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Emma’s Poem by Linda Glaser

Apr4

Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Claire A. Nivola. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010.

The Statue of Liberty originally had nothing to do with immigrants. It was simply a friendship gift from France to the United States, a symbol of French-American amity. But a lady named Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet in honor of Lady Liberty, and the rest is history.

The New Colossus
BY EMMA LAZARUS

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus grew up the daughter of wealthy Jewish immigrant parents. She knew nothing of homelessness or poverty or freedom-seeking from her own personal experience or background. But she worked in the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and raised money for it and came to have a heart for immigrants.

This brief but telling biography is especially timely in today’s America when we are again having a national debate about immigration and whether or not we as a nation still want to extend the invitation: “Give me your tired, your poor . . ” I believe we need to extend that invitation and to have an ordered, legal way to do so. Politically speaking, I’m caught in the middle again. I begin to see the uses of some walls along the border in certain places to control and channel the flow of illegal immigration. At the same time, I believe that we need to be a country that welcomes immigrants, especially those who are fleeing persecution, but also those who are escaping poverty and violence and who are willing to work to make America strong and to better themselves.

Emma’s poem still rings true today, and I’m afraid its sentiments are becoming lost in the Republican hostility to all immigration and the Democrats’ manipulative use of immigrants and their plight to further their own political ambitions. It’s sad to me that we can’t come together and advocate for a sane and humanitarian immigration policy that welcomes “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to our shores while keeping out those who only want to prey upon us and take advantage of our freedoms to commit crimes.

At any rate, Emma’s Poem is an introduction to a poem and to a life that we need to remember in these times. The paintings by Claire Nivola that accompany the text of this biography are colorful and striking, a fitting complement to the story of poet Emma Lazarus and her powerful poem. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

A River of Words by Jen Bryant

Apr3

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008. 32 pages.

“By stripping away unnecessary details, Williams tried to ‘see the thing itself . . . with great intensity and perception.'” ~Author’s Note, A River of Words by Jen Bryant

“Then I looked to a big box of discarded books I had from a library sale. One of the books had beautiful endpapers and I did a small painting on it. Then I took a book cover, ripped it off, and painted more. The book covers became my canvas, and any ephemera I had been saving for one day became fodder for the collages.” ~Illustrator’s Note, A River of Words, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

My youngest daughter, Z-baby, says her favorite poem is William Carlos Williams’ brief meditation on the distilled essence of common things that begins with the words: “so much depends/ upon/ a red wheel/ barrow . . .” This picture book biography distills Mr. Williams’ life down to the bare essentials, but it nevertheless tells and implies so much about the man and about his poetry. In the book, I learned:

–that Williams became a doctor, of obstetrics and pediatrics, so that he could make a living and still write poetry in his spare time.

–that Mr. Williams loved poetry from his boyhood days in Rutherford, New Jersey.

–that the poet made friends with other poets: Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle, Charles DeMuth, and Marianne Moore.

–that William Carlos Williams lived a busy life of keen observation and “rivers of words”.

Several of Williams’ poems are featured on the end papers of the books, and quotes from his poems are woven into the text and into the collage illustrations. (If you are shocked by the quotation from Ms. Sweet about the wanton destruction of books to make her artwork, I choose to believe that the books she used were already too damaged to be shelved or read.) Without Melissa Sweet’s pictures, this book would be interesting but ephemeral. However, the illustrations complement and enhance the text so well that the book is destined to become a classic in the picture book biography genre. It already won the following awards back in 2009 when it was published:

2009 Caldecott Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book
A Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book
NCTE Notable Children’s Book

And to those awards I add my kudos. I bought a copy of A River of Words for my library, but I think I will need to buy another copy for Z-baby. (And maybe one for my son-in-law, the poet.)

