THE WEDNESDAY WARS, by Gary D. Schmidt

Quick Facts:
- Newbery Honor Book
- 272 pages

The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt, opens in 1967 with the improbably named Holling Hoodhood bemoaning the start of his seventh-grade year. His new teacher Mrs. Baker, Holling asserts, hates him. Loathes him. Is actively orchestrating his downfall. Holling attempts to rally support from his family, but to no avail. His mother doesn’t believe him, his sister dismisses him, and his father is more worried about maintaining positive business relations with Mrs. Baker’s family than he is with his son’s concerns. And thus the stage is set for Holling, who (because he is a Presbyterian) is the only student who doesn’t leave school early on Wednesdays, and must therefore spend his final period on those days alone with Mrs. Baker, literally and figuratively. 

The book chronicles Holling’s seventh grade year, from start to finish, with historical events like the Vietnam War, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and Yankee baseball as the backdrop. Through his time with Mrs. Baker, Holling slowly learns to see the world as a more complicated place than he once thought, and to appreciate his ability (and responsibility!) to shape the course of his own life.

One of the strongest aspects of The Wednesday Wars is the authenticity that Schmidt brings to Holling’s perspective of 1967 and 1968. Though there are major, historically massive events taking place in the background of the novel, Schmidt addresses them always through Holling’s eyes and experiences, never giving the seventh grader more of a reaction or more of an opinion than is believable.

This balance of having Holling serve as an unbiased and yet authentic lens through which the reader experiences history is struck also in Holling’s reading of Shakespeare. When Mrs. Baker decides that reading Shakespeare is the best use of their Wednesday one-on-one time, Holling is not thrilled. Though he comes to an appreciation of Shakespeare (particularly Shakespear’s insults), Schmidt never pushes Holling's literary appreciation too far. For example, though he likes The Tempest a lot, Holling thinks that Romeo and Juliet is the story of how, “If Romeo had never met Juliet, he would have been all right,” (Schmidt, page 150).

However, Holling’s believability would have been all for naught if Schmidt had not created around his hero an authentic and relatable setting. Again, Schmidt strikes the right balance of including details and side plots that reinforce the period without taking the focus away from Holling himself. One of the strongest of these is Mrs. Bigio’s relationship with Mai Thi. Mrs. Bigio is the school cook, whose husband is killed in action in Vietnam. Mai Thi is a Vietnamese student sponsored by the Catholic Relief Agency. Without spoiling the arc of their story, Schmidt handles both of their situations with delicacy and a commitment to genuine human emotions.

The New York Times observes that, “Mrs. Baker often seems too good to be true.” Though I understand the reaction here, I disagree. True to the novel’s perspective, Mrs. Baker is seen only through Holling’s eyes. Thus, as Holling’s experiences with Mrs. Baker develop, so does her portrayal in the book. The reviewer is certainly right to note that by the novel’s end, Mrs. Baker assumed almost unbelievable integrity. However, the reader must also recall that Mrs. Baker began the novel as Holling’s most feared and diabolical enemy— a characterization equally unbelievable. If Mickey Mantle’s treatment of Holling represents the fall of an idol, Mrs. Baker represents the rise of one. There are plenty of hints to the adult reader that Mrs. Baker is as flawed and human as anyone else (asking a thirteen year old to clean out a rat cage without supervising him? Rolling her eyes at students?) These, however, are not things that register with Holling; for Holling, what resonates about Mrs. Baker is that she is there for him time and again. Her seeming “too good to be true”, then, is appropriate when one considers Holling’s perspective.

What sets The Wednesday Wars apart from other historical novels that feature the same historical events is Holling’s unique position as a character coming of age, and Schmidt’s dedication to making that journey as authentic and relatable as possible. Holling is more than a lens through which the reader views history; his is a vehicle for the reader to experience for themselves the hard questions and realities of that time. The Wednesday Wars is outstanding historical fiction because it does more than simply represent a time period or show a boy growing up; it reveals the way in which these two things are inevitably intertwined, while still writing a hero universally human enough to resonate with young readers today.

GUACAMOLE: UN POEMA PARA COCINAR, by Jorge Argueta

Quick Facts:
- bilingual with full text in both English and Spanish
- a "cooking" poem
- 32 pages

“Guacamole” is a recipe poem written by Salvadoran poet Jorge Argueta. It is the third book in Argueta’s bilingual cooking poem series. His first two books, titled “Sopa de frijoles / Bean Soup”, and “Arroz con leche / Rice Pudding”, are structured similarly to “Guacamole. In all three, the poems’ verses span several pages, provide full text in both Spanish and English, and are accompanied by illustrations that enhance the text.

