This is one of my favorite picture books. The story reminds me that even the simple act of planting flowers can make the world a better place. What Miss Rumphius does is to give everyone who sees her flowers a gift of beauty, and imagine what that does for them. Maybe it makes them happy and lifts them up. Maybe it reminds them that the world is a beautiful place. Maybe seeing the flowers allows them to move forward with hope in their hearts.
Miss Rumphius
Barbara Cooney
Picture Book
For ages 5 and up
Penguin, 1985, 978-0140505399
When Alice was a small girl she used to talk to her grandfather about how, when she grew up, she would "go to faraway places," and when she grew old she would "live beside the sea." Alice's grandfather told her that in addition to these two things, there was a third thing that she must do, and that was to do something that would "make the world more beautiful."
When Alice grew up to become Miss Rumphius she did indeed travel to far off lands, and she had all sorts of adventures. Then, when she began to get tired, she found a little house by the sea to live in. The question she now had was what she should do to make the world a more beautiful place.
One day when she was out walking she found some beautiful lupines growing on a hillside. The lupines were the offspring of the flowers that she had planted in her own little garden the previous spring. Now Miss Rumphius knew what she would have to do. Back at home she sent away for bags and bags of lupine seeds and then she got to work sowing the seeds all over the countryside, making the hills and valleys around her home beautiful.
This delightful story about dreams and the need to give something back to the world is both powerful and thought provoking. What the elderly Miss Rumphius does is not earth shaking, and yet it does make the world a more beautiful place, and her labours give lots of people great pleasure as they look at the fields of lupines that she sowed. The reader cannot help wondering what he or she can do to make the world a more beautiful place. Whatever one chooses to do, whether it is planting trees or joining a group to clean up the countryside, each effort to make the world more beautiful makes a difference.
Welcome!
Dear Book Lovers,
Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below).
I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there.
The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Monday, January 9, 2017
Books of Hope, 2017: Reviews of books that empower, uplift, and give the reader hope.
Dear bookish friends:
2016 was a very strange year. It was a year during which we were subjected to so much discord and anger in the media and in our communities, and so much bad news. The year left many people, including myself, feeling shaken and worried for the future. I was thinking about this a week or so ago and trying to figure out what I could do to make my world a little brighter and more hopeful. Naturally my thoughts turned to books.
I have decided that I will review at least one book each week that offers up a message that is warming, thoughtful, and hopeful. I will choose books that remind us that the world is not always a terrible place. Perhaps the book will explore compassion. Perhaps it will tell the story of a person who has found a way to make the world a better place. Perhaps readers will see how differences can be overcome, and how bridges between conflicting groups can be built.
Though all of the books I review were written for young readers, I want you to know that the Books of Hope that I am going to share with you during this year will suit readers of all ages. Adults can get a lot out of reading children's literature, so don't be afraid to read one of these titles for yourself. See what you discover and learn. You may be surprised!
My hope is that these books will give you hope, and that that hope will help you to make our world a kinder, gentler, more compassionate place.
2016 was a very strange year. It was a year during which we were subjected to so much discord and anger in the media and in our communities, and so much bad news. The year left many people, including myself, feeling shaken and worried for the future. I was thinking about this a week or so ago and trying to figure out what I could do to make my world a little brighter and more hopeful. Naturally my thoughts turned to books.
I have decided that I will review at least one book each week that offers up a message that is warming, thoughtful, and hopeful. I will choose books that remind us that the world is not always a terrible place. Perhaps the book will explore compassion. Perhaps it will tell the story of a person who has found a way to make the world a better place. Perhaps readers will see how differences can be overcome, and how bridges between conflicting groups can be built.
Though all of the books I review were written for young readers, I want you to know that the Books of Hope that I am going to share with you during this year will suit readers of all ages. Adults can get a lot out of reading children's literature, so don't be afraid to read one of these titles for yourself. See what you discover and learn. You may be surprised!
My hope is that these books will give you hope, and that that hope will help you to make our world a kinder, gentler, more compassionate place.
Picture Book Monday with a review of Gary
Twenty years ago I got a chronic illness that changed my life. I had to adjust my expectations, learn to live within my limits, and most importantly learn to enjoy and love the new life that I had built for myself. It was not easy. At all. It still isn't.
