both written for intermediate and middle school audiences.

Jerry Pinkney

I chose to read Jerry Pinkney's retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. The watercolor illustrations are easily identifiable as Pinkney's because of the soft detail with which he paints African American girls. I think this is the first time I have ever seen this fairy tale depicted in winter scenes,but I liked the contrast of the red cape and the white snow. It may also be the first time I've seen the dead wolf lying limp in the grandmother's bed at the end, but I do appreciate the shred of realism here. After all, I have read some versions in which the the wolf spits the grandmother out and runs off at the end, which is highly unlikely. On the other hand, it's obviously unlikely that when the wolf is sliced open, the grandmother and Red Riding Hood will come out unscathed, but it is, after all, a fairy tale. Pinkney has done a wonderful job taking a traditional European tale and giving it a new flavor, even though he keeps the plot intact.
I also like Pinkney's illustrations in San Souci's picture book The Talking Eggs, and his pictures for Mildred Taylor's novels. A great place to see the covers of the books Pinkney has illustrated is the Artcyclopedia website, http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/pinkney_jerry.html.

Julius Lester

I was unfamiliar with Julius Lester, and I was amazed at what a prolific writer he is, writing for audiences from preschool through adulthood. I chose to read Black Cowboy Wild Horses: A True Story (Dial, 1998), illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. I was attracted to it right away because of the beautiful horses on the cover (this was a visceral reaction that stems from my childhood addiction to Marguerite Henry books). The book tells the story of a real African American cowboy, Bob Lemmons, as he goes on a trek to corral a herd of wild mustangs. The plot is uncomplicated, but the text is full of imagery, such as on the first page when the sky is described as "curved as if it were a lap on which the earth lay napping like a curled cat." Lester wields a simile with skill, and this book would be a valuable teaching tool in writing class.
Lester first told Bob Lemmons' story in an earlier book, Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History (Dial, 1972, reissued 1993). According to the author's notes on the verso page of Black Cowboy Wild Horses, Lester decided to do a picture book adaptation after illustrator Jerry Pinkney told him that he would like to do a book about black cowboys. Jerry Pinkney ended up illustrating some other books for Lester, including The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit, John Henry, and Sam and the Tigers: A New Telling of Little Black Sambo.
Some of Lester's other more well-known books include To Be a Slave, Day of Tears, and From Slave Ship to Freedom Road. Lester talks about his life and works on his website, which can be accessed at http://members.authorsguild.net/juliuslester/.

Page to Screen

Turning a beloved book into a feature film can be risky business, because it is difficult to please both readers and viewers. Thus far in my life, the best movie adaptation of a book that I've seen in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so each time I see a new book-turned-movie, I tend to use that as my measuring stick. Faithfulness to both the plot and theme of the story are important, as is the casting. It's very gratifying to see the characters on the screen look exactly as you have pictured them in your mind.
I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008, Walt Disney Pictures), which of course, is based on Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis. A sequel to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the story takes place over a thousand years later in Narnian time, but only a year later in England for the four Pevensie children. The kingdom of Narnia is in crisis and the children are summoned back when Prince Caspian blows Susan's magic horn. The children help overthrow the enemies to ensure that Caspian takes his rightful place on the throne. The film remained true to the book, with the exception of an extra major battle scene when Peter attempts an attack on Miraz's castle and has to retreat. I have to admit that I grew a little battle-weary, but my two sons loved it. On my Harry Potter scale, this film earns 4 of 5 possible stars.
Next, my family watched How To Eat Fried Worms (2006, New Line Cinema), based on the classic book by Thomas Rockwell (New York: Franklin Watts, 1973). I really enjoyed this movie, and I think it remained faithful to the spirit of the book, but the details were significantly different. In the book, Billy Forrester is challenged to a bet by Alan, a kid he's known since kindergarten, to eat fifteen worms. If he eats one per day for fifteen days, he wins $50. Alan and his sidekick, Joe, try to think of all kinds of ways to trick Billy out of eating all the worms, but Billy manages to do it. In the movie, however, Billy is a newcomer at school who falls victim to Joe. The terms of the bet are also different; Billy has to eat ten worms all in one day, and the loser must go to school with his pants full of squiggly worms. Bill is befriended by the smart but gawky Erica, a character that's missing from the book. The male characters in the movie all have nicknames which make them sound more like a gang than the seventies-sounding names in the book. There are some really funny scenes added to the movie, such as the one in which the principal accidentally eats one of the worms intended for Billy. There's the same trickery as in the book, but I actually like the ending of the movie better, because Billy has found a niche at his new school as "Wormboy", and both boys actually go to school with wormy pants, which makes for a funny finale. On my Harry Potter scale, this film would earn 3.5 out of 5 stars.
The third movie I watched was The Tale of Despereaux (2008, Universal Pictures), based on the book by Kate diCamillo (2003, Candlewick Press). I read the book in only two sessions, but the movie failed to grab me, and I have to admit that I dozed off once. First of all, I get turned off when a movie begins very differently from the book. The book began with the birth of Despereaux, while the movie started with Roscuro the rat on a ship bound for the kingdom of Dor, something that wasn't in the book at all. I didn't like the fact that the movie began by placing so much empasis on the love and subsequent banning of soup, which cast the kingdom in a shadow. In contrast, the first several chapters of the book focus on Despereaux and his nonconformity, which is a very important theme in the book, but gets little emphasis in the movie. One of my favorite things about the book was the fact that from time to time, the narrator directly addressed the reader, sometimes foreshadowing, sometimes philosophizing. This conspiratorial feature was lost in the film. The character of Miggery Sow also lost a great deal of depth in the movie. I realize that for a broader audience, filmmakers might not have wanted to deal with the fact that she was a victim of child abuse in the book, but that was a major part of her character. The movie also made it look like her father hadn't wanted to give her away, when in the book he willingly sold her for a blanket. So, on the whole, the differences seemed to diminish the story. On the positive side, the animation is very well done, and some wonderful actors provided the voices. On my Harry Potter scale, I'd give it two stars.

