50. Spirited Away

Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) 2001

Genre

Film

Honors

Best Animated Feature, 2002 Academy Awards

Review

Chihiro is moving to a new city with her parents.  Her father takes a wrong turn and drives down a disused lane.  At end of the path there is an entry way.  The family gets out to explore, though Chihiro is reluctant.  The family find themselves in an thoroughfare of restaurants.  Chihiro's parents become hungry and when they stumble across some food begin to eat gluttonously.  Before long they have transformed into pigs.  A young boy tries to warn Chihiro away, but she and her parents end up crossing into an alternate plane of existence where humans are not allowed.  Chihiro manages to get a job at a bathhouse in exchange for her name.  She works hard and long at the bathhouse and tries to discover a way to save her parents.

Opinion

The movie is deliberately paced, but visually gorgeous.  I appreciate that everything about the film is more complex than it might seem on its surface.  Villains are not pure evil and the film does not end with the villains destroyed (as many Disney movies do).  Instead Chihiro's journey is one of personal growth and developing friendships.  While I've read that many of the figures in the film are pulled from Japanese folklore, as someone unfamiliar with these folk tales, the film felts mysterious and novel to me.

Ideas

I think it might be fun to track down the folk stories that inspired Spirited Away and create a slate of programs around the stories and the film.  Early programs could focus on individual tales and the movie could be the culmination of the festivities.

P.S. This is post number 50; it's been great fun tracking down and spending time with the various materials for this course.  I've had a wonderful time creating all of the imaginary programs and book displays of these materials.  Thanks for a great class.

49. Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum (Rockstar Games) 2009

Genre

Video Game (Playstation 3)

Review

The game begins with Batman apprehending the Joker and taking him to Gotham's prison for the criminally insane: Arkham Asylum.  Soon, the Joker escapes, takes Commissioner Gordon captive, and releases all of the prisoners.  Batman has to traverse the island, battling many of the supervillians he's helped capture in order to save Gordon and wrest control of the island from the Joker.  There are encounters with Poison Ivy, Bane, Killer Croc, and the Scarecrow.

Opinion

The game is rated "T for teen" and some parents of tweens may deem the game too dark. too scary, or too violent.  The levels with the Scarecrow are particularly frightening.  And part of Joker's plan is to use a toxin called Titan -- which is like a super steroid -- on himself to gain strength.  In the last battle Joker has taken the drug and increases in size and takes on an even more garish appearance than normal, which may also be scary.  But because Batman has wide popularity, many tweens will likely play the game or want to.  The game is engrossing and fun, with a complex and sophisticated story (even if game play is mostly about punching people and using gadgets).

Ideas

This game might not be a great choice for library programming.  It's long and complex and only allows one player at a time.  If the library has a station for patrons to play games, this one is popular enough that it may warrant inclusion.  But you should be prepared to face challenges by parents of young children.

48. NBA 2k11

NBA 2K11 (2K Sports) 2011

Genre

Video Game (Playstation 3)

Review

NBA 2K11 is 2K sports annual NBA Basketball video game featuring rosters from the 2010 NBA season.  The game's cover features Michael Jordan who last played basketball in 2003.  This suggests, correctly, that the game will be somewhat backward looking.  Indeed, there are a series of classic team lineups that players can choose to use -- including the 1995-96 Seattle Supersonics (the Supersonics moved to Oklahoma and became the Thunder in 2008).  These classic lineups mean that you can control retired players like Jordan, Gary Payton, Larry Bird, Dominque Wilkins, Bill Laimbeer, and Magic Johnson.  The game includes a number of play modes: you can select a team and play/simulate full seasons, you can play against a friend, you can play online, or you can play a series of scenarios from Michael Jordan's career.  You can also create your own players.

Opinion

Like many sports games, the NBA 2K series is annual, meaning that this game has been "replaced" by 2K12, 2K13, and soon 2K14.  Still, this particular entry may have more appeal for parents of tweens (who may have been fans of Larry Bird or the Seattle Supersonics).  On Playstation 3, it takes awhile to get used to the controls if you are an avid player of the NBA 2K series, because 2K changed the configuration for this entry.  The graphics and sound are superb with announcing from Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg. 

Ideas

This game might be a great choice for a family gaming night at the library.  Many people over the age of 30 play video games, and this game might be a fun one for connecting parents and children.

47. Phineas and Ferb

Phineas and Ferb created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) 2007

Genre

Television program/Streaming Video (Note: while I watched an episode on Netflix; my library did have some copies on DVD, but many discs were checked out and I wanted to start from the beginning; it's also not clear to me if the full seasons have been released on DVD or merely collections of selected episodes).

