children's books: telling our stories

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Children's Books: Telling Our Stories Author(s): Kathy G. Short, Kathryn Mitchell Pierce, Kathleen Crawford, Caryl Crowell, Gloria Kauffman, Barbara Peterson, LaFon Phillips and Jean Schroeder Source: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 47, No. 5 (Feb., 1994), pp. 404-415 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20201276 . Accessed: 25/06/2014 01:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Wiley and International Reading Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Reading Teacher. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.34.78.81 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 01:56:05 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

Children's Books: Telling Our StoriesAuthor(s): Kathy G. Short, Kathryn Mitchell Pierce, Kathleen Crawford, Caryl Crowell,Gloria Kauffman, Barbara Peterson, LaFon Phillips and Jean SchroederSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 47, No. 5 (Feb., 1994), pp. 404-415Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20201276 .

Accessed: 25/06/2014 01:56

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Wiley and International Reading Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Reading Teacher.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.34.78.81 on Wed, 25 Jun 2014 01:56:05 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

CHILDREN'S BOOKS Editors: Kathy G. Short, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

Kathryn Mitchell Pierce, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and School District of

Clayton, Missouri, USA

Coauthors: Kathleen Crawford, Caryl Crowell, Gloria Kauffman, Barbara Peterson, LaFon Phillips, Jean Sehroeder, Tucson Unified School District, USA Cyndi Giorgis, University of Arizona, USA Kathy G. Short

Telling our stories

Stories are essential to making sense

of our experiences. It is through creat

ing stories that we are able to under

stand and learn from our experiences and share and compare them with the

stories of others. These stories become the framework for how we interpret and construct our understandings of the world. Our need for story is uni

versal, although the particular form of

storytelling varies from culture to

culture.

In this column, we celebrate the role of story in the lives of children

through literature about family stories, memoirs, biographies, and the autobi

ographies of authors and illustrators who write children's books. Some of these books highlight the different

ways we make and share stories with

others, including language, art, music, dance, and mathematics. We have also included recent books on slavery and the Holocaust that contain the actual life stories and words of people involved in those events. These books create a powerful context for children to use story to understand their own

lives as well as the lives and worlds of other people.

Passing on family stories The stories that family members tell

each other about past and present gen erations create a rich heritage and sense of history and place for children.

Family get-togethers are often the occasion for "remember when" sto

ries as family members share their

experiences and values through story

telling. When Stella and Zelda visit their grandma, their first request is for

her to tell them a story. In When

Grandma Almost Fell Off the

Mountain, & Other Stories, written

by Barbara Ann Porte and illustrated

by Maxie Chambliss, Grandma is full

of amusing stories about the trip she

and her sister took to Florida when she was just their age. In several class

rooms, this family story served as an

invitation for children to interview

family members to collect their own

family memories for oral storytelling and written publications.

Several other family stories empha size cycles of life and traditions that

will continue to be passed on to future

generations. This Quiet Lady, written

by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated

by Anita Lobel, looks through a young

girl's eyes as she tells her mother's own history from family photographs. The Promise, written by Tony Johnston and illustrated in warm pas tel colors by Pamela Keavney, focuses on a girl's fascination with cattle. As

she helps her neighbor deliver a calf

late one night, he tells her a story that includes a long-ago promise which

will fulfill her own secret wish.

Storytelling was a tradition in Susan Lowell's family, one which she con

tinues in her new novel, / Am Lavina

Cumming. This chapter book is based

upon the life of Lowell's grandmother,

who was born on a ranch in the Arizona territory in the late 1800s and sent alone on a train to Santa Cruz,

California, following her mother's death. Anyone who has ever moved to a new place will identify with Lavina's struggles to adapt to a differ ent lifestyle while clinging desperately to her own independent nature.

Throughout the book, Lowell has found opportunities to continue the

family storytelling tradition, weaving in stories about her great-grandfather and other family members, as well as

popular legends of the time. David Williams also grew up listen

ing to his grandmother's stories. In Grandma Essie's Covered Wagon, he has "shaped and arranged" his grand

mother's words to tell one of her favorite stories about crossing Kansas and Missouri in a covered wagon. The soft full-page oil paintings by Wiktor Sadowski capture the many moods of

the story as the family moves from

place to place trying to make a life for themselves.

Eleanora T?te immediately brings the reader into an intimate family gathering in Front Porch Stories at

the One-Room School as Matthew J. Cornelius Carson tells stories about

attending a one-room school and

growing up in Nutbrush, Missouri.

This collection of stories, sprinkled with pencil drawings by Eric

Velasquez, varies from funny to scary and sad, such as when Ethel tells a

404 The Reading Teacher Vol. 47, No. 5 February 1994 ?international Reading Association oo34-o56i/94/us$i.25+.oo

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Page 3: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

Telling our stories web

Books about

bookmaking

Children's authors and illustrators tell their stories

Passing on

family stories

Celebrating the stories of American Presidents

Telling our stories

through art, music, mathematics, and

dance

Children's stories from around the world

Telling stories about

slavery, oppression, and resistance

Telling stories about racism and the Holocaust

"once upon a time" story of her momma and how she wishes life could be. This superbly written short chapter book is a perfect read-aloud for chil dren of all ages. The storytelling tradi tion is kept alive in this heartwarming collection that celebrates family, friendship, and childhood.

