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Gladys Elizabeth Barbieri, illustrated by Lina Safar
Rubber Shoes…A Lesson in Gratitude / Los zapatos de goma…una lección de gratitud
Big Tent Books, 2011.

Ages 5-8

Every child knows that feeling of disappointment. Those wild hopes and dreams stirred by the sight of some toy or object spotted on a store shelf or in the hands of a classmate – the toy or object so desperately wanted – but which remains behind on store shelves as parents choose the option that is practical, functional, or affordable. Rubber Shoes tells this age-old tale that crosses cultural lines through the bilingual story of the spirited Gladys Elizabeth, who comes to learn that sometimes even the things we do not value have value beyond that we originally see.

When Gladys’ mother tells her they are going to buy her new shoes, Gladys dreams of what may come. “Maybe I’ll get shiny black shoes like Marilyn Jane … or ..sparkly white sandals like Nicky’s … or ruby red slippers like Dorothy’s…” But her mother crushes her hopes when she buys Gladys the “ugliest shoes in the world,” brown rubber ones that will not get lost or destroyed, no matter what Gladys tries.

But like Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy in Little Women, an encounter with another child less fortunate then her helps Gladys eventually come to see the brown rubber shoes in a new light, one that makes her realize that perhaps there is more value in the shoes than originally realized. Written in English and Spanish by first-grade teacher Gladys Elizabeth Barbieri, Rubber Shoes tells a somewhat well-worn tale of gratitude, although one worth repeating. Wordiness and some bumps in plot timing point to the author’s first-time author status, but she nonetheless delivers an important, if cliched, message about gratitude for all we have, rather than discontent about that which we don’t.

Sara Hudson
May 2012

Forward by N. R. Narayana Murthy,
A Clear Blue Sky: Stories and Poems on Conflict and Hope
Puffin Books, India, 2010.

Ages 13+

War. Violence. Death. Poverty. Hatred. Displacement. No matter where we live, as human beings we hope that these dark parts of life will not touch our lives, but even more, that they will not touch the lives of our children and young people. For many, however, darkness weighs heavy on childhood. This has been particularly true for millions living in southeastern Asia over the last decades, as religious and national conflicts have marked and scarred the lives of the children growing up in them. This collection of stories and poems from writers from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan sings stories of their national and personal grief.

The grace of the collection is how the writers manage to remind us of our own saving grace: how, paradoxically, “conflict and hope” can co-exist, as the subtitle indicates. In “A Time to Mend” by Asha Nehemiah, after an angry mob breaks into a church in Bangalore, beating the priest and leaving the church in ruins, a shaken and distraught Mubina and her brother bring home the damaged altar cloth, where their grandmother, the one person in the city with the skill to repair it, makes it whole again. In another story, “The Answer” by Rohini  Chowdhury, childhood sweethearts meet again, decades after being torn apart by the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. Perhaps one of the most haunting stories is Adithi Rao’s brilliantly told “Turban for A Little Boy”, which uses the format of a boy’s essay to convey how the innocence of a child can unintentionally provide the catalyst for evil – and how that innocence is then scarred.

Masterful storytelling techniques throughout offer classroom uses far beyond social studies; and the short bios of each writer at the end of the book also provide options for further reading.  The stories question the very idea of the reality of storytelling itself. Some tales are clearly fiction, but others, particularly a set of first-person stories, will leave their teenage readers wondering, “Was that real? Did that happen to the author? Or is it made up, historical fiction?” Such doubt creates unique teaching moments, about perception and reality, and about storytelling itself, as well as about the way people thrive, survive, and find hope in shards of despair.

Sara Hudson
July 2011

Sun Youjun, translated by Lily L. Shi,
The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll
Better Link Press, 2011.

Ages 8-10

“Once there was Little Butou. Little Butou was a tiny rag doll. Now I will tell you about his adventures, that is, his encounters with many interesting and exciting people and situations…” So begins The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll, originally published in 1961 in China, the first book by the prolific and beloved Hans Christian Andersen nominee, Sun Youjun, best known for his magical fairy tales.  The book’s availability in English is an adventure in itself: 13-year-old Lily Shi of Lewiston, Maine loved it so much that she wanted her friends to enjoy it too, so she spent the summer translating the book for them to read.  Thanks to her perseverance, an English translation is now available for the first time, published by Better Link Press.

The Adventures of a Little Rag Doll is part The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, part Toy Story, and part Scheherazade coming-of-age tale – of a doll, that is. Although Little Teacher made Little Butou with love and care out of scraps of rag, he was a little selfish, had a little bit of a temper, and was more than a little bit cowardly. After his original child owner, Dou Dou, rejects him, a warmhearted girl named Ping Ping takes Little Butou in.  But when Little Butou twice spills Ping Ping’s rice all over the ground, even after she tells him how every grain has value and must not be wasted, Little Butou runs away. He feels angry with Ping Ping for scolding him, and decides to find Dou Dou, who won’t care about things like rice grains.

Thereupon follows a tale of happenstance, adventure, misery, and miracles, as Little Butou winds up hundreds of miles from both Dou Dou and Ping Ping.  Danger and near death, new friends and recurring rat enemies help Little Butou not only learn to find courage, but also to value love – the love that goes into every grain of rice, and the love that people like Ping Ping show everyone around them.  The accomplished translation captures the rhythm and pacing of Chinese speech and sentence structure, imbuing a sense of the country into the words themselves.  In addition, the highly entertaining cast of characters and their magical realism-studded adventures keep the values within the story– selflessness, bravery, and gratefulness for kindness and love – from feeling preachy or forced.

