Picture Books

Swift Fox All Along by Rebecca Lea Thomas

| Tasha

Swift Fox All Along by Rebecca Lea Thomas, illustrated by Maya McKibbin (9781773214481)

Swift Fox is nervous. Her father is taking her on a long drive to meet her aunties, uncles and cousins. She will learn more about being Mi’kmaq. Her father assures her on the drive that she has all she needs already inside her; she is already Mi’kmaq. It’s how she walks, talks and thinks. Swift Fox just gets even more nervous. Swift Fox is greeted warmly by her family. They unwrap a red bundle, preparing to smudge, but she doesn’t know how to. They assure her that she does know, since it’s part of who she is. But it’s all overwhelming for Swift Fox, who bursts into tears and runs outside to hide. She keeps hidden until she starts to smell the familiar smell of the bread her father makes. Then another cousin arrives, he is just as scared as Swift Fox is. Suddenly Swift Fox can help someone else, and it gets her to go back inside with her cousin and show him things as she learns too.

Thomas has written a very personal book that reflects her own upbringing off of the reservation. In her Author’s Note, she explains the impact of the residential schools on Native cultures and languages. Still, their identity survived. Just like Swift Fox, Thomas continues to learn about her Mi’kmaq identity. Readers of all backgrounds will be inspired by Swift Fox and her transformation of her fear into an energy to help someone else.

McKibbin’s illustrations center on the warmth of Swift Fox’s two families, both her mother and sister and then her large extended family through her father. She captures the characters’ complex emotions on the page, allowing readers to really feel Swift Fox’s butterflies, her fear, and then her inspiration to move ahead.

A powerful book about identity and family. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Annick Press.

On Account of the Gum by Adam Rex

| Tasha
Cover image for On Account of the Gum

On Account of the Gum by Adam Rex (9781452181547)

After falling asleep chewing gum, it ends up in your hair. When your father tries to cut out the gum, the scissors end up stuck there too. They look online and discover that all the website advise to use two sticks of butter. But the websites were wrong, and the butter is also now in your hair. Your aunt adds the grass. Your grandpa adds the bacon and noodles. Your rabbit eats grass, but ends up stuck too. Perhaps the cat will help? Or scaring the cat away from your head with the vacuum cleaner? Nope, those are stuck too. But don’t worry, the firemen are on their way!

Rex writes this book in the second person, inviting the reader to feel what it’s like not just to have gum in your hair, but all of these other things. It makes the book feel personal and also adds to the wild hilarity as the story builds. The focus of the illustrations is just like the cover, with the desperation building. Rex continues to add to the humor all the way to the end, creating a real catastrophe that will have children entirely engaged.

The illustrations are marvelous with the various family members coming in with their own solutions. The desperation in the main character’s eyes adds to the hilarity, even as they look right at the reader. There’s a wonderful blankness there too, a sense of despair.

Hilarious, this is one you are bound to stick with until the end. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from ARC provided by Chronicle Books.

Hans Christian Andersen by Heinz Janisch

| Tasha

Hans Christian Andersen: The Journey of His Life by Heinz Janisch, illustrated by Maja Kastelic (9780735843882)

A little girl takes a coach ride with Hans Christian Andersen. As they head to Copenhagen, the author answers her questions and then tells her a fairy tale. It’s the story of a boy who learned to fly, the story of his own life. Born on a Danish island, Hans’ father was a cobbler who mended shoes. In the evening though, he would read to Hans from a big book of fairy tales. He also built Hans a puppet theater and performed shows for his son. Then Hans’ father was sent to war and returned tired and sick. He died when Hans was eleven. As Hans grew up, he was inspired to try to join the theater as an actor but his voice broke at age fifteen and he had to find a different way. Hans truly loved writing and was sent to school tuition free. Now Hans was on his way, a boy who grew up to be famous by sharing parts of himself in his fairy tales.