Seuss Classics

Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat is perhaps one of the most famous children's books. Never mind that it's highly unlikely for two small children to be left alone all day in the real world, and that if they were, it would be very dangerous for them to let strange visitors in the house; we suspend our disbelief and join in the fun. Hopefully, teachers and parents who share this book with kids will take a moment to discuss stranger safety issues when reading this book.
To this day, I most closely identify with the character of the fish, and I'm sure that brands me as an incurable party pooper. It was always easy for me to imagine the kind of anxiety the fish felt when the two kids were allowing things that were clearly against the rules and possibly hazardous, while he was stuck in the bowl, powerless. Fortunately the characters, all's well that ends well.
I can't think of any modern book that truly replicates this kind of scenario. I was reminded of Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, because throughout the book, the monkeys are cavorting around while their mom and the doctor make periodic admonishments, but then at the end of the book, the mom is shown jumping on the bed, which pretty much negates all the warnings.
Kids still love The Cat in the Hat, and probably always will, for several reasons. First, it is easy to read, and is often one of the first books kids can read independently (although in my opinion, Green Eggs and Ham is even better). Second, the book is full of zany fun. Third, the illustrations, in typical Seuss style, are simple, yet silly, which is very appealing. Last, but certainly not least, kids love the fact that these two kids have put one over on their mom. Three strange visitors came, the house got trashed, everything was put right in the nick of time, and mom will never know--what could be more delicious than that?

The Lorax is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. The book is environmentally oriented, and it discourages cutting down trees. Certainly, people in the logging industry weren't thrilled with the book, and any time there is a potential effect on people's income, controversy can be expected. The Lorax is considered didactic because it blatantly urges children to protect trees. Those of us who are passionate about environmental issues feel that it's crucial to target children, not only because it's easier for them to form green habits at an early age, but also because they are future voters and policy makers. Consequently, there have been many books with this theme over the last few decades.The first two that popped into my mind were both published in 1990. Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg (Houghton Mifflin) is the story of a boy who scoffs at green living but changes his mind after having a dream of what the future will be like if people don't change their ways. The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)tells of a man sent to chop down a tree in the rain forest but dozes off and dreams of different forest animals speaking to him about what will happen if he cuts down the trees. When he wakes up, he drops his ax and walks away. A more recent eco-fiction title is The Three Fishing Brothers Gruff by Ben Galbraith (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006) in which the characters learn about the effects of overfishing.

Caldecott versus Newbery

I have heard about these two prestigious awards all my life, but I really knew very little about their history, so I went to www.ala.org to find out more. The Newbery Medal, named for an eighteenth century bookseller, is actually the older of the two, having been around since 1922. In fact, it was the first children's book award in the world. The Newbery Medal is awarded by a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children division of the American Library Association for the most distinguished children's book of published in the previous year.
The Caldecott Medal, named for British illustrator Randolph Caldecott, was initiated because the American Library Association felt that illustrators of children's books should have the chance to be recognized for excellence, just as the authors were already being recognized by the Newbery Award. An illustrator can receive the award even if he or she is not the author of the book. The Caldecott Medal was first awarded in 1938.
Both of these awards are equally important. Some may argue that the Newbery Medal is more prestigious since it focuses on the written text, but in a picture book, the illustrations are at least as important, if not more important, to the message of the book than the words. Traditionally, the Caldecott Medal has gone to books for younger readers, while the Newbery has gone to books written for fourth through eight graders. An interesting exception, however, is the 2008 Caldecott winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which is Brian Selznick's 544-page novel written for nine to twelve year-olds.

