I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. {The Children's Bookshelf}

There are some few books you'll encounter during your travels that you just can't get out of your mind. This often happens to me with books that have a deep emotional impact, either because I read them at a critical moment in my life (i.e. when I was growing up) or because their subject matter touches me right where I live.

Today's pick is one of those books -- I Have a Dream, illustrated by the incomparable Kadir Nelson.

Many of us have read the text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963 at the March on Washington. Personally I'd never heard the entire speech delivered aloud, so the fact that this picture book version comes with an audio CD was pretty incredible for me. But though I'd heard portions of the speech, though I'd read it all in history texts and biographies, I'd never combined those two forms of media with illustrations so powerful they will take your breath away.

This is an emotional experience, my friends.

Nelson selects passages of the speech that he pairs with his incredible paintings (the entire text is reproduced in the afterword). He brings Dr. King's powerful words to life with imagery that cannot fail to move you. From a perspective of the National Mall teeming with crowds present for the March on Washington, Nelson shifts to a closeup of a black hand clasping a white one, then on to a portrait of Dr. King himself. With each passage Nelson finds a way to visually reproduce the depth of feeling in Dr. King's speech, making the reader feel as though he or she is right there listening to this great orator in person.

The most impactful image for me, as the white mother of an African boy, is that of Dr. King's four children. As you might expect, this is accompanied by these words from Dr. King's speech: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I have that same dream, today, for my own son.

Today we celebrate Dr. King's birthday, and we remember the sacrifices he and so many others made for equality for all persons. Today we will again hear his words, and dream of the day when all people, everywhere, can say they are truly, finally, free.

I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., illustrated by Kadir Nelson, published by Schwartz & Wade Books
All ages
Source: Library

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This post is part of The Children’s Bookshelf, a weekly linky party with the goal of connecting parents with great books for their kids. Do you have a book review, literacy or book-related post that you think will be helpful for parents? If so, please add your link below.

NOTE: By linking up you are giving permission for any of the co-hosts to pin and/or feature a your photo on a future The Children’s Bookshelf post. Kindly link up to an individual post, not your blog’s homepage. The hosts reserve the right to delete any links to homepages, commercial links, repeat links or otherwise inappropriate links. Thank you for your understanding.

You can also follow The Children’s Bookshelf on Pinterest or visit TCB’s co-hosts: Sprout’s Bookshelf, What Do We Do All Day?, No Twiddle Twaddle, Smiling Like Sunshine, My Little Bookcase, The Picture Book Review, MemeTales and Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns. You can find more details here.

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Picture Book Review - Unspoken by Henry Cole

Next week I'll be attending the ALA Midwinter convention, and I'm pretty much thrilled. Not only is it my first trade show as an almost-librarian, it's also the one where the ALA Youth Media Awards are announced. You probably know these awards more by their individual names: Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, Coretta Scott King, Sibert, etc. This is a big deal for us kidlit folks - think the Oscars for children's book geeks. Swoon!

The Awards will be announced on Monday, and the kidlitosphere is all abuzz in predictions. (Pragmatic Mom has a nice rundown of the frontrunners compiled from some heavy hitters in kidlit.) Usually I don't dip my toe into those waters, preferring to watch from the sidelines and root for my own favorites to take the top prize, or at least an Honor. But this year I'm putting it out there in the form of my own pick for the Caldecott, the prize for illustration: Unspoken by Henry Cole.

Unspoken, according to the author's note, arose out of his history of living in Loudoun County, Virginia, an area steeped in connections to the Civil War. Cole reports growing up hearing stories from elderly relatives, themselves connected in some way to people who had lived during the war. And so, Cole recounts, "It's not so suprising that I wanted to create a picture book that was evocative of that era. . . . I wanted to tell -- or show -- the courage of everyday people who were brave in quiet ways."

And that's exactly what Cole has done. In this evocative book, we are transported to a homestead during the Civil War, when a young girl living on the farm discovers a runaway slave hiding in the family's barn. She knows what she's expected to do, to raise the alarm, and yet the look in the stranger's eyes convinces her otherwise. She begins to sneak out food, day by day, bit by bit. Then one day slavers come looking, asking questions. The girl watches, hidden, and fearful for her friend's life. Later, she sneaks to the barn, underneath the night sky with the North Star shining bright overhead. And there she finds her friend has gone, but left behind a gift: a smiling doll, fashioned from the cornstalks behind which the slave found refuge.

