# 35- Tap Dancing on the Roof (2007)

Tap Dancing on the Roof (2007)

Linda Sue Park

Illustrated by Istvan Banyai

Park has written a series of quirky poems written in the Kirean tradition of Sijo poetry, which consists of 3 lines of 16 syllables total. In the endpages, the author explains the format:

Line 1- Introduction to topic

Line 2- Develops topic

Line 3- Twist

The third line is where reader’s expectations are challenged. These twists may include irony, unexpected imagery, or a play on words. Park has also included some tips for writing your own poem.

Banyai’s ink and paint illustrations are a perfect complement to these ironic poems. He has created pages full of movement. For the poem “Long Division,” Banyai has included a child hanging off of a division sign and elaborates on the concept, adding a child cutting numbers and carrying away a huge slice of an oversized cake. As in much of his art, the illustrator uses a black and white palette with colors to accent parts of the illustrations.

Teachers will find some science connections in some of the twists in the poems. “Tide Line” is an example, along with “Frog,” where Park asks the creature if it wonders what happened to its tail and readers must infer about the meaning.

# 34- Bones: Skeletons and How They Work (2010)

Bones: Skeletons and How They Work (2010)

Steve Jenkins

The bone-colored, textured cutouts in this picturebook stand out among expository texts. I marveled at the diagrams on these glossy pages, which feature animal, dinosaur and human bones, along with an appendix of even more meticulously constructed cut and torn paper diagrams that are labeled. An example is a cross section of a bone. More detailed information is also available in this section.

What is most useful about this book in my opinion is how the author/ illustrator explains why each bone helps the animal survive. Jenkins asks the reader questions like “Where do you think this bone belongs” that get children thinking like scientists. It illustrates perfectly why a frog’s bones are shaped for jumping and other examples. The concept of symmetry is also explained within the context of skeletal structure.

There is a marvelous 4-page spread showing a snake’s skeleton, with all 400 pairs of ribs. Another foldout section features each of the 206 human bones on the outside with all of them put together when the reader opens up the pages. The pages with skulls feature the actual sizes.

This book is artfully written and illustrated to capitalize on childrens’ natural curiosity, creating an engaging scientific experience.

# 33- José! Born to Dance (2005)

José! Born to Dance (2005)

Susanna Reich

Illustrated by Raúl Colón

Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Children’s Book Award

This biography of Mexican dancer José Limón tells a story of one creative artist’s quest to find his passion. What I most enjoy about the story is how José practices and develops many different talents in his life, such as drawing and playing the piano, before he finds his passion for dance.

José grows up during the civil war in México and after his family is forced to hide in the cellar for three days and three nights, they immigrate to the U.S. He grows up dreaming about being an artist an “is famous for his pictures of trains” among his siblings.

As a young adult, José grieves the death of his mother, works in a factory, and dreams of living in New York someday. When he moves there and takes a job as a janitor, however, José becomes discouraged by the works of art he sees in museums and grows lonely. It is when a friend invites him to see dancers that he finds his true passion and “became what he was born to be.”

Colón’s textured paintings feature images that give the reader a sense of being enclosed with his use of lines. In the background of the illustrations that alternate from verso to recto, the round shapes of José and other characters are always framed by photograph frames, a blackboard, and several doors, walls and windows. The somber colors in most of the book portray the main character’s times of suffering, and color enters when José finds joy in his creative endeavors.

The endpages include a historical note about Limón, as well as a bibliography. Teachers and students may enjoy using some of these resources to compare the narrative story with facts and discuss the author and illustrator’s interpretations.

# 32- Grandfather’s Journey (1993)

Grandfather’s Journey (1993)

Allen Say

Biography

Caldecott Medal

Allen Say’s Caldecott- award winning book provides a view across generations of the experience of a love for two worlds. The autobiographical story follows the life of Say’s grandfather starting at the point in his life where he leaves his homeland of Japan for the United States, “wearing western clothes for the first time.”

Say draws our attention to the clothing initially and uses attire to symbolize the constant transitions from one culture back to the other. Underneath a portrait of Say’s own mother, the text reads, “But the village was not a place for a daughter from San Francisco.” The illustration depicts this as well as the intergenerational conflicts, picturing an older woman dressed in traditional Japanese garb and Say’s mother in the foreground, wearing American clothing.