There is also a book about William Carlos Williams in the Poetry for Young People series that would be a good follow-up for “young people” who are intrigued by this introduction to his life and work. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

Across a Dark and Wild Sea by Don Brown

Apr2

Columcille, aka Saint Columba, was born in Ireland in 521 AD. The son of a king, he became a scribe and a monk and a bard in a world that was falling apart with the fall of the Roman Empire and final end of the Pax Romana (the peace had been eroding for several centuries before the sixth century).

Don Brown’s picture book biography paints the time of Columba as a dark time without much love for learning, except among the monks and religious of Ireland, a real Dark Ages. The book goes on to tell how Columba became involved in a violent and bloody battle over possession of a copy of a book and how he left Ireland to become a missionary in the wilds of Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland.

I like Mr.Brown’s telling of the story of Columcille/Columba. The illustrations by the author are a little too sketchy in style for my taste, but it’s more a matter of taste than of talent or quality. You may love the pictures. An author’s note in the back of the book gives more information about Saint Columba, and there’s a page showing the letters of the uncial alphabet, a writing style used in Saint Columba’s time. Brown’s bibliography includes Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization, a book I have read and would recommend if you want to read more about the Irish monks and their missionary efforts and their preservation of many of the texts of Western civilization.

Saint Columba is supposed to have written the following poem, called Altus prosator (not included in this book):

Altus prosator, vetustus
dierum et ingenitus
erat absque origine
primordii et crepidine
est et erit in sæcula
sæculorum infinita;
cui est unigenitus
Christus et sanctus spiritus
coæternus in gloria
deitatis perpetua.
Non tres deos depropimus
sed unum Deum dicimus,
salva fide in personis
tribus gloriosissimis.

High creator, Ancient
of Days, and unbegotten,
who was without origin
at the beginning and foundation,
who was and shall be in infinite
ages of ages;
to whom was only begotten
Christ, and the Holy Ghost,
co-eternal in the everlasting
glory of Godhood.
We do not propose three gods,
but we speak of one God,
saving faith in three
most glorious Persons.

If you can read and pronounce Latin, the poem sounds lovely in that language. I can’t really read Latin, but I tried, and I enjoyed the attempt. The poem is also an acrostic; the part above is just the first verse, the beginning with “A” part. Here’s a link to a translation of the entire poem.

Here’s another section of the poem that I especially liked:

By chanting of hymns continually ringing out,
by thousands of angels rejoicing in holy dances,
and by the four living creatures full of eyes,
with the four and twenty happy elders,
casting down their crowns beneath the feet of the Lamb of GOD,
the Trinity is praised with eternal threefold repetition.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

Sequoyah by James Rumford

Mar28

Sequoyah: The Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford, translated by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby.

Quite appropriately, this book about the man who invented the Cherokee written language is printed in two languages: English and Cherokee. The story itself is almost unbelievable. Sequoyah was fifty years old and knew no English and couldn’t read when he began to invent a written language for the Cherokee people in about 1809. People laughed at him and persecuted him for his strange ideas. Yet he persevered, and he is famous for having given his people a writing system and a written language.

I didn’t know that the giant Sequoia trees of California are probably named for Sequoyah. Rumford’s tale of the life of Sequoyah is framed as a story told by a father to his children about how the trees are like the man Sequoyah, even though Sequoyah was crippled and old and not a warrior at all.

“Now, who was this Sequoyah? my father asks.
He was a famous man, we say, because he invented writing for the Cherokee.
He was a brave man because he never gave up.
He was a leader because he showed his people how to survive—
How to stand tall and proud like these trees.”

The introductory blurb calls this book “a poem to celebrate literacy, a song of a people’s struggle to stand tall and proud.” And indeed, it is both narrative and poetic. I was moved, after reading this brief history of Sequoyah, to find other books and read more. A man who is famous for inventing an alphabet? That’s my kind of biography.

More books about Sequoyah:

Sequoyah: The Story of an American Indian by C. W. Campbell.

Sequoyah: Young Cherokee Guide (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Dorothea J. Snow.

Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet by Robert Cwiklik.

Sequoyah: Leader of the Cherokees (Landmark Books, 65) by Alice Marriott.

