A River of Words by Jen Bryant

Apr3

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008. 32 pages.

“By stripping away unnecessary details, Williams tried to ‘see the thing itself . . . with great intensity and perception.'” ~Author’s Note, A River of Words by Jen Bryant

“Then I looked to a big box of discarded books I had from a library sale. One of the books had beautiful endpapers and I did a small painting on it. Then I took a book cover, ripped it off, and painted more. The book covers became my canvas, and any ephemera I had been saving for one day became fodder for the collages.” ~Illustrator’s Note, A River of Words, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

My youngest daughter, Z-baby, says her favorite poem is William Carlos Williams’ brief meditation on the distilled essence of common things that begins with the words: “so much depends/ upon/ a red wheel/ barrow . . .” This picture book biography distills Mr. Williams’ life down to the bare essentials, but it nevertheless tells and implies so much about the man and about his poetry. In the book, I learned:

–that Williams became a doctor, of obstetrics and pediatrics, so that he could make a living and still write poetry in his spare time.

–that Mr. Williams loved poetry from his boyhood days in Rutherford, New Jersey.

–that the poet made friends with other poets: Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle, Charles DeMuth, and Marianne Moore.

–that William Carlos Williams lived a busy life of keen observation and “rivers of words”.

Several of Williams’ poems are featured on the end papers of the books, and quotes from his poems are woven into the text and into the collage illustrations. (If you are shocked by the quotation from Ms. Sweet about the wanton destruction of books to make her artwork, I choose to believe that the books she used were already too damaged to be shelved or read.) Without Melissa Sweet’s pictures, this book would be interesting but ephemeral. However, the illustrations complement and enhance the text so well that the book is destined to become a classic in the picture book biography genre. It already won the following awards back in 2009 when it was published:

2009 Caldecott Honor Book
An ALA Notable Book
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book
A Charlotte Zolotow Honor Book
NCTE Notable Children’s Book

And to those awards I add my kudos. I bought a copy of A River of Words for my library, but I think I will need to buy another copy for Z-baby. (And maybe one for my son-in-law, the poet.)

There is also a book about William Carlos Williams in the Poetry for Young People series that would be a good follow-up for “young people” who are intrigued by this introduction to his life and work. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

Across a Dark and Wild Sea by Don Brown

Apr2

Columcille, aka Saint Columba, was born in Ireland in 521 AD. The son of a king, he became a scribe and a monk and a bard in a world that was falling apart with the fall of the Roman Empire and final end of the Pax Romana (the peace had been eroding for several centuries before the sixth century).

Don Brown’s picture book biography paints the time of Columba as a dark time without much love for learning, except among the monks and religious of Ireland, a real Dark Ages. The book goes on to tell how Columba became involved in a violent and bloody battle over possession of a copy of a book and how he left Ireland to become a missionary in the wilds of Iona, an island off the coast of Scotland.

I like Mr.Brown’s telling of the story of Columcille/Columba. The illustrations by the author are a little too sketchy in style for my taste, but it’s more a matter of taste than of talent or quality. You may love the pictures. An author’s note in the back of the book gives more information about Saint Columba, and there’s a page showing the letters of the uncial alphabet, a writing style used in Saint Columba’s time. Brown’s bibliography includes Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization, a book I have read and would recommend if you want to read more about the Irish monks and their missionary efforts and their preservation of many of the texts of Western civilization.

Saint Columba is supposed to have written the following poem, called Altus prosator (not included in this book):

Altus prosator, vetustus
dierum et ingenitus
erat absque origine
primordii et crepidine
est et erit in sæcula
sæculorum infinita;
cui est unigenitus
Christus et sanctus spiritus
coæternus in gloria
deitatis perpetua.
Non tres deos depropimus
sed unum Deum dicimus,
salva fide in personis
tribus gloriosissimis.

High creator, Ancient
of Days, and unbegotten,
who was without origin
at the beginning and foundation,
who was and shall be in infinite
ages of ages;
to whom was only begotten
Christ, and the Holy Ghost,
co-eternal in the everlasting
glory of Godhood.
We do not propose three gods,
but we speak of one God,
saving faith in three
most glorious Persons.