The mood of the story is related through light and shading and the formal layout of the pages of Say’s tribute to his grandfather. Watercolor illustrations are framed elegantly with a thin black border extend the narrative, offering sharply contrasting images and text that portray the displacement sometimes felt by the characters and the events of the story. On page 26, a tranquil image of a soldier figure contrasts with the words “Bombs fell from the sky and scattered our lives like leaves in a storm.” Some images stand alone, such as the origami boat representing the travel from country to country that appears in the endpages and on the back cover of the book.

Students will enjoy discussing the relationship between words and images in this elegant book. Immigrant children may identify with feelings of displacement as well as the love for both countries prevalent in “Grandfather’s Journey.” They may be inspired to write their own or their parents’ experiences with two worlds. It is also interesting to note the circular narrative structure as characters go between places they love.

# 31- Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters (1994)

Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters (1994)

Authors: Patricia C. McKissack and Frederick L. McKissack

Illustrator: John Thompson

This picturebook, set in 1859, contrasts the lives of slaves and masters in this story rich with historical information. The McKissacks have included features that bring the story alive, such as the dialects, rhymes and song lyrics, recipes, and details about herbs, all of which are explained either in the text of the story or in the glossary of terms included at the end of the book.

The acrylic paintings in this richly historical book are complementary to the text, giving a realistic portrayal of events described in the story. In one image slaves are depicted scrubbing a floor from a bird’s eye perspective, a view that a master might have of them. The gravity of their chores and the depth of their troubles is also portrayed in this moving image.

The text is primarily presented in Times New Roman font, and the layout of the book is formal and mirrors the many formalities between slaves and their masters described in the book. The back cover of the jacket features the Big House with the white family in front of it with the slave quarters and the slave family pictured directly underneath. Elegant red chapter titles are Tuscan Italian, an ornamental typeface introduced in 1859.

Everything about this text is extensively researched and thus an excellent representation of two distinct perpectives. Dialogue and details in the book provide a plethora of discussion points in relation to the study of American history, providing a juxtaposition of two worlds in close proximity.

# 30- The Three Little Pigs (1989)

The Three Little Pigs (1989)

James Marshall

Marshall offers a refreshing take of this traditional tale, making the experience his own with his trademark illustrations and dialogue rich with idioms. Using a bright palette of watercolor and pen, Marshall demonstrates each pig’s personality with rich visual detail. In the opening spread, the reader gets a hint of this as the three pigs march out of their childhood home. The pig who later lays in a hammock inside a swaying home of straw is first in line here, shoe and shirtless with his bag slung over his shoulder while the third pig is elegantly dressed with both feet on the ground.

Readers will want to spend time viewing the whimsical homes of the three pigs and paying attention to the movement and mood portrayed through Marshall’s artwork. Yellow represents opportunity, as each building material is transported in a something bearing this color. Movement is evident in the scatter of straw and sticks in the destruction of the first two houses, and subtle details like a wavering scarf and curtains blowing bring life to the pages.

English language learners will be able to examine idioms in context through the narration of this familiar story, such as “mind your own business” and the concept of being “put out.”

Though the first two pigs are devoured by the not-so- threatening wolf in this version, the book jacket shows a stage and gives a view from both audience and performer’s perspective. This may provide some reassurance to younger readers.

View the cartoon version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joll62WS9H4

# 29- Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A story of the Young Jimi Hendrix (2010)

Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A story of the Young Jimi Hendrix (2010)

by Gary Golio

Illustrations by Javaka Steptoe

In this biography about the childhood of Jimmy Hendrix, Javaka Steptoe features several closeups that portray the astute musical personality of the artist. In the endpages of the book, Steptoe explains how he got to know Jimmy. “You have to do things they did, see the things they saw,” he relates, telling readers how he visited the elementary school the musician attended and picked up an electric guitar.

Steptoe used acrylic on plywood and created a collage to capture the sound, vibrations, look and feel of the guitars. Each spread in the book is a full page bleed rich with sounds and colors that elaborate on the details offered by Golio in the text. Some of these spreads are vertical, giving the reader a sense of Jimi’s ever-changing life and how he “moved around a lot.”

“The sounds of life were calling out, and Jimmy Hendrix wanted to answer them,” Golio narrates, pointing out the everyday sounds that Jimmy heard as music and imitated in a variety of ways. The author also points out Jimmy’s musical inspiration, such as gospel, jazz, blues, and Muddy Waters. Readers will want to listen Hendrix’s music, as well as to these influential styles and artists to gain a better sense of the artist’s experiences.

The endpages of the book feature additional information about Jimi, as well as insights into the creative processes of both author and illustrator.