What I loved about today's picture book was the fact that it is about a character, Gary, who cannot do what his friends and relatives do, but he still manages to have a full life, one that offers him a unique perspective. In fact he is able to share what he learns with others, which is wonderful.
Gary
What I loved about today's picture book was the fact that it is about a character, Gary, who cannot do what his friends and relatives do, but he still manages to have a full life, one that offers him a unique perspective. In fact he is able to share what he learns with others, which is wonderful.
Gary
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Candlewick Press, 2016, 978-0-7636-8954-4
Most of the time Gary is just like the other racing
pigeons that he lives with. He eats what they eat, lives in a loft, and dreams
of going on adventures. However, when the other pigeons leave in the travel
basket to attend races, Gary stays home and works on his scrapbook. Gary cannot
fly, and so he cannot join the other racing pigeons on race days. Instead, he
lives vicariously through his friends, recording their race experiences in his
scrapbook.
One night Gary
leans over from his perch so far that he loses his balance. Gary and his
scrapbook fall into the travel basket, and the next day he, still in the
basket, is taken far from home. When he arrives at his destination the basket
is opened and the sky is “full of feathers and flapping wings.” The racing pigeons
are off, but Gary, who cannot fly back home like the other pigeons, is stuck,
lost in a city that he does not know at all.
Needing cheering
up, Gary looks at his scrapbook, and little by little the cityscape around him
starts to look “a little more familiar.”
This wonderful
picture book tells the story of a bird who cannot fly and who therefore cannot
see the world. Except through the pages of his scrapbook. Then life presents
Gary with a situation that could turn out to be a disaster and he has to figure
out a solution.
What is perhaps
the best part of this delightful story is the way in which it ends. It turns
out that Gary, the pigeon who cannot fly, has something to offer the pigeons
who can fly.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Poetry Friday with a review of Before Morning
I know that children are the ones who are supposed to hope and wish for a snow day, but I have to confess that I hope and wish for them too. There is nothing like taking a day off work to play in the snow with dogs and family members; and to sit toasting toes in front of the fire afterwards. In today's poetry book we meet a little girl who desperately wants a snow day, and her reason for wanting such a day is even more important that having a day off from school.
Before Morning
Before Morning
Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Beth Krommes
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, 978-0-547-97917-5
A little girl and her mother arrive home on a cold winter
night. Dinner is on the table and all should be well, but the little girl is
sad. Soon her mother is going to be leaving for the airport where her plane and
crew await her. She is a pilot and her job means that she has to leave home for
days at a time.
The little girl
hides her mother’s pilot hat, but has to give it back. Her mother has to go to
work and there is nothing that can be done about it. While the little girl
sleeps “In the deep woolen dark” that is now freckled with snowflakes, the
pilot packs her bags and leaves the house. What the mother does not know is
that her daughter has sent a wish up into the night, a wish asking for the snow
to come and “Let the air turn to feathers, / the earth turn to sugar.” The
little girl wants everything to be “swaddled” in a blanket of snow.
The hope is that
the snow will be heavy enough that “urgent plans founder,” and planes will be
grounded so that her mother will be able to come home to her.
With gorgeous
scratchboard art what is rich in textures, and a magical rhyming text that is
beautiful in its minimalism, this unique picture book celebrates the power of a
child’s wish.
Labels:
Children's book reviews,
Poetry books,
Poetry Friday
Monday, January 2, 2017
Picture Book Monday with a review of First Snow
There is something wonderful about waking up in the early hours of the morning to discover that snow has fallen in the night. Everything is quiet, muffled by the snowfall, and there is a feeling of excitement that is intoxicating to the spirit. In today's picture book a little child ventures out into the night after the first snowfall and she has a magical adventure in the woods.
First Snow
First Snow
Bomi Park
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Chronicle Books, 2016, 978-1-4521-5472-5
It is nighttime and a little child, snuggled up in bed
with her teddy bear, hears a noise. Something is gently tapping on her bedroom
window. She crawls out from under the covers to take a look and sees that it is
snowing. Quickly she puts on her snow clothes and goes outside. One of the
puppies is awake too and it leaves the warmth of the dog house to see the
little girl. It watches as the little girl creates a ball of snow and then it
follows as she rolls it across the ground, out of the garden, past the houses,
and “Beneath the lights.”
