Sometimes You Just Need a Good Cry

Somewhere around fourth grade, authors and publishers decide that kids no longer need to read happy books.  At about 10 they are ready to deal with death and more emotionally complex characters.  To some extent I agree with them.  Ten-year-olds know what’s going on around them; they are aware of the outside world, but they’re still kids.  I had a student whose step-father was in one of the Twin Towers on 9-11.  I remember scouring the book room for something on his reading level where no one died.  It was a struggle. 

That said, everyone likes a good tear-jerker now and then, but lately it seems that every kids’ novel I read makes me cry.  Take this year’s Newberry Award winner, supposedly the best children’s book published in 2012.  It’s called The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, and it’s about a gorilla and an elephant that are kept in abusive conditions at a roadside mall/circus.  It does have a hopeful ending, and the narration is engaging, because it’s told from the point of view of the gorilla.  I’ve also recently read Home of the Brave, by the same author, about Kek who has recently arrived in Minnesota after surviving a refugee camp in Africa.  He’s waiting and hoping his mother is still alive, while trying to learn a new language, and fit in at his American school.  Both are great books, but they are sad.

If you’re looking for tough to read, but beautiful, we can’t ignore Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine and Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  The first is told from the point of view of a girl with Asperger’s Syndrome.  She’s lost her brother in a school shooting, and she and her father must come to terms with life without him.  As for the latter, most of my librarian friends think Wonder should have won the Newberry this year.  Written in the alternating voices, it’s the story of August who was born with a number of facial birth defects.  In fifth grade, his parents decide he’s well enough to go to real school for the first time.  The story makes it very clear just how mean kids can be.

 

There is a place for sad books in children’s literature.  I still remember reading Little Women in 5^th grade and sobbing when Beth died.  It was the first book I ever cried reading.  Then there are other classics, like Bridge to Terabithia and Tuck Everlasting, and everybody cries at the end of Where the Red Fern Grows.  I have fond memories of all these books, because sometimes you just need a good cry.

Great Tear-Jerkers

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Wonder by R.J. Palacios

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt      

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

A Taste of Blackberries by Doris Buchanan Smith

Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

And the Winners Are . . .

The Newberry and Caldecott Awards were announced two weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to get a hold of them ever since.  I’m number 217 on the library waiting list for The One and Only Ivan, this year’s Newberry, but I’ve managed to read most of the 2013 Caldecotts.  I thought I’d review the winners, and some books I think should have won.

This year’s Caldecott Medal winner is This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen.  It’s a funny story about a small fish that steals a hat from a much larger fish and expects to get away with it.  It would be clever, except that last year Klassen wrote I Want My Hat back about bear looking for his stolen hat.  In this case, it’s an unfortunate rabbit who took the hat.  I do like that we have to infer what happens to the thieves at the end of both books, but I’m not sure it deserved to win.  It’s not nearly as good as last year’s winner, Chris Raschka’s wordless picture book, A Ball for Daisy. 

The Caldecott Honor Books include the rather strange Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, about a field of carrots that haunt a rabbit until he stops eating them.  The illustrations are comicesque – drawn in black and white with carrot orange detail. (I should point out that the Caldecott is really an award for illustrations, not story, so I can’t complain too much.)  However, Sleep Like a Tiger and Extra Yarn are delightful stories, that I think did deserve the nod.  The first is a bed time tale of a not-so-sleepy little girl, and the second a fairy tale about a never ending box of colorful yarn that brightens up a gray world.  Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a beautiful book about the color green.  With minimal text and cleverly placed cut-outs, she describes the every shade of green, from the jungle green of a tiger’s eyes to the no green of a snowy day.  The last honor book is One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, and I haven’t been able to get my hands on it yet.  But since it’s about a boy who sneaks a penguin home from the aquarium in his backpack, I think I might love it. 

I thought I’d also include some other great picture books that didn’t medal, but could have.  There’s Stuck by Oliver Jeffers, about a boy who’s kite gets stuck in a tree, so he throws his shoe up, but it gets stuck, too, as does a boat, a gorilla and the kitchen sink. I also love Neville by Norton Juster.  In it, Neville discovers an unorthodox way of making friends when his family moves to a new town.  Other fun picture books are Perfect Square, Chopsticks, Zoozical, and The Annoying ABC.  Enjoy!

Caldecott Winners and Some Extras

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen – 2013 Medal Winner

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds – 2013 Honor Book

Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue – 2013 Honor Book

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen – 2013 Honor Book

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger – 2013 Honor Book

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo – 2013 Honor Book

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka – 2012 Medal Winner

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Neville by Norton Juster

Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Zoozical by Judy Sierra

The Annoying ABC by Barbara Bottner

Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Librarians Make Good Friends

Librarians and reading teachers are natural allies, and consequently some of my favorite people are librarians.  However, as educational as it can be to hang out with them, it can also be expensive.  After spending fifteen minutes with my school’s librarian, I went home and spent a whole lot more on Amazon.  The reason – Peter Reynolds. 

I’ve used Reynolds’ book Ish for many years to teach kids that it’s okay to try even if you’re not perfect.  In the book, Ramon is upset because he can’t quite get his drawings right, but his little sister points out that sometimes being close-ish is just fine.  Thinking ish-ly lets our imagination flow.  It turns out that Reynolds is a fairly prolific writer and illustrator and has a number of other wonderful stories, along with his newest book, Sky Color.  In Sky Color, we see Ramon’s little sister, Marisol, again, and now she’s an artist with the daunting task of painting the sky without blue paint.  Also about art and creativity, is The Dot.  In it Vashti doesn’t believe she can draw until her art teacher tells her to make a mark on the paper.  Vashti draws a dot, and her teacher tells her to sign it.  The next week the dot is framed and hanging in the art room.  All three books, remind us to be confident in our creativity and not let convention box us in.

 

The other books Angela shared with me are more for adults than kids, although they’re still picture books with simple text.  These three were written by Peter Reynolds and Alison McGhee, and they are guaranteed to make you cry.  I cried reading them in the library, and I think they would make excellent gifts.  The first is called Someday, and in it a mother speaks to her daughter about her love for her as she grows up.  Then there’s Little Boy, which, while a little more light hearted, is still a touching description of a mother’s love.  Finally, there’s Always about a child and her dog, who will always protect her.  With his simple illustrations and minimalist text, Reynolds is able to deal with complex emotions and tell beautiful stories. 

Books by Peter Reynolds

Ish

The Dot

Sky Color

I’m Here

The North Star

So Few of Me

Rose’s Garden

By Peter Reynolds and Others

Someday

Little Boy

Always

Plant a Kiss