A Flicker of Hope

Posted on 04/07/2024

Viking Books for Young Readers | 978-0593525760

I’ve been looking forward to sharing A FLICKER OF HOPE for quite some time now, and here we are! Beautifully written by Cynthia Harmony and illustrated by Devon Holzwarth, A Flicker of Hope is about family, the migration of the monarch butterflies, and the special relationship Lucía has with her papá.

As the story opens, Papá is preparing to leave home. He’ll be traveling north in order to find work in the fields so that he can support his family. Lucía knows that as spring approaches and she puts away her winter capa, both the monarchs’ and papá’s journey north will begin.

From the publisher: Told through the parallel stories of the butterflies’ journey and Lucía’s migrant farmer father, Cynthia Harmony’s A Flicker of Hope is a love letter to the power of families and nature, both of which know no borders.

I’m so glad Cynthia agreed to answer a few questions about her latest picture book!

DIANNE: Welcome to ReaderKidZ, Cynthia! I’m excited to share your newest book with readers! Where did the spark for A FLICKER OF HOPE begin?

CYNTHIA: A few years ago, my sister worked in environmental reserves with indigenous communities and produced videos to showcase the importance of the Monarch Reserve. I was inspired to write about monarchs and the Mazahuas in Mexico who, each winter, welcomed back the butterflies. But at that time, we were also experiencing a crisis due to the “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy enforced in 2018 when thousands of children were taken from their parents and placed in separate detention centers along the border, including a facility in Tucson, where I live. As an immigrant author, writing this story helped process this heartbreak.

DIANNE: Those were unconscionable and scary times. And, unfortunately to this day, an alarming number of people continue to promote rhetoric and hostility towards migrants.

You and I have talked a little about the two narratives running through the story, but for readers who haven’t read your book yet, can you share more about these parallel storylines?

CYNTHIA: Sure, it’s a tale of a little girl waiting for her beloved papá to return when the monarchs fly south to their home in Mexico. I wanted the reader to experience with Lucia both goodbyes — Papá and the butterflies in the Spring — as well as their homecoming in the Fall.

DIANNE: I imagine it may have taken some time to link the two stories so seamlessly. How did you approach the writing?

CYNTHIA: It took MANY revisions and finally clicked during my We Need Diverse Books mentorship in 2020. Rob Sanders was an excellent writing teacher and mentor. He helped me capture what was essential from both angles. And then my editor Liza Kaplan helped me bring a bit more of the butterfly journey that mirrored Lucía and Papá.

DIANNE: A Flicker of Hope accomplishes exactly what Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop suggests in her 1990 essay, “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors”:

“Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience.”  

A Flicker of Hope invites children to put themselves in the shoes of Lucía and her family. The leaving, the returning, and all the time of waiting and working in between. The dual narrative structure invites opportunities for additional questions and discussion. Have you been able to share the book in classrooms or heard from teachers and librarians who have? What kinds of connections, questions, and conversations have come up?

CYNTHIA: Thank you for that compliment! I think School Library Journal summed it up well in their (starred!) review “younger children may enjoy the family and butterfly story, while older children can further explore the concept of migration.” I have only shared this story at bookstore story times so far and the young kids connect with Lucia and are fascinated with the butterflies. I’m looking forward to school visits scheduled next month to listen to what older kids have to say about the more complex layers. By the way, Melissa Taylor on her Imagination Soup blog created a free educator’s guide specifically for AFOH to dig deeper on these topics. 

DIANNE: Devon Holzwarth’s artwork is stunning. In addition to the brilliant colors, there’s so much movement from page to page. I especially love the double spreads that hold lines from both narratives – such as when papá joins others in search of work, and the monarcas travel across rivers and mountains. I bet you swooned when you saw the illustrations! Do you have a favorite?

CYNTHIA: I agree, Devon’s work is absolutely brilliant so it’s really hard to choose a favorite, there’s so much to love in each spread! But I did have to pick one because I wanted to buy a print from her to frame. My kids helped me choose the spread when the butterflies take flight in the Spring. I think it’s the next’s best thing to actually being there, so magical!

DIANNE: You have several books coming out over the next several years. Can you tell us more?

CYNTHIA: I have two upcoming picture books published by Farrar Strauss Giroux/Macmillan. The first is called APAPACHO LOVE illustrated by Erika Meza, out next year. It’s the story of a little girl wondering how she will cope without her mom’s apapachos-cuddles when Mami leaves on her first work trip. And HASTA PRONTO IS A PROMISE, a first day of school story about not being in the same class with your best friend. I also have two additional unannounced projects, which I hope I get to share more about soon!

