Perfect Picture Book Friday-- Silent Days, Silent Dreams

I have been holding on to this PPBF book selection for a while. I didn't realize it was because I wanted to pair it with a movie recommendation, but life has a way of bringing things together.

Title: Silent Days, Silent Dreams
Author and Illustrator: Allen Say
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, An Imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2017

Opening page: James Castle was born on September 25, 1899, on a farm in Garden Valley, Idaho. I think I knew him as well as anyone could know him -- which wasn't very much -- but I want to tell you how I remember him. He was my uncle.

Why I love this book:

This book reads like a picture book biography, but it is fiction. It is the story of an artist who was "deaf, mute, autistic, and probably dyslexic, yet he managed to teach himself to draw." Allen Say took all that he could learn about James' life and created a story that is told by James' nephew. 

There is a beautiful Author's note about how the story came to be at the back of the book.

The illustrations are beautiful. They tell the story, show James' art work, and are enhanced by the short blurbs of text between and next to images.

This is a book that takes time and relooking to get the full impact.

I love this book because it is beautiful. You can feel the authors love and appreciation of another artist. You can see that the Illustrator immersed himself in James' life and art, and gave him a second life in the pages of this book.

Activities and Resources:
My sister and I watched the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon.  My sister is developmentally disabled. Because she processes the world around her more slowly than others, she enjoys movies, but tends to lose interest. Not with this movie. The morning after we watched Zack as The Peanut Butter Falcon, she said that she really liked the movie. I asked what she liked about it and she went on to talk about many parts of the movie.

It dawned on me how important it is for all people to see themselves in books and movies. I knew it from personal experience,  but watching my sister watch a young man with disabilities acting in a story about living his dreams really brought it home. My sister could see herself and her abilities through the eyes of a movie character.  It also reminded me of how capable and strong my sister and everyone who has disabilities really is.

We recommend this movie: check out the interview below.

Here's the movie trailer:

• Learn more about Allen Say
• Make art using found paper and utensils.
• Make puppets with cardboard and material.

Flamingo Hugs -- Perfect Picture Book Friday

This Perfect Picture Book Friday, I am thankful for Ciara O'Neal, Alicia Young, Kaitlyn Sanchez, and Flamingos.

I won this wonderful book with my Fall Frenzy writing contest submission. 

What?! Flamingo hugs aren't for everyone? No way! Who wouldn't want a hug from a flamingo?

Title: Flamingo Hugs Aren't For Everyone
Author: Ciara O'Neal
Illustrated by: Alicia Young
Publisher: (Ciara did it herself. Yes, that right, this is a self-published picture book), 2019. You can find it on Amazon.

Opening Lines: While most flamingos dreamed of dancing and dining on delicacies, Flaminga hoped for a hug. Day after day, she watched as the zoo's ponies were petted. The calves were cuddled. Even llamas were loved. Have you ever met a llama? They're grumps! But no one EVER wanted Flaminga's hugs.

Themes:
Hugs, Flamingos, clumsiness

Why I like this book:
1. Flaminga is sooooo cute.
2. Hugs are wonderful.
3. Pair Flaminga and hugs, and it's just downright cuterful. Yep. I made that word up. This book is cuterful. Maybe it's wondercute. Either way, it's a fun and funny story with bright and cheerful illustrations.

Flaminga is a bit clumsy and in her attempts to give and receive hugs, things don't always go well. We've all been there. In our excitement, we move too fast, miss a step or two and Splash, Crash, we go tumbling. But that doesn't stop Flaminga from getting up and trying again and again to find somebody to hug. Join her as she attempts to wrap her bright pick wings around all the zoo visitors.

This would make a great gift book for Valentine's Day.

Activities and Resources:

At the back of the book you will discover some fun flaming facts and a coloring page.

Here's and adorable handprint flamingo craft.

Two things I have learned about flamingos over the years.
1. Flamingos need to get a running start to take flight.
2. Most flamingos in the US are domesticated. The wild flamingos were hunted out of existence. But, they are making a comeback.

More flamingo facts.

Don't miss Ciara's interview with Susanna Hill.

Can't get enough of these incredible pink birds? Here are more crafts and baking ideas.

