Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

I was volunteering in my daughter's school library the other day and some other volunteers were (once again) weeding the fiction section and I joined in.  They were being merciless and, for the most part, rightfully so.  Anything that hadn't been circulating, that we hadn't heard of, that we thought was too hard, or that had a dated cover was going to be made available to the teachers for their classroom libraries and the rejects would be donated or recycled.  We wanted to make room both for new books and for shelf space to display what we have facing outward, to entice students.

Some of Johanna Hurwitz' books about Cricket Kaufman

I largely agreed with their decisions and their criteria.  Except for one: the dated covers.  On the one hand, great covers do draw readers in, particularly reluctant readers.  On the other hand, following this rule almost led to the disposal of Molly's Pilgrim (which I just wrote about here), Johanna Hurwitz's books about Cricket Kaufman and her classmates, and and the Anastasia books by Lois Lowry.  So I testified on their behalf and they were given amnesty and restored to the shelves!  Some of these books are out of print, so if we didn't keep them, there's no way to get new copies.

Johanna Hurwitz's books about the Sossi Family

While these books might not appeal to reluctant readers, what about enthusiastic readers?  My daughter loves Molly's Pilgrim and anything by Johanna Hurwitz, and when the time comes, I suspect she'll love Anastasia books too.  She knows to look for a book not just by title but by author and she has specific favorite authors.  When reading aloud to my girls I always name the author (and illustrator, if applicable).  In fact, they each went through a phase in which they would pretend to read and make up titles by authors they were familiar with, e.g. The Nice Flower by Kevin Henkes, or Popcorn by Beverly Cleary.  Sadly, very few students at the school library ask for a specific author.  Instead, they know the names of certain series, like the Wimpy Kid books, but most of them couldn't tell you who wrote them.

Would you have kept the books I put back on the shelves or not?

A Hairy Situation

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib's Lopsided Haircuts

The other morning, as I was cutting my daughter's hair to remove it from a comb she had tangled it in in a misguided attempt to curl her straight hair, I started thinking about children, real and fictional, and hair.  Almost every kid has cut her own hair, or cut a sibling's or a doll's hair, or had her hair cut by a sibling.  Not to mention the chewing-gum-in-the-hair-type incidents.

Ella and Her Hair

In the delightful, rhyming Ella Kazoo Will Not Brush Her Hair, Ella lets her hair reach extreme proportions before succumbing to a haircut.

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, in the second book in the series go overboard when they cut their hair to put in lockets to remember each other by (in case they die) and end up with very lopsided 'dos (see photo above).

In Russell and Elisa, the children take their pretend game of haircut to a new level when they actually cut first Elisa's doll Airmail's hair and then Elisa's friend's hair.

Ramona and Her Crown of Burrs

And of course, in Ramona and Her Father, Ramona makes herself a crown out of burrs, which, predictably to us, but apparently surprisingly to Ramona, gets stuck in her hair, forcing her father to cut it.  This is the scene to which my mind immediately flashed as I dealt with my own daughter's hairtastrophe (yes, I just made that word up) that morning.

Can you think of other fictional characters who get themselves into such hairy situations or do you have a story about yourself or your own child's hairtastrpohe?

A 3-D Look At the Human Body

When I first started searching for a book about the human body for my 5-year-old, I looked online.  I came across one called Uncover the Human Body, which has a 3-D model inside.  But I couldn't tell from an online photo how useful such a book would be or how detailed the model was.  My fabulous local bookstore didn't have the book in stock but said they could order it for me and, since they carry it anyway, I wouldn't be obliged to purchase it.  It came in the other day and my husband convinced me it was worth the $18.95.  He was right!   The model is small but not tiny and is fascinating.  Photographs don't do it justice.  The only thing missing, which my daughter noticed immediately, is the reproductive system.  Nonetheless, it is another worthwhile book for any budding doctor.

Library Loot #21

Some of our recent picks from the library.

For the kids:

Picture books:

Close up:

Poetry:  I have suddenly become obssessed with children's poetry anthologies.  I guess all the poetry displays due to National Poetry Month have accomplished their goal, as far as I'm concerned!  (And yes, that is my reflection in the top book!)

Chapter books:

For me:

What have you checked out from the library recently?

Read This Article

I'm a day (or two or three) behind in my reading of the New York Times and so it wasn't until this morning that I happened upon this article in yesterday's paper.  In it, a a father writes about how he is packing up his now-teenagers' picture books.  But it's much more than that.  It's about how packing up picture books is a way of saying good-bye to your children's childhoods, it's an elegy for Eden Ross Lipson, the late New York Times Book Review's children book editor, it's a review of several picture books, only one of which I've ever heard of, it's a discussion of how to match a child to a book.  I'm going to put every book he recommends at the library on hold immediately, and not think about the day when it might be time for me to pack up my children's picture books.

Mix-and-Match

Komako Sakai

Komako Sakai

You know how, on that show Say Yes to the Dress, the really demanding brides want the top from one dress and the skirt from another?  Well, that's how I feel about The Velveteen Rabbit.  I want the original, unabridged text (I always do), but with the luminous illustrations from Komako Sakai's picture book version. I love how she never shows the faces of the adults in her illustrations.  In the original, we never even see the boy!

Original illustration

Komako Sakai

Just compare the scenes where the Velveteen Rabbit sees the real rabbits for the first time.  What a difference!

Apparently there's a third, new version, with illustrations by Charles Santore, but unfortunately it's not available at my library, so I can't comment on it.  Has anyone seen it?

In any version, however, this classic story of "how toys become real," as the subtitle says, is still a great (and quick) read-aloud.

Are there any books you'd like to mix-and-match? Perhaps a classic you'd like to see newly illustrated?

Bullying Is Not New and Neither Are Books About It

There has been a lot in the news and in educational circles about bullying lately, and in book circles about books addressing the issue.  But bullying is not new and neither are books about it.

In the classic The Hundred Dresses, Maddie joins in with her friend Peggy and their classmates in teasing Wanda, a poor immigrant girl for wearing the same dress every day.  Wanda leaves school before Maddie can make amends and Maddie's guilt haunts her.  She finally resolves that "She was never going to stand by and say nothing again.  If she ever heard anybody picking on someone because they were funny looking or because they had strange names, she'd speak up.  Even if it meant losing [her best friend's] friendship."  This is an admirable resolution but the book would be stronger if author Eleanor Estes had actually put Maddie's resolve to the test.

In the third Betsy Tacy book, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Betsy, Tacy and Tib do come to the rescue of their new friend Naima, a Syrian immigrant.  They stand up to a group of boys, even as Tib's dress is torn in the process.

In Molly's Pilgrim, an immigrant girl is again the victim of bullying.  Molly's classmates tease her for her old-world Russian-Jewish ways.  When she brings in a clothespin doll dressed in traditional garb for a homework assignment to make a pilgrim doll, the children sneer that the doll doesn't look like a pilgrim at all.  But just as Molly's mother explained she was a pilgrim - someone who came to this country for religious freedom - Molly's teacher gives the same explanation, adding that Thanksgiving is based on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, as described in the Old Testament.

Finally, in Bernard Waber's funny picture book, But Names Will Never Hurt Me, Alison Wonderland (whose ancestors' last name was changed from Voonterlant at Ellis Island) learns to live with her name and withstand the teasing she gets for it.

These books obviously don't address cyberbullying and social media.  But the message is the same.  Not only should you not bully other children, you should actually step up and defend them.

Can you think of any other older books that address bullying?