Nicki Weiss's Stone Men was a big hit with 9 year olds, who liked the col orful pastel illustrations and theme of the weak outwitting the powerful. The

picture book opens with Arnie asking his grandmother to tell him a new

story, one she has never told before. She whisks him away to czarist Russia where Isaac, a poor peddler, has the

peculiar habit of building stone men to

keep from being lonely on his long travels. When he overhears soldiers

bragging about their plans to pillage Bruria the next morning, he uses his wits and his stone men to trick them into believing that the village is pro tected by its own army.

In My Name Is Maria Isabel, Alma Flor Ada makes the point that names are another way families tell their sto ries and connect children to their cul tural heritage. When 9-year-old Maria Isabel Salazar Lopez attends a new

school, her teacher renames her

"Mary" because there are already two other Marias in the class. For Maria, this name change is a rejection of her

Puerto Rican heritage, and she has dif

ficulty remembering to respond to

"Mary" when the teacher calls on her.

Although the story is too easily resolved, this short chapter book sends an important message about cultural

sensitivity in the classroom.

Children's authors and

illustrators tell their stories

Through authors' autobiographies, readers realize that books are written

by people, not machines, and discover the close relationship of authors' lives to their writing. Children also begin to see how their own lives can become the basis for their writing. Four books in the author autobiography series

published by Julian Messner provide such examples. Readers of Laurence

Yep's novels were intrigued by the

people and episodes from Yep's life that were integrated into his books. In

The Lost Garden, Yep tells of search

ing for his own identity while being raised largely in mainstream American

culture with strong influence from his Chinese heritage. Through Yep's warm, wry, and often humorous writ

ing, readers gain insight into the prob lems and joys associated with belong ing to two cultures.

Yoshiko Uchida discusses the blend of Japanese and American cultures in her autobiography, The Invisible Thread. In her thought-provoking story, Uchida recounts her experiences during World War II in the Japanese

American relocation camp on which

her novel, Journey to Topaz, and other sequels are based. Uchida uses

frequent dialogue and occasional figu rative language in her well-written

story of inhumanity to others. This is not a complete picture of the author's life but the story of the contrast between her innocent early years and those spent in internment.

In Richard Peck's autobiography, Anonymously Yours, he tells of his Midwestern upbringing, time spent in

the army, teaching career, and devel

opment as a writer. Peck freely uses

excerpts from his books, and readers familiar with his novels will recognize people and events that have been woven into Peck's fictional stories.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS 405

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Page 4: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

Tips for aspiring writers are included. On the first page-of Betsy Byars's

autobiography, The Moon and I, read ers are introduced to Moon, a large black snake that Byars encounters one

day while writing. Byars effectively uses the snake as a vehicle in talking about her childhood, the writing process, and herself. She also weaves

various facts about snakes throughout her story. In this humorous and imag inative book, readers encounter a

witty, conversational style that is rem

iniscent of Byars's fictional novels. All four autobiographies mentioned

above are illustrated with black-and white photographs that add to the

enjoyment of the text. Jerry Spinelli and Nicholasa Mohr are slated to be next in this wonderful series on chil

dren's authors. Other recently pub lished books include the autobiogra

phy of children's illustrator Ted

Lewin, Ted Lewin: I Was a Teenage

Professional Wrestler-, a detailed

biography of Johnny Gruelle: Creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy by Patricia Hall; and The Monster

Factory, by Richard Rainey, about the

life stories of the creators of monsters

such as Frankenstein and Dracula.

One way in which we have used these

books is to read an autobiography aloud to the class as they engage in

small group discussions of that

author's novels.

There have been several books about Zora Neale Hurston recently published, but A.P. Porter's Jump at

de Sun: The Story of Zora Neale Hurston is one of the best. Written for a younger audience than Mary

Lyons's Sorrow's Kitchen, the story

telling style of Porter's writing cap tures the flavor of Zora Neale

Hurston's eventful life?creative,

abrasive, and contradictory?while telling of her rejection by her father

and her unhappy adolescence. Well

placed photographs extend the text

and put faces with the many names of

individuals in this short chapter book. Porter uses Hurston's own words and

includes a foreword by Hurston's

niece to add a family dimension. Also included are author notes, a bibliogra

phy, and an index. Richard C. Owen publishes a series

of picture book autobiographies by

authors who give young children the

opportunity to find out firsthand what

it is like to be an author. This series is illustrated with color photographs that

help young readers see their favorite authors as real people. In The Writing

Bug, Lee Bennett Hopkins talks about how he began as a writer for teachers.

Verna Aardema describes her secret room in the cedar swamp where she

thought up stories as a child in A

Bookworm Who Hatched. Nine-year old CJ. was impressed with Verna's

lifelong ability to avoid doing the dishes! Jean Fritz relates her love for

exploring and the fact that she leaves

manuscripts in the refrigerator for

safekeeping in Surprising Myself Earlier autobiographies in this series

include Cynthia Rylant's Best Wishes, Jane Yolen's A Letter from Phoenix

Farm, and Rafe Martin's A

Storyteller's Story. With these

glimpses into their lives, the authors

bring more meaning to their books for children.