Review

Phineas and Ferb follows the exploits of the titular step brothers.  The theme song indicates that the actions take place during summer break.  The episode I watched was split into two separate 11 minute stories.  The first involved the stepbrothers building a massive and insane roller-coaster while their mother (stepmother for Ferb) was grocery shopping.  Phineas' sister Candace spends the episode trying to get her mother to see what the boys are doing.  But at every attempt, the evidence Candace tries to show her mother disappears (children tear down a poster at one point, and powerful magnet on a helicopter lifts the entire roller-coaster out of sight before the mother sees it).  While the boys build, then ride their coaster, their pet platypus slinks off to his job as a secret agent.  He's sent to stop his nemesis (who's covered the Eastern seaboard in tin foil and hopes to use a powerful magnet to change the direction of the earth's rotation, though he's not sure what this will accomplish).  Eventually the disparate threads come together when the platypus rigs his nemesis' magnet to a helicopter.  The path the roller coaster takes after the helicopter lifts it up is too insane to describe in words.  Here are some pictures: 

Opinion

The show is frenetically paced with lots of guitar driven rock music in the background.  The first episode seems to set the formula for every subsequent episode.  The step brothers are inventive, their sister goes crazy trying to get their mom to see what they are doing, the platypus has to foil his evil nemesis and in so doing covers the boys' tracks, Candace is in love with the boy who works at slushy burger, a little girl named Isabella is in love with Phineas, and Ferb only speaks once per episode punctuating the story with a punchline.  It's funny and inventive, but also highly overstimulating (almost painfully so).  Some tweens would absolutely love it.

Ideas

I think it would be fun to tie crafts to the episodes.  So, for instance, the first story deals with the building of a roller-coaster.  It would be fun to watch that story with some tweens and then have a miniature roller-coaster building event or competition.  In the second story, the boys sculpt Candace's face on Mount Rushmore; this story could be coupled with a sculpting program.

46. Wizards of Waverly Place

Wizards of Waverly Place created by Todd J. Greenwald (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) 2007

Genre

Television program/Streaming Video (Note: while I watched an episode on Netflix; my library did have some copies on DVD, but the season 1 disc was out and I wanted to start from the beginning).

Review

The Wizards of Waverly Place is a family sitcom about three siblings in New York City who are being trained by their father to be wizards.  It seems that they have to keep magic a secret from everyone around them.  After the first two episodes, the individual characters didn't seem to have particularly distinct personalities; all of the characters felt flat, and the actor playing the children's father -- David Deloise -- seemed to be trying his best to impersonate his own father: actor Dom Deloise.  I watched two episodes: one in which Alex (the daughter played by Selena Gomez) uses magic to duplicate herself, so she can go to a sale at a clothing store and be in wizarding class at the same time; one in which Alex continually uses a time travel spell to help her brother have the perfect first kiss.  Magic seems inevitably to come with negative/humorous consequences on the show (which makes sense on a purely formulaic level as its the uniqueness of the given situation that most situation comedies mine for humor).

Opinion

The show feels very much like a Harry Potter rip off with its wizarding school elements; its combination of a fantasy world and the real world; and the fact that the family's sandwich shop is called the Sub Station and looks like a former train station.  But the show itself is very standard sitcom fare -- at least in its first two episodes.  The situations are tired and cliche: a sale in a department store where Alex has to race against her nemesis to get the jacket she wants; Justin's nervousness over his first kiss.  I felt that the first two episodes put a lot of focus on fairly superficial topics: the importance of getting the right jacket or how performing poorly at your first kiss could ruin your life.  Surely, teens and tweens already feel these anxieties, but the show merely seems to reinforce their anxieties without suggesting alternative view points or questioning where these pressures come from.  At the same time, I appreciated that the show wasn't overly pedantic or preachy.  Still, the show suffers from mediocre premises and terrible acting.  It serves as much as a vehicle for promoting the career of Selena Gomez (who stars and sings the theme song) as anything else.

Ideas

The library could certainly screen the show for tweens; it might be fun around Halloween or as a tie in with other magical or fantasy books, films, or party themes.

45. Avatar: The Last Air Bender

Avatar The Last Airbender by Michael Dante DiMartino (and many others) (Nickelodeon Animation) 2005

Genre

Television program/DVD

Review

In the world of Avatar, warriors can control one of four elements: air, water, fire, or earth.  For each generation there is one warrior -- the Avatar -- who can control all four elements.  He or she is supposed to be born into successive tribes (i.e. in one generation the Avatar will be born into the tribe that controls water, and in the next, the tribe that controls air).  The Avatar is supposed to help bring peace and balance to the world.  At the time the story begins there has not been an Avatar for 100 years, the fire tribe is making war with other tribes, and the air tribe has disappeared.  The series begins when Katara -- a water bender -- and her brother Sokka find a boy frozen in a glacier named Aang.  It becomes clear that he is an airbender and the Avatar.  The children must journey to the four tribes so Aang can master all of the elements.

