My Father's Dragon

Gannett, Ruth Stiles. 1948. My Father's Dragon.

Originally published in 1948, My Father's Dragon is a classic children's book that is perfectly suited for read aloud. Starring Elmer, a young boy, and Boris, a blue and yellow striped dragon, the book is full of one adventure after another. It begins off simply enough, "One cold rainy day when my father was a little boy, he met an old alley cat on his street." The boy, Elmer, is the narrator's "father" and these adventures are "tales" of what happened long ago and far away. (Sometimes the boy is called "my father" and sometimes he is called "Elmer.") He is the sort of boy that dreams of adventures, that dreams of dragons, that dreams of faraway lands. And it is this opportune meeting with an alley cat that is the start of it all. What I liked best about this one is that it is funny, creative, and resourceful. I like the way the boy is able to "think" his way out of each new danger. I also enjoy the illustrations by Ruth Chrisman Gannett. They're delightful for the most part.

The book was a Newbery Honor book in 1949.

96 pages.

Footwork

Orgill, Roxane. 2007. Footwork: The Story of Fred and Adele Astaire. Illustrated by Stephane Jorisch.

Footwork is picture book biography of Fred Astaire. Partial biography. It covers the time from his first interest in dance (4 years old and around 1905) through his first few movie pictures (1930s). "One day, while Fred Astaire was waiting for his sister, Adele, to finish dancing class, he saw a pair of ballet shoes in the corner. He put them on and walked on his toes. He was four and a half. Soon there was talk around the house about 'dancing school' and 'New York' and 'opportunity.' The talk concerned mostly Adele, but Fred was in it, too. 'Adele is a born dancer,' Father said, 'and Fred might not be too bad.'" The book provides a behind-the-scenes look at vaudeville, Broadway, and Hollywood. Though I suppose that sentence makes it look easy. It wasn't. Show business was not easy for the Astaires to break into. It was hard work. Always hard work. Always demanding. But it was what everyone wanted--the parents and the two children. This brother and sister act worked together for close to thirty years before she retired from show business to settle down and get married. Fred continued his act finding new partners and trying new things. One of the things he wanted to try most? Moving pictures! He saw film as the place to try new and exciting things with dance. Things had never been done before. Things that he wanted to be the one to "invent" or "discover" or "try."

Footwork shows you just what you can accomplish when you put your heart and mind and soul into something. Big dreams require big commitments. Hard work. Determination. Sacrifice. Perseverance.

Young Readers Challenge Month Two:

The Young Readers Challenge is in its second month. While it isn't a rule that the twelve required books be read one per month, that is a good a way as any for spacing out these round-up posts.

First off, let me say...that there is still time to join in the challenge. There is no official deadline. So don't think you're out of luck if this is your first time hearing about the challenge. The more the merrier.

In this round-up post, you have the opportunity to share with others what you've been reading. You may do this in one or two ways.

1) Leave a comment with a link to your review.
2) Leave a review or mini-review as a comment. So even if you don't have a blog of your own, you can still participate.

Some of you may be wondering how "long" or "short" a review would need to be. Really, it doesn't matter. I would say at least two sentences. :) Unless you use a lot of semicolons. :)

So leave me a comment anytime in the month of February, and I'll *eventually* round them up here in the body of this post with a snazzy little summary or intro of some sort.

So enjoy your month of reading...I look forward to the reviews.

I have been reading a lot of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Little House in the Big Woods; Little House on the Prairie; On the Banks of Plum Creek; By the Shores of Silver Lake; The Long Winter; Little Town on the Prairie; These Happy Golden Years; The First Four Years. All but the last one would be good for "young readers."

Joy Hall has read Betsy-Tacy by Maude Hart Lovelace and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. K. Konigsburg.

To read January's roundup.

Yellow Umbrella

Yellow Umbrella by Jae Soo Liu. This book isn't exactly new--the first American edition being published in 2002--and it isn't exactly unknown since it got some high praise when it first released including being named one of the New York Times Best Illustrated books of the year (2002). But it is new-to-me. Or relatively new-to-me.

I first read Yellow Umbrella last fall. I loved it. I really really loved it. But since it is a wordless picture book, I felt somewhat at a loss of what to say. But I've decided to be brave and venture forth into new territory. If my review doesn't do it justice, you'll just have to trust me that it is worth it. Worth finding and reading yourself.

The book Yellow Umbrella comes with a CD. For the full experience, readers are urged to listen to the CD while 'reading' or 'sharing' the book. An interesting concept in my opinion. A wordless picture book whose story is told by music--by melody--and by illustrations. It's a completely different experience than you might expect. It's all about mood and tone. I'm not sure everyone will love it. But I urge you to read and see for yourself. You might just find it as delightful as I did.



The CD is 27 minutes. The track needed for reading the story is a little over 7 minutes long. The rest of the CD are "extra" bits that make it just that much more fun of an experience.

Thoroughly appropriate for use as "art appreciation" or "music appreciation" or the more complex aspects of storytelling. It also makes for a great shared experience on a rainy day.


The publisher is Kane/Miller. It was originally published in South Korea.

Henry's Freedom Box

Levine, Ellen. 2007. Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story From the Underground Railroad. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson.

I loved this book from the very first moment I read it. I read it back in the summer. But it left me at a loss for words. How could I ever write down in a review just how good this book is? How could I capture how amazing the art is? How truly, truly amazing it is? I looked at it and thought--this will be getting Caldecott love. (And in fact it did get a Caldecott honor.) But it isn't just the art that's good. The text--simple at times--is just right.

"Henry Brown wasn't sure how old he was. Henry was a slave. And slaves weren't allowed to know their birthdays." I imagine this beginning would be quite effective in capturing kids' attention. The idea that a kid would not--could not know their birthday--not know how old they are??? It could prove intriguing. I think--and this can be tossed right out the window since I don't have a degree in education and am basing this simply on my conversations with my sister who does teach first graders--they don't get slavery; they don't get racism; they don't get prejudice; they don't understand how things used to be; how things were. The concept of a human being owning another is foreign to them. So the use of this book--the use of any book dealing with slavery, civil rights, or race relations--needs to be balanced with plenty of discussion and guidance on the part of the teachers. Books--especially historical fiction and nonfiction--need to be placed into context for kids.

The story is powerful, emotional. It seems unreal that it could be real, could be true. But it is. This is one story. But there were many stories. Most untold. Slaves who made their way to freedom. Slaves that never made it. Slaves that were waiting, hoping, praying for deliverance. Broken homes. Broken hearts. Broken lives. Broken spirits. The cruelty of slavery seems so apparent, so obvious at least in my reckoning. Henry's Freedom Box takes a story that is both heartbreaking and inspiring. In one sense, it captures the story of a man who made it. In another, it shows all those that didn't. He was just one. One of many. They all needed to be free. Even Henry's happy ending can't erase the pain and the sorrow of his past.