Speak!, edited by Michael Rosen,

provides readers with another perspec tive on their favorite illustrators.

Compiled to benefit The Company of Animals Fund, 43 illustrators have

contributed an illustration and brief

anecdote about their humorous and

sometimes heroic canine pals. Contributors range from Lane Smith to Steven Kellogg. This delightful book will encourage children to tell stories about their own pets.

Authors often use people and inci dents from their lives to create fiction al stories. In Tom, Tomie de Paola uses childhood memories to create a

simple yet touching story about the close relationship between Tommy and his namesake grandfather, Tom.

Every Sunday, Tom and Tommy read

the comics together, clean the furnace, visit the puppies next door, or "just sit

outside the cellar door and talk." They even enjoy playing practical jokes with discarded chicken parts. (Tom is a butcher.) Readers immediately rec

ognized and applauded de Paola's

familiar watercolor illustrations. Donald Crews relates one of his

childhood experiences in Shortcut. Even though they had been told to stay off the train tracks, seven children decide to take a shortcut home. The

reader gets an indication that trouble is not far away when the scene begins to

darken and the approaching train light creates a sense of impending doom.

Fortunately, the children jump off the tracks moments before the train rum

bles by, leading young readers to

breathe a sigh of relief. Five double

paged spreads follow, with a few illus trations slightly out of focus to indi cate motion. The contrast of the cartoonlike characters against the smooth renderings of the train and

scenery enhances the feeling of the children being in the wrong place at

the wrong time. Emily, age 8, stated, "This book is exciting and the pictures tell the story as much as the words."

Other children agreed and thought the train sounds made them feel as if they

were really there.

Trumpet Book Club has produced several videos that focus on individual authors. One such video, Trumpet Club Visits Donald Crews, provides students with additional information about the author/illustrator and his work and takes them on a journey to

his grandfather's farm where the story occurred. Other videos in this series are on authors such as Mem Fox and

Gary Paulson. Daniel Pinkwater keeps readers

guessing what could possibly happen next in his picture book Author's Day. He creates an outrageously funny situ ation when an entire elementary

school prepares for the visit of the "famous author, Bramwell Wink

Porter," but read a book written by a

different author. Although Mr. Wink Porter points this out, all choose to

deem it an insignificant tidbit of infor mation and carry on with their plans. Eight-year-old Branden said, "I think

these things really happened to him

(Daniel Pinkwater). He just had to fill in the gaps." This book is a good example of what not to do when the next celebrity arrives at school!

A fictional encounter between a

young girl and poet Emily Dickinson is depicted in Emily by Michael

Bedard. Soon after a young girl and her family move into the neighbor hood, mother receives a note asking the girl to play the piano for "the

Myth" as Dickinson is referred to by the neighborhood. The first meeting

406 The Reading Teacher Vol. 47, No. 5 February 1994

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Page 5: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

and the special gifts exchanged between the girl and the poet are described in a frequently lyrical text.

Cooney's wonderful oil paintings cre ate a sense of time and place. For

younger children, this picture book

provides an introduction to Emily Dickinson, while older children gain an understanding of the poet's odd behavior.

Books about bookmaking In order for authors and illustrators

to tell their stories, they must take them through the publication process.

Leonard Everett Fisher has made an

important contribution to children's

understandings about bookmaking with Gutenberg. This biography tells what is known of Gutenberg's life and career, focusing on his invention of the printing press. A page from the 1455 Gutenberg Bible, a chronology

of Gutenberg's life, and a map of

Germany are included at the front of the book. An endnote emphasizes the

impact of the movable letters and

press on modern life. Henry, age 8, said, "The black and white illustra tions help show the times because they didn't have color for printing." A new

Eyewitness book, Book by Karen

Brookfield, provides additional infor mation and photographs on the history of writing, printing, and books.

In A Book Takes Root: The

Making of a Picture Book by Michael

Kehoe, children are able to follow the

process of making a book from a tiny seed in the author's mind to the fin ished book being read by children.

Although the entire process of creating the book is included, the major focus is on the publishing company and the

work done by designers, typesetters, and printers rather than on the writing and illustrating processes of the author and illustrator.

Telling our stories through art, music, mathematics, and dance

There are many ways in which we

can make and share our stories with others in addition to oral and written

language. Since the beginning of human history, people have been

telling powerful stories through art,

by Michael Bedard pictures by Baifcai^ Cooney

From Emily by Michael Bedard, jacket illustration copyright? 1992 by Barbara

Cooney. Reprinted by permission of Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

music, dance, and mathematics.

Through recent biographies, children are learning about the lives of these

storytellers and their diverse ways of

creating stories for others. Musicians tell stories about their

lives and worlds through musical com

positions. Kathleen Krull has selected 20 famous musicians in her book

Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (And What the Neighbors Thought), a title that prepares readers for this humorous, eclectic, and highly informative collection. Kathryn

Hewitt paints lively watercolor carica tures of each musician, two of whom are women. In these three- to four

page biographies, children learn about musicians' phobias, obsessions, bad

habits, and what they wore and ate.

