My Father's Arms are a Boat

Author: Stein Erik Lunde
Illustrator:   Oyvind Torseter
Publisher:  Enchanted Lion Books
Publication Year:   2013
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Norwegian Ministry’s Culture Prize for the Best Book and “Most Beautiful Book Award” for best picture book, Kirkus starred review

Summary:  A boy can't sleep and goes to sit on his father's lap. The two discussion the trees and birds in the forest and then that the boy's mommy will never wake up. The two go outside into the night for a while and then return inside where the man reassures the boy that "everything will be all right." "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." The subject is addressed in a straight forward way with no melodrama and shows the loneliness of both characters. The mixed-media illustrations are strange, but realistic. Kirkus describes them better than I can: "They seem grounded in reality, yet they are dreamlike, giving the impression one has been privileged to see someone else’s memory. A breathtaking masterpiece."

Classroom Ideas: Wow, the language in this book- "crackling of he fire" "tongues of fire like his face"  "the moon that looks like a boat" "eyes, black as night, are dark and deep in his face"
Although this is a picture book, both the words and the theme make it appropriate for older children.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Author & Illustrator:   William Joyce
Publisher:  Antheneum
Publication Year:   2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Kirkus starred review, inspired the Academy Award winning short film

Summary:  Morris Lessmore loves books and then a storm comes and destroys his house and the book that he was writing. (And the illustrations go from color to sepia) He looks up and sees a lovely lady being pulled by flying books (Back to full color now) and she sends him his own flying book. The book takes him to an amazing library where the books are all alive. Morris starts to take care of the library and share the books with everyone. He starts to write his own book again. The years pass until Morris has written the last page of his book. He flies away and a little girl comes and begins to read his finished book.

Classroom Ideas: The book opens with a beautiful metaphor: "His life was a book of his own writing..."  There's also a great deal of alliteration: "happy bit of happenstance" "lovely lady" "festive squadron of flying book"  The whole story is based on personification as the books in the library are alive.

Extras: there is an ipad app as well as a short film based on this book

All the World

Author: Liz Garton Scanlon
Illustrator:   Marla Frazee
Publisher:  Beach Lane Books
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Halls

Awards:   Cadecott Honor,NYT Best Book, Publisher's Weekly Best Book, Kirkus Best Book, School Library Journal Best Book, Parents' Choice Gold Award, Indies Choice Award

Summary:  This book, told in rhyme, starts from the smallest things ("Rock, stone, pebble, sand") and moving to all encompassing words ("All the world is wide and deep"). The illustrations mirror this idea with a great deal of white space on the first page moving to two-page spreads that fill the space with detail, color and movement.  I am hard pressed to choose my favorite spread- they all invite me to relax and be at peace with the world. What a beautiful book!

Classroom Ideas: This book is full of beautiful images of the world which could be easily mimicked by young writers and artists.

This Is Just to Say

Author:Joyce Sidman
Illustrator:   Pamela Zagarenski
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Year:  2007
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Claudia Lewis Poetry Award, Cybils Poetry, Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Honor, School Library Journal Best Book, IRA Teacher's Choice

Summary:  This story told in verse was inspired by W.C. William's famous poem of the same title. In poems, Mrs. Merz' sixth grade class write poems of apology that they bind into a book. They also include poems written by the people to whom they apologized. The poems are in all sorts of forms and cover many topics, but the pairs show a fascinating glance into the relationship between the authors. The illustrations are perfect- combining computer graphic backgrounds with adorable sketches.

Classroom Ideas: The poems could be used to teach poetry forms and types of figurative language. "The River of Forgiveness" - what a wonderful metaphor! But, of course, they are mostly perfect for kids to try and write their own apology poems and maybe even imagine what the reply would be.

Extras: table of contents

January's Sparrow

Author & Illustrator: Patricia Polacco  
Publisher:  Philomel
Publication Year:   2009
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   SC School Book Award, Sequoyah Award, Charlotte Award,

Summary:  Eight year old Sadie "Sparrow" Crosswhite is a slave. She and her family watch in horror as a runaway slave, January, is drug into the year and whipped. Sadie is devastated as she remembers January giving her a carved sparrow when he told her that he was "fixin' to fly." After learning that the master was planning to auction of Sparrow's brother, her family flees on the Underground Railroad. They finally make it to Marshall, Michigan, where the whole town is part of the railroad. Sadie makes a new friend named Polly, but the family is still worried that the slave patrols are tracking them. One morning, Sadie's carved sparrow turns up on their doorstep and soon the master's soon and other trackers show up to drag the Crosswhite family away. The whole town rallies around them, but the white men quote the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 that the family can be taken back to their rightful owner. January even shows up to back the family but they are brought in front of a judge, Polly's father -- who jails the men for attempting kidnapping so the family has time to flee to Canada. After the war, Sadie returns to Marshall for good. With Polacco's typical marker and pen sketches, this 94 page picture book tells a true story from the town where she lives. 