“Guacamole” is short, takes about seven to ten minutes to read aloud, and Mexican artist Margarita Sada’s accompanying oil-paint illustrations are as colorful and vibrant as the guacamole Argueta describes making. The illustrations are authentic in their depiction of the ingredients and materials needed throughout the poem, but use a much more round, cartoon feel when depicting everything else. By giving the family depicted a generic, light olive skin tone and brown hair, illustrator Sada remains true to the Spanish heritage that traditionally makes guacamole, while still making the book accessible to a wide variety of children reading and looking to see themselves in the illustrations:

One of the things I love about this book is that the title is the same in English and in Spanish: Guacamole. Thus, despite the poem being presented in two different languages, the finished product is one with which native speakers of either language can relate. Cooking is such a social part of families and culture that the idea of making food to bring one’s family together is one with which nearly all readers can identify. One of my favorite lines in "Guacamole" is when Argueta encourages this social aspect of cooking and tells the reader/cook to sing and dance as they taste, "because food tastes better / when you sing and dance." (Guacamole)

Because the poem is presented as a recipe rather than a more traditional story, there is a great deal of room for the reader to insert his or her own experience with cooking between the lines of the poem, and particularly of making guacamole. This can spark great discussion about why we cook for our families, who does the cooking, what ingredients we use, etc.

The language in “Guacamole” is, as one might expect, wonderfully poetic. Argueta describes the his ingredients in vivid language that really gets the reader hungry! For example:

“Sing to the salt
as you shake it
so that little spatters
of white drizzle
fall like rain on the green avocado.”
- "Guacamole"

The bottom line is that I suggest a visit to the grocery store before reading "Guacamole". The best way to read this book is like this:

THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM - 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis

Quick Facts:
- Newbery Honor Book
- Coretta Scott King Honor Book
- 224 pages

I had the strangest experience reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963. For the first fifty pages or so, I knew what was going to happen next. Exactly what would happen next. I knew, for example, that By would get his mouth stuck on ice in some way before he and Kenny even went outside. It wasn't that I remembered reading it before, it was more that I remembered experiencing the scene before. So while the text all felt new, the direction felt familiar.

My guess is that I began reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963 at some point in my childhood, and then never finished it for some reason. I say never finished it because the premonitions stopped after a while. But I think that it speaks to the power of author Christopher Paul Curtis' writing and of the characters he has created that even without finishing the book, such an impression was made that it lasted over nearly two decades.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963 is not a novel concerned with getting anywhere. Despite the trip indicated in the title, the first two-thirds of the book is spent focused on character development. The reader gets to know and to love narrator Kenny Watson, and to understand the complicated but loving dynamics of his family. By the time they finally set out on their trip, the  reader is left wondering what exactly is going to make this trip worth the title of the book. Those with prior knowledge of the historical events covered in the book are wondering how Curtis will do them justice with over half of his book nearly over already. The answer, for me, lies in Curtis' audience.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963 is a work of fiction. The goal of good fiction is not to tell the reader the facts of an event, but rather to make the reader feel an event as acutely as if they were there. In Curtis' case, he had another goal as well: to make the reader identify directly with the people affected by the tragedy he recounts. It is for this reason that he has the reader spend so much time with the Watsons at the beginning of the novel.

The Watsons are an African-American family, which is not something that matters much in the first part of the novel. Though there are mentions of segregation, and of the Civil Rights movement sweeping the nation, the focus is really on the Watsons as a familiar, loving family unit. By having the reader follow Kenny through his conflicts with By, his moral dilemma with his friend Rufus, and his observations of his parents, Curtis allows the reader (and particularly the child reader) to identify with Kenny as a child. Not as a distinctly African-American child, but as a child just like we once were. We see in his family shades of our own, and this is the purpose of the first two-thirds of The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963.

In Birmingham, the Watsons are witnesses to one of the most horrific events of the 1960s: the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. This is an event that younger readers may or may not have yet encountered in their studies, but one with which older students and adults are likely very familiar. The facts are heartbreaking. But the emotional impact of the event is made that much more acute when it occurs to characters with whom we've spent nearly 180 pages identifying. The reader's reaction becomes necessarily much more personal.