Steven, age 10, stated, "I like it because it has a lot of passion in it." The musicians range from Vivaldi, Mozart, and Claire Schubert to

Gershwin, Gilbert and Sullivan, and

Woody Guthrie. Included is a list of musical terms as well as a list for fur ther reading and listening.

In Claude Debussy by Wendy Thompson, readers discover

Debussy's creative genius and the

originality of his music by following his life story during the late 19th and

early 20th centuries. Each section in this picture book is highlighted with a

timeline of family photographs, art

work of the era, original musical scores of the composer, and lists of his

work. Listening to Debussy's popular "Clair de Lune" during a reading of the book drew children into this com

poser's story. This book is part of the

Composer's World series that also includes books on Beethoven, Haydn,

Mozart, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky. Alvin Ailey changed the field of

modem dance by exploring new ways to use dance to tell his stories about

African-American experiences. Brian

Pinkney uses his vibrant, flowing scratchboard illustrations to capture the moods and rhythms in this inter

estingly written picture book biogra phy by Andrea Davis Pinkney. The

story follows Ailey from childhood

through his adult triumphs in the

CHILDREN'S BOOKS 407

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Page 6: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

world of dance. Mathematics is another way we cre

ate and communicate meaning to oth ers. Carl Sandburg's famous poem,

Arithmetic, explores the many ways in

which mathematics offers us new

ways of looking at the world and chal

lenges our minds and imaginations. Ted Rand has used anamorphic images to transform this poem into an

adventure for readers. Using the mylar sheet provided in a front pocket of the

book, readers play with the distorted

images in the illustrations. Information on how children can create their own

anamorphic pictures is included at the

end of the book. Four pioneering women artists who

tell their stories through various forms of art are presented in Leslie Sills's Visions: Stories About Women Artists. Readers learn about the great risk Mary Cassatt took by joining the radical artists of her time, the

Impressionists. Leonora Carrington, influenced by myths, legends, and

fairytales, explores the unknown in

her surrealistic paintings. Betye Saar creates work charged with spiritual power that celebrates the unity of all

people. Mary Frank "takes the spirit of life and transforms it into life."

Although their lives and visions are

different, these women share a com

mitment to art and a belief in the

human spirit. Each section is interwo ven with photographs of the artist

along with pictures of her artwork. A

list of the artwork's title, media used, exact size, and location is included in the index. Another series, Robyn

Montana Turner's Portraits of Women Artists for Children, includes a picture book biography of Mary Cassatt.

Rosabianca Skira-Venturi takes readers on A Weekend with Leonardo

Da Vinci as they tour his rooms at the castle of Amboise and learn about his

inventions and ideas. The text is told from two perspectives, first person

through the artist's eyes and third per son as "it talks about the pictures and

explains them" (Hillary, age 10). Full color reproductions and photographs are skillfully interwoven into this

book, part of the Weekend series. In Looking at Paintings: Self

Portraits, readers are able to use a

painter's lens to see a bit of their lives

and imagination. Peggy Roalf leads readers through a gallery of 19 artists'

self-portraits, including Vincent van

Gogh, Renoir, Marc Chagall, and Frida Kahlo, to learn about how these artists interpret their world through a

diversity of styles and techniques. Included is a glossary and index of the terms as well as credits of each paint ing consisting of media, size, and location. Looking at Paintings is a

series that presents many artists' views

of subjects such as families, dancers, children, horses, and cats.

In Stitching Stars, Mary Lyons writes about the life of Harriet Powers, who created her stories through quilts. Born and raised in slavery, Harriet became talented with needle and thread out of necessity. Although quilts were a staple of life during these

times, Harriet took quilting to new

levels with her creative story quilts. Since there is little information avail

able about her youth, the author makes

realistic assumptions about her

lifestyle, emphasizing how central

quilts were to survival. The story

quilts are photographed in whole and

then panel by panel with each story

explained. This book is part of a

series, African-American Artists and

Artisans, which also includes another book by Mary Lyons, Starting Home, about the difficult life of artist Horace

Pippin.

Telling stories about slavery,

oppression, and resistance

Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth are just a few of the strong and brave individuals who tell their stories of a period in U.S. his

tory when the human rights of an entire

group of people were violated. Some of the most powerful books we have received in the last several months are

stories, often told in the words of slaves, about slavery and those who actively resisted its oppression and inhumanity.

Patricia and Fredrick McKissack have written a stirring biography, Sojourner Truth: Ainyt I a Woman?, in which they have woven excerpts from Sojourner Truth's speeches, let

ters, and songs. Primary sources such as a handwritten bill of sale, posters of

runaway slaves, and lecture handbills are included along with portraits, pho

tographs, and pen and ink illustrations.

Sojourner Truth constantly fought for freedom for herself and her children as

well as the rights of African

Where to send books or comments

Children's Books presents reviews, recommended uses, and curriculum connec

tions for recently published trade books for children. Materials reviewed in

Children's Books are in no way advocated or endorsed by RT or the International

Reading Association. Opinions expressed are those of the department editors or

reviewers. Send questions, comments, or suggestions to Kathy Short,

Department of Language, Reading, and Culture, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.

