Pura Belpre Award

The Pura Belpre Award is awarded annually to a Latino writer and illustrator whose children's books portray, affirm and celebrate the Latin culture.  The award is named of Pura Belpre who was the first Latina librarian in the New York Public Library system.  She dedicated her life to providing access to books for Latino families. She instituted a bilingual story hour and increased access to bilingual books.  She was also known for bringing Puerto Rican folklore to America.  The award was first given out in 1996 every two years and then annually in 2009.

The 2016 Pura Belpre Illustrator Award goes to Rafael Lopez for Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle.  Drum Dream Girl is a poem about a real girl named Milo who wants to play the drums, but isn't allowed because playing drums is only for boys.  She continues to practice and work hard until she is allowed to play the drums at an outdoor cafe.  Lopez does a great job of adding to the story with his illustrations.  He uses folksy artwork with bold colors to tell the little girl's story through pictures.  You are transported to Cuba with the birds and colorful settings. Lopez uses warm colors to show the opposition she met when trying to play drums.  He often portrays Milo flying or in the sky to show how she never stopped dream or drumming.  My favorite picture is of Milo's father pulling her down from the sky.  The text with this picture tells us that Milo's father finally agreed to find a music teacher to listen to her play.  Him pulling her down from the sky symbolizes that playing the drums is no longer a dream for Milo, but a reality.

Drum Dream Girl is a great book for kids, not only because of the Latin influences can help children understand a culture different from their own, but because Milo never gave up on her dream.  Her grit and persistence paid off and she played the drums for all to hear!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Pura Belpre Illustrator Award Honors

My Tata's Remedies illustrated by Antonio Castro L.
Mango, Abuela and Me illustrated by Angela Dominguez
Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Cavalaeras

2016 Caldecott Award Winner

The Caldecott Award is given annual to the most distinguished artist of a picture book for children.  A distinguished artist will create pictures that add to the story and help to move the story along, they can't just be good pictures.

The Caldecott Award is named after 19th century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott who began illustrating different Mother Goose Rhymes.  His work and creativity have inspired illustrators from generation to generation.

The 2016 Caldecott Award goes to Sophie Blackall for her illustration in Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear  by Lindsay Mattick. Check out the book trailer for a good synopsis of the book

In the story Blackall creates beautiful detailed pictures that dominate the page.  In essence her illustrations are the backdrop to the story.  The books starts with a picture of a mother and her son lying in bed, telling a bedtime story.  Then the pictures begin to tell the story of veterinarian Harry Colebourn, but on each page there is a small snippet of a picture of the mother and son still lying in bed.  The pictures of Harry's story are beautiful and telling.  They perfectly depict the time period and the emotions of Harry.  You can see the anger on the Colonel's face and the shock on the other soldier's faces when Harry brings Winnie the bear with him.  You can see just how close Winne and Harry are when you see them sleeping together in Harry's tent.  When it is time for Winnie and Harry to part ways Blackall sweetly shows the sadness in their face with a picture of Harry and Winnie's foreheads touching.  My three year old loved this book, not just for the story, but I think more for the pictures.  The entire time we were reading he was pointing things out in the pictures, which helped him to understand the story better (because we know young children understand the pictures better first!)

The end of the book is filled with photographs of Harry's journal pages and pictures of Harry and Winnie.

Happy Reading!
Laura

2016 Caldecott Award Honors

Trombone Shorty illustrated by Bryan Collier
Waiting illustrated by Kevin Henkes
Voice of Freedom illustrated by Ekua Holmes
Last Stop on Market Street illustrated by Christian Robinson

Black History Month

I recently read the novel, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  The book had a quote in it that has really stuck with me, "You know the greatest lesson of history?  It's that history is whatever the victor says it is.  That's the lesson.  Whoever wins, that's who decides."  The particular quote referred to World War II and Nazi occupied France, but the quote holds true for more than just World War II.

When you look through our history books, you can see a very one-sided story.  The American Revolution is only told from the side of the colonist, the Civil War from the perspective of the North and so on and so on.  As teachers and parents we need to do a better job teaching history from all perspectives (Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Women, Native Americans etc.) and not just from the perspective of the so called "winner." We need to go beyond teaching Black History only in February during Black History Month and Women's History only in March.  The history of America's people, all of America's people needs to be taught day in and day out.

Luckily for us there are some great books out there that we can use to supplement our text books or other lessons so that our children can get a more complete and diverse view of history. One book in particular Heart and Soul: The Story of American and African Americans by Kadir Nelson is a must own in every classroom and home.  Nelson begins his book with the Declaration of Independence and ends with Civil Rights Movement and the March on Washington.  We are introduced to Pap, the narrator's grandfather who was captured in Africa and brought over on a slave ship.  His story is entwined with the story of America and other names we are familiar with like Lincoln, Fredrick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Joe Louis Barrow and Dr. Martin Luther King.  We learn about the the battles African Americans fought, the injustices they endured and the progress that was made.  He provides just enough detail and fact about each event, which is what makes this perfect for kids.

Nelson's story is paired with his beautiful illustrations. His illustrations alone can tell the story of the injustices history has imparted on African Americans.  The facial expressions convey every emotion and feeling: defeat, tiredness, anger, pride and determination- all words used to describe the history of  American and African Americans. Put all of it together and Nelson tells a story that needs to be heard by all American's because it is the

Here are a few:

Strikers

Brave Children, Little Rock, Arkansas

Southern Family Migrating North, circa 1940

So this February let's honor Black Americans for what they have contributed to our country but let's make sure to teach Black History (and Women History, Native American History, Hispanic History, Asian History and everything else) everyday of the year.

Happy Reading,
Laura