If you can read and pronounce Latin, the poem sounds lovely in that language. I can’t really read Latin, but I tried, and I enjoyed the attempt. The poem is also an acrostic; the part above is just the first verse, the beginning with “A” part. Here’s a link to a translation of the entire poem.

Here’s another section of the poem that I especially liked:

By chanting of hymns continually ringing out,
by thousands of angels rejoicing in holy dances,
and by the four living creatures full of eyes,
with the four and twenty happy elders,
casting down their crowns beneath the feet of the Lamb of GOD,
the Trinity is praised with eternal threefold repetition.

I’m reviewing and highlighting poetry picture books this month on Semicolon in honor of Poetry Month. What’s your favorite poetry-related picture book?

Poetry for Fools

Apr1

It’s National Poetry Month, and it’s also the first of April, April Fool’s Day. So here is a selection of foolish poetry for celebrating the day.

THE ICHTHYOSAURUS

There once was an Ichthyosaurus
Who lived when the earth was all porous,
But he fainted with shame
When he first heard his name,
And departed a long time before us.

Come on in, the Senility is Fine
by Ogden Nash

People live forever in Jacksonville and St. Petersburg and Tampa,
But you don’t have to live forever to become a grampa.
The entrance requirements for grampahood are comparatively mild,
You only have to live until your child has a child.
From that point on you start looking both ways over your shoulder,
Because sometimes you feel thirty years younger and sometimes
thirty years older.
Now you begin to realize who it was that reached the height of
imbecility,
It was whoever said that grandparents have all the fun and none of
the responsibility.
This is the most enticing spiderweb of a tarradiddle ever spun,
Because everybody would love to have a baby around who was no
responsibility and lots of fun,
But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby
Who would trust their own child to raise a baby.
So you have to personally superintend your grandchild from diapers
to pants and from bottle to spoon,
Because you know that your own child hasn’t sense enough to come
in out of a typhoon.
You don’t have to live forever to become a grampa, but if you do
want to live forever,
Don’t try to be clever;
If you wish to reach the end of the trail with an uncut throat,
Don’t go around saying Quote I don’t mind being a grampa but I
hate being married to a gramma Unquote.

APRIL FOOL’S DAY

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools’ day
But why the people call it so
Nor I, nor they themselves, do know.

THE SNAIL’S DREAM by Oliver Hereford

A snail who had a way, it seems,
Of dreaming very curious dreams,
Once dream’t he was—you’ll never guess!—
The Lightning Limited Express.

THE OSTRICH by Mary Wilkins Freeman

The Ostrich is a silly bird
With scarcely any mind.
He often runs so very fast
He leaves himself behind.

And when he gets there, has to stand
And hang about till night,
Without a blessed thing to do
Until he comes in sight.

DADDY FELL INTO THE POND by Alfred Noyes

Everyone grumbled. The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And then there seemed to be nothing beyond,
Then
Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone’s face grew merry and bright,
And Timothy danced for sheer delight.
“Give me the camera, quick, oh quick!
He’s crawling out of the duckweed!” Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,
And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft,
And it sounded as if the old drake laughed.
Oh, there wasn’t a thing that didn’t respond
When
Daddy Fell into the pond!

Have a good laugh today! Happy April Fool’s Day!

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag

Mar30

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

~Galatians 5:14-15, 25-26

In the picture book Millions of Cats, an old man who is looking for a cat, finds a hill covered in cats, “hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats.” It’s too difficult to choose just one, so the old man chooses two, three, four, more—until he just chooses them all. But when he gets home with all of the cats, the little old woman says they can only afford to keep one. and so the cats begin to argue and fight about which of them is the prettiest, the best one to be kept and loved and petted by the very old man and the very old woman.

The cats “began to quarrel.” “They bit and scratched and clawed each other” until they have eaten each other all up. Isn’t this just the picture that Galatians 5:15 gives of Christians who are biting and devouring one another until we are all consumed by one another? And haven’t you seen this story played out in homes, in churches, in community groups, and on the internet? One person begins to become conceited, provoking others to retaliate, to try to build themselves up to look better than the first. We all begin envying one another, tearing one another down, admiring ourselves, biting and scratching, figuratively speaking, of course, until we eat each other up.

