What’s on the other side of a moment? A feeling? A day?
“On the other side of the screen, there is a school. On the other side of a window, there is a neighbor…
On the other side of a storm, there is a rainbow.”
It’s been just under a year since the world closed down and we began to watch the outside from the inside of our homes, spending our working hours zooming from behind the screens of our computers.
What will remain of these many months of separation? Hopefully, the reminder that we were in this together. That a story has a beginning AND an end.
We’re not quite there yet, but the end is coming. As the author, Theresa Trinder, writes in her note on the last page of THERE IS A RAINBOW, (illustrated by Grant Snider) “We will see each other on the other side. Yes, there are sad goodbyes. But there will be joyous reunions. And even though we can’t reach out and touch one another right now, we can see one another – truly see one another – if we try.”
She continues: “It comforts me to think of families reading this book a year – or many years – from now and to hope they’re looking back on this time from a place that is safer, happier, more generous and more just.”
Yes, please. (And don’t those beautiful illustrations, rendered in colored pencil lift your spirits? They do mine. )
This uplifting picture book reminds us that it won’t always be as it has been. There *is* hope, on the other side…
Between the book’s covers you’ll find — for each letter of the alphabet — one or more thoughtful poems written by poets Irene Latham and Charles Waters and inspired by “words for a better world”.
Feel free to read and savor in any order that you like!
The book opens with an Abecedarian – a poem in which the first line begins with the first letter of the alphabet and continues with the letters in successive order, A to Z. Each poem is then paired with an illustration by Mehrdockht Amini, a short reflection from the poet, a related quote, and a Try It! section, which invites the reader to apply the poem’s key word in some way.
I have many favorites, but close to the middle of the book is the poem “Open,” by Charles Waters. Enjoy these lines from the beginning and end:
“Despite this
fury of hatred…
our hearts stay open.”
This form — a 6-line poem called a Shadorma — has a syllable count of three/five/three/three/seven/five. The poem is paired with an illustration of an open window, inviting readers to be open, listen, make a new decision, even embrace a change of heart.
The goal? Working together to create a better world.
Another favorite poem — this one by Irene Latham — is titled, “Hope”:
“Fierce
camel
carries us…
toward oasis shimmering
its promise. All travelers welcome!”
This poem is a nonet: a nine-line poem that begins with a one syllable line, adding a syllable until the 9th line of 9 syllables. (Nonets can also start with 9 syllables and make their way down to a 9th line of only one syllable!)
If I were still teaching in the classroom, this is a book I would dip into, reading one poem a day, considering the quote and poet reflection, then encouraging students to explore the invitation to “Try It!”
The stranger has traveled from far away. He’s weary and needs to rest.
As soon as he falls asleep, the friends start in. The fox wants to break open the suitcase. The hen agrees. Don’t they need to know the truth? The rabbit insists it wouldn’t be right. The suitcase isn’t theirs to open.
Things go as you might imagine and mistakes are made, but there’s a surprising twist.
This powerful picture book delivers a helping of kindness and empathy at a time when our world desperately needs more stories of acceptance and hope.
I love finding a book that immediately captures my attention. In the case of, BEDTIME FOR SWEET CREATURES by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon it was the combination of bright, energetic illustrations and a text that surprises. The story begins:
A parade of noisy animals, both fierce and tame, accompany the toddler to bed until…
“Mommy? Can I sleep with you?”
In crawl one sleepy child and a caravan of colorful creatures.
This bedtime book is a delight! Don’t miss it. 🙂
And while you’re at it, Grimes and Zunon have another book together, OFF TO SEE THE SEA, available tomorrow, January 12, 2021.
Learn more about the book in THIS INTERVIEW with author Nikki Grimes
Meet illustrator Elizabeth Zunon and discover more about her artistic process in this recent EPISODE on WMHT.
And, finally, 4 times a year, I release a newsletter with updates about bookish things, workshops, and more. Click HERE to find the January 2021 newsletter. (If you’d like to receive future newsletters, click SUBSCRIBE on the top left!)
I know a lot of people — myself included — who like to choose one word (or a couple) as a way to set an intention for the year. Naming things – hopes, feelings, problems, dreams – can serve as one anchor point from which to interpret our lives.
Day to day, it’s easy to drift and miss a lot of what happens. We think it was this way, but when we stop, dig deeper, ask ourselves questions — What worked? What didn’t? How did I feel about it? — we often find there was more on the “good” side than we first remembered.
I’ll be choosing a word for the year. How about you?
Even if you’re not used to thinking about such things, there’s no denying that words are fascinating. In fact, did you know that in 2010, researchers from Harvard and Google who looked at the words in digitized books estimated that there were over 1 million words in the English language? Native English-speaking adults have a vocabulary of some 20,000 – 35,000 words — not anywhere near a million, but still a lot.