Sequoyah by James Rumford is available for checkout from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

The Real McCoy by Wendy Towle

Mar27

The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor by Wendy Towle, paintings by Will Clay. Scholastic, 1993.

The Real McCoy: the genuine article; the actual thing.

There is some controversy over the origin of this common idiom, as author Wendy Towle indicates in her biography of inventor Elijah McCoy. The book calls the life and work of Mr. McCoy “one possible origin” of the phrase.

Whether or not his work spawned an idiom meaning genuine or original work, McCoy’s life story is certainly an inspiring testimony to excellence and successful invention. Elijah McCoy was born in Canada, the son of former slave who escaped from Kentucky and came to Canada via the Underground Railroad. He eventually studied engineering in Scotland and then came to live in the United States just after the end of the Civil War. Unfortunately, he could not find any work as an engineer because of his skin color, so he became a fireman/oilman for the railroad.

Or was it providence? Elijah McCoy soon began inventing devices to make the trains run more safely and efficiently, including his most famous invention, the automatic lubricating oil cup. He eventually patented over fifty inventions in his lifetime: the first portable ironing board, a lawn sprinkler, tires and tire treads, better rubber heels for shoes, and many devices that were used in the transportation industry in Detroit where McCoy lived.

Wil Clay, a well-known African American artist, painted the vivid and colorful pictures that adorn the pages of this picture book biography. His paintings make the time period and story come alive as readers learn about one of the heroes of American invention.

There’s also another picture book biography of Elijah McCoy in the Great Idea series by Tundra Books, titled All Aboard! Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine by Monica Kulling. I prefer the Towle/Clay book with its rich paintings, but either book would deliver a good reading experience for children who are interested in the stories of real people who overcame obstacles and achieved noteworthy success.

If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? by Tanya Lee Stone

Mar26

Who Says Women Can’t be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. Henry Holt, 2013.

“I’ll bet you’ve met plenty of doctors in your life. And I’ll bet lots of them were women. Well, you might find this hard to believe, but there once was a time when girls weren’t allowed to become doctors.”

According to this picture book biography, Elizabeth Blackwell changed all that. Because a woman named Mary Donaldson told Elizabeth Blackwell that “she would have much preferred being examined by a woman” and because Mary urged Elizabeth to consider becoming a doctor herself, Elizabeth Blackwell, who lived during that time when women weren’t allowed or expected to become doctors, found herself thinking and dreaming about the idea of being a female doctor. Some people laughed at the idea. Some people criticized. The medical schools she applied to all turned her down. But Geneva Medical School in New York finally admitted her—as a joke!

The illustrations in this picture book are bright and whimsical and appealing. The illustrator, Marjorie Priceman, also illustrated some of my favorite picture books, including How To Make an Apple Pie and See the World, How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA, and Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin (all available from my library, Meriadoc Homeschool Library).

Elizabeth Blackwell graduated medical school and became the first woman doctor in the United States. Except for a few details about her childhood and her med school experiences, what I’ve told you here is what the book tells in its main text. The author’s note at the back of the book includes a few more details about Elizabeth Blackwell’s life. This biography would be the perfect length for primary children, ages four to seven. And it would be a good introduction to Elizabeth Blackwell and the advent of female doctors for older children.

Then if you or your children want to read more about Ms. Blackwell, check out the following books:

Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Joanne Landers Henry.

Lone Woman: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell, the First Woman Doctor by Dorothy Clarke Wilson.

The First Woman Doctor: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. by Rachel Baker. (Messner biography)

I tend to agree with Ms. Donaldson. I prefer a female doctor, and I’m glad we have the choice nowadays to go to a woman doctor or a male doctor, whichever we prefer. And, of course, I’m glad that women can become doctors.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? is available for checkout from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

The Twenty Children of Johann Sebastian Bach by David Arkin

Mar25

The Twenty Children of Johann Sebastian Bach by David Arkin. Ward Ritchie Press, 1968.