Had Curtis focused his novel more on the details of the bombing, had he used his characters functionally more as eyes into the event, the reader would likely learn more of the facts of what occurred that day. But by making his characters instead souls with whom the reader empathizes, Curtis drives home the emotional impact of that day: that bomb killed little girls. Daughters. Sisters. Friends. People we've come to know and love were threatened, for a reason as arbitrary as the color of their skin. By the time you reach this point in the book, you can't help but feel your heart race for Kenny's sister Joey, even if you do know the historical facts. It is this that makes The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963 so powerful. 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham- 1963 was made into a tv movie in 2013. There are suggestions in the trailer below that the film places more emphasis on the Civil Rights Movement and awareness of segregation. I can't comment on the appropriateness of this choice (if indeed that is the direction the film makers went), as film is an entirely different medium and I have not yet seen the full movie. However, I do think that in terms of his novel, Curtis made the right storytelling choice: to give children an experience of injustice, rather than another history lesson.

BLACK ELK'S VISION: A Lakota Story, by S.D. Nelson

Quick Facts:
- 56 pages
- Illustrated by author, S.D. Nelson

"Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story" is a narrative biography of the life of Black Elk, a Lakota Sioux leader who lived from 1863-1950. Black Elk witnessed and survived the forced relocation of his people, and became well-known to the American public upon the 1932 release of Black Elk Speaks: being the life story of a holy man of the Oglala Sioux, by John Neihardt. 

S.D. Nelson, who authored and illustrated "Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story", is a well-respected Lakota Sioux artist and writer. He describes Black Elk's vision (which becomes a metaphor for the man's life) as, "uniquely Native American, filled with images of painted horses, rabbits, deer and rumbling Thunder Beings." However, Nelson then counters this with an observation into how, "what he witnesses speaks to something fundamental in the human experience- the universal quest to connect with the all-encompassing force that is the Great Mystery."

Thus this is a story told by a voice authentic to its topic, and which strives to be at once distinctly Native American and also universal in the applicability of the questions it asks. I believe it succeeds.

Nelson's illustrations are done with careful attention to traditional Lakota Sioux artwork. Compare the following artwork:

Traditional Lakota Sioux pictorial muslin.

Illustration from "Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story", by S.D. Nelson

Notice how Nelson draws on the same colors used in the traditional art: reds, blues, browns and goldens. He draws the horses long, legs outstretched, with warriors on their backs at near ninety-degree angles. The background of the image is the same light, brownish-tan it would be if it were on muslin or animal hide.

And yet, Nelson also brings a more intimate, and more contemporary feel to his illustration. The images are larger, and closer together, so that much less of the canvas is visible. The colors are brighter, more vibrant, and he adds detail that adds visual interest (like the painting of the horses). All of these contribute to making Nelson's heritage more accessible to the reader.

Additionally,  Nelson makes the decision to spell Lakota words phonetically. For example, the Lakota word "Wasichu" ("White Man") is spelled through out the book "Wha-shi-choo". Clarifying the three-syllable pronunciation in this way makes the word one that native English readers can say with confidence, and minimizes the cultural distance created when readers encounter language they are not sure how to navigate. 

Though Nelson created a great deal of artwork for this book, he made an excellent decision to include alongside his art photos of the times and of the people discussed in the book. This not only serves to remind the reader that despite the narrative form of the text and the gorgeous illustrations, the events Black Elk recounts were very real and had terrible repercussions. 

In terms of reader age, I believe this book is most appropriate for upper elementary and middle school, because of the themes addressed and the complexity of the writing, Younger students simply don't have the background knowledge or experience for the significance of events like Little Bighorn to register, or for the connection between Black Elk's vision and reality to resonate. Though the text is straightforward, with few tricky grammatical structures, there is a lot of it and it is dense with information:

"Black Elk's Vision: A Lakota Story" is a beautiful book that brings alive the experience of the Lakota Sioux at the turn of the century. Too, it is a Native American story told by an authentic Native American voice, and so is all the more valuable for its perspective.

YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO BE SIR ISAAC NEWTON!: A Lonely Life You'd Rather Not Lead, by Ian Graham

Quick Facts:
- illustrated by David Antram
- part of series (You Wouldn't Want to Be . . .)
- 32 pages

"You Wouldn't Want to Be Sir Isaac Newton!: A Lonely Life You'd Rather Not Lead" is part of a series of informational books for children, all of which utilize the device (and titular structure): You Wouldn't Want to Be . . . 

