No Halloween will be complete without author/illustrator Doug Cushman’s hilarious hog tribute to some of the best beasts ever to star on the silver screen. Whether young readers imagine they’re like Dr. Hogg mixing potions that taste like dirty underwear or a werehog oinking at the moon, one thing is for certain; they’ll be caught up in Cushman’s creative magic and wallowing in laughter. Don’t be surprised if they want to write a pigmare or two of their own.
Within a collection of seventeen poems, Cushman takes silly swines to new heights with ghoulish sidesplitting antics while his poster-like watercolor illustrations create drama and mischief. One little pig will never watch monster movies before bed again. Impeccable rhythm and rhyme! Pigmares is for ages 7 and up.
To learn more about author/illustrator Doug Cushman click HERE to read the interview at Carmen Oliver’s blog, One Word at a Time.
In every corner of the cemetery lie creatures’ plights and readers will delight in uncovering the unfortunate turn of events that led them to their resting places, like the flickering moth “who lived by the fire and died by the flame.”
Lewis and Yolen are pure genius in this pun-filled book of animal epitaphs and children will be laughing out loud at the words written on each animal’s tomb. Timmins’ illustrations encapsulate light and darkness and add another layer of humor to the authors’ original collaboration. Poetry fans of all ages will have fun choosing their favorite epitaph. My money is on the “Cooked Goose” or “Woodpecker’s Last Hole.” A riotous romp for ages 7 and up.
Perhaps nothing disrupts families more deeply than war. Young people go off leaving siblings and sweethearts behind. Parents return from war, changed.
When a soldier is deployed, his entire family is affected. Our country has been in military conflict for over ten years. As children experience the many transitions that are part of a family – or friend – affected by war, we can offer books that share the experiences of other children and families coping with war. EDDIE’S WAR is an honest and hopeful example.
The story is classic but the characters are as fresh as a home-grown tomato. An older brother enlists and soon leaves for combat, World War II. The younger brother, Eddie, remains at home, helps with farm chores while wondering and worrying. Will his big brother, his hero, return? Will he be all right, or end up missing an arm or leg like other soldiers who have come home? Or even worse, missing something inside, the part that laughed, dared to bike straight down the steepest hill, laughing the whole way.
Carol Saller has captured the perspective of young Eddie as he deals with prewar times in the rural Midwest: farm life, the pranks and dares of best friends, the jealousies of siblings and, all of this, spiced with conflicting small town gossip. We see this world through Eddie’s eyes, a coming-of-age boy, still innocent but full of questions. One of my favorite dialogues is Eddie’s debate with his friend, what is the best way to die – maybe by guillotine, but without a sharp blade handy, then electric chair, but certainly not by hanging.
In the hushed town library we watch Eddie tip-toe in but stop when he notices a stranger sitting in front of the wooden rack of newspapers. The stranger is Mr. Mirga, whom some say is a thieving gypsy spy. But everyone knows that gypsies can’t read. So why is Mr. Mirga in the library? Eddie notices that every morning Mr. Mirga studies every newspaper, hungry to find news of Poland: “rustle, snap, open, close, page after page opens wide like the wings of a big papery moth.”
Here in the library Eddie also learns the important facts of life, from how to clean out 15 miles of kidney tubes with Doan’s Pills to why Europe is inching closer to war as the Nazis point deadly fingers at those groups who need to be ”cleansed” – homosexuals, criminals, gypsies, Jews. Eddie may not know a Jew but he does know a gypsy. The gypsy he knows is soon in grave danger; even hanging looms as a possibility.
Author Carol Saller has captured the details of the life of a farm boy growing up in prewar time in American’s rural midwest, as international events begin to effect even isolated communities. She has captured the emotional climate of small town prejudices and values mixed with national fears. In the middle of these growing conflicts, one young man, Eddie, is faced with deciding who to believe, what he should do – IF he has enough courage.
During an interview with Carol whose “day job” is not writing, but editing, I asked:
Did you write Eddie’s War because of the many kids today who are “left behind” as their parents or siblings are deployed to the Middle East?