DIANNE: Thanks for sharing A FLICKER OF HOPE with us today. I look forward to seeing both Apapacho Love AND Pronto is a Promise when they release, and can’t wait to hear about your other yet-to-be announced projects!

**

Enjoy this book birthday interview with Cynthia on the “Las Musa” site.

Did you know you can find A Flicker of Hope in Spanish?? Check it out!: Un Aleteo de Esperanza.

Poetry Comics

Posted on 04/02/2024

Chronicle Books | 978-1797219653

It’s National Poetry Month and although, YES, we should celebrate poetry year round, April is always a great opportunity to welcome more poetry into our lives.

This week, I’m sharing a new book by writer and illustrator Grant Snider. I saw an advance copy of POETRY COMICS at the Chronicle booth at NCTE last Novemeber and the title and cover  immediately caught my eye. What a clever way to make poetry accessible to young readers!

The truth is that, sometimes, teachers and adults get the idea that poetry isn’t approachable. I think back to when my kids were in elementary school. Year after year, they had to complete a “poetry notebook” that was a collection of familiar poetry forms – haiku, acrostic, limerick, and diamante. It was an introduction, but I never had the sense that my kids appreciated poetry, that their teacher regularly read poetry to the class, or that they even enjoyed the poetry project. And since I didn’t really come to appreciate poetry until several years later, I did nothing to grow their love of poetry, either.

Maybe that’s why I think POETRY COMICS is so inpiring. Take a look:

 

Doesn’t it make you want to try your own, two-or-more-panels poetry comic?

Framed around spring, summer, winter, and fall each section of POETRY COMICS contains poems as one or two page spreads about personal and seasonal moments throughout the year. From friendship to finding the perfect pumpkin, favorite colors to a “Lament for a Lost Bicycle,” there’s a poem for everything and everyone.

Here’s one last bit of inspiration from the book:

 

I’m inspired to try writing my own set of poetry comics. What about you?

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For more inspiration, visit Grant Snider’s comics website, Incidental Comics.

Make your own comic book template or use THIS one!

 

Shermy and Shake, The Not-So-Nice Neighbor

Posted on 03/25/2024

978-1536219425 | Candlewick Press

It’s June, school’s over, and the months of summer are full of possibility. Shermy doesn’t have many plans, but he does know he’ll read the latest book in the Wilderness Adventures series, put together puzzles, and deal with his annoying new neighbor, Shake.

Shake is visiting his grandma, Shermy’s neighbor, Mrs. Brown, while his mom and stepfather are away on their honeymoon for the whole summer. Which means that, in spite of how different the two boys are, Shermy is going to have to learn to get along.

While Shermy is content to read quietly indoors or beneath a shady tree, Shake is full of energy – barging into Shermy’s room uninvited, snatching the last white, blue, and red rocket pop (leaving Shermy to settle for banana), and calling the wolf piece Shermy always uses when they play the board game, Pigs in a Poke.

Will the boys figure out how to get along?

Sure to delight readers ready to transition to early chapter books, SHERMY & SHAKE, The Not-So-Nice Neighbor by Newbery Honor-winning author Kirby Larson and illustrator Shinji Fujikoa, is a sweet and satisfying story about an unlikely-turned- blossoming friendship. And guess what? Readers can look for the next book in the series, SHERMY & SHAKE, The-Not-So-New Kid, on June 25, 2024!

 

 

Wake Up, Woodlands

Posted on 03/18/2024

Chronicle Books | 978-1797215037

In WAKE UP, WOODLANDS, author Karen Jameson and illustrator Marc Boutavant‘s beautiful companion to Woodland Dreams, readers are invited into the arrival of one of my favorite seasons. As the bears and butterflies, fawns and foxes greet warmer days, kids will relish the call to take in the sights and sounds of the woodlands in spring as friends and family gather for a picnic celebration.

This ode to the bright and glorious season of sunshine and new blooms is sure to delight young readers everywhere.

I’m so pleased Karen is back on ReaderKidZ to talk about her latest book!

 

DIANNE: Welcome, Karen and congratulations on the release of WAKE UP, WOODLANDS! Your previous titles with Chronicle — Woodland Dreams, Farm Lullaby, and Where the Wee Ones Go — were bedtime books, but this is your first true follow-up/companion. Can you share the backstory to this book and any challenges you faced in writing it?