WHAT A WONDERFUL WORD, by Nicola Edwards, illustrated by Luisa Uribe is not about English, or even about the ordinary kinds of words that we use day in and day out. Instead, the author describes these as “untranslatable” words from various parts of the world. Some are related to a particular way of life. Take the word Murr-ma [Mer-mah], for example, from the Wagiman language of Australia. This word means “to walk through the water, searching for something with only your feet.” It is also the name given to a prosthetic leg that allows the wearer to transition from sand to sea.
That’s a bit out of the box, but what about the Icelandic word, Gluggavedur [GLU-ka-ve-duh], which means, “window weather?” This word describes weather that looks inviting while you’re inside, but is much too cold to enjoy once you step out the door.
Along with the definitions of unusual words, readers will find interesting tidbits about the country and culture the word originates from. Take the word, Kazuri — small and beautiful — from Swahili. The illustration shows the “small and beautiful” red-cheeked cordon-bleu finch, which lives in Tanzania where the mpigno tree, “known as the music tree of Africa,” takes over… “70 years to reach maturity and produce the world’s most expensive wood.”
Small and beautiful, powerful and ordinary. Words are fascinating!
Today is the day the Ruby-throated hummingbird will begin its amazing journey.
As the protagonist of Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor’s newest book, TINY BIRD: A Hummingbird’s Amazing Journey, notices the change of season, so too, readers will feel a pull to leave the small, yet comforting northeastern yard that has become home. Over field and farm, home and school, from north to south, Tiny Bird – like all Ruby-throated hummingbirds – will migrate, some even crossing the Gulf of Mexico to winter in warmer, more compatible climates.
The following snippet from Robert Burleigh’s bio (courtesy of the Highlight’s Foundation website) captures the essence of the author’s work:
“He believes the hard facts are extremely important and always weaves them into the narrative. But beyond that, he likes the book to convey the feeling of immediacy, of being there—whether there is flying an airplane, hitting a baseball, or painting a picture.”
In TINY BIRD, there, is the treacherous, many-weeks-long journey over 1,500 miles of land and water. As I read, I felt the exhaustion and scope of such a journey, along with the terror Tiny Bird surely experienced narrowly zigzagging away from the sharp talons of a hawk and the open jaws of a leaping fish.
As Tiny Bird stops at the “Dark blue, deep, and vast” Gulf of Mexico, glittering in the sun, there is barely time to nab one last mosquito before “it begins its nonstop flight of more than twenty hours. / Can Tiny Bird make it? / Many hummingbirds never do.”
Rushing wind, leaping fish, and a sudden storm taunt Tiny Bird as “it dips even closer to the dangerous water.” A wooden fishing boat offers a resting spot for the hummer to gather the strength to carry on through the night. “Suddenly/ – in the dawn light, / above a wave’s curl -/ land!”
Burleigh’s lyrical text and Minor’s gorgeous gouache watercolor illustrations make this a beautiful book for any home or school/library collection. Paired with Kristine O’Connell George and Barry Moser’s HUMMINGBIRD NEST: A Journal of Poems, these books provide a wonderful peek into the lives of two species of hummingbirds (Ruby-throated and Anna’s) found in North America.
What are some of your favorite picture books about birds?
“The world had been dark for a long time… Every morning, the girl fed the fish and waited for things to be different.
But every morning, the world stayed the same.”
So begins THE STARKEEPER, written and illustrated by Faith Pray. Could there be a more perfect book for a year such as this? While publishing a picture book is generally a process of years, not months, it surely does seem that this is a book made especially for this time. Because haven’t there been days in 2020 when it seems that the world has been dark for a long, long time? Haven’t we wondered how things might change and when that might happen?
As we near the end of a long year, this is a book of light and hope. Beautifully illustrated with watercolor wash and colored pencil, THE STARKEEPER is about a young girl who tires of the darkness and bravely wishes the lonely dark away. Her enormous wish brings a small and perfectly beautiful star.
At first, the young child wants to keep the star hidden, but she quickly senses that a star mustn’t be kept away. Still and all, no one seemed to notice the hope she cradled in her arms. “The girl and the star felt small.”
Thinking herself unequipped to be a starkeeper and ready to give up hope, the child carries the star to a quiet spot under a bridge. There, she discovers two children and the realization that even small acts of kindness can make a difference. She shares her sweater with these new friends, along with a tiny piece of the star.
Each new kindness causes the star to grow larger and rounder, more light and shine, than dark and dim. She realizes that there are lots of small somethings she can do. And so, she sets off to share tiny bits of star and hope with those she meets. The more she gives away, the more her star sparks and warms and grows. Star upon stars grow in splendor, and the world is changed, resplendent with light.