First published in Switzerland, this translated version is a rich look at a famous author who has captivated children for generations. Framing his life with questions from a small child is a clever device to allow the character to answer questions about his life and his stories. Allowing Andersen to tell his own life story as a fairy tale is also a believable format that invites readers to really get immersed in the life of this amazing figure in literature.

The illustrations by Kastelic are dreamy watercolors that move from realistic colors on the carriage ride to sepia tones as Andersen tells his personal story. They really burst from the page though when Andersen talks of his fairy tales, becoming rich and vibrant, the colors fantastical and wild. These changes beautifully show just as the story does, the power of story.

A superb picture book biography. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by NorthSouth.

If You Were Night by Muon Thi Van

| Tasha

If You Were Night by Muon Thi Van, illustrated by Kelly Pousette (9781525300141)

How would you feel and act if you were night? Would you hide under covers or head outside? When you heard a moth drinking nectar would you hush it or lean in? If something touched your ankle would you freeze or skitter? Would you search for treasures in the garbage with the raccoons? Would you join in the chorus of the frogs at the pond? Would you dive alongside the otters or stitch with the spiders? Would you hunt with the owl? Would you stand still and listen to all the night noises? When dawn arrived would you linger and taste the first morning dew or cuddle back in bed carried by the light? There is so much to love about the night, what would you choose?

Through asking a series of inspired questions, the author shows readers the many delights of the night. Focused on animals and their nighttime activities primarily, the book invites readers to make choices about joining in or witnessing. The options to join in are particularly captivating, allowing the reader to see themselves exploring and living in the night.

The illustrations are done in photographed dioramas that are light with a moon-bright bulb, creating nighttime shadows. The images are a delicate mix of greens and flowerbeds and also greys that truly evoke the moon at night. The dioramas are done in cut paper, creating a detailed nighttime world.

A marvel of a nighttime book that is perfect for bedtime or camping outside. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Kids Can Press.

I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott

| Tasha

I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith (9780823445592)

Based on the author’s own childhood, this picture book explores the life of a boy with a stutter. The boy wakes every day surrounded by words, many of which he can’t say aloud. They tangle his tongue and stick in his throat. So every morning, he stays silent. He’s quiet at school too, hiding in the back of the class and hoping not to be asked to talk. After a particularly hard day, his father picks him up from school and takes him to the river. After seeing how upset his son is by his “bad speech day,” his father points to the river and says that how the water moves is how his son speaks. The river runs over rocks, bubbling and churning, but it also goes quiet and still after the rocks.

Scott is a poet and his skill with words is on full display here. He uses gorgeous metaphors throughout, including the connection to the river. The words around the boy in the morning connect with his inability to speak at times, the pine trees sticking out from his lips, the crow cawing from his throat, the moonlight shining from his mouth. Each of these gives readers a new way to experience a stutter, each beautiful and haunting.

Smith’s illustrations are done in watercolor, ink and gouache. They capture both the quiet of not being able to speak as well as the connection between father and son. When they go to the water of the river, the illustrations show the bubbling and crashing, taking the boy into the river as he swims to the calm open water. They are exquisite.

A marvel of a book that beams with empathy and understanding of stuttering. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Neal Porter Books.

Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin

| Tasha

Your Place in the Universe by Jason Chin (9780823446230)

Looking at relative size, Chin begins this exploration of how small we actually are in the universe by bringing in 8-year-olds, ostriches and giraffes. Those are soon dwarfed with the tallest trees on Earth, then the tallest buildings. Soon though the mountains fill the page. Chin then takes the reader into space to first view the entire planet and then orbits. Move out to the galaxy level and look at the Milky Way. Then how far away is the Andromeda galaxy or galaxy clusters! Pull out even farther and you can see the cosmic web, chains of galaxies and millions of light-years long. Chin then takes us right back to green grass, 8-year-olds and a starry night.