Editorial board for Children's Books column

In Tucson, Arizona:

KATHLEEN CRAWFORD, Maldonado Elementary School; CARYL CROWELL, Bort?n Primary Magnet School; CYNDI GIORGIS, University of Arizona; GLORIA KAUFFMAN, Maldonado Elementary School; BARBARA

PETERSON, Tully Elementary School; LAFON PHILLIPS, Schumaker

Elementary School; JEAN SCHROEDER, Cragin Elementary School.

In Missouri: BEVERLY BOGNAR, Meramec Heights Elementary School, Arnold; CONNIE

BURKE, McKinley Elementary School, St. Louis; PHYLLIS COOK, St. Peters

Elementary School, St. Peters; TONYA DIX, Wren Hollow Elementary School, Ballwin; MARGARET SCORDIAS, Meramec Elementary School, Clayton; CINDY SEARCY, University of Missouri-St. Louis; JOAN VON DRAS, Wren Hollow Elementary School, Ballwin; MARIE WOODMAN, Central Elementary School, St. Charles.

408 The Reading Teacher Vol. 47, No. 5 February 1994

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Page 7: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

Americans and all women as she went from meeting to meeting telling her

story. This chapter book concludes by pulling together her relationships to other abolitionists through short accounts of the people who worked

alongside Sojourner Truth in her fight for social reform.

In a vivid first person narrative about the harshness of slave life,

From Slave to Abolitionist: The Life of William Wells Brown, Lucille

Schulberg Warner has adapted the

original writings of William Wells Brown. "Some Whites thought that Black people weren't people because of their color. The Blacks were good.

Why do bad things always happen to

good people?" (Rudy, age 11). David Adler's A Picture Book of Frederick

Douglass gives a solid account of another escaped slave, abolitionist, orator, and author. "He put his life in

danger to rescue others. He was able to do what he wanted to do" (Renee, age 11). The text is supported by Samuel Byrd's detailed paintings of the people and events that influenced

Frederick Douglass. Many individuals and groups of

people risked their lives to end slav

ery. Gwen Everett highlights the

shocking 1859 raid of Harpers Ferry by John Brown, an extremist and

fanatic, in John Brown: One Man

Against Slavery. "I thank John Brown for risking his life for people not his own color. He believed slaves had the

right to live. I don't think it is right to

buy slaves. People are not for money" (Amber, age 11). Jacob Lawrence cap tures the essence of the human condi

tion, piety, violence, and tragedy with his bold use of colors, striking pat terns, and strong sense of design.

In her short chapter book, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Celia Bland takes readers through the events that led Stowe to write Uncle Tom's Cabin in order to expose the cruelty and injus tice of slavery. Accompanying the

biography are photographic collec

tions, paintings and other historical

markers, and a timeline of her life.

"Women, especially Black women, were very strong, and they tried to

change things, even though it was hard" (Arthur, age 11).

The first African Americans were

brought to America in chains, but they found ingenious ways to escape. No one knows how many slaves escaped or how many people tried to help that trek to freedom. What did survive,

though, are hundreds of stories of

flight along the Underground Railroad, the organized network of

people and places that helped the slaves to freedom. A beautiful picture book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom

Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson, tells of

young Clara, a seamstress in the big house who collects stories and sews the paths of the routes of the

Underground Railroad into a quilt. "Slaves were not allowed to be edu cated. Clara teaches herself through listening and creates a quilt map for herself and her people to find free dom" (Amanda, age 11). When her

quilt is finished, Clara follows the path to freedom, leaving the quilt behind so that others might also follow the North Star to Canada. James Ransome, a descendant of slaves who lived on the Verona Plantation, captures the beauty and pain of slave life and the courage of a young girl in his full-page paint ings.

Faith Ringgold's fantasy picture book, Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky, follows Cassie as she retraces the steps taken by escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad.

The bold, primitive-style paintings add details and emotion. "The paintings are so real as you follow the hidden

bounty hunters all through the book and see the fear in the slaves' eyes" (Anthony, age 11). A map of the

Underground Railroad and some information on Harriet Tubman com

plete this book. In Faith Ringgold, Ringgold's own story as artist is told

by Robyn Montana Turner in the newest addition to her picture book series on women artists. She particu larly highlights Ringgold's creation of

story quilts that combine storytelling with vibrant paintings on quilted can vases.

Jim Haskins's Get On Board: The

Story of the Underground Railroad is a good informational accompaniment to these stories of slavery. The chap ters can be read in isolation, giving historical details of events and people during the early 1800s. "It was good to see that White people were also

A Picture Book of

Frederick Douglass David A. Acfler

From A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass by David A. Adler, copyright? 1993. Illustrated by Samuel Byrd. Used by permission of Holiday House, Inc.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS 409

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Page 8: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

good" (David, age 11). Haskins also wrote the introduction to Lift Every Voice and Sing, a song known as the African-American national anthem. This anthem, written by James

Weldon Johnson in 1900, is combined with some of Elizabeth Catlett's 1947 linocuts. Although the song and prints

were done separately, they come

together in a powerful statement about the hard life of African-American men

and women and their endurance

through strength and dignity. The Society of Friends, or Quakers,

believed everyone was equal and became involved in guiding runaways from state to state on their way to Canada. Marlene Targ Brill has writ ten an easy-to-read, short chapter

book, Allen Jay and the Under

ground Railroad, about an 11-year old Quaker boy who helps a runaway slave, Henry, to the next station of the

Underground Railroad. "Henry trusted Allen Jay on the outside but on the inside he was very afraid" (Travis, age 11). Janice Lee Porter's pencil crayon

drawings help create suspense and excitement as Allen Jay learns about his family's secret involvement in

helping runaways. An afterword tells how his adult life as a minister, teacher, and speaker was changed by this powerful encounter with injustice.