In Millions of Cats, there is one little humble cat who does not participate in the grand melee. He’s a “very homely little cat” who hides himself away during the battle and only comes out when it is all over. Of course, it is this homely little cat who becomes the much loved pet, “the most beautiful cat in the whole world.” (He’s the only one left!) The homely little cat gets to come home and be loved.

Let’s be like that cat, walk in the Spirit, in humility, and hide ourselves away from the backbiting and clawing and scratching that goes on in our world. Whether it’s in our workplaces or our churches or even our own homes, let’s stay away from the envy and conceit that pervade our world and instead look for every opportunity to love our neighbor as ourselves. Then, we will be in step with the Spirit, and we will be loved as we love one another.

Sequoyah by James Rumford

Mar28

Sequoyah: The Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford, translated by Anna Sixkiller Huckaby.

Quite appropriately, this book about the man who invented the Cherokee written language is printed in two languages: English and Cherokee. The story itself is almost unbelievable. Sequoyah was fifty years old and knew no English and couldn’t read when he began to invent a written language for the Cherokee people in about 1809. People laughed at him and persecuted him for his strange ideas. Yet he persevered, and he is famous for having given his people a writing system and a written language.

I didn’t know that the giant Sequoia trees of California are probably named for Sequoyah. Rumford’s tale of the life of Sequoyah is framed as a story told by a father to his children about how the trees are like the man Sequoyah, even though Sequoyah was crippled and old and not a warrior at all.

“Now, who was this Sequoyah? my father asks.
He was a famous man, we say, because he invented writing for the Cherokee.
He was a brave man because he never gave up.
He was a leader because he showed his people how to survive—
How to stand tall and proud like these trees.”

The introductory blurb calls this book “a poem to celebrate literacy, a song of a people’s struggle to stand tall and proud.” And indeed, it is both narrative and poetic. I was moved, after reading this brief history of Sequoyah, to find other books and read more. A man who is famous for inventing an alphabet? That’s my kind of biography.

More books about Sequoyah:

Sequoyah: The Story of an American Indian by C. W. Campbell.

Sequoyah: Young Cherokee Guide (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Dorothea J. Snow.

Sequoyah and the Cherokee Alphabet by Robert Cwiklik.

Sequoyah: Leader of the Cherokees (Landmark Books, 65) by Alice Marriott.

Sequoyah by James Rumford is available for checkout from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

The Real McCoy by Wendy Towle

Mar27

The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor by Wendy Towle, paintings by Will Clay. Scholastic, 1993.

The Real McCoy: the genuine article; the actual thing.

There is some controversy over the origin of this common idiom, as author Wendy Towle indicates in her biography of inventor Elijah McCoy. The book calls the life and work of Mr. McCoy “one possible origin” of the phrase.

Whether or not his work spawned an idiom meaning genuine or original work, McCoy’s life story is certainly an inspiring testimony to excellence and successful invention. Elijah McCoy was born in Canada, the son of former slave who escaped from Kentucky and came to Canada via the Underground Railroad. He eventually studied engineering in Scotland and then came to live in the United States just after the end of the Civil War. Unfortunately, he could not find any work as an engineer because of his skin color, so he became a fireman/oilman for the railroad.

Or was it providence? Elijah McCoy soon began inventing devices to make the trains run more safely and efficiently, including his most famous invention, the automatic lubricating oil cup. He eventually patented over fifty inventions in his lifetime: the first portable ironing board, a lawn sprinkler, tires and tire treads, better rubber heels for shoes, and many devices that were used in the transportation industry in Detroit where McCoy lived.

Wil Clay, a well-known African American artist, painted the vivid and colorful pictures that adorn the pages of this picture book biography. His paintings make the time period and story come alive as readers learn about one of the heroes of American invention.