Unspoken is a bit of an unusual choice for an award winner: it features a black-and-white palette AND it's wordless. The two characteristics themselves aren't that uncommon - Chris Van Allsburg won the prize for his black-and-white Jumanji, for instance, and Jerry Pinkney for the wordless The Lion and the Mouse. But the two together? That's a bit of a stretch for some. And then let's not forget that this is a historical title to boot.

But quite honestly I don't think any of these factors, taken singly or together, should stand in the way of Cole receiving the top honor this year. Because this, my friends, is a simply extraordinary picture book. There's so much we don't know -- who the slave is, why he or she found this place, where he/she is headed next -- but none of that alters one bit of the power of this story. Cole's use of pencil brings the stark contrast of light and dark to the forefront, where it belongs in a book about slavery and the Underground Railroad. The expressiveness of the features on the characters, in particular our heroine, communicates so much beyond the thread of narrative - it tells of the emotions that surround the difficult choice one girl must make, the connection she feels to someone she knows not at all, and the fear she experiences when it seems her bravery may be uncovered. Cole goes far beyond technical skill here, to tell a story of courage in the face of danger, of hope in the midst of unspeakable fear.

Unspoken, for me, elevates the picture book format to art form in a way that I think might cause even non-picture book fans to stop and take note. And, whether or not the committee agrees, that's the mark of a winner in my eyes.

Unspoken by Henry Cole, published by Scholastic Press
Ages 4 and up
Source: Library
Highly recommended

Bonus: a review of Unspoken from Kirkus Reviewer Julie Danielson

International Book Giving Day!

Quick, flip the calendar page over to next month. Got it? Okay, now take a red pen and draw a heart around February 14. That's right, Valentine's Day -- but our red heart has less to do with candy and Cupids than you might think. Instead, we're putting a heart around February 14 because that is International Book Giving Day, a very special day dedicated to getting books into the hands of kids all around the globe.

There's not much I'm more passionate about than making books accessible to children -- all children, everywhere, not just those whose parents can afford them. That's why I'm such an advocate of public libraries, and why we support organizations like Ethiopia Reads and Books for Africa. These groups, and so many others, recognize the power of the written word to change lives for the better. Building on that premise, International Book Giving Day began in 2012 and is going to be even bigger and better this year!

What I think is so tremendous about International Book Giving Day is that it takes a holiday that people are already aware of, and transforms the impulse to give into something that makes connections internationally. You can decide to participate in one, or all, of three ways:

1. Give a book to someone you know -- a friend, relative, neighbor, or acquaintance
This can be a new or used book, or one you loan to someone. It can be from your own collection or a title you purchase just for the occasion. Or, you can make a trip to the library and share books you borrow!

2. Leave a book in a waiting room or lobby
Find a place where kids will be stuck hanging around and make that time count by leaving a book behind. This is a great idea for titles your kiddos may have outgrown. Sort out those that are in good condition and give them a second life in a doctor's office or waiting area.

3. Donate a book - or several!
There are loads of organizations, both in your local area and working internationally, that could make great use of books you donate. Libraries, juvenile correction centers, schools, group homes, children's hospitals, daycare centers, shelters, foster care agencies - these are just a few of the places you might consider. Think globally too - by donating books or funds to an international literacy organization, you can change the life of a child half a world away.

For more information on how you can participate, including tons more fantastic ideas for book giving, click on over to the International Book Giving Day website.

Books are hope, magic through story that can strengthen and embolden and inspire every single one of us. By giving a book to a child, either in your own backyard or in a country you've never seen, you can spark that magic in another young life.

This February 14, we're giving books - will you?

Picture Book Review - Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! by Wynton Marsalis

January can be a rough month when you have a little one. The holidays are over, and with them the excitement of all the activities that lead up to the big celebrations. The weather's not always great (at least not here in the northern climes) so trips to the park are few and far between, or maybe nonexistent. All those new toys are starting to lose their luster and soon moms and dads hear the dreaded "what can I do??"

This is when a trip to the library is in order, not only to load up on fun books to help while away the winter doldrums, but also to look for picture books you can pair with indoor activities. This could be a craft you make, an opportunity for dress-up or other imaginative play, or cooking up some delicious treats. (If you want inspiration for doing this kind of thing, I highly recommend the excellent blog Playing by the Book. This blogger and her kiddos do all kinds of crazy wonderful things inspired by the books they read - oh how I wish we could have playdates at their house!)

And that's where today's book comes in - I can see crafty moms and dads having a wonderful time conjuring up activities to go along with the new picture book by Wynton Marsalis, Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!. Like one of our favorite library finds of this past year, Drum City by Thea Guidone, this rhythmic delight is sure to get you up out of the reading chair and marching around to the beat. Really, I dare you not to!