Opinion

The show nicely balances childish whimsy like flying bison, Aang's desire to go "penguin sledding," and gross humor: Aang's bison sneezes green mucus onto Sokka (reminiscent of slime from Nickelodeon's early days) with complex stories about war and genocide.  While clearly directed at and designed for children, the show challenges them to think.  I also appreciate the strong female character Katara.

Ideas

The show is bound to appeal to children of both genders; in fact a sequel to the show, Leged of Korra, is being produced with a female main character.  Screenings of the show, or events based around it could be fun programs for tweens.

44. Batman The Brave and The Bold

Batman The Brave and The Bold developed and produced by James Tucker &
Michael Jelenic (Warner Home Video) 2010

Genre

Television program/DVD

Review

In each episode Batman teams up with a different DC comics hero.  Each adventure is self contained, so the show is episodic in nature with no overarching plot lines.  In the first episode Batman teams up with the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle (Reyes is the most recent incarnation of the Blue Beetle; he is a teenage boy, who was first featured in the comic books in 2006).  The two are set to divert a meteorite headed toward earth, but as soon as they leave earth's atmosphere, the Blue Beetle loses control of his suit: it makes a wormhole and takes Batman and Blue Beetle to a strange planet populated by amoeba-like lifeforms.  Each year a villainous alien raids their planet, kidnapping the residents and using their bodies for fuel (because it is Silver Age-inspired and clearly intended for children, this usage doesn't destroy the amoeba-creatures, it merely injures them).  Batman and Blue Beetle craft a Seven-Samurai-style plan, hoping to encourage the amoebas to fight for themselves.  At first Blue Beetle does all of the work defending the amoebas, until the villain uses the frequencies of a gong to disrupt the powerful Blue Beetle suit.  Batman and the amoebas are left to die on a space buoy, and Blue Beetle is taken captive.  Batman shows the amoebas how to harness the energy of their bodies to create weapons.  Ultimately Blue Beetle shows his heroism and the amoebas learn to defend themselves.

Opinion

It's heavily influenced by the Silver Age Batman (roughly 1956 to 1970) and so draws some influence from the 60s Adam West television show: it's not afraid to present outlandish plots (see above: sheesh!) or be funny.  Batman's costume is also the blue and grey of West's -- in place of the black costume he often wears in the comic books.  The show does involve a fair amount of cartoon violence; in the episode I watched that meant a lot of non-lethal gun-play.  Some parents may object to this.  But no one dies, and the show is funny and filled with adventure.    

Ideas

The show would be a fun part of a program on superheroes or comic books.  One episode is 22 minutes long; it might be a good way to begin an afterschool program.  You could use the video to get the attention of the kids and help them calm down as you focused them on another activity.

43. Every Thing On It

Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein (Harper) 2011

Genre

Poetry

Honors

School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2011

Review

A collection of unpublished poems and drawings by Shel Silverstein.  The poems are in his signature style.  His typically humorous poems often minutely explore a situation and take a surprising or funny turn at the end, as in "For The World's Record": "We made the world's longest hot dog, / And now that it's finally done, / We realize nobody's baked / The world's longest bun" (Silverstein, 2011, p. 39).  Many of the poems feature illustrations; occasionally these drawings are necessary for understanding the poem; other times they help set the mood.

Opinion

Reading this after the Prelutsky volume I've Lost My Hippopotamus, helped solidify precisely why Silverstein is the master.  The punchlines often come as unexpected turns at the poem's end (while many of Prelutsky's poems are premised upon listing as many silly scenarios as possible).  Also, Silverstein manages to slip in sentimental poems without having them feeling out of place such as "Wall Marks," which recounts the way the narrator's father uses a wall to measure the narrator's height; the end holds the emotional twist in describing the narrator's mother: "She says that it's my history, / But I don't understand at all, / Just why she cries each time she sees / Those scratchy marks there on the wall" (p. 27).  In addition to adding more emotional weight to the whole collection, this fragment shows how masterfully Silverstein uses line breaks.

Ideas

This would be a great volume for interesting children in poetry.  It would work well in a book talk or story time.  It would also be appropriate inspiration for a poetry writing workshop.

References

Silverstein, S. (2011). Every Thing On It. New York: Harper.

42. Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer (Dutton Children's Books) 2010

Genre

Poetry

Honors

Flicker Tale Children's Book Award, 2011, nominee 
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2010, winner 
Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award, 2013, nominee
Beehive Children's Poetry Book Award, 2012, nominee 
American Library Association Notable Books for Children, 2011, winner
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2011, nominee
Maryland Children's Book Award, 2011, nominee 
Land of Enchantment Book Award, 2011, winner 
North Carolina Children's Book Award, 2012, nominee
Rhode Island Children's Book Award, 2012, nominee
Volunteer State Book Award, 2013, nominee 
Red Clover Award, 2011, nominee

Review

The collection is a series of what Singer calls "reversos" -- poems that are read left to right and down, and then reversed such that the same poem is read left to right and up.  On the page Singer enacts the second reading on the page, which allows her to alter punctuation and capitalization and other effects (such as italics).  Singer chooses to present fairy tales, especially sections of the tale where there is an interaction between two characters.  Each poem, then, reads as the voice of one of the figures.

Opinion

At their best, Singer's poems work very well.  The reverso portions of "The Sleeping Beauty and the Wide-Awake Prince," "In The Hood," and "Bears in the News" are truly transformative, presenting wildly differing views of the same event.  However, a small number of the poems fall into the trap of her first ever reverso, which she reprints at the back of the book.

A cat
without
a chair: 
Incomplete.

[Reverso]
Incomplete: 
a chair
without
a cat. (Singer, 2010 no pagination)

While the original and reverso don't mean exactly the same thing, the meaning is not much altered.  It merely seems to note an inextricable bond between cat and chair.  The poem is still instructive in how meaning is altered by placement of words.  It shows the need for careful placement.  So, these verses aren't without merit, but after reading some of the truly great poems, these verses feel less fully explored.

Ideas

The book is great for thinking about two sides to a story and attempting to grasp someone else's perspective.  It also shows the importance of word placement.  Singer encourages her readers to try their hand at some reversos at the end of the book, and I think that this would make a fun program at the library.

References

Singer, M. (2010). Mirror Mirror. New York: Dutton Children's Books.

41. I've Lost My Hippopotamus

I've Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky (Greenwillow Books) 2012

Genre

Poetry

Review

A series of humorous poems mainly about animals.  The humor often derives from the animals performing actions that are uncharacteristic.  In "The Fish Are in the Treetops," fish are in trees, owls are underwater, and elephants are flying.  In "Otto Gottalott" the narrator owns a horse small enough to carry when he runs, an octopus that sings, and tiny green giraffes.  Prelutsky also experiments with concrete poem tropes.  In "Curious Quandry," the narrator writes his "U"s upside down and dots his "I"s on the bottom.  In "On the Road to Discovery," the poetic lines meander across the two page spread, demarcating the path of the titular road.

Opinion

The poems owe a lot to Shel Silverstein, first and foremost.  The common metrical pattern is very similar to that in Silverstein's best known poems.  But Prelutsky also cribs from Lewis Carroll -- especially with his love of odd creatures created by making portmanteau words -- Appleopards (a cross between apples and leopards), the crabacus (a crab and an abacus), or the halibutterflies (halibut and butterflies).  And "A Wren Was Once a Tennant" is reminiscent of Ogden Nash in the way it plays with spelling -- the wren is evicted for not paying "wrent."  The poems are often less inventive than Silverstein's.  Instead of exploring the full implication of an idea, some poems are merely inventive lists, or rely upon animals acting out of the norm.  Still, the book could be a vocabulary expander as Prelutsky does not shy away from words like "evicted, surmise, uncanny, ineluctable, infallibly, or abhor."  And as my friend April pointed out, because these words need to fit the meter of the line, the poems often give a suggestion about how to pronounce these potentially unfamiliar terms, too.  Have a dictionary or parent handy while you read.

Ideas

The book would be great for a child who has exhausted Shel Silverstein or as a transition from Silverstein to Carroll (or vice versa).  Because much of the humor is in combing two words to make neologisms or writing about animals acting out of character, it might not take much work for children to come up with their own scenarios.  The meter that Prelutsky uses -- like Silverstein's -- is insistent.  So, perhaps a poetry workshop could be in order after reading the poems.

40. Torches

Torches by Foster The People (Columbia) 2011

Cover Detail retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/artist/foster-the-people-mn0002527840/discography

Genre

Music: Dance Pop

Review

Squelchy synthesizers and falsetto vocals are the stock in trade of Foster the People.  Dancing seems to be the band's focus, with their insistent beats and bass lines.  But the lyrics are somewhat menacing -- "I tie my hands to a chair so I don't fall that way;" "All the other kids with the pumped up kicks better run, better run, outrun my gun / All the little kids with pumped up kicks better faster than my bullet" -- and feel incongruous next to other song elements, such as the whistled melody of "Pumped Up Kicks."  Of that particular song, lead singer Mark Foster said in an interview, "I was trying to get inside the head of an isolated, psychotic kid" (Doyle, 2011).  He says the band was trying to bring awareness to the issues of mental illness and gun violence with the song.