Here are a few bonus photos of flamingos. The first two were taken in the Camargue in the South of France. The last one has become one of my Halloween decorations.

I see one ready for a hug.

Did you know they run?

Yep, a skeleton riding a skeleton flamingo. That's the way I roll.

Looking for more Perfect Picture Books? Follow Susanna Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday Blog. She write great posts and she has made it a place for others to share their perfect picture books.

Fry Bread -- Perfect Picture Book Friday

Native American Heritage Month

Title: Fry Bread: a Native American Family Tradition

Author: Kevin Noble Maillard 

Illustrator: Juana Martinez-Neal

Publisher: Roaring Book Press, 2019

Opening pages:

Fry Bread is Food

Flour, salt, water

Cornmeal, baking powder

Perhaps milk, maybe sugar

All mixed together in a bowl

This book! 

How do I describe it? It is poetry. It is history. It is truth. It is sadness and happiness. It is simple and complex. It is beautiful and powerful. It is a book for reading together and for discussing. It is for young and old.

"Fry Bread is Everything
Round, flat, large, small
North, South, East, West
Familiar and foreign, old and new
We come together"

It is a doorway to understanding, loving, making amends, opening our eyes, and creating a better future.

At the end of the book there are 8 pages of author's notes and another page of references and footnotes. So much information in a beautiful picture book.

Juana Martinez-Neal's illustrations are joyful, lively, thoughtful, sad, true and engaging. They were created in acrylics, colored pencil, and graphite on hand-textured paper.


Activities and Resources:

At the end of the book there is a recipe for Kevin's Fry Bread. This would be a wonderful family activity.

I found a recipe that is gluten free.

Activities for Native American Heritage Month

Dr. Debbie Reese's blog post

Juana Martinez Neal

Publishers Weekly Interview

Mr. Schu Reads

Matthew Winner's Podcast

As always you can read about more perfect Picture Books at Susanna Hill's blog. Her last Perfect Picture Book was this same book. It is one worth sharing over and over again. Be sure to check out the wonderful list by themes on this page.

Perfect Picture Book Friday -- Grumpy Monkey

It is Perfect Picture Book Friday time. No matter what mood you are in, I hope have enjoy this book.  

Title: Grumpy Monkey
Author:  Suzanne Lang
Illustrated by: Max Lang
Publisher: Random House, 2018


First Lines: One wonderful day Jim Panzee woke to discover that nothing was right. The sun was too bright, the sky was too blue, and the bananas were too sweet.

Themes: Emotions, Grumpiness, self-awareness, self-expression

Synopsis and Why I love this book:

Sometimes you wake up and you are grumpy. No secret reason. Just grumpy. Jim Panzee wakes up grumpy one morning and everyone tries to help him enjoy the wonderful day. It doesn't help. Read Grumpy Monkey to find out how Jim deals with his grumpy mood.

The illustrations and characters make me think of Rudyard Kiplings The Elephant's Child. Which would pair well with this book if you were going on a theme of African animals, problem solving, and fun stories.

It also reminds me of the animated movie The Jungle Book (Again by Rudyard Kipling).

Fun emotive characters that any child can relate to.

Did you catch the name? Jim Panzee! How clever is that?

Activities:

The more we talk about and understand emotions and their transience, the better off we are in dealing with them when they occur. Have conversations about emotions. Discuss where the emotions are coming from. How does it feel? What does the child's face look like in the midst of the emotions? Provide acceptance for all of the emotions. The happy ones too..

Parenting tips of dealing with negative emotions.

Transient emotions and how to navigate through them.

Expressing Emotions Activities


Finally, if you want to find more cool picture books check out Susanna Hill's Blog where you can look for reviews by book, title, and by themes.

Banned Books Week

I have often struggled with Banned Books Week. Not because I believe in banning books, quite the opposite. I believe everyone has the right to read what they want to read without fear. My issue is that often the public is confused by the the name of the week. When I worked in the public library, a regular question about a banned books display was: Are you banning these books? This year, I feel that theme really says what is meant by Banned Books Week.

When we ban books, we silence the stories of others, we halt learning, we say to someone who isn't just like us that they are not worthy of sharing their story.