Across the
fields the companions go, along the railroad tracks, and into the woods, where
animals watch their progress. The little girl’s ball of snow is quite big now
and rolling it along is hard work. Then, there in the dark woods, the little
girl sees a glowing gateway to somewhere else, and through it she goes rolling
her ball of snow.
In this
wonderful book a simple nocturnal adventure unfolds to become something
altogether bigger; something magical happens and we are transported to a wonderful
place to celebrate the joy of a first snowfall.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Poetry Friday with a review of Switching on the Moon: A very first book of Bedtime Poems
When my daughter was little she and I used to sing a little lullaby every night. The overhead light would be out, the unicorn nightlight would be glowing, and for those few precious moments she and I would sing the comforting rhyming lines. There is nothing quite like sharing poetry (sung or spoken) with a child last thing at night, and today I have a book for you that is packed with poems that are perfect for bedtime.
Switching on the Moon: A very first book of Bedtime Poems
Switching on the Moon: A very first book of Bedtime Poems
Collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 3 to 5
Candlewick Press, 2010, 978-0-7636-4249-5
For many children around the world bedtime is synonymous
with little songs and poems. The soft lilting cadence of rhymes is so well
suited to helping children to settle down and prepare for sleep, and they also
help children to connect with the grownups who share these songs and poems with
them.
In this
wonderful book a variety of poems about bedtime are brought together so that
children can enjoy the gift of beautiful language just before they go to sleep.
The poems are divided into three sections. There are verses that describe those
pre-bedtime moments, lullabies, and finally there are poems that capture
nighttime sounds, moments, and experiences.
The poems found
in the collection are all very different, but one thing they all have in common
is how soothing they are. Musings, words of love and comfort, and descriptions
- all written by poets from around the world - offer children and their
grownups a delightful journey into the world of beautiful language.
Some of the
poems found on these pages may be familiar, like Rock-a-bye Baby and The Man
in the Moon. Many others will be new to readers, who will enjoy exploring
the writings of Langston Hughes, Jane Yolen, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Lord
Tennyson, Sylvia Plath, Marilyn Singer, and others.
Throughout this
wonderful volume, beautiful artwork accompanies the poems and makes this book a
work of art that would make a wonderful gift for a family who has a new baby to
love care for.
Labels:
Children's book reviews,
Poetry books,
Poetry Friday
Monday, December 26, 2016
Picture Book Monday with a review of A Warm Winter
I love seasonal picture books, because I love the way they connect us with what is going on outside at this particular moment. They connect us to a rhythm that is bigger than the one that many of humans seem to follow. Today's picture book takes us into a snowy, wintry landscape that is beautiful and stark. On the pages we meet a determined little mouse who is trying to collect firewood so that he can keep his family warm.
A warm winter
A warm winter
Feridun Oral
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Minedition, 2015, 978-988-8341-29-0
One cold winter’s day Little Mouse leaves the comfort of
his nest to go out into the snow to find some firewood. Trailing his red scarf,
which is very long indeed for such a small animal, Little Mouse finds twigs,
pinecones and sticks until he has a huge pile.
Little Mouse
ties up the pile with his scarf, rests a little and then he tries to pull his
load across the snow. There is no way the pile is going to budge. Little Mouse
is just too small to pull so much weight.
Little Mouse asks
his friend Rabbit for her help. Even when they “join forces” they cannot move
the massive pile of firewood. The animals then ask Fox if they can borrow his
sled, which he is quite happy to lend them. The firewood is piled on the sled
and they all start pulling, but “the pile simply would not budge.”
There is only
one thing left to do; the animals are going to have to wake up Bear to ask for
his help. The weather is getting bad and if they don’t get indoors soon
everything will soon be buried.
Bear, being a
good fellow, is happy to help his friends, even though they woke him up.
Together the four animals pull and pull until something very unexpected
happens.
This wonderful
snowy picture book celebrates friendship, and shows to great effect how wonderful
it is when people (or animals) work together to help one another.Friday, December 23, 2016
Poetry Friday with a review of Over the Hills and Far Away: A treasury of Nursery Rhymes
Like many children I got to experience nursery rhymes when I was little, often when I was sitting in someones lap. I was lucky because I was bilingual, and so I was given the gift of rhymes that were written in English and in French. In English many of the rhymes were from Mother Goose collections. The French books contained French nursery rhymes that many English speakers do not normally get to read. What I love about today's poetry book is that the editor has brought together nursery rhymes from all over the world. She thus allows us to experience rhymes that we have probably never heard before.