KAREN: Thanks, Dianne! I’m very blessed that my books have found such a wonderful home at Chronicle Kids. Here’s the backstory…It was mid December 2020, a gloomy pandemic winter with no end in sight. Yet, in the midst of darkness, some wonderful news arrived!  Chronicle was offering me a spring companion book to my top seller, WOODLAND DREAMS! Could I send some sample stanzas to take to acquisitions? Deadline – the first week of January. A terrific opportunity, but the timing was terrible. I’d been battling a severe case of writer’s block all year, and wondered if I had it in me. How could I even begin to evoke the spirit of spring in this dark season? All I knew was that I had to try.

And so I plunged into all things spring in an effort to regain my creative spirit. Immersing myself in spring books, poems, songs, nature walks, movies and the like, I willed the inspiration and the story to come. Slowly, slowly, spring began to trickle in and I entered the zone. Magically, the words began to flow once more. Fast forward to January 2021 and the book was acquired. WAKE UP, WOODLANDS released on March 5, 2024 and I couldn’t be prouder of this book!

DIANNE: I’m wondering about some of the decisions you made as you began to write – things like which animals you would include, the order of the animals, and the decision to end the story with a picnic with loved ones. Can you talk about your choices?

KAREN: Good question! Revisiting the same WOODLAND DREAMS (WD) setting meant that the habitat – North American coniferous forest- would be the same. As for the animals, a mix of WD animals, with a few new ones sprinkled in, seemed like a good balance. Of course, spring brings baby animals, so even though I kept the familiar bear, bunny, fox, etc., they were joined by their adorable offspring.

As WAKE UP, WOODLANDS is categorized as informational fiction, I had to verify that each animal species would actually be in the coniferous forest in spring and confirm that their actions were realistic. Once the animals were in place, I experimented by ordering them in different ways, but ultimately left it up to the editor (who, other than moving the mouse to the first spread, left it as is).

About the picnic…that was the illustrator’s contribution and a surprise at that! I had very few illo notes in this book, but did say that I imagined the characters coming together to celebrate spring at the end. My own childhood memories of family nature walks often included a picnic lunch, so it feels extra special. A joyful book spread and quite literally a “spread” of goodies!

DIANNE: Were there any pleasant surprises you had while working on this book?

KAREN: Yes! I loved finding out that the painted lady butterfly (which was edited out of the first book) fit perfectly in the second. You’ll see her fluttering happily among the flowers. The picnic scene held another surprise – a hidden animal hunt for kids! Brilliant illustrator idea! See if you can find them all.

DIANNE: Can you share a favorite spread?

KAREN:Beyond the picnic scene, I’m especially drawn to the bear cubs peeking out at spring. Why? A friend, upon seeing that WOODLAND DREAMS had won the SCBWI LA Sue Alexander award, asked her teenage granddaughter to illustrate the bear stanza as a gift. That special art was framed and presented to me at my teacher retirement party!  It’s displayed prominently above my writing desk. When I saw the bear spread in WAKE UP, WOODLANDS, I did a double take! The composition and scene are so similar to my own framed bears. Serendipity, for sure.  

DIANNE: What can your readers look forward to next?

KAREN: Another, as yet unannounced picture book, is scheduled for 2025. In the meanwhile, I’m doing a deep dive into all things jellyfish for my next Chronicle title, THE SECRETS OF THE JELLIES. This collaboration with illustrator, Marie Hermansson and editor, Naomi Kirsten, was pitched as an aquarium exhibit within a picture book. Can’t wait to see it on aquarium shelves and in book stores everywhere in 2026!

DIANNE: As always, Karen, thanks for joining ReaderKidZ and for writing such beautiful books for young readers.

 

Check out these previous ReaderKidZ interviews with Karen:

 

It’s Your Time to Shine

Posted on 03/05/2024

Little Simon (S&S) | ISBN: 978-1665932035

I’m excited to share my first board book, IT’S YOUR TIME TO SHINE, with charming illustrations by Nanette Regan.

This is a book that began as one thing and became something more, thanks to the vision of my brilliant editor. Originally inspired by the opening lines of Ecclesiastes 3 – “For everything there is a season…,” the manuscript started as short rhyming couplets that I recorded into my phone on a long drive after visiting with family. When I got home, I moved the lines to my computer, adding other snippets of inspiration as I brainstormed –  the lyrics to the Pete Seeger song, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” and even a screenshot of a NYT (cooking) article by food editor Sam Sifton about how the same ingredients in a recipe sometimes turn out differently from one day to the next. All these seemingly random notes led to more ideas…

When my editor expressed interest and asked if I’d be willing to revise, the original manuscript lost a few stanzas and gained a few new ones to become something more than a day at the beach.  Thanks to a revision of the ending it’s now a book that follows a child across years and milestones.