Chin grips readers’ attentions right away as he quickly moves through what are tall animals and then on to other tall things on earth. Using layered narrative with additional facts along margins and embedded in the images, Chin offers plenty of information in this nonfiction picture book. One the book enters space, Chin manages to keep perspective for everyone, using measurements for comparisons and touchpoints that let us see where we small humans on Earth actually are.

Throughout the book, he makes breathtaking visual comparisons. Just seeing Mount Everest compared to the tallest buildings in the world is remarkable. The space section of the book is filled with stars, spirals of galaxies and the observable universe. These are difficult concepts, but Chin’s art allows readers to begin to think about them, stretching their minds.

A marvel of a nonfiction book, it invites us to understand our size in the universe but also how amazing the universe actually is. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Neal Porter Books.

14 New Picture Books Coming in October

| Tasha

Here are 14 of the picture books being released this month to lots of praise!

Addy’s Cup of Sugar by Jon J. Muth

Attack of the Underwear Dragon by Scott Rothman, illustrated by Pete Oswald

Blue Table by Chris Raschka

The Boy and the Gorilla by Jackie Azua Kramer, illustrated by Cindy Derby

Eric by Shaun Tan

Lubaya’s Quiet Roar by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Philemona Williamson

The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang

My Rainbow by Trinity and DeShanna Neal, illustrated by Art Twink

Northbound by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein, illustrated by James E. Ransome

On Account of the Gum by Adam Rex

Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Shawn Harris

A Story for Small Bear by Alice B. McGinty, illustrated by Richard Jones

Turtle Walk by Matt Phelan

We Will Live in This Forest Again by Gianna Marino

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros

| Tasha

The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros (9780358329602)

One day, a strange animal arrived with a big suitcase. He was frightened and dusty. The other animals who lived there, came out and started asking him what was in his big suitcase. He answered that there is a teacup inside, along with a table and chair. In fact, he went on to tell them that his entire home is in the suitcase, a wooden cabin with the hillside it sat on. Then the animal curled up and went to sleep. The others knew there was only one way to find out if the animal was telling the truth. They had to open the suitcase! But what was inside surprised them all and gave them a way to say they were sorry for breaking into his belongings.

This picture book shows the importance of a few belongings from home for refugees. Through the eyes of the strange teal animal, young readers will feel outraged that the others broke into his suitcase but also will be amazed at what they go on to do next. One wrong can be undone as long as care and empathy is given in its place. The book does not lecture at all, allowing the lessons learned to be organically presented in the story.

The art is simple and clear, filled with animals of different colors. The animals pop on the clean white page while sepia tones are used to look back at the new animal’s homeland. They are echoed in the photograph that they discover too. The text contains a lot of dialogue done in colors that match each of the animals, so no speech bubbles are needed.

A gentle and empathetic look at welcoming someone to your community and honoring where they have come from. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from e-galley provided by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Outside In by Deborah Underwood

| Tasha

Outside In by Deborah Underwood

Outside In by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Cindy Derby (9781328866820)

This book calls readers back to be outside rather than staying inside. It reminds us that we used to simply be part of outside, and that at times now even when we are outside we keep ourselves separate. Outside though uses a few tricks to remind us that it is there, peeking in windows, sending sunsets and shadows, tapping on roofs and projecting bird song. The outside is also all around us inside in our sweaters, chairs, and food. Our pets remind us too as do the little insects that get inside. Outside waits for us, until we answer.

Underwood’s simple poetic lines soar in this picture book, creating moments of real beauty with her words. Using “outside” and “inside” again and again, she paints connection and demands that we all see the outside entering our inside. It’s a book that insists that we not only look outside, but acknowledge our connection to nature and the outdoors and get outside!

Derby’s illustrations are awash in watercolor that plays the bright aliveness of the outdoors against the gray of the interior areas. She uses yellows, orange, peach, purples and greens to beckon us all to look out the windows and connect.

Beautifully written and illustrated, this is an exemplary picture book. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.