There’s also another picture book biography of Elijah McCoy in the Great Idea series by Tundra Books, titled All Aboard! Elijah McCoy’s Steam Engine by Monica Kulling. I prefer the Towle/Clay book with its rich paintings, but either book would deliver a good reading experience for children who are interested in the stories of real people who overcame obstacles and achieved noteworthy success.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? by Tanya Lee Stone

Mar26

Who Says Women Can’t be Doctors? The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. Henry Holt, 2013.

“I’ll bet you’ve met plenty of doctors in your life. And I’ll bet lots of them were women. Well, you might find this hard to believe, but there once was a time when girls weren’t allowed to become doctors.”

According to this picture book biography, Elizabeth Blackwell changed all that. Because a woman named Mary Donaldson told Elizabeth Blackwell that “she would have much preferred being examined by a woman” and because Mary urged Elizabeth to consider becoming a doctor herself, Elizabeth Blackwell, who lived during that time when women weren’t allowed or expected to become doctors, found herself thinking and dreaming about the idea of being a female doctor. Some people laughed at the idea. Some people criticized. The medical schools she applied to all turned her down. But Geneva Medical School in New York finally admitted her—as a joke!

The illustrations in this picture book are bright and whimsical and appealing. The illustrator, Marjorie Priceman, also illustrated some of my favorite picture books, including How To Make an Apple Pie and See the World, How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA, and Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin (all available from my library, Meriadoc Homeschool Library).

Elizabeth Blackwell graduated medical school and became the first woman doctor in the United States. Except for a few details about her childhood and her med school experiences, what I’ve told you here is what the book tells in its main text. The author’s note at the back of the book includes a few more details about Elizabeth Blackwell’s life. This biography would be the perfect length for primary children, ages four to seven. And it would be a good introduction to Elizabeth Blackwell and the advent of female doctors for older children.

Then if you or your children want to read more about Ms. Blackwell, check out the following books:

Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Joanne Landers Henry.

Lone Woman: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell, the First Woman Doctor by Dorothy Clarke Wilson.

The First Woman Doctor: The Story of Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. by Rachel Baker. (Messner biography)

I tend to agree with Ms. Donaldson. I prefer a female doctor, and I’m glad we have the choice nowadays to go to a woman doctor or a male doctor, whichever we prefer. And, of course, I’m glad that women can become doctors.

Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors? is available for checkout from Meriadoc Homeschool Library. If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom.

The Twenty Children of Johann Sebastian Bach by David Arkin

Mar25

The Twenty Children of Johann Sebastian Bach by David Arkin. Ward Ritchie Press, 1968.

This picture book biography, published by a quirky little SoCal publisher/printer, is an early example of the picture book biography. As far as I can tell the author is David I. Arkin, father of the actor Alan Arkin, not David George Arkin, who was an actor and no relation to David I and Alan. The book is dedicated to David Arkin’s wife Beatrice. However, there’s not any information that I can find on the internet that ties this book directly to David I. Arkin, other than the wife’s name.

At any rate, the writing in the book is adequate, not as exciting as it might have been. The illustrations are beautiful. Bach and his twenty children and their family life together are painted in positive and engaging words and pictures. The book tells us that Bach had seven children with his first wife, who died, then thirteen more with his second wife. Seven of the twenty children did not survive past their first birthday. But those who did live were much beloved, and their musician father is shown writing music for them, educating them, and singing lullabies to his many babies.

The author does leave some questions unanswered. He tells us what happened to eight of the children when they grew up. Five of the boys grew up to be great and famous musicians and composers themselves. Three of the girls lived with their parents all their lives, never married, and one married her father’s favorite pupil. But what happened to the other four living children? (Actually, I looked, and Wikipedia says that only ten of Bach’s children lived to become adults. So, somebody has the count wrong. and that still leaves one grown child unaccounted for in the book.)

I suppose it’s hard to keep track of twenty children. I only have eight, and I’m not always sure what they are all doing with their lives. So, we can leave off the counting and just enjoy Arkin’s story of a big, happy, musical family. And then play some Bach while you look at the illustrations one more time.