The premise is pretty simple, which is a good fit for the heavily onomatopoeic text: a young boy explores his world, noting the sounds that occur from the everyday objects around him. There's the rumbling garbage truck, the squeaky back door, the clicky ticking of the alarm clock by the bed. And each group of sounds is compared to a particular musical instrument - so that alarm clock's ticking is like the plucking of a violin, for instance. Soon you can't help but be swept away by the jazzy rhythm that our young hero finds pretty much everywhere.

Visually this is a riot as well. Paul Rogers' bold illustration style causes the objects Marsalis mentions to take on a life all their own. You can practically hear the music of the jazzy washboard player, and the marching tuba players take over the whole spread. The pictures are colorful and fun, adding to the whole sense of wonder and exploration - and fun!

Don't read this one if you don't like doing sound effects -- Sprout's daddy is much better with this book than Mommy is, because he can make all kinds of kooky sounds -- and be ready to do some music of your own once you're done. There's loads of opportunity to get up and pound out a beat, whether it's by making a drum out of art supplies or learning to play the spoons. The possibilities in this jazz-infused title are endless, just like the music you'll suddenly be hearing everywhere you go!

Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! by Wynton Marsalis, published by Candlewick Press
All ages
Source: Library
Sample: "Our back door squeeeaks. A nosy mouse eeek-eeek-eeeks! / It's also how my sister's saxophone sometimes speee. . . . eeaks."
Recommended

Monsoon by Uma Krishnaswami {The Children's Bookshelf}

The best picture books transport a reader to a particular time or place, engage them with all the senses in a fully-realized snapshot of that reality. This can be a fantasy situation -- I'm thinking of excellent imaginative books like Inga Moore's A House in the Woods -- or it can be an actual place. For parents and teachers looking to give kids an understanding of a specific cultural system, picture books can be the doorway through which all readers enter.

In Uma Krishnaswami's Monsoon, young readers are set down in the world of a young Indian girl, waiting for the monsoon rains to come to her home in the northern part of the country. The summer is a hot and dusty one, and the family cannot wait for the rains to come and scrub all the grit and grime from the air. Though they know the rains are not long in coming, still the intensity of the heat builds, and with it the worry that this will be the year the rains don't come. The girl reads the fears in the faces of the adults around her. Even the slightest rumble makes all faces turn to the sky, searching for signs that the clouds are gathering. When at last the weather turns, the sky breaks open and the sweet rain comes, making the girl and her family burst with pure and perfect joy.

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book, one that reflects a view of India that's inclusive and unique. The girl and her family aren't poverty-stricken, they aren't beggars waiting to be saved. Rather, they're just people like those in any other culture, held captive by the weather and waiting for sweet relief from the summer's intensity. Krishnaswami uses evocative imagery, poetry really, to tell her story. Readers will fairly swoon as she describes the heat and grit in the air, then celebrate with the family as rain finally arrives. And the artwork by Jamel Akib is perfectly suited to the tone of the story, with a hazy softness that builds the emotion even as the family wonders and worries about the rains.

As a family story, Monsoon is just as fully realized, with the strong and reassuring relationships among family members emphasized throughout. An added bonus is the author's note at the end, explaining the importance of the monsoon and the people's deep connectivity to the weather of their region. As with the best title, Monsoon is story, character and setting all drawn together in a gorgeous picture book that makes a great addition to any library.

Monsoon by Uma Krishnaswami, published by Farrar Straus Giroux
Ages 3-7
Source: Library
Sample: "Evening falls. I watch the faces on TV. Old and young, poor and rich, all across India, we wait for rain. The heat makes me feel like a crocodile crouching snap-jawed."
Recommended

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This post is part of The Children’s Bookshelf, a weekly linky party with the goal of connecting parents with great books for their kids. Do you have a book review, literacy or book-related post that you think will be helpful for parents? If so, please add your link below.

NOTE: By linking up you are giving permission for any of the co-hosts to pin and/or feature a your photo on a future The Children’s Bookshelf post. Kindly link up to an individual post, not your blog’s homepage. The hosts reserve the right to delete any links to homepages, commercial links, repeat links or otherwise inappropriate links. Thank you for your understanding.

You can also follow The Children’s Bookshelf on Pinterest or visit TCB’s co-hosts: Sprout’s Bookshelf, What Do We Do All Day?, No Twiddle Twaddle, Smiling Like Sunshine, My Little Bookcase, The Picture Book Review, MemeTales and Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns. You can find more details here.

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