Classroom Ideas: Obviously there is a lot of historical content here about the Underground Railroad and slavery. There is vocabulary from the time period as well (paddy rollers= slave patrols that captured runaways). The story is told in slave dialect and contains many instances of figurative language ("You lovin' one of the white folks is like a dog lovin' the hickory what beats it.")

The Boss Baby

Author & Illustrator:   Marla Frazee
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Publication Year:  2010
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Starred reviews in Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly, Publishers Weekly Best Book, School Library Journal Best Book

Summary: I laughed out loud when I read the first line of text: "From the moment the baby arrived, it was obvious that he was the boss".......accompanied by genius illustrations of the baby in a business suit carrying a suitcase. With illustrations obviously set in the 1950s, the baby keeps his parents at work, making demands, holding meetings, and throwing fits whenever they don't meet his demands. There were perks as boss- the spa, the gym, the drinks, the jet. But one day no one came when he called so he had to try something different (crawling and saying "mama, dada") and he remains the boss. The built-in metaphor of the book of boss=baby is pulled off incredibly well.

Classroom Ideas: This book is a metaphor. It would be fun to read the text without the illustrations and talk to kids about the way illustrations can help them to understand book better. Obviously, the story is entirely different when seen in its entirety with the illustrations.

Hey, Al

Author: Arthur Yorinks
Illustrator:   Richar Egielski
Publisher:  Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Publication Year:   1986
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:   Caldecott, ALA Notable, Booklist Editor's Choice

Summary:  A NY City janitor and his dog live in a small room depicted with small framed illustrations in muted colors. Once day a large colorful bird sticks his head in the window and offers to transport Al & Eddie to an island in the sky. The illustrations become deeply saturated in color and begin to burst out of the frames into gorgeous, full page spreads. At first, they're deeply happy but soon they begin to transform into birds and realize that the price is too high for living on the island. The two friends barely make it back to their muted apartment where they start to appreciate what they have.

Classroom Ideas: There's an interesting metaphor here with "a ripe fruit soon spoils" which depicts one of the themes of the tale. Another is listed on the last page: Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found (or maybe there's no place like home.)

Stars

Author: Mary Lyn Ray
Illustrator:   Marla Frazee
Publisher:  Beach Lane Books
Publication Year:   2011
Location: Knox County Public Library- Lawson McGhee

Awards:  featured on "Calling Caldecott" blog; Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal &  Booklist starred reviews, ALA Notable,

Summary:  The sweeping watercolors pull you into this beautiful book. In it, stars are explored in all of their different variations- both physical and metaphorical. The descriptive language is beautiful and the text layouts are just perfect. I just wanted to fall into this dreamy world. I adore this book!

Classroom Ideas: A perfect book for a figurative language unit, with both simile (shiny as a star) and metaphor (flowers as white stars or yellow stars).

Each Kindness

Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Illustrator:   E.B. Lewis
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Publication Year:  2012
Location: Knox County Public Library- Powell

Awards:   featured on the "Calling Caldecott" blog, Coretta Scott King honor book, Jane Addams Peace Award, Charlotte Zolotow Award, School Library Journal Best Book

Summary:  A new girl named Maya comes to school and Chloe and her friends are unkind to her because she is different. Even though Maya keeps trying, the other girls continue to make fun of her and leave her out. Finally, Chloe's teacher shows her the consequences of her choices, but it is too late because Maya and her family have moved away.

Classroom Ideas: This book could be used by a teacher or guidance counselor to discuss kindness and the consequences for actions. The theme is well articulated and includes a metaphor for kindness in a stone.

The Wretched Stone

Author & Illustrator:   Chris Van Allsburg
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Company
Publication Year:   1991
Location: Personal library

Awards:   Starred reviews Horn Book & Kirkus

Summary:   Written in the form of captain's log, this story documents the effects of a mysterious glowing rock have on the crew of a ship. The whole crew turns into apes and gather around the strange rock. The ship is destroyed in a storm, and the captain discovers positive effects of reading and music on the crew. The men are rescued and after they are separated from the stone, they return t normal (mostly). As usual, Van Allsburg's drawings are lush and detailed and add to the fantasy.

Classroom Ideas: This is an introduction to the idea of a journal/ ship's log. The mood of the story is mysterious. The book could used to talk about mood, as it moves from a very serious to a mysterious tone. For older children, the metaphor of the glowing rock as a TV and the cure being music and reading could be introduced and discussed.