Quite honestly, I wasn’t thinking of present-day parallels when I created Eddie, because he’s based on my father, who wrote a diary as the kid left behind. His much older brother went off to fly a bomber in the Pacific.
The diary was a tremendous resource. It kept me grounded in that time and place and gave me a lot of historical farming detail that wouldn’t have been the same if I had researched it in books and journals.
*********
What a testament to the unknown power of keeping a journal. As a country we are again in war times, already for more than ten years. Students could write about who they know who has enlisted and been deployed. They could write from experience or imagination what it is like to wait for the safe return of a brother or sister.
For a step into the World War II era, take a look at Carol’s website: www.carolsaller.com Readers will find historical posters and newspaper clippings as well as pages from Dad’s diary. Teachers will find writing suggestions.
The new kid to the neighborhood, Sameer, is invited by Luke and his friends to join in their favorite game – playing war. But Sameer is hesitant. Sameer was in a real war.
“No way! You haven’t told us anything about that! A real war? Did they let kids be soldiers? Did you have an M-16?” Luke eagerly asks lots of questions about what it was like to be in a real war. Sameer’s answers were not what Luke expected to hear.
This picture book offers a much needed book about a difficult topic. The conversations of the boys provide a helpful model for adults to continue the discussion – what would it be like to be in a real war? PLAYING WAR was published by Tilbury House, July, 2012.
Ellis Island’s very first “processed” immigrant was fifteen-year-old Annie Moore from Ireland. She arrived on January 1, 1892 after two years of separation from her parents as they worked to save enough money to pay for her passage. Her story is one of many told with narrative, verse and photographs in this remarkable book, HOPE and TEARS: Ellis Island Voices by Gwenyth Swain.
Jarek, a Polish immigrant, already more than half-grown up, arrives to be reunited with his father whom he has never seen:
“Maybe Father won’t know me.
But he does know my name.
He left home when I was just a baby…
And now I’m here, ready to pass his inspection.
Ready to be his son at last.”
Within the covers of this book, Gwenyth Swain tells the stories and voices of the many workers, inspectors, cooks, officials and immigrants who were part of the transitioning of thousands – children, orphans, parents – from “old country to new.” Some of the stories are told in drama format, ready to be read as reader’s theater. Others are vignettes, portraits, and even simple images or historic photographs. The reader is pulled into the rich visual and oral history of the human experience of this American era, place, and process. Published by Calkins Creek, BoydsMills Press, 2012
Sometimes when parents change jobs, the family has to make big changes as well. Told in both Spanish and English, this simple but lyrical book shows how a big sister can ease the loneliness when both parents need to leave early in the morning for work and do not return until late at night. Big sister, Anita, wakes up her little brother, Pablito, and a busy day begins. Screeech! Anita is there to help Pablito hop onto the giant yellow school bus. Ding, dong, ding! Anita is waiting at the end of the school day to hold her brother’s hand and listen to his adventures. Zz-Zz-Zz…Pablito falls asleep as Anita reads one more book.
This bilingual book is a Pinata Book, published by Arte Público Press, University of Houston, Texas, 2012. A variety of bilingual titles can be found at their website: www.artepublicopress.com.
Stephanie Greene has done it again. In Monster Stew, through the actions of her charming protagonist, Posey, the precarious space between excitement and fear is dramatized – a space that is very real to every tender child during the Halloween season.
In the spirit of this scary season, beloved Miss Lee, the first grade teacher, has announced to the class that she will be making monster stew for the class Halloween party. While Posey adores Miss Lee, the notion of nibbling on stew made of monster’s eyeballs and lizard’s livers is frightening to the worrisome girl. Posey’s emotional struggle to find a safe place somewhere between the gore and the glee of the season is summed up in the line, “Posey knew monster stew was make-believe. But sometimes make-believe felt as real as real (60).”
