Watercress
By: Andrea Wang
Illustrated by: Jason Chin
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Also read and recommended by: Sarah Kim
The illustrations are soft and lovely and yet at the same time realistic. I love this story about a young girl learning her mother’s childhood memories and the difference that makes in her. She grows to appreciate her mother’s difficult memories, experiences compassion for the uncle who did not survive the famine, and learns to have more pride in her heritage. The book gives a window into the heart and mind of second-generation immigrants who really live in two worlds. I love the child’s new sensitivity and maturity that occurs as a result of hearing her mother’s stories.
Have You Ever Seen a Flower?
By: Shawn Harris
Illustrated by: Shawn Harris
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
This is a poetic "story" of what a flower is like and what it would be like to be a flower. It describes the life of a flower and how similarly we have life. Flowers "drink" and have veins and grow and bloom, and so can you! "Have you ever felt a flower? Do a flower petal’s veins feel like the veins beneath your skin? Have you ever pricked your finger or fallen on your knee and seen the brilliant color of your life?" And then the next page is all red, like your blood. I love how the book starts out with the black/white drawings of a city. Only the little girl is drawn in bright colors. Then the book explodes with bright colors as the girl runs through a field of flowers and begins to explore them. The drawings look similar to what a child would draw. This book is a celebration of life all around us and inspires children to explore nature. A worthy addition to your read-aloud time or your family library.
★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
Mel Fell
By: Corey R. Tabor
Illustrated by: Corey R. Tabor
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Also read and recommended by: Christine Kallner, Sherry Early
This book is simply delightful! The story brings the reader to a desperate hope that Mel, the little bird falling by his own choice from the tree, will be safe. He gets offers of help all along his fall as various creatures desperately try to save him from his fall. But the book ends with all well, thankfully! The book is so creative in its format. You turn it sideways and read each page with the bird falling down and down and down, but then the story takes a turn and the pages literally take a turn as well. You turn the book the other way and follow little Mel as he flies up and up and up! Such a creative idea. I love the line, "As Mel flew by, the spider clapped her hands. All eight of them." I can highly recommend this book for your youngest listeners, although older children will love it, too.
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre
By: Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by: Floyd Cooper
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Also read and recommended by: Lara Lleverino
The story of this event should be told and remembered by new generations. We must learn from the past. I'm always amazed at the actual connection people of today have with events from 100 years ago. My dear husband's grandmother was delivered by a Civil War doctor! To think we have a link to someone of the 1860s is amazing! In this book, the illustrator Floyd Cooper learned of this event from a grandparent who lived through it. I think because of that, he so well drew the illustrations. It was part of his own heritage. And he explains more in the Illustrator's Note as the end of the book. Yes, the book narrates that awful time, but it also ends with hope as it tells about Tulsa's Reconciliation Park which remembers the victims as a place "to realize the responsibility we all have to reject hatred and violence and to instead choose hope." The book includes an Author’s Note in which Weatherford tells of her own connection to the trauma of racism in her cousin’s life and other family members of her ancestry. Knowing these things led her to research the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and to tell the story.
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Wonder Walkers
By: Micha Archer
Illustrated by: Micha Archer
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Also read and recommended by: Christine Kallner
I love this book! Let's get kids off the screens and outside to enjoy their surroundings. The children in this book think creatively in such interesting ways as they wonder and ponder. "Are branches trees' arms? Are roots the plant's toes? Do caves have mouths? Are rivers the earth's veins?" The collage illustrations are very inviting, full of energy and texture, and movement, and still there is that lovely white space so typical of older living books. For older students, this would be a lovely introduction to the literary technique of personification. I highly recommend this beautiful book. Read it with your children and then go outside….and wonder!
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