If you are interested in purchasing ($5.00) a curated list of favorite picture book biographies with over 300 picture books about all sorts of different people, email me at sherryDOTpray4youATgmailDOTcom. I’m highlighting picture book biographies in March. What is your favorite picture book about a real person?

Dreaming in Code by Emily Arnold McCully

Mar23

Dreaming in Code: Ada Byron Lovelace, Computer Pioneer by Emily Arnold McCully. Candlewick, 2019.

This new biography for children of mathematician Ada Byron Lovelace is NOT a picture book, and indeed, although it’s recommended for ages 10-14 in the marketing information, the book chronicles the actions and accomplishments of a woman who lived a rather shocking and tragic life. I’m not sure all fourteen year olds, much less ten year olds, are ready for the revelations that McCully sees fit to include in her biography, revelations of adultery, child abuse, incest, cruelty, and drug abuse.

In addition, the biographer is rather prejudiced. Lord Byron, Ada’s rake of a father, is very nearly absolved of all his faults, mostly because he wrote a poem in which he mentioned his longing to see his daughter after her mother, Lady Byron, ran away with the child and refused to allow Byron near her. Lady Byron, who does seem to have been something of a tartar, is painted in the darkest of terms as “obsessive” and “neglectful”, also self-centered and hypochondriacal, a dark and bullying force in Ada’s life for its entirety. Lord Byron gets off easily, I suppose because he died young and wrote good poetry.

Ada herself, because she was a genius and because she’s the subject of the book(?), is shown as a martyr to her mother’s domineering and dictatorial selfishness and whimsy. Nevertheless, there are numerous indications that Ada wasn’t much better than her parents when it came to being a decent parent and a faithful wife. McCully tells us that Ada was unfaithful to her long-suffering husband on more than one occasion, that she worried that she was a neglectful mother, and that she called her three children “irksome duties”. She was also drug-addicted, unhealthy, and an inveterate gambler. Perhaps one could blame all of Ada’s adult sins and problems on her horrible childhood and her horrible parents, but nevertheless it’s a wonder she was able to accomplish as much as she did in the fields of mathematics and invention.

So, the story of Ada Byron Lovelace is not terribly edifying, but it is a cautionary tale, I suppose. The sins of the fathers are often visited upon the children, and it takes the power of God to break a family heritage of sin and rebellion.

Takeaway:

“This was Ada’s great leap of imagination and the reason we remember her with such admiration. Her idea that the engine (Babbage’s Analytical Engine) could do more than compute, that numbers were symbols and could represent other concepts, is what makes Babbage’s engine a prototype-computer.”

Theodoric’s Rainbow by Stephen Kramer

Mar22

Theodoric’s Rainbow by Stephen Kramer, illustrated by Daniel Mark Duffy. W.H. Freeman and Company, 1995. 32 pages.

I don’t know if it’s The-ODD-oric or Theo-DORE-ic, but either way this fictionalized biography of a real thirteenth/fourteenth century German Dominican friar who experimented with light, optics, and rainbows is a delight for the eyes and the mind. The story is simple enough to read to a five or six year old, yet the scientific concepts that are introduced are challenging enough to intrigue and interest much older children and adults. In fact, after re-reading the book myself, I want to find a prism or a drop of water and go play with rainbows.

The note at the back of the back about Theodoric of Freiburg tell us that little is known about Theodoric’s personal life or about the details of how he made his discoveries or how they were received in the monastery where he lived. “This is the story of how it might have happened.” So, much of the story contained in the pages of this book is just that—a story.

The paintings by Daniel Mark Duffy that illustrate Theodoric’s story are breath-taking and beautiful. As befits a book about rainbows, the illustrations are colorful enough even for me, a lover of color. Mr. Duffy “studied medieval paintings and manuscript illuminations, rainbows of all kinds, and Theodoric’s own drawings” to prepare for illustrating this biography.

It’s not so easy to find biographies or fiction about real medieval people written for children, picture book or otherwise. Theodoric lived during the high middle ages, and he did interesting work as a proto-scientist and observer of God’s creation. I would definitely want to share this book with elementary age children who were studying or interested in this time period or the science of rainbows.