I hope It’s Your Time to Shine will inspire readers of all ages to head out into the world as the bold and brave people they are.

Now is YOUR time!

 

It’s your time to shine.
Show the world who you are:
confident,
courageous
a bright rising star!

From the publisher:

Growing up means there are times for feeling your best, succeeding, feeling uncertain, and failing—and everything in between. Things may be ever-changing but this moment, right now—whether it’s a regular day or a pivotal occasion like a graduation—is the reader’s time to take charge.

A celebration of life for a baby or a graduate. The phrase, “There’s a time,” opens each page as an infant with freckled brown skin and curly hair faces what’s ahead. The girl grows up having taken on the challenges and joys of being alive.

 

Learn more at: diannewrites.com

Salat in Secret

Posted on 02/26/2024

Random House Studio | 978-1984848093

 

On Muhammad’s seventh birthday, his dad gives him a prayer rug called a salat. It’s beautiful, with “fuzzy patterns and gold stitching.” He’ll use the rug five times a day, following the important traditions of his Islamic faith.

That evening and the next morning, he whispers his prayers to Allah, repeating the words he has learned in Sunday school.

After I pray fair the next morning, I know I’ll do dhuhr too.

Dhuhr comes in the middle of the school days.

Somehow, I’ll find a secret place to do it.

Somehow, asking won’t be scary.

Muhammad wants to be like his daddy, who isn’t afraid to park his ice cream truck  when he’s far from his place of worship, spread his rug on the sidewalk, and pray.

But sometimes, as we all know, it’s hard to draw attention to ourselves, especially when we’re away from home and all that’s familiar. Though Muhummad wants to be like his daddy, when it comes time to ask his teacher, Mrs. Baker, for a private place to pray at school, he can’t push the words out At home, he regrets not speaking up. He wishes he had more courage.

Will Muhammad face his fears and discover the bravery he hopes for?

SALAT in SECRET is a tender story of a young boy who, eventually, finds the courage he needs to be fully and completely himself.

**

Learn about Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow’s inspiration for writing Salat in Secret HERE.

 

 

The Last Stand

Posted on 02/19/2024

Knopf Books for Young Readers | 978-0593480571

Papa has the last stand at the farmer’s market, but the job is hard, and he’s getting older. From week to week, he and his grandson work together to bring in the crops. While Papa gathers peppers, plums, and pumpkins, his grandson collects the eggs. Together they set their goods “in baskets Granny made from sweetgrass.” When the blue pickup truck is full, they’re off to the farmer’s market to sell their harvest.

Two years ago, there were five stands. Last year, only two. Now, only Earl’s remains. “Ms. Rosa sorts out her usual. Bright orange pumpkins and fresh white eggs.” Papa has held back some of the ripe green peppers for Mr. Johnny. By the end of the day, when all the produce has been sold, there is one last special delivery – a basket of plums for Mrs. Brown, saved in one of Granny’s handwoven baskets.

The hard work takes its toll and Papa shows his age. When Saturday arrives again, Papa is too tired to gather the harvest. “Three feet of Papa’s rope, a few of Granny’s sweetgrass baskets” and the grandson has an idea to keep the stand open and available, at least for a while.

With memorable and moving words by Antwan Eady and stunning artwork by brothers Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey,  THE LAST STAND is both a celebration of the many ways in which a community continues to support one another through changing times and circumstances, as well as social commentary on the disappearance of black-owned farms in this country. This is a book you’ll definitely want to add to your home, school, or library shelf.

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Enjoy this short video that shows how the the Pumphrey brothers create their illustrations:

To learn more about the history of Black farmers, read this excerpt from a blog post by Feeding America, titled, “A Brief History Of America’s Black Farmers From The Past To Present”:

“Today, just 1% of farmers in the United States identify as Black according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These numbers are down from 1 million Black farmers a century ago. In 1919, Black farmland ownership peaked at 16 to 19 million acres, about 14% of total agricultural land. A century later, 90% of that land has been lost. Even though farmers of color now account for only 2% of the agricultural land, Black farmers are drawing strength from their long history of agricultural production as a strategy to address food insecurity and improve the health of local communities.”

Check out this earlier ReaderKidZ post about Eady’s beautiful debut, NIGEL and the MOON.