Elijah McCoy was bom in Canada to former slaves who escaped from

Kentucky through the Underground Railroad. Wendy Towle tells his story in The Real McCoy: The Life of an

African-American Inventor, a well

written picture book biography. McCoy, a mechanical engineer-inven

tor, patented more than 50 inventions in his lifetime. His superior design of an oil lubricating cup for locomotives

prompted train engineers to request "the real McCoy." In a foreword, the author discusses the possibility that this American expression, which has come to mean "the genuine article,"

may have originated at this time. Wil

Clay's dramatic acrylic paintings con

vey both the historical context and

impact of McCoy's inventions on modem day life.

Julius Lester's Long Journey Home is an outstanding collection of

short stories. This gifted storyteller has added details and characters to the

true stories of slaves, thus intensifying the human experience in each story as a means of teaching history. He says,

While it is necessary to know Tubman, Douglass, and Sojourner Truth, I prefer to think of the 'great figures' as individuals who embodied in their lives and actions the ethos of their times, and for that reason stand

out above the mass, the movers of

history.

Virginia Hamilton has also written a

book of powerful short stories about historical events and people, Many Thousand Gone: African Americans

from Slavery to Freedom. Leo and Diane Dillon's full black-and-white illustrations are both tender and brutal

ly honest. Fernando Pic? has produced an

excellent historical picture book on

slavery for Spanish readers, La

peineta colorada. Based on docu ments from the General Archives of Puerto Rico, Pic? weaves a story of

deception and courage surrounding the hunt for an escaped slave in the

mid-1800s. Vitita, with the advice of her community's respected sage, Rosa, outsmarts the slave hunter

through wit and personal sacrifice. With colorful illustrations by Maria Antonia Ordonez and a glossary that translates regional Puerto Rican dialect into more universal Spanish vocabulary, this book is a valuable contribution to historical fiction for

Spanish readers. Hopefully, it will soon be translated into English.

Telling stories about racism and

the Holocaust Several new titles dealing with

Holocaust themes through the lives and words of Holocaust survivors have been published to coincide with the opening of the new United States

Holocaust Memorial Museum in

Washington, DC. The voice of Anne Frank has become well known through her diary about her life in hiding. Several new books provide additional information for children who want to understand more about the person behind that voice. In Anne Frank, Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance, Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven have included over 100 photographs taken by Anne's

father along with historical essays and

quotes from Anne's diary. This pow erful book begins with Anne's life before going into hiding and ends with

testimony from the last people to see

her alive in the camps. An additional historical source on Anne's life can be found in Johanna Hurwitz's short

biography, Anne Frank: Life in

Hiding, which has just been published in paperback.

For younger readers, David Adler's A Picture Book of Anne Frank pro vides a straightforward introduction to her story of courage and suffering. The primary-age children who read this book were captivated by Karen

Ritz's pencil sketches based on actual

photographs and the cutaway depic tion of 263 Prinsengracht and its secret rooms. Lisa, a 9 year old, asked, "Can I get a copy of Anne's diary at the library? Now I want to hear what she had to say about what was happen ing to her."

First person narratives are particu larly effective in bringing history alive for readers. In The Big Lie: A True

Story, Isabella Leitner, a Holocaust

survivor, relates her story for young readers. Her carefully chosen, but elo

quent prose delicately reveals the hor rors of Nazi anti-Semitism and con

centration camps to children who may never have heard about this period of

history. In short chapters, Leitner describes the Nazi occupation of her small Hungarian town and her subse

quent deportation to Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazi death

camps. The descriptions of camp sur vival are disturbing, but her story ends on a hopeful note as she and her sur

viving sisters arrive in America. Like Anne Frank, Nelly Toll kept a

diary while she was hidden in Poland. Toll's outstanding book, Behind the Secret Window: A Memoir of a

Hidden Childhood During World War Two, is her adult reflection on the

diaries, paintings, and memories she made as a child. For 13 months, 8

year-old Nelly wrote in her diary about the heartbreaking events she experi enced, her grief over the loss of family

members, and the day-to-day fears of life in hiding. In contrast, Toll's exu

berant, brightly colored watercolor

paintings, done to pass the time, por

410 The Reading Teacher Vol. 47, No. 5 February 1994

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Page 9: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

tray the life she could not have?out

ings with school friends, pets, and clear sunny days spent outdoors.

Adults and children alike were deeply touched by this poignant, compelling

memoir. Caryl, a teacher of 8 and 9

year olds, commented, "I couldn't put it down. I read it in one sitting, and

frequently, I needed a tissue." Two fictional works, one in

English, one in Spanish, but both told in first person, draw readers into their stories as effectively as the diaries and

memoirs mentioned above. El soldado de hielo, by well-known Catalan author Emili Teixidor, begins with the

escape of a handful of adolescent pris oners from a train bound for a concen

tration camp. Andr?s, a French youth, aids the young escapees in their efforts to hide from the Germans and join the

Resistance fighters in the surrounding mountains. Teixidor's prose is rich and powerful as he deftly develops the

main plot while giving the fleeing characters an opportunity to tell their stories.

