Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan.

Winner of the 2008 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, this book truly has artwork that shines, lifting it to an entirely different level.  The book offers the words of three hymns:  This Little Light of Mine, Oh When the Saints Go Marching In, and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.  There is a joy in all three of the hymns that is captured by the cut-paper artwork that fairly sings along with the reader.  The book and the art have rhythms and patterns carried from page to page.  Each page is filled with an exuberance, bright colors, sweeping lines, and always light.  It is a real treat to find such a book, a thrill to share it with children, and a joy to know that it fully deserved the award.

Highly recommended for sharing and singing aloud.  I don’t see how you can even start to page through the book without humming and tapping your toes.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller.

This is the story of Annie Sullivan, the woman who was Helen Keller’s teacher.  It is the story of her early life and the two months that she spent trying to reach Helen and bring her the gift of language.  The book is written in first person, so the reader can experience Annie’s frustrations, personal tragedies, and loneliness.   There is no mincing of words or shirking from the beast that Helen Keller had grown to be when Annie came to teach her.  Likewise her unorthodox methods are not sugar-coated either.  This leads to a gutsy novel full of great details that explain the young woman who was Annie Sullivan.

I could not put this book down.  It is as different from the film versions of Helen Keller’s life as can be.  Annie comes to life in the prose, her haunting childhood, her own disabilities, her own desperate need to connect with someone.  There are several devices used to show and not tell her loneliness, including her showering attention and love on a doll.  These are powerful and private moments that serve to illuminate Annie, allowing the reader to feel for this teacher who must resort to strong discipline to reach Helen in her deaf and blind world.  There are historical photos and information at the end of the book which further explain their relationship as teacher and student through the rest of their lives.

Highly recommended for 10-13 year olds who enjoy true stories and who may have seen the films.

Lily Brown’s Paintings by Angela Johnson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis.

This is one of my favorite picture books of 2007.  It is the story of Lily Brown, a young girl, and her vivid imagination which she expresses through her paintings.  As you read the book, you will see nods to Van Gogh and Gauguin in the illustrations.  There is a child-like quality evident in most of them that is combined with a lack of constraint that is charming.  Lily creates many paintings that she moves into, walks through, and exists in (rather like some of us with great books).  Readers will find themselves drawn into the illustrations too, understanding innately what is being described in the text.

The text of the book is equal to the art.  It expresses the freedom and joy of art, embraces Lily’s self-made worlds, and draws readers into a full understanding of being absorbed by art. 

Highly recommended for elementary art classes or story times about art. 

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis.

This winningest book of the ALA awards was definitely deserving of each and every accolade. 

Elijah is almost twelve and was born the first free child in Buxton, Canada.  Elijah’s life is filled with nighttime adventures into the forest, fishing using stones, and going to Sunday school and regular school.  The Buxton settlement is filled with people who escaped slavery in the United States and fled north.  They bear the scars, both physical and mental, of their time as slaves.  Elijah is a “fra-gile” child who cries easily, runs when frightened, and tries his best to grow out of it.  He has a trusting soul, despite dealing with the Preacher, who is not really a preacher and has a beautiful revolver with a muddied past.  The book is filled with the rhythm of Elijah’s life in Buxton, until he finds himself caught up in a situation of Preacher’s making and face-to-face with the horrors of slavery.

The writing here is gorgeous.  It reads like a sleepy afternoon spent fishing, where one is lulled into complacency.  But throughout the novel, disturbing things happen to draw the reader back into reality and out of the dream of Buxton.  Curtis has done a masterful job of bringing the settlement and its people to life in small details, turns of phrase, loving discipline, and unique situations.  It is a joy to spend time in this book.  Curtis especially excels at showing rather than telling.  Emotions are conveyed with actions, not narrative. 

But one can’t read about Buxton without the opposite of freedom, slavery, coming into the story.  As jarring as those moments are, as cruel, as evil, they are very necessary for children and readers to understand the entire story of the times.  Elijah is a well-written protagonist who often interprets things through his own lens.  Readers will see beyond that and to the truth of the situation.  The secondary figures of the story are equally well-rendered.  They are unique and interesting, fleshing out the settlement fully.

Highly recommended, this book is appropriate for ages 11-14.  Harsh truths about slavery are revealed and a handy box of tissues is recommended for the ending.

The Poet Slave of Cuba: a biography of Juan Francisco Manzano by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Sean Qualls.

I was sent this book a long, long time ago after hearing wonderful things about it.  In clearing my shelves, I found it again, opened it to glance in and was caught in the story.  This morning, it won the Belpre Medal for writing. 

This is the story of the poet Juan Francisco Manzano, who lived in slavery in Cuba.  His story is told in verse, allowing readers to see the horrors of slavery and the atrocities committed against Juan.  Juan was set free as a child when his owner died, but was immediately taken back into slavery by a deranged woman who called herself his Mama.  Though his real mother purchased Juan from slavery for a second time, Juan was still enslaved until he escaped himself.

From a young age, Juan showed his gift with words and language.  But as a slave he was not allowed to express these gifts.  If he was caught, his owner would fly into a rage and have him whipped or worse.  Yet Juan could not allow his mind to be still.  He continued to think, express himself, and find poetry even in his pain.

Engle’s verse does not shy away from the horrors of Juan’s existence.  But just as his poetry did, she finds a way to show the beauty that surrounded him, his defiance, his rage and his ability to hope.  The verse is often painful and horrific, but readers will be able to turn the page because of the hope and strength that is also portrayed there. 