With a book, you have the opportunity to see yourself, to learn about others, and to imagine a different world. When we say we don't want a book in a library because it says something we don't like, we are saying that it's my way or no way. We have shut off our minds and imaginations to the rest of the world. It's funny because in a library there are thousands if not millions of books. Not one of them has a requirement that you choose it, read the whole thing, or tell anyone else about what you read. So why should we care if a book that we don't like is on the shelf? If you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.

But . . .

If you are the kind of person who understands that books can provide you with new viewpoints, teach you about things that you don't understand, then pick up that book that is not in your regular reading wheelhouse and read it.

This summer, I read George, by Alex Gino

You can buy this book or check it out from your local library

It is the story of a 4th grader named George who is realizing that she identifies as a girl. She knows she has male body parts, but everything inside her feels feminine and female. This book has been banned because it talks about this topic to middle grade children. The thing is, being who you are doesn't wait until you are an adult. Being who you are is hard even when your body matches what your identity as you approach puberty. I couldn't image what it would be like to identify as a male in my female body until I read Gino's book. What I liked about this story was that I was immersed in George's world as she figured out how to be herself. I felt her struggles. I learned from her family and friends. I gained hope that other children who are gender identifying differently from what their body shows, have encouragement to be who they really are. I feel that I learned how to be supportive to a person as he/she/they find themselves.

This past year, I received a grant from the school foundation to purchase books on diverse themes for my elementary school. I am so thankful that this grant was funded, it allowed me to build a better broad collection for the students. It was so much fun to buy books that have the ability to excite and offend people. The selection was broad to introduce children to other cultures, sexual identities, and physical and mental abilities. It was also a little bit scary as I made my choices because these are the books that are most likely to be challenged by people.

I will go back to where I began. There are no rules you must follow in your reading selections from libraries. If you don't like it, quite reading it. If it scares you, maybe it's worth looking into more deeply, there is likely something there that you need to learn about. Just because it's not for you, doesn't mean it won't be loved and special to someone else.

I have seen time and time again, the bigger the stink you make, the more others will make a big deal on the other side to make sure that all voices are heard. Back in the day, Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume was being banned because boys shouldn't read that stuff. Really?!! Judy Blume wasn't writing this book for boys. The only reason boys started reading the book was because their parent made a big stink about it. Maybe, just maybe, they began to understand girls and what they were going through in middle school. Or maybe it was there George. 

To learn more about Banned Books Week, follow this link.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

I woke up this morning bored and antsy. It is grey and raining outside. I have lots of projects that I could be working on, but I wanted something more from this day. I wanted to do something that had substance and used energy.

I was gloomily looking at Facebook and letting life's moments fly past and getting more bored by the moment. Sorry to my FB friends, but . . . 

It was Facebook that woke me out of my stupor when I read a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. There were several posts today.

"Oh yes," I thought, "It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day." Searching his quotes for inspiration, the one below felt the most inspirational for me for today.  

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?

The time is always right to do what is right." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

I shared the quote with my FB friends along with this extra note: Let's give something positive of ourselves to help others today. When you do, take a photo or write a few words about what you did so that we can see/experience how each of our small actions, when added up with everyone else's actions, have great impact.

I had leftover flour and brown sugar from making Christmas cookies so I decided that I would make cookies to take to the local homeless shelter. After a run to Aldi for the rest of the needed ingredients, I picked up Jane and we baked about 8 dozen cookies; chocolate chip and oatmeal.

We delivered them to the local homeless shelter, the police department, and the fire department. There are no photos. That was not the point. We received thanks and smiles plus one hug. 

John went through our coats and I was able to deliver 3 nice jackets to the homeless shelter.

There is so much wrong in the world today. Alone we cannot fix it all. Together, we may not be able to fix it all, but we can make a positive impact in small ways. 

Like the man who walked a beach covered in starfish. He bent and picked up a starfish, threw it back into the water. He moved forward and threw back another and another. A second man walked up beside him and said, "You can't possibly save all those starfish." As the first man bent to throw another starfish back into the water, he said, "But I can save this one."

You may not have time to bake 8 dozen cookies, but there are lots of little things you can do for other people. It could be as simple as putting the quarter in the slot of the shopping cart at Aldi so when the next person arrives, he/she doesn't have to dig for one.

Spread a little love today and everyday. Feel free to share what you did in the comments.