Daniel's Story, a novel by Carol

Matas, was published in conjunction with a similarly titled exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Although Daniel is a ficti

tious character, his story is inspired by the real experiences and stories of the

more than one million children who died in the Holocaust. As he leaves his home in Frankfurt, Germany, riding the trains, first to the Jewish ghetto in

Lodz, Poland, then to Auschwitz, and later to Buchenwald, Daniel recalls the

rise to power of Hitler and the Nazi

party and his life in the ghetto and in concentration camps. Children will need time to talk with supportive adults as they encounter the detailed and graphic descriptions of Nazi atroc

ities. The author provides a chronolo

gy and glossary. Spanish readers can gain more

detailed knowledge of the Holocaust and one of its prominent figures from

Raoul Wallenberg, by Michael Nicholson and David Winner. Tran slated from English by In?s Mart?nez

Aguilar, this biography is filled with

photographs, documents, and maps, as

well as quotes from Wallenberg's fami

ly and friends. The authors document Hitler's rise to power alongside the

story of Wallenberg's life as a Swedish

diplomat who saved over 100,000

Hungarian Jews from annihilation. A

glossary, timeline, and index make this

biography a useful addition to any his

torical study of this period. Ediciones SM has also translated several other

biographies into Spanish from this

series, among them Desmond Tutu, by David Winner.

mira fe r

Beliincl the Secret Window / / file m o t r oj a ' 11 acte n (J /i t la h a ou

DTR I N o W O R l. 1) \X' A R T W ()

In Neilv S. Toll

From Behind the Secret Window by Nelly Toll. Copyright? 1993 by Nelly S. Toll on text and illustrations. Used by permission of Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of

Penguin Books USA Inc.

Children's stories from around

the world

Although most information books and biographies are told through the

eyes of adults, several recent picture books tell about modem life in diverse international settings from the child's

point of view. Siobhan's Journey by Barbara Beime is told in first person through the voice of a 10-year-old girl

CHILDREN'S BOOKS 411

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Page 10: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who

spends 6 weeks with an American

family. Emily, age 11, said, "In her

country the Catholics and Protestants don't get along because of religious and political differences." Color pho tographs complement the story, illus

trating many of Siobhan's activities

during her stay in the United States. Chi-hoon: A Korean Girl by

Patricia McMahon looks at a typical week in the life of 8-year-old Chi hoon. Readers tag along to school,

markets, parks, and family gatherings to get a picture of Chi-hoon's life.

Branden, age 8, responded, "That is a

very different school system, big time!" as details such as attending school on Saturday are revealed

throughout the book. The author demonstrates her knowledge of the Korean culture by sharing the tradi tions that characterize everyday life as

well as hinting at the changing per spectives of some young Korean fami lies. The clear color photographs enhance the text and bring Chi-hoon's smile into the reader's heart.

Eskimo Boy by Russ Kendall also tells the story of a child and his cul ture. Although not told in first person, the author invites the reader into the

thoughts and feelings of 7-year-old Norman Kokeok, an Inupiaq Eskimo from Shishmaref, Alaska. As Norman and his family move through the year, readers learn about the harsh environ

ment, the hunting tradition, the use of ice for drinking water, and the long,

dark days of winter. A glossary of

Inupiaq Eskimo words and an after word offer other information on mod em Eskimos and Alaska. Photographic illustrations add a dramatic look at the

harsh landscape and climate of Norman's life.

Celebrating the stories of American Presidents

February is the month of birthday celebrations for two well-known fig ures from American history, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Several recent books are excellent additions to the many biographies published on these two men. The com bined talents of artist Malcah Zeldis and author Edith Kunhardt have resulted in a remarkable picture book

Books too good to miss Our two featured books tell the stories of children, families, and communities who faced adversity and discrimination. The first, Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp by Jerry Stanley, won the 1993 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children. Interestingly written and filled with black-and-white photographs, the book tells the story of the

"Okies," poor farmers who moved from Oklahoma and Texas to California in

search of work. In California, they faced tremendous discrimination, and their

children were not even allowed into the school system. With the help of

Superintendent Leo Hart, they built their own school from derelict buildings and

spare parts. The book highlights the courage and determination of the Okies in the face of poverty, rejection, and ridicule and the roles that education played in offer

ing opportunities and in changing the attitudes of the larger community. Just as the Okies were segregated into relief camps because they were different,

Japanese Americans suddenly found themselves relocated into internment camps

during World War II. Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki is a picture book that focuses on Shorty and his family and how an entire camp worked together to build a baseball field so that they could have something to look forward to. Through baseball, Shorty crosses racial lines and earns the respect of others. "It was sort of

sad because they wouldn't talk to him, just because he was different and they didn't know he was actually American. Even though he was different than them,

he's still a person" (Renee, age 11). "They put them in camps just because of their color. It was the same thing that happened with slavery" (Rudy, age 11). The illus trations by Dom Lee, which powerfully convey the actions and emotions of the

story, were created by applying beeswax, scratching out images, and then using oil paints to give the quality of old photographs.

biography of Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe. The storytelling quality of the text combined with the bold

gouache folkstyle paintings captured the attention and imagination of chil

dren and adults alike. Eleven-year-old Mark stated that this book should be in

the Ford Theater Museum's bookstore because "it tells the story of Lincoln well enough for little kids to under stand." The book's end matter includes a decorated copy of Lincoln's

Gettysburg Address and a chronology of Lincoln's life. David Adler's pic ture book biography of Abraham

Lincoln, Un libro ilustrado sobre Abraham Lincoln, has also been

recently translated into Spanish by Teresa Mlawer.