Overall, this is a fun, informational book with a structure entertaining and accessible to children. Simple sentence structure, amusing illustrations, and careful page layout make it developmentally a very appropriate text for mid to upper-elementary students. It includes a table of contents, glossary and index, which makes more easily navigable.

The illustrations lend a great deal of humor and accessibility to the test, while also supporting the information presented in the text:

Though the cartoon is funny, it also reflects the information immediately preceding it: that Isaac Newton's father died before his birth and so he had only his mother, and that he was raised in a manor house. The layout of multiple picture with accompanying text keeps the reader engaged while also moving the story along chronologically:

You'll note that the events depicted move chronologically from top to bottom, through the early years of Isaac Newton's childhood. 

I do, however, have one major reservation about this book. The "You Wouldn't Want to Be . . . " series covers everything from more general subjects (like "You Wouldn't Want to Be A Pirate's Prisoner: Horrible Things You'd Rather Not Know") to specific biographies, like this one on Isaac Newton. The signature device of the series is that they directly address the reader to inform on the lesser-known, often grosser and more outrageous facts of a given topic. This works very well for subjects like pirates, where the "gross-out" factor is actually kind of fascinating, and makes the book a funnier read. With biographies, however, this device words less well.

In this biography of Isaac Newton, the outrageous facts highlighted are things like the personal tragedy of his upbringing (no father, and a mother that abandoned him at a young age) and his individual demons (like battling depression). These do not have a humorous effect, though they certainly support the titular statement. Consider the following:

"YOU ARE a remarkable person, but you have trouble getting along with other people. your obsessions quarrels, and secrets make you lonely and unhappy."
- "You Wouldn't Want to Be Sir Isaac Newton!: A Lonely Life You'd Rather Not Lead", page 5

I take issue with information presented like this. It's one thing to present factually the ups and downs of Newton's life. It's another to spend the book reinforcing the title: "A Lonely Life You'd Rather Not Lead". This suggest that the hardships and lows in Newton's life were not worth the successes. This is a very dangerous message to send to children, who are the book's target audience. Greatness in any field requires hard work and sacrifice, but that does not mean that we should not strive for it.

NURSERY TALES AROUND THE WORLD, by Judy Sierra

Quick Facts:
- collection of diverse folk stories
- 128 pages

Nursery Tales Around the World, selected and retold by Judy Sierra, is a collection of traditionally oral folktales from around the world, organized by theme and/or storyline. Sierra explains in the introduction that her focus when making the selections for this collection was on stories strong in rhythm, rhyme and/or repetition, as they are "tailored to children's developing memory and imagination and to their unique way of viewing the world." (Nursery Tales Around the World, xi)

Thus, by design, these are stories that reward those who read them aloud. One section particularly demonstrative of this is the "Runaway Cookies" section. In the Norwegian folktale "The Pancake", the following exchange takes place as children watch their mother making a pancake:

"Oh, give me a bit of pancake, Mother dear," said one of the children.
"Oh, darling Mother," said the second child.
"Oh, darling, good Mother," said the third.
"Oh, darling, good, nice Mother," said the fourth.
"Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice Mother," said the fifth.
"Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice, clever Mother," said the sixth.
"Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice, clever, sweet Mother," said the seventh."
- Nursery Tales Around the World, page 11

Not only does this passage play with rhythm and repetition, but each child's addition of a new adjective reflects a child's growing awareness of language. Children discovering the power of adjectives will likely find this passage quite funny, and identify with the speakers' implication that they will be chosen for the prize if they choose the best adjective to contribute. Sierra introduces each section with a short author's note about the stories included. In the note accompanying the "Chain Tales" section, she specifically cautions parents to resist the temptation to skip the repetition in the stories, as "young children love it, and will soon begin repeating the chains along with you." (Nursery Tales Around the World, page 57)

I was concerned, at first, that having traditional stories for each of the five identified story types would ultimately mean that the book contained only five truly distinct stories, that the story type would be more distinctive than the tales themselves. Though Sierra groups stories with a clear thematic link, her selections are distinct enough to stand out from the others in their grouping. For example, within the "Incredible Appetites" section, she includes first what is essentially a poem ("I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly"), then a tale that revolves around a father and a son ("The Boy Who Tried to Fool His Father"), and finally a story about a cat so arrogant he can't stop eating ("The Cat and the Parrot"). Each of these involves extraordinary feats of consumption that grow more incredible as the tale goes on, but each is also very distinct from the others, keeping the reader from feeling as though they are reading the same story over and over. For young readers, this is likely a strength of the book, as it helps them identify story patterns.