Readers will enjoy the tastes of Juan Francisco Manzano’s poetry at the end of the book and will be fascinated to know what happened to him after his escape.  This book is amazing, and I wonder at the strength and nerve it took the author to evoke a poet’s life in verse.   Her own poetry is strong, unflinching and speaks directly to the soul.  I can’t imagine the book done without the poetry infusing each word.  Only in this way could the book have enough of the subject’s personal song inside of it.

Highly recommended, libraries will struggle with where to put this book that is poetry, biography, and novel.  I recommend putting it out where teens are likely to find it.  Burying it in nonfiction will make sure it doesn’t check out.  Highlighting it in fiction will get it into the hands of teens who will be thrilled to find such a deep read.

The Buffalo Storm by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Jan Ormerod.

Hallie is a brave girl who isn’t afraid of anything except storms, but she must gather all of her courage to face the new challenge in her life, the Oregon Trail.  Hallie, her mother and her father leave behind her beloved grandmother and travel the Trail by oxcart facing dangers on the way.  Hallie is told by her grandmother about the buffalo that she will see on her travels, and Hallie does find herself having a very intimate encounter with a buffalo calf before witnessing the wonder of the buffalo stampeding past. 

Applegate has created a book that is a poetic journey along the Oregon Trail.  Her use of a blend of poetry and prose creates a way for children to really feel the drama and scope of this sort of adventure.  There is no way that this could have been done with straight prose.  Ormerod’s art adds much to this book as well, her use of quilt squares surrounding the text on each page, her evocative images of storms and the prairie, and her use of scale showing the amazing space through which Hallie and her family travel.  And yet Ormerod’s art and Applegate’s words remain personal and direct, not losing themselves into the prairie, but reflecting the immediate area the family find themselves in.  Adrift on the prairie, but not lost. 

There are few books where after reading them aloud, you get to have a talk with children moved to near tears by the power of the words.  This was one of them where I truly got to talk with my children about the impact words can have, the impact great art in a book can have, and the wonder that is a great picture book.  Let’s hope you all get to have that chance with the children you live or work with.  It is a powerful moment.

Highly recommended as a historical picture book appropriate for ages 6-10.  This is not the right book to read to a restless preschooler.  Older children in elementary school will understand the poetry of the book far better than younger children.

Class Two at the Zoo by Julia Jarman, illustrated by Lynee Chapman.

Sometimes books need to be shared simply because they are wonderful fun, and that is the case with this book.  If you are looking for something deep, meaningful, or cultural, keep on going.  But if instead you want a book to complete a storytime full of wiggly kids or just something great to put smiles on small faces, this is the book for you.

Class Two went to the zoo on a field trip.  They see all sorts of the things at the zoo, described in a rollicking rhyming style.  But they also DON’T see what the anaconda is up to.  The snake slowly creeps up behind the children and then starts eating them!  One by one.  It isn’t until little Molly notices what’s going on that everyone is saved and they all emerge wonderfully goopy from the snakes mouth.

The text of the book is rhyming and fun.  The pacing is delicious with a slow build up and then a frenzy of kid-munching in the middle.  The art adds so much to the book as the snake eats the children in different ways and you can see child-shaped bulges in the snake as he moves to the next child. 

I guarantee giggles, groans and gasps when you share this with children.  Appropriate for ages 4-6.  A wonderful choice for preschool story times as the closer.

When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger with Susan Katz, illustrated by David Kanietakeron Fadden. 

Books in which Native American traditions are accurately portrayed are very few, especially in picture book format.  To have a traditional Native American side-by-side with a contemporary one is nearly unheard of.  In this picture book, you will see the traditional way of life alongside the contemporary one.  There is a constant tie between the two, but each is unique and lovely in its own way.  The book moves through the year from month to month, starting with the When the Shadfish Return Moon and circling to a finish with the same month again.  The book ends with additional information on the Lenni Lenape people, meaning that this is not meant to be a more general Native American story, but distinct to a people.  This alone makes it worthy of attention, because so many Native titles are left meaninglessly generic where these specific traditions and people bring life and accuracy to the story.

The text of the book is clear and has a great rhythm even though it is prose.  There is a consistent tie to nature and wildlife in each month that makes the passing of the months fascinating.  The illustrations are the real bridges between the modern and the historical.  The same setting is used for both periods and they share the same space, making the point of the text all the more clear for readers.

Highly recommended, this book is perfect to use when discussing calendars with children.  I would hate to see it relegated to only being pulled out during a unit on Native Americans around Thanksgiving.  Instead, the glory of white shadbush blossoms on the cover should be used as an excuse to pull it out in the spring and share it.

The Painted Circus by Wallace Edwards.

What could be better than a picture book filled with all sorts of optical illusions?  Not much in the eyes of my two sons!  This was one that I almost had to sneak out of the house under dark of night to return it to the library.  It spent many days as the book of choice for both boys (ages 6 and 10). 

Author Wallace has created a spectacle of a circus in his picture book where the circus is used as the framing tool for each optical illusion.  There is no real story in the book, just one act after the other, each showcasing an illusion.  It is great fun!  You will see optical illusions that you are already familiar with, but several of them were new to me.  What is best about the book is that some of the illusions are easy to see and understand while others take a bit of time, some eye crossing and a bit of neck twisting to see. 

Highly recommended for public libraries, this is rather like a book with movable parts without the hassle of flaps and pop-ups which break and tear.  It will be happily browsed through by anyone in elementary school and calls out to be shared with everyone in the room or in one’s class.