Milton Meltzer points out that while more has been written.about Abraham Lincoln than almost anyone else, he chose to write another book because so few of these books include Lincoln's actual words. Meltzer believes that Lincoln was the greatest writer among American presidents, and he has

excerpted passages from his speeches,

letters, and papers and arranged them into sections connected by brief com

mentaries. Lincoln: In His Own Words is a moving collection of Lincoln's words, dramatically illustrat ed by Stephen Alcom's bold, expres sive linocuts. The illustrations, large

print, and attractive format drew 11 and 12-year-old students into the book and Lincoln's explorations of the

moral and political issues of his time. James Cross Giblin visited Mt.

Vemon and engaged in extensive re search before writing George Washing ton: A Picture Book Biography, which focuses on Washington's childhood,

family life, and career. Michael Dooling establishes the historical context

through splendid full-page oil paintings. Included at the end of the story are notes from the author dispelling the

cherry tree myth and providing more information on Washington and Mt.

Vemon.

The books in this column involve readers in the warmth of family stories

passed from generation to generation, the ways in which people tell their sto

412 The Reading Teacher Vol. 47, No. 5 February 1994

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Page 11: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

ries to others, and firsthand, personal views of slavery, war, racism, and

hatred. Through reading the stories of

others, children gain a better sense of their own heritage as well as come to know and value the stories of people from other times and cultures. As they also tell their stories to each other, they create the potential for a broader and

more personal understanding of their

history and our world community.

We want to thank Hispanic Book Distributors of Tucson, Arizona, for their help in locating Spanish books.

AIIH^BH^BHili?BlIBli l???BS?ll?i?I

From Children of the Dust Bowl by Jerry Stanley. Copyright? 1992 by Jerry Stanley. Reprinted by permission of Crown Publishers, Inc.

Books cited

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Fisher, L.E. (1993). Gutenberg. New York: Macmillan. Unpaged. ISBN 0-02-735238-2.

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Hamilton, V. (1993). Many thousand

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Haskins, J. (1993). Get on board: The

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Hopkins, L.B. (1993). The writing bug. 111. D. Rubinger. Katonah, NY:

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Page 12: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

Richard C. Owen. 32 pp. ISBN 1

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Hopkinson, D. (1993). Sweet Clara and the freedom quilt. 111. J. Ransome. New York: Knopf. Unpaged. ISBN 679-82311-5.

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Johnson, J.W. (1993). Lift every voice and sing. 111. E. Catlett. New York:

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Johnston, T. (1992). The promise. 111. P. Keavney. New York: Harper Collins. Unpaged. ISBN 0-06 023020-7.

Kehoe, M. (1993). A book takes root:

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Kendall, R. (1992). Eskimo boy. New York: Scholastic. 40 pp. ISBN 0 590-43695-3.

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Leitner, I. (1992). The big lie: A true

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Lester, J. (1993). Long journey home. New York: Dial. 147 pp. ISBN 0 8037-4953-8.

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Page 13: Children's Books: Telling Our Stories

671-74164-0.

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09306-X.

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all ISBN num

bers are for hardcover editions.

For Makenzie Susan McGee

McGee teaches English and American history to

eighth graders at Lake Ridge Academy, North

Ridgeville, Ohio, USA.

"The end,"

read the young girl as she closed the cover,

"The end."

Carefully she opened the book again,

placed her spread hand

on the first page and gently moved it

across the print

touching each word with the tips of her fingers. She turned the page and spread her hand,

loving the page, the words, the book.

It was hers now; words were becoming her friends.

Another page turned and caressed.

It had been hard to make these friends.

She hadn't known how.

They were there, but she couldn't always find them.

She tried writing to them, but didn't remember what they wanted her to say. She cried when they hid from her memory and teased with their disguises. She practiced their names hoping to please and wept at their indifference.

She had believed they would be good friends

and invite her places she had never been.

They took her nowhere.

It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to go. She longed to travel with them.

She had so much to share, so much to give. She tried to write her own friends, to form them with her own hand, but they joined the others and hid on the page.

Anger brought more tears.

She tried to hurt them back.

Rip them apart, throw them down.

In the end it was singing their songs that won them over.

And the devotion. The Loyalty. She had been practicing. For years.

It had been painful most of the time.

The syllables had fooled her, too, with their names and tricks.

Finally the aching, the longing in her sounds

touched the soul of the words.

Slowly at first, then more willingly,

friendship was offered.

The young girl touched

all the words on the last page and tenderly closed the book.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS 415

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