Opinion

The music is fun and danceable.  The messages may not always be immediately discernible, but perhaps will make tweens think about important issues.  The music has an earworm quality, though, and its ubiquity in commercials and on the radio (and in other band's songs -- like the better MGMT -- whom Foster seem to have taken many cues from) may wear out its charms.

Ideas

The song "Pumped Up Kicks" might be useful in sparking discussion about mental illness and gun violence.  Of course, you might just use the music to have a dance party at the library too.

References

Doyle, P.  (2011). Band to watch: Foster the People's pumped-up psych-pop.  Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/band-to-watch-foster-the-peoples-pumped-up-psych-pop-20110608 

39. Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson by Jennifer Hudson (Arista) 2008

Cover Detail retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/album/jennifer-hudson-mw0000797752

Genre

Music: Dance Pop

Review

The debut album of the singer famous for turns in Dream Girls and American Idol.  The opening song is a classic, timeless R&B song.  Hudson is a talented singer with a wide range reminiscent at times (in attitude at least) to Aretha Franklin.

Opinion

"Spotlight" is an R&B dance song of very high caliber.  Hudson provides both a steady vocal melody and has space to show off her virtuosic talents. But the beat-box rhythm of the third track "Pocketbook" works mostly to distract from Hudson's vocals, and the Ludacris guest spot greatly diminishes the results.  Hudson's lyrics and delivery are strong, so the sexual objectification spouted by Ludacris and Timbaland really drags the track down, even while Hudson tries to play the powerful Aretha Franklin part with her threat of hitting them with her pocketbook.  The bad taste that is "Pocketbook" is wedged right next to a ballad "Body and Soul."  The juxtaposition is jarring and gives the album an incredibly uneven feel.  In fact, because "Body and Soul" follows the incredibly bad "Pocketbook," it's hard to initially hear how strong the song is and how perfectly it displays Hudson's voice.   

Ideas

The album would be a great song for a middle school dance if the tracks are selected very judiciously.

38. X&Y

X&Y by Coldplay (Capitol) 2005

Cover Detail retrieved from  http://www.allmusic.com/album/x-y-mw0000633950

Genre

Music: Pop Music

Review

Perhaps the album that made Coldplay a huge international success; the album debuted at the #1 position in 20 different countries (Dwyer, 2006).  The band experiments with their signature sound, but the music is never challenging.  Chris Martin's airy voice is inviting and nonthreatening (sort of the opposite of, say, Thom Yorke from Radiohead -- a band that Coldplay are often compared to).  X&Y sees Coldplay utilizing electronic elements -- something that Radiohead is also famous for -- but the results are wildly different.  Coldplay makes accessible music.  While the album is 8 years old, tweens may still seek it out as Coldplay is still a popular band.

Opinion

My wife mentioned she heard a review that called Coldplay the band that young kids could listen to with their grandmothers.  Clearly, this cuts in both positive and negative directions.  The music isn't as challenging as most of my favorite artists.  But it also has the possible benefit of bridging generations.  It's safe and palatable.

Ideas

The song "Talk" is built around a motif lifted from the Kraftwerk song "Computer Love."  The highly accessible Coldplay song may help spark interest in the older German band and in electronic music generally.

References

Dwyer, M. (2006). Cold comfort. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/news/music/cold-comfort/2006/06/29/1151174300940.html

37. Rabbits on the Run

Rabbits on the Run by Vanessa Carlton (Razor & Tie Records) 2011

Cover detail retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/album/rabbits-on-the-run-mw0002118729

Genre

Music: Pop Music

Review

Vanessa Carlton's fourth album comes ten years after her debut in 2011.  The 31 year old sounds much older than on her previous efforts.  The music is spare and subtle.  For instance, on "I Don't Wanna Be a Bride" she sings, "I don't wanna wear white / We both know it's too late for that."  A sly joke that only adults are likely to catch.  With artists like Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga in the spotlight, this reference to sex feels nearly puritanical and cryptic.  Something that some parents might welcome.

Opinion

In an era of over the top pop songs and even more over the top artists, Carlton's clear vocal and inconspicuous production places emphasis on melody, vocals, lyrics, and piano.  Compared to the vocoder vocals over frenetic club beats and insistently buzzy synthesizer fills of many artists, Carlton's take on classic singer songwriter tropes (think Carol King or, better still, Jewel) might feel like a bit of fresh air. 