This picture book biography, published by a quirky little SoCal publisher/printer, is an early example of the picture book biography. As far as I can tell the author is David I. Arkin, father of the actor Alan Arkin, not David George Arkin, who was an actor and no relation to David I and Alan. The book is dedicated to David Arkin’s wife Beatrice. However, there’s not any information that I can find on the internet that ties this book directly to David I. Arkin, other than the wife’s name.

At any rate, the writing in the book is adequate, not as exciting as it might have been. The illustrations are beautiful. Bach and his twenty children and their family life together are painted in positive and engaging words and pictures. The book tells us that Bach had seven children with his first wife, who died, then thirteen more with his second wife. Seven of the twenty children did not survive past their first birthday. But those who did live were much beloved, and their musician father is shown writing music for them, educating them, and singing lullabies to his many babies.

The author does leave some questions unanswered. He tells us what happened to eight of the children when they grew up. Five of the boys grew up to be great and famous musicians and composers themselves. Three of the girls lived with their parents all their lives, never married, and one married her father’s favorite pupil. But what happened to the other four living children? (Actually, I looked, and Wikipedia says that only ten of Bach’s children lived to become adults. So, somebody has the count wrong. and that still leaves one grown child unaccounted for in the book.)

I suppose it’s hard to keep track of twenty children. I only have eight, and I’m not always sure what they are all doing with their lives. So, we can leave off the counting and just enjoy Arkin’s story of a big, happy, musical family. And then play some Bach while you look at the illustrations one more time.

If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom. I’m highlighting picture book biographies in March. What is your favorite picture book about a real person?

Theodoric’s Rainbow by Stephen Kramer

Mar22

Theodoric’s Rainbow by Stephen Kramer, illustrated by Daniel Mark Duffy. W.H. Freeman and Company, 1995. 32 pages.

I don’t know if it’s The-ODD-oric or Theo-DORE-ic, but either way this fictionalized biography of a real thirteenth/fourteenth century German Dominican friar who experimented with light, optics, and rainbows is a delight for the eyes and the mind. The story is simple enough to read to a five or six year old, yet the scientific concepts that are introduced are challenging enough to intrigue and interest much older children and adults. In fact, after re-reading the book myself, I want to find a prism or a drop of water and go play with rainbows.

The note at the back of the back about Theodoric of Freiburg tell us that little is known about Theodoric’s personal life or about the details of how he made his discoveries or how they were received in the monastery where he lived. “This is the story of how it might have happened.” So, much of the story contained in the pages of this book is just that—a story.

The paintings by Daniel Mark Duffy that illustrate Theodoric’s story are breath-taking and beautiful. As befits a book about rainbows, the illustrations are colorful enough even for me, a lover of color. Mr. Duffy “studied medieval paintings and manuscript illuminations, rainbows of all kinds, and Theodoric’s own drawings” to prepare for illustrating this biography.

It’s not so easy to find biographies or fiction about real medieval people written for children, picture book or otherwise. Theodoric lived during the high middle ages, and he did interesting work as a proto-scientist and observer of God’s creation. I would definitely want to share this book with elementary age children who were studying or interested in this time period or the science of rainbows.

If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom. I’m highlighting picture book biographies in March. What is your favorite picture book about a real person?

The Extraordinary Mark Twain by Barbara Kerley

Mar21

The Extraordinary Mark Twain (according to Susy) by Barbara Kerley. Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. Scholastic Press, 2010.

In 1885-6 when he was at the height of his fame, Samuel Clemens’ thirteen year old daughter, Susy, really did write her own biography of her famous father. She wrote secretly at first and then as the work progressed, Mr. Clemens became aware of his young biographer and did his best to help her along by submitting to interviews and giving “pronouncements about himself at the breakfast table just to help his biographer along.” Apparently Clemens/Twain liked very much to talk–mostly about himself. But Susy gives in her journal, which was a diary of sorts as well as a work of biography, an adulatory yet frank picture of her father as only a thirteen year old daughter could.