Sara Hudson
July 2011

Retold by Lucine Kasbarian, illustrated by Maria Zaikina
The Greedy Sparrow
Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010

Ages 4-8

Too rarely do we see a book where text and illustration prance along in perfectly matching high step as well as they do in this Armenian folk tale. Imbued with an impish humor and attention to authentic detail in both illustrations and storytelling, The Greedy Sparrow is an Armenian folktale, passed down in author Lucine Kasbarian’s family from generation to generation, continuing ancient traditions of Armenian oral storytelling. A wandering sparrow with a devious bent flies through the Armenian countryside, tempting people he meets in order to benefit himself. In a surprising twist, he discovers that deceptive behavior and greed may leave one empty-handed in the end.

From first glance, The Greedy Sparrow bursts with life, its minimal narration placed above oversized, overly round figures, objects, and text bubbles that fill the page from corner to corner with color. “Once there was and was not a sparrow who caught a thorn in his foot.” Armenian folk tales, we read in the author’s note, always begin, “Once there was and was not”, a questioning of the reality of the fantastical story that will follow. The motifs of animals, magic and morals will make elements of this otherwise little-known Armenian folktale familiar to readers across the world, just as Maria Zaikina’s layered oil and wax illustrations echo centuries old woodblock images, which pull readers into the world of the familiar unfamiliar. This is the land of folk tales, where sparrows can carry sheep in the sky, and brides will interrupt their weddings to care for the sheep when it lands (until their new husbands decide to make shish kebabs, of course, which leads to the forfeit of one new bride to the sneaky sparrow.)

The only jarring note in the richness of color, of both story and illustration, is the text bubbles of the trickster sparrow, which use the decidedly out-of-place – and immediately recognizable – Comic Sans font. With such a beautiful design and aesthetic palette, which extends to all the other typography, this jarring detail stands oddly out of place. However, the strength of the storytelling and the rough beauty of the illustrations leave us forgiving this one misstep, and hoping to see more work from both author and illustrator.

Sara Hudson
July 2011

Crystal Hubbard, illustrated by Randy DuBurke,
Catching the Moon: The Story of A Young Girl’s Baseball Dream
Lee & Low Books, 2005.

Ages 6 to 10

Could there be anything better than the sting of the ball in your palm, the taste of dust sliding into home base, the thrill of tagging someone out? Not for Marcenia Lyle. She loves baseball more than anything in the world. She dreams at night of playing professional ball, and lives for afternoon games on the playground, despite initial objections from the boy players and constant disapproval from her parents.  They want her to focus on school, and on traditional jobs for girls: teacher, nurse, or maid.

Then one day, Gabby Street comes to visit. Mr. Street is the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. He wants kids for his baseball camp! Marcenia has never run so fast, thrown so hard, or hit so far as she does that day. But despite proving herself the best player out there, Mr. Street says no. Girls don’t play baseball.  If she’s ever going to achieve her dream, she has to find a way to convince both Mr. Street and her father that girls should be able to play baseball, too.

Set in the 1930s, Catching the Moon tells the true story of Marcenia Lyle, the African-American girl who grew up to become the first woman on an all-male professional baseball team. Named one of Bank Street College’s Children’s Books of the Year, Catching the Moon is an inspiring tale of grit, heart, hope, and most of all, determination to dream.  Randy DuBurke’s luminous ink and acrylic images vibrate with Marcenia’s energy on the field, while the soft blues and browns of his color palette channel her sadness when it appears she has no options left. An afterward explains how Marcenia Lyle, under the name Toni Stone, became the first female member of an all-male baseball team, and even went on to fill in Hank Aaron’s place in the Major Leagues. Crystal Hubbard captures both the irrepressible obsession of the baseball fan and the challenges of being young and dreaming big, even if it means defying adult expectations.  Children will cheer for Marcenia as she succeeds despite the odds, in turn encouraged to follow their own dreams of greatness.

Sara Hudson
April 2011

Tony Johnston, illustrated by Yuyi Morales, photographed by Tim O’Meara,
My Abuelita
Harcourt Children’s Books, 2009.

Ages 5-8

“I live with my grandma. And she lives with me. I call her Abuelita.” So begins this lively love-filled story of a boy and his grandmother going about their morning routine. Tony Johnston’s masterful language and Yuyi Morales’ trademark vibrant palette turn the most prosaic of daily events – getting ready for work – into a magical adventure. As Abuelita bends, stretches, baths, yodels, hums, eats, and packs, the reader turning pages with anticipation: what job could possibly require a scarf like a cloud that flows down to the ground, or a skeleton and plumed snake, or a temple and a crown of stars?

Children and adults alike will delight in discovering Abuelita’s job, even as they revel in unexpected joys and surprises sprinkled throughout the text and images. Johnston’s figurative language perfectly compliments Morales’ intricate, impish visuals, which defy any notions of grandparents as elderly or aging. Abuelita wakes up with the sun and is round “like a calabeza, a pumpkin,” with “hair the color of salt and a face crinkled like a dried chile.” After she takes her morning shower, she looks like a great big bee wrapped in her black and yellow towel, and when they sit to breakfast, she eats fried eggs that look like stars.

Each step in the morning routine flies off the page in this 2010 Pura Belpré Honor book. Award-winning illustrator Morales builds on her former success by introducing a new illustration technique, building and staging puppets and taking photographs of the scenes. With the help of Tim O’Meara, she finishes each illustration digitally, which gives the whimsical, exuberant images a three-dimensional quality akin to a Pixar film. Family love wafts from words and pictures alike, as the narrator assists his grandmother in each step of their familiar morning routine, and confides he wants to be like her when he grows up. Magical realism, traditional iconography, and sprinklings of Spanish all root this story in its Mexican context, while its themes of love, family, and dreams make it immediately and intimately familiar to all. A joyful tale for readers and non-readers alike, and an ideal read-aloud for teachers, families, and friends.

Sara Hudson
April 2011