Ideas

The album might inspire some children to take up piano.  You could use the album to set a calm atmosphere for other activities, such as crafts projects (should you deem a calm atmosphere appropriate, sometimes crafts are fun because they are frenetic).

36. J Pop CD 2

JPop CD 2 Various Artists (Tofu Records) 2005

Detail of cover retrieved from http://www.allmusic.com/album/jpop-cd-vol-2-mw0000703362

Genre

Music: Japanese Pop Music

Review

The liner notes indicate that the album is an anthology of hit anime themes, not just pop music lifted from Japanese radio.  The songs are as anthemic as you'd expect from the opening frames of an anime series, whose visuals are usually frenzied.  The music is just as bombastic often with straining, soaring vocals. 

Opinion

The songs have a distinct western influence heard in the melody and use of electric guitar.  Many are upbeat: Puffy AmiYumi's "Beginnings" is particularly fun.  It's vocals are cheerful and the song is poppy and insistent with a driving bridge built on drums and a percussive synthesizer part.  An electric guitar stands near the front with the vocals for most of the rest of the song.  There's a clear rock and roll influence, but particularly fun rock and roll like B-52s by way of the Go-Gos.  Still, other songs sound like 70s sitcom themes (slightly cheesy, bubbly pop music): Yuki's "Dramatic" for instance.

Ideas

The anime might be a good link to the music or vice versa.  It'd be fun to have a listening program where children brought in their favorite international music.  If the library were doing a Japanese culture event, this might be a fun, modern soundtrack.

35. Clever Beatrice

Clever Beatrice: An Upper Peninsula Conte by Margaret Willey (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) 2001

Genre

Folklore

Honors

Treasure State Award, 2003, nominee
American Library Association Notable Books for Children, 2002, winner
Charlotte Zolotow Award, 2002, winner
Georgia Children's Picture StoryBook Award, 2003, nominee
Georgia Children's Book Award, 2003, nominee
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2005, nominee
Great Lakes' Great Books Award, 2003, nominee
North Carolina Children's Book Award, 2003, nominee

Review

Willey notes that the basic tale she tells is akin to the Canadian conte tales.  The primary exception is that she makes her wily trickster a little girl -- Beatrice (named for Willey's mother in law).  The tale is perhaps typical to folklore; wits are rewarded over muscle.  Beatrice devises a way to make money for herself and her destitute mother.  Her mother tells her that there are only two ways to get money: lumberjacking and besting Giants in bets on strength.  Beatrice chooses the second path.  In three different bets, she convinces a rich giant that she is likely to cause him mischief (her blow will destroy the door to his home, she'll rip out his entire well to carry more water than him, and her throwing of a railroad tie will likely either injure his relations or destroy his home).  The giant is convinced that simply paying Beatrice is more worthwhile than the risk that Beatrice might inconvenience him.

Opinion

The story is simple but fun, and it's brilliant appeal is that the hero is a small child.  This helps ensure its appeal for children.  They'll love seeing a child outwit an adult (especially an enormous oversized adult).  I also appreciated that the hero was a female figure, as many of the most well known U.S. folklore figures are men: Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed.

Ideas

The book would be good with a series of folktales or for a story time.  Because the basic trick Beatrice uses follows a standard formula, It might also be fun to have children come up with other bets she and the giant could make and how she could best him.

34. The People Could Fly

The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton (Alfred A. Knopf) 2004

Genre

Folklore

Honors

American Library Association Notable Books for Children, 2005, winner

Review

Some Africans can fly.  When they were taken into slavery, they lost their wings, and many forgot how to fly.  When Sarah is working in the fields and the Overseer whips her crying baby.  An old slave named Toby reminds Sarah how to fly and incants the necessary magic words.  Sarah takes flight and soon many other slaves do too.  Many of the Africans cannot fly, and Toby cannot teach them, noting that they'll need to wait for their chance to run.

Opinion

The tale is about a kind of liberation, but also about captivity.  It's remarkably ambiguous (in a way that folk tales can be, but often aren't).  The nature of flight isn't expounded upon.  The flying people never light upon the ground again -- at least we aren't told that they do.  It made me think of the function of smoke and ash in the poetry of Paul Celan -- who's parents perished in the Holocaust.  Was the flying liberation in life or in death?  Hamilton writes, "Toby was there where there was no one to help her and the babe."  Does that mean that even Toby couldn't help her?  The second person to fly is a man who collapses from heat exhaustion, and when Toby flies away there is a gun ready to fire at him.  Certainly, one might feel that death was preferable to slavery.  Regardless, the tale is somber.  Even if the flying people head to freedom, the non-flying Africans must suffer through slavery until its dismantling.

Ideas

The book would be a compelling companion to lessons on slavery.  The ambiguous narration still helps reflect the common desire of a people.  The pictures are lovely and the book would be great for a story time.