Coretta Scott King Comments

Ashley Bryan won the 2008 Coretta Scott King Award for his illustrations in Let it Shine (2007, Atheneum Books for Young Readers). Bryan has beautifully illustrated three traditional spirituals: This Little Light of Mine, When the Saints Go Marching In, and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands. When I first looked at the pictures, what first came to mind was Joseph's many-colored coat. They are brightly colored designs of cut paper. The edges are clean, and the people are shown only as silhouette figures, but the scenes are a riot of colorful detail. My favorite is the first illustration for "When the Saints Go Marching In," in which a throng of multi-colored silhouettes is walking toward the sun.
Bryan's text was simple; there were no embellishments of the lyrics to these precious old songs, such as you would find in Iza Trapani's popular picture books of songs. Sometimes the purpose of children's literature is not to create something entirely new, but to preserve something, and Bryan has done this beautifully. This book is a must-own for school libraries. Not only is it worthwhile for presenting African American history, but it could also be a valuable tool for teaching artistic technique.
Bryan also received the Coretta Scott King Award for Beat the Story Drum,Pum-Pum. Several of his other books were Coretta Scott King Honor Books.

Newbery Notes

I just read two terrific Newbery Medal winners, both of which I had been meaning to read for quite some time.

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Simon &Schuster, 2006) won the award in 2007. It only makes sense that Ms. Patron should have written an award-winning book; she is Senior Librarian and Juvenile Materials Collection Development Manager at the Los Angeles Public Library, so she has a pretty good idea of what appeals to young readers. Her book, however wonderful the story, has been surrounded by a cloud of controversy, and I'll admit that was the main reason I was in such a hurry to read it!
Lucky Trimble, age ten, lives in a tiny town in the desert under the guardianship of her father's first ex-wife, who is French. In the third chapter, the reader finds out how this strange situation came about; Lucky's father had been married to Brigitte but they divorced because he didn't want children. Then he married Lucky's mother, and had Lucky, but he still didn't want children, so they divorced when she was small. When Lucky was eight, her mother was electrocuted by a downed power line, but her father didn't want to raise her, so he asked his first wife to come take charge until a foster family could be found. Naturally, Lucky struggles with insecurity throughout the book. She enjoys eavesdropping on a variety of twelve-step meetings in her town, where she hears people who have transformed their lives talking about their Higher Power, hence the title. She is convinced that her guardian is going to abandon her and return to France, so she decides to run away. Her escape is botched by a sandstorm, but she discovers that she is actually going to be adopted by Brigitte.
Of course, I love the happy ending, but there are other things to love about this book, too. Artist Matt Phalen has enriched the text with winsome illustrations that convey Lucky's vulnerability. Patron has a knack for capturing the musings of the juvenile mind, much in the same way that Judy Blume did back when I was a child. Like Judy Blume, Susan Patron has had to deal with criticism. Her so-called offense is using the word "scrotum". The word is used in the second paragraph of the book in a tale told by a participant in a twelve-step meeting, but he is referring to the location of a dog's rattlesnake bite, not his own body. She revisits the idea on page 7, where she speculates that the word sounds like something hacked up with a cough and decides that she neither wants to have one or see one.

A New York Times article (Bosman, J., Feb. 16, 2007) quotes Dana Nilsson, a librarian who has opposed the book, as saying, "This book included what I call a Howard Stern-type shock treatment just to see how far they could push the envelope, but they didn't have the children in mind." I do not believe that Ms. Patron set out to "push the envelope" but rather to lend authenticity to her story. Children are fascinated by unfamiliar words, especially words that sound like coughed-up phlegm! I am not offended by this passage. I think it honestly portrays the thought processes of a ten year-old. This is a scientific term we are talking about, not the vilest of profanity, and yet there are media specialists in my county who will not put this book on the shelves of their elementary schools. Perhaps it wouldn't be the best choice for a read-aloud at the elementary level, but it certainly deserves to be on the shelf.

The second book I read, Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte, 1999), was similar to The Higher Power of Lucky in that it also dealt with a ten year-old orphan in transition. The story takes place in Flint, Michigan during the Great Depression. Bud Caldwell has spent the four years since his mother died being shuffled back and forth between foster homes and an orphanage. After a fight with his new foster parents' son, he is forced to go "on the lam." He decides to locate the man he believes is his father, Herman Calloway,based on clues from some old concert fliers of his mother's. Bud is courageous and savvy. What I like most about the book is the little survival tips scattered throughout, called "Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself." These observations on life are funny and honest and a little sad all at the same time. For example, Rules and Things #83 says, "If a Adult Tells You Not to Worry, and You Weren't Before, You Better Hurry Up and Start 'Cause You're Already Running Late." (p.42). Also endearing are Bud's memories of his mother reading him to sleep every night.
Bud's quest for Herman Calloway and his band of musicians leads him to Grand Rapids. As it turns out, the bass player in the flier is not his father, but his grandfather! I read this book in one sitting because I was so anxious to find out if he had indeed found his father and whether or not he would be accepted.
Both Bud, Not Buddy and The Higher Power of Lucky beautifully handled the theme of a child wanting stability and acceptance. This need is foundational for every child, and therefore it will remain a timeless theme in children's books.