Sierra identifies at the start of each story its country of origin, and Stefano Vitale's illustrations help give evoke the culture of each contributing culture while still giving the book as a whole a "folk tradition" feel.  Compare, for example, the following illustrations that appear at the start of "The Boy Who Tried to Fool his Father" (Zaire) and "The Cat and the Parrot" (India):

"The Cat and the Parrot"

"The Boy Who Tried to Fool His Father"

"The Boy Who Tried to Fool His Father" is from Zaire, Africa, and Vitale's use of muted colors and a wall-carving style evokes art from Zaire (see left image below). Meanwhile, the rich red, greens and purples of "The Cat and the Parrot" suggest traditional Indian artwork:

Painting of Hindu deity Ganesh.

Carved mask from Zaire, Africa

Sierra includes both a bibliography and a note on her sources for and retelling of each tale. Where she chose to retell parts of a story, she notes that her choices in retelling were primarily prompted by poor transcriptions of oral tellings or "awkward" rewrites of the tale that detracted from the storytelling.

Nursery Tales Around the World is a well-researched, well-written, and well-organized collection of both familiar and new folk tales that will entertain both children and adults.

But do yourself (and Judy Sierra!) a favor: read them aloud. Keep their oral tradition alive.

DARK EMPEROR & OTHER POEMS OF THE NIGHT, by Joyce Sidman

Quick Facts:
- illustrated by Rick Allen
- poetry
- collection
- Newbery Honor Book

"Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night" is a collection of poems linked by the theme of what happens in nature after the sun goes down. The poems are organized in a natural progression, beginning (appropriately) with "Welcome to the Night" and ending with "Moon's Lament", which reflects the moons feelings about the coming dawn.

Despite their strong thematic link, each poem is distinct and self-contained enough to be enjoyed on its own. The effect of this is that the poems complement one another, rather than relying on one another. You can enjoy "Night-Spider's Advice", for example, completely on it's own. But you see it in a different light once you've read "Cricket Speaks", simply for the way in which you can imagine these two perspectives might be at sometimes fatal odds.

One of the most interesting choices author Joyce Sidman makes is to include an informational blurb with each poem, printed on the page opposite the poem. This information actually serves to support and deepen the reader's understanding of the poem, while also providing a teaching moment about nature. For example, on page 8 the poem "Snail at Moonrise" refers to a snail as "shell-maker". The informational blurb on page 9 then elaborates on this, telling the reader that young snails produce a special material that helps them add layers to their shells as they grow. By focusing the informational blurb to what is relevant to the poem, Sidman not only provides support for understanding her poems, but encourages the reader to be active in their reading of her poetry.

"Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night" contains many different poetry styles, each poem playing with rhyme, rhythm and sounds in different ways. For example, consider this portion of one of my favorite poems, "Ballad of the Wandering Eft":

"Come all you young efts,
so brave and so bold,
and don the bright colors
of scarlet and gold.

Step out from your puddles
to breathe the sweet air
and wander the woodlands
with hardly a care.

     For it's wild and it's windy
    way out in the woods,
    where the moss grows like candy
    and the hunting is good,
    where the rain falls from heaven
       and mud's underfoot
    It's wild and it's windy
    way out in the woods.
- "Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night", page 24

As is typical with ballads, it has a repeating verse (the italicized one), and uses consistent syllable patterns and rhyme to create a rhythmic flow to the poem. The poem is structured symmetrically: verse, verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus.

Now consider "Dark Emperor". Along with having no rhyming pattern or syllabic consistency, "Dark Emperor" plays with words in a wholly different way:

The poem looks like an owl! The final verse, which references a "tiny hiccup" when considering the owl's predatory prowess looks (in contrast and placement) like a small animal about to become the owl's prey. This diversity in poetic style and structure makes "Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night" an excellent introduction for students to the variety of forms poetry assumes.

Finally, Rick Allen's woodcut illustrations are appropriate and support the poems not only by highlighting both the grit and beauty of nature, but by using the play of darkness against light in a way suggestive of the moon glinting through leaves:

These images support the sense that the poems give the reader of glimpsing into a familiar and yet unknown world, the effect of the woodcut style and the play with light rendering familiar images more complex then we are used to seeing them.