33. John Henry

John Henry by Julius Lester (Dial Books) 1994

Genre

Folklore

Honors

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, 1995, winner
Caldecott Medal, 1995, nominee
Show Me Readers Award, 1997, nominee
Golden Sower Award, 1997, winner
Land of Enchantment Book Award, 1998, nominee
SCASL Book Award (South Carolina), 1997, nominee

Review

Lester gives us the legend of John Henry from his birth until his burial.  Henry seems too big for the world from the outset.  His birth brings all the animals out of the forest to bear witness.  He instantly starts growing, and the confines of his home can't hold him as he destroys the family porch.  At one day old, Henry takes an axe and chops enough wood to rebuild the family porch and stock up on firewood.  His father gives him two sledges and he sets off to make his name.  In Lester's version of the tale, Henry beats the jackhammer through the mountain by a full mile.  Lester doesn't linger long on the death of Henry: everyone around hears (or thinks at the same time) that the important part of a person is how they live not how they die.  In Lester's telling Henry's body is taken to DC and perhaps interred on the White House lawn.

Opinion

Jerry Pinkey's illustrations are beautiful and help support Lester's version of the tale, which is less an allegory about the defeat of workers at the hands of industrialization (which is how I'd often read the story; in order to beat machines, we'd have to work ourselves to death).  Instead Lester's story celebrates a man too big and too wonderful for this world.  The celebration of Henry's life includes making him a crucial part of the American model of government, as his body lies at the foot of the White House.  (While this could be read as an allegory about how the US is built upon the backs of African Americans, it feels far more celebratory here: an understanding of the great contributions to American culture.  Perhaps both readings are appropriate).

Ideas

The book would be a great introduction to history lessons on the Transcontinental railroad and would make for a good building block for a program or lesson on folk tales.  The picture are gorgeous (the book was nominated for a Caldecott after all) and show Henry as a very normal looking human man, which really helps breathe life into the tale.

32. Trickster

Trickster Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection by Matt Dembicki (editor) (Fulcrum Books) 2010

Genre

Folklore

Review

The anthology collects a series of Native American folktales from a variety of tribes.  Each storyteller is a Native American, and each story is coupled with a different graphic artist.  The stories tend to be origin stories and often but don't always include tricksters.  One story recounts how because of coyote, the stars are in a chaotic pattern (the animals were told by the great mystery to draw their own portraits but coyote tripped and ruined everyone's portrait).  One story details how while attempting to catch catfish, rabbit's tail was shortened to its cotton-like appearance.  Another story details how Waynaboozhoo caused geese to fly in a V pattern by tying their feet together in an attempt to catch them.  Other tales are simply about the guile of tricksters: rabbit challenges two buffaloes to tug of war and tricks them into tugging against each other.  When the buffalo try to keep rabbit from drinking water, he tricks them a second time by borrowing the shoes of a deer.  Since buffalo have such bad eyesight, they believe rabbit is a deer and let him drink.

Opinion

I enjoyed the different art styles that went along with the different storytelling styles.  In some cases the art and story are perfectly matched -- such as the "off the cuff" telling of how rabbit got his tail and the cartoon like drawing style.  The drawings add an extra element of fun to stories that are already charming and compelling.

Ideas

It would be great fun to couple the book with Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories and then have children make up their own origin tales.

31. Batman Death by Design

Batman Death by Design by Chip Kidd and Dave Taylor (DC Comis) 2012

Genre

Graphic Novel

Review

The story places the architecture of Gotham City at the forefront of the story.  A boom in building is occurring, but many of the structures are failing.  For example (see below), a restaurant is built above the city upon a single sheet of glass.  It begins to crack part way through its opening night.  It becomes clear that the building aren't failing on accident, and Batman rushes to find the person or people behind the failures.

A cameo by the Joker to the restaurant at the top of the city with stunning architectural detail on the verso page.

Opinion

The plot is a simple but clever superhero story featuring an original villain called Exacto.  The idea to focus on the architecture of Gotham is inspiring.  The city has been figured by all manner of different artist's over time and there have been hints of particularly inventive buildings and sculptures.  But here we really see a culmination of all the previous minor details.  Kidd came to the work with an interesting artistic sensibility: the drawings were first done in blue architectural pencil (as is shown in the sketches included after the story), then made to look more like a traditional comic book.  It gives the book a unique feel among superhero comics.  Often the city in a comic book is fairly amorphous, but in this case the city is wholly substantial.  

Ideas

The book would be a fun inclusion for a superhero program.  I think the book would also be interesting with a series on architecture.  It might be a good book for inspiring children's interest in design.

