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.
Each morning, Bear awoke to find his friend Smile nearby. They liked the same things – nuts and berries for breakfast, honey from a hive, splashing in a waterfall. They enjoyed the same adventures – “as long as they weren’t too scary.” The two were inseparable.
One morning, Bear awoke and Smile was nowhere to be found. Not under the bed, nor tucked in the closet. He didn’t even appear in time for their favorite breakfast. The two had always been together, until suddenly… they weren’t. Poor Bear. What was he to do?
This charming story is a gentle exploration of the journey from joy to sadness back to joy, and the ways in which a good friend can make all the difference.
***
Ellen and I met over ten years ago when I was a grad assistant at Vermont College of Fine Arts and she was completing a semester in the program. Over the years, we’ve managed to stay in touch, and I’ve been anxiously looking forward to the publication of her newest book. I’m pleased to introduce Ellen and her work to readers!
DW: Welcome, Ellen! Congratulations on LOOKING FOR SMILE, illustrated by Lauren Stringer. It’s such a tender story about friendship, but also about the reality that our days are not always vibrant and sunny. Sometimes, without warning, our joy is replaced by sadness. We’re blue, and we don’t quite know how to change things.
How did you come to this idea about a bear who had lost his smile? Did you hear the first line in your head and know exactly where you wanted the story to go? Or did the idea of a character who became sad and eventually found his way back to joy begin differently? What was the genesis of Bear’s story?
ET: The idea first came in bed one morning; I think on a day when Smile seemed a little far away. For a while, I fiddled around with various characters who had lost their smiles and how they found them. (I had just written a Bear manuscript so didn’t want it to be a Bear but in the end it had to be.) But the story didn’t come to life until a few months later when I got the idea of personifying Smile. Then I wrote about 75% of it in one sitting. Making Smile a character allowed me to write about Bear before the loss of Smile which makes the loss more meaningful and poignant. You feel Bear’s aloneness because you knew them together. The character of Smile also gave the story a “lift” and prevented it from being too sad. After that burst, I put the story aside for a few months. (I’m not sure why other than a natural tendency not to finish.) But also I wanted to get the ending just right. I wanted to make it real and meaningful to kids. I’m not sure when the idea of just sitting and singing with his friend Bird came to me but it seemed like the simplest and truest of all the ideas and it was the only version I wrote out. I sent it to The Writing Barn about a week or two later.
DW: This book has quite an amazing backstory. How were you able to find the perfect editor (Allyn Johnston of Beach Lane Books), an amazing illustrator (Lauren Stringer), and your agent (Rubin Pfeffer), all in one big serendipitous meeting? Can you share the story?
ET: Well, there would be no story at all if not for you! A year after taking your class at the Writing Barn, you wrote suggesting I go to a Picture Book Intensive Weekend there as I might be a good fit for Allyn and Rubin. This was in May of 2019. To make a short story shorter, Rubin read “Looking for Smile” for my critique and shared it with Allyn and Lauren. And by the time I met with him, he said he wanted to represent it/me and an hour or so later, all three called me over to a picnic table and told me that Allyn wanted to buy it and Lauren wanted to illustrate it! I wobbled my way back to my room and barely slept for the rest of the weekend. The book came out in pretty much record time for a picture book — about 15 months later. The fact that we all spent that first weekend together felt like a special bond and the creation was a real team experience.
DW: I adore the illustrations! The sunshiny colors that open the book – aqua, green, yellow – and the gentle contrast that happens as the story reaches that one unlucky morning when “Smile didn’t come.” Bear goes from a rosy-cheeked, happy-go-lucky guy with a bright smile to one sad fellow, drenched in a soft blue that makes the reader ache over his sadness.
As you wrote the story, did you have any particular images in your head? What were some of the nice surprises when you saw the finished art for the first time? Do you have a favorite illustration?
ET: The illustrations are so much MORE than I imagined: so much more beautiful, so much more full of feeling, so much “smarter” in conveying the nuances of story. I was surprised and delighted by the color switch when Smile doesn’t come. But really every page has some magic in it. Also, the book ended up being 48 pages which allows readers to go on the emotional journey with Bear in a very intimate way.
If I had to pick just one illustration, I think it would be the page where Bird begins to sing and Bear is looking down at her. The expression on Bear’s face — of both sadness and the recognition that something could be happening that would change the sadness — is amazing to me. It seemed like an impossible moment to capture and Lauren did it so beautifully.
DW: You’ve been working as a writer and editor of early childhood classroom materials for a long time, and it has to have informed the voice you’ve developed as a picture book writer. Do you have any tips for those who are hoping to find their own voices as writers of books for kids? What feeds your creativity?
ET:In my day job, I have written and edited hundreds of stories for early childhood classrooms. Often, we have to use very simple language as the stories teach children to read. That certainly taught me a lot about how to put a story across economically and how to think about what role pictures can play. In terms of inspiration, I would say my personal stories come from a very different place, often feelings from my own childhood. I seem especially drawn to those childhood moments when the world opens up in a new way, of facing life with limited experience but still managing, the wonder and surprise and raw emotion that come from it all being so new.
And I guess my advice is boring. It can take long time find the right way to say what you want to say. And because of the time involved, write something you really want to spend time with. Also maybe try other forms of expressing what you want to say. I started out (decades ago!) writing novels about animal characters and gradually made my way down to the picture book format. I am not sure my voice changed as much as finding the right way to use it. That was a long time coming.
DW: What are you working on? What can readers look forward to from you next?
ET: I am lucky enough now to have several books with Allyn Johnston and Beach Lane. I have three more picture books signed up. The next one is called Becoming Blue which is a little different for me. Knowing that my husband is a color theorist and painter, Rubin challenged me to do a book about colors. It is really about a character like my other books (Blue and his journey of self-discovery) but the color angle added a whole new really fun dimension. In addition to the picture books, Allyn and Beach Lane also have an early reader series and I am working on the second book.
DW: Fantastic! Congratulations again, Ellen, on LOOKING FOR SMILE. I cannot wait to read Becoming Blue and look forward to the books that will follow.
Readers can learn more about Ellen on her website: https://www.ellentarlow.com
Friday, November 13th was WORLD KINDNESS DAY, a day set aside by the World Kindness Movement, a nonprofit established “to highlight our good deeds in our communities, cities, and nations; it is for us to further focus on the positive power and common thread of kindness, which binds us together.”
In recognition of the day, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), put together a reading list of books for kids highlighting kindness and other, related, topics. I’m proud to have SOMETIMES A WALL, illustrated by Barroux, included on the list.
Of course, we don’t need to limit celebrating kindness to just one day a year. Here are some other picture books I can recommend that seem especially fitting this time of year:
BE KIND by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Jen Hill