Like so many young girls her age, Posey’s emotional state is an endearing mix of feeling pensive, giddy, and gallant all at once. She’s a perpetual observer working to make sense of the world around her. A Teacher’s Activity Guide has been created to further investigate the emotional tone in Monster Stew. Wedgedbetween a spider web capturing activity and creating ghostly lollipops, there are two lessons designed to explore the emotions of the book’s characters as well as those of the child reader, one being a form poetry lesson and the other a Venn diagram layout. With this guide in one hand, Monster Stew in the other, you and your children are sure to have a Happy Halloween! Boo!
Families can go through all kinds of transformations, like separation, remarriage, or the death of a family member. There are a number of “bibliotherapy” books designed to help children talk about their feelings, but what my own kids found most helpful are well-written stories showing characters dealing with the sorts of issues they are facing. Here are some books with characters that show the range of emotions kids can experience during a life change, as well as the strategies they learned to find peace in their new family situation.
For the youngest readers:
The Scar by Charlotte Moundlic, translated by Olivier Tallec (Candlewick, 2012) A young boy struggles with the death of his mother after her long illness. His hurt, anger, and fear are expressed in ways that grieving children will understand. As a scrape on his knee heals into a scar, the boy begins to understand that his heart can heal, too, because his mother’s love is in there.
For the transitional readers: Stand Tall, Abe Lincoln written by Judith St. George and illustrated by Matt Faulkner (Philomel, 2008) Biographies show how real people rose above difficulties in life, and give us the sense that we, too, can persevere. This beautifully-illustrated story tells how young Abraham Lincoln dealt with challenges like poverty, the loss of his mother when he was nine, and three new stepsiblings. Although Abe didn’t welcome his stepmother, Sally, at first, “it was Sally’s love and caring that had swept away his ‘dull and dark’ world.”
For the older readers: Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes (Arthur A. Levine, 2009) All of Gari’s plans are changed when her mom is deployed to Iraq. She has to move across the country to live on the military base where her uncle and his family are stationed. Gari comes up with a new plan to make her mother come back, but her cousin Bo and their sixth grade teacher Miss Loupe help Gari learn to say “Yes, and” to whatever life brings her.
Families go through all kinds of transformations, but one of the hardest family changes for kids is divorce. There are a number of “bibliotherapy” books designed to help children talk about their feelings, but what my own kids found (and still find) most helpful are the well-written stories showing characters dealing with the sorts of issues they are facing. Here are some books with characters that show the range of emotions kids can experience during a divorce as well as the strategies they learned to find peace in their new family situation.
For the youngest readers:
Living with Mom and Living with Dad by Melanie Walsh (Candlewick, 2012) This simplest of picture books is perfect for young readers. A little girl shows that even if life at her mom’s is a little different from life at her dad’s, she is loved and cared for in both places. Bright colors and flaps to lift make it fun to read.
For the transitional readers:
Waiting for the Magic written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Amy June Bates (Atheneum, 2011) William, his mom, and his little sister Elinor come home from the animal shelter with four dogs and a cat, and yet the house still feels a little empty without Papa. Elinor can hear the animals talking because she is one of those who know magic, one of “the young, the old, the brave, the honest, the joyful”. William doesn’t believe in magic, not even when Papa returns. Rebuilding the family takes bravery and hard work, but in the end, the magic is felt by them all.
For the older readers:
42 Miles by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (Clarion, 2008) To her mom, she is Ellen; to her dad, she is Joey. In economical verse that cuts a clear path to the heart, JoEllen tells what it is like to be divided between two homes that are separated geographically by 42 miles and emotionally by worlds of differences. “With every mile the landscape changes – trees and fields morph into tall city buildings, winding country road into six-lane highway – and Joey transforms into Ellen, though no one notices but me.”
(Winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award – Canada). After 11-year-old Parvana and her father are separated from their family during war in Afghanistan, her father dies, leaving her an orphan. Disguised as a boy so as not to incur the wrath of the Taliban, Parvana sets out across a scarred landscape to find her mother. Along the way, she picks up two other orphaned children, plus a baby. Together, they form a new family that gives them the strength and courage they need to complete their dangerous journey. This is the third book in The Breadwinner Trilogy. (Ages 10 and up)
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