30. The Arrival

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine) 2006

Genre

Graphic Novel

Honors

Book Sense Book of the Year, 2008, nominee
Garden State Teen Book Award, 2010, nominee
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2007, winner
Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, 2008, winne
Locus Awards, 2008, winner
Hugo Awards, 2008, nominee
School Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2007, winner 
American Library Association Notable Books for Children, 2008, winner 
Children's Book Council of Australia Children's Book of the Year Award, 2007, winner
Virginia Reader's Choice Awards, 2008, nominee
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, 2006, winner

Review

Tan wordlessly recounts the experience of an immigrant who leaves his wife and daughter behind to seek a better life, raise money, and send after them.  Darkness and tales of war seem to linger over every immigrant that the protagonist meets.  The book feels suggestive of fleeing WWII Europe (the point of entry into Tan's new country feels reminiscent of Ellis Island), but is far more generalizable than that as it has no identifiable references to a specific war.

Opinion

The use of indecipherable symbols and the strangeness of the landscape and animals ensure that the book would put any reader into the shoes of an immigrant who does not know the custom or language in a new land.  The work reminded me of Lynd Ward and Hope Larson -- with the grandeur of wordless storytelling that Ward employs and the abstract unfamiliarity of Larson.  Like both of these other artists, Tan tells a complex story through pictures alone: a rather notable feat.

Ideas

The book would be ideal for helping students understand the feeling of immigration.  An event promoting multiculturalism or on immigration/emigration would benefit from inclusion of the book.

29. Pink and Say

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco (Philomel Books) 1994

Genre

Historical Picturebook

Honors

Iowa Children's Choice Award, 1998 nominiee
Irma S. and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children's Literature, 1994, winner
Jefferson Cup Award, 1995, winner 
American Booksellers Book of the Year (ABBY) Award, 1995, nominee
Student Book Award, 1996, winner 
SCASL Book Award (South Carolina), 1997, nominee

Review

A young Union soldier -- Sheldon (Say) is rescued by an African American soldier named Pinkus (Pink) who has been separated from his unit.  Pink takes Say to his mother's home where they wait for his leg to heal.  As Say heals we learn that he deserted his unit, afraid for his life.  During his time with Pink, Say realizes that he must return.  Before either of them can seek their units, though, Pink's home is invading by marauding Confederate soldiers.  Moe Moe Bay -- Pink's mother -- hides Pink and Say in the cellar and confronts the marauders only to be killed.  On the journey to reunite with their units, Pink and Say are captured and taken to a Confederate camp.

Opinion

The story is made more powerful when we learn of its oral tradition in Polacco's family at the book's end.  The narrative is simple and the book feels produced to honor the man who saved the author's great great grandfather.  Without Pinkus, Polacco wouldn't be here to tell Sheldon's tale.  And the most powerful way that she tells that tale is in the vibrant, nearly expressionist (yet still realistic) artwork.  There she is able to express both the gloom of war and the glory of friendships (however short lived).

Ideas

The book would be useful in a school unit on the Civil War.  We get a bit of information about the Andersonville camp, but mostly the book shows the human toll of the war.  It reveals that even those soldiers fighting for the liberation of slaves were terrified and would desert.  The book would also be an appropriate selection for Black History month as it tells the story of a hero who would otherwise be unknown. 

28. Whale Port

Whale Port by Mark Foster illustrated by Gerald Foster (Houghton Miflin) 2007

Genre

Picturebook

Honors

James Madison Book Award, 2008, nominee

Review

The Fosters trace a small coastal town from 1683 through the current era.  The primary focus is on the whaling industry's rise and decline.  Along the way we see the effects of the trade upon the development of a city for both better and worse: fires, profit, decline, renovation.  All of this is really a backdrop for discussing whaling and life in New England in a general way (the featured coastal town is a fictional composite of several actual whaling ports).  We learn about the houses, industry, and tools common to these kinds of port cities.  There is also oblique mentions of the impact whaling had on whale populations and the environment.  The book doesn't offer statistics of declining whale populations, but does mention that they became progressively scarce.

Opinion

I wasn't thrilled to learn that the city at the center of the book was a composite.  Perhaps this provided the author freedom to touch upon all of the aspects of American life from 1683 to the new millennium that he was interested in discussing.  It may have also freed him from offending ancestors of historical figures, but I feel like the work would feel more tangible had he chosen an actual city.  Having said that, the information and the illustrations are top-notch, making this a rare case where the generalizations are more exciting than the case study (as the case study is fictional).

Ideas

The book would partner well with lessons about whaling or books like Moby Dick or Heart of a Samurai.  The art work might also be inspiring for a group interested in drawing or illustration.  One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is how the coastline changes over time.