The design of this picture book biography is quite creative: excerpts from Susy’s diary are inserted into the book as small mini-booklets. The author, Barbara Kerley, adds her explanatory and interpretive notes on the beautifully illustrated pages of the forty page picture book. The result is an intriguing and delightful portrait in words and pictures of an extraordinary man—and of his intrepid and writerly daughter.

The penultimate page of the book gives some extra information about Samuel Clemens and about Susy Clemens, who, sadly, died young from spinal meningitis at the age of twenty-four. Her tragic death made her father value the 130+ pages of Susy’s journal/biography all the more. “I have had no compliment, no praise, no tribute from any source,” said Twain, “that was so precious to me as this one was and still is. As I read it now, after all these many years, it is still a king’s message to me.”

The final page is titled “Writing an Extraordinary Biography (According to Barbara Kerley with a lot of help from Susy).” Here Ms. Kerley encourages her readers to choose their own subjects and write their own biographies, and she gives them some rules or guidelines or tips for doing so. This part of the book, in combination with the text of the book itself, would be a fantastic addition to a unit study on biography and an encouragement to any aspiring biographer.

A good picture book biographer finds a hook, something in the life of the subject to focus on and to build the book around, rather than trying to tell everything about the life and times of the person being written about. Vincent Van Gogh’s insomnia, Lewis Carroll’s way with words, Antoine de St. Exupery’s disappearance—all of these make good “hooks” upon which to hang a story that introduces young readers to the life of a famous person. Susy the biographer gives the reader someone to identify with and a way into the life story of a complex man, Mark Twain.

I’m highlighting picture book biographies in March. What is your favorite picture book about a real person?

Vincent Can’t Sleep by Barb Rosenstock

Mar20

Vincent Can’t Sleep: Van Gogh Paints the Night Sky by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary Grandpre. Knopf, 2017.

“At present, I absolutely want to paint a starry sky.”

“It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day.”

“If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And . . . it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.”
~Vincent van Gogh

The themes of this book, Vincent van Gogh’s sleeplessness and his famous painting of a starry night, are inspired by the artist’s actual, frequent bouts with insomnia and of course, by his art. The insomnia, which was probably a symptom of his mental illness, plagued him throughout his life, from boyhood. In this story, biographer Barb Rosenstock sees the inability as a source of inspiration and productivity for the talented and prolific artist. “Vincent’s personality shines through his art—–with each energetic brushstroke and wild color choice, he brings the night to life.”

I have enjoyed learning more about van Gogh and his art ever since last year when a speaker at a retreat I attended made Vincent van Gogh and his art come to life, so to speak. It often takes a true fan, a person who loves a certain artist or poet or writer, to introduce me to whole new world of that person’s art or poetry or fiction. An educated enthusiast can show me a way into another artist’s work that I just can’t find on my own. A friend in college introduced me to the poetry of T.S. Eliot, poems that I originally found confusing and esoteric, and I have enjoyed Eliot ever since. This speaker at the retreat last year introduced me to van Gogh, and I have been running into him, van Gogh, that is, ever since, in many unexpected ways and places.

Vincent Can’t Sleep is yet another gateway that will open up the world of Vincent van Gogh’s art for children, and even adults. Mary Grandpre uses van Gogh’s backgrounds and styles to create her own art for this luminous picture book. It is a tribute to van Gogh, and yet the artwork in it is new and fresh and beautiful in its own right.

Just as the makers of the film about van Gogh, Loving Vincent, used Vincent van Gogh’s art to create something new, the author and illustrator of this book about van Gogh have given me new insights into the man and his work. I didn’t know that he had insomnia, and I didn’t know the quotes about his use of color and paint to create pictures of the night sky. By the way, I highly recommend the film, Loving Vincent, for adults who, after reading this picture book, are interested in learning more about van Gogh and his art.

If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom. I’m highlighting picture book biographies in March. What is your favorite picture book about a real person?