Over the Hills and Far Away: A treasury of Nursery Rhymes
Over the Hills and Far Away: A treasury of Nursery Rhymes
Collected by Elizabeth Hammill
Illustrated by more than 70 celebrated artists
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Candlewick Press, 2014, 978-0-7636-7729-9
Many people living in Britain or the United States have
grown up with a copy of Mother Goose’s rhymes on their bookshelf. The
interesting thing is that often the rhymes one finds in these two countries are
different in some ways, and yet the feel of the rhymes is the same. When you
then look in other countries where English is spoken, you find other versions
of Mother Goose rhymes that have taken on the flavors of the cultures in those
countries.
In addition to
these Mother Goose verses, there are nursery rhymes that are unique to the
countries where they were written and that capture the essence of the history
and traditions in those countries
In this
collection Elizabeth Hammill brings together Mother Goose rhymes from around
the world and presents them alongside rhymes that are African, Asian, Caribbean,
Native-American, and Hispanic to give readers a truly diverse and rich nursery
rhyme experience.
Throughout the
book the poems are paired with artwork that was created by seventy-seven
artists from the English-speaking world. Some of the artists have been working
in their chosen field for a long time, while others are newcomers to the
illustration stage. All of the artwork was donated to this book project by the
artists to support Seven Stories, Britain’s National Centre for Children’s
Books.
Our nursery
rhyme journey begins with a short Native American verse which is then followed
by an African nursery rhyme that captures a mother’s love for her baby. There
are other mothers, the mother in the poem says, who would “like to have you for
her child,” but they cannot have the baby because the precious child is “mine.”
Many of the poems that follow celebrate a mother’s love for her child or baby,
while others are nonsense poems, counting poems, poems about animals, poems
about places, and poems that tell a story.
This is a
wonderful book to share with children, but it is also the kind of book that
offers adults the opportunity to explore the world of nursery rhymes both
historically and geographically. Readers are able to see how different cultures
use words to comfort, amuse, and delight their children.
Labels:
Children's book reviews,
Poetry books,
Poetry Friday
Monday, December 19, 2016
Picture Book Monday with a review of The Christmas Eve Tree
Christmas is less than a week away, and people all over the world are putting up and decorating their Christmas trees. There is something magical about seeing a tree, decorated with tinsel and ornaments, its lights shining in the darkness. Today's picture book is about a Christmas tree that ends up lightning up Christmas for those who need the light the most.
The Christmas Eve Tree
The Christmas Eve Tree
Delia Huddy
Illustrated by Emily Sutton
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Candlewick Press, 2015, 978-0-7636-7917-0
Years ago a grove of Christmas trees was planted. One of
the little fir trees was blown sideways into its neighbor by the wind and did
not grow properly. When the trees were harvested the little fir tree, which was
“stunted” and “tangled with its neighbor” was taken to the big city. The other
trees were bought and placed in a cathedral, in the middle of a square, on the
stage “at a grand Christmas ball,” and in private homes where children and
their families decorated them for the festive season. The little fir tree and
its bigger partner ended up in a store. On Christmas Eve the big tree was
bought and taken away and the little fir tree was now all alone.
A poor boy came
into the shop to warm up and he asked a store clerk, who was about to throw
away the little tree, if he could have it. The clerk “handed it over,” and some
time later the boy, with the tree ‘planted’ in a cardboard box full of beach
mud, was sitting under the arch of a railway bridge, in the large cardboard box
that served as his home. With a coin that a passerby dropped in his hat the boy
bought some candles and matches and he decorated the little tree with the
candles, creating a little pool of Christmas spirit in a rather bleak place.
The boy was
joined by other homeless people and a tree performer and soon they were all sharing
Christmas songs, which drew more and more people to the little tree. Though the
tree’s surroundings were very humble, it felt as if it would “burst with
happiness” because for a while the hard circumstances of the boy’s life did not
matter. For a while the tree gave the boy and many other people joy.
In this
beautiful picture book readers will find a story that is sure to become a firm
favorite with readers of all ages. This is the kind of book that families will
keep on their shelf and bring out every holiday season to share and enjoy.
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