One day off, but I'm squeezing it in there anyway, because I had good beautiful books to showcase.
My Family Plays Music
Judy Cox, illustrated by Elbrite Brown
ISBN: 0823415910
A lovely variety of brown and black faces and bodies playing beautiful music in varied venues.
The ONLY downside to this book is that there are a LOT of family members to get through. The music styles and venues and instruments are interesting and varied, from great-grandmother on the church pipe organ to niece Sadie playing the pots and pans in the kitchen, and our narrator is a gifted percussionist, playing scads of different instruments to accompany each different relative. It's rhythmic, cadenced, lovely descriptive language (all the instruments and music styles are named), and each family member has their own distinct style and appearance. It's perfect - other than getting a smidge tired of a large family: father, mother, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, great grandma, cousin, and niece.
Uptown
Bryan Collier
ISBN: 0805057218
Rich, multi-layered collages of highly-textured photographs show off Harlem through a boy's eyes.
Our narrator tells us about various slices of life and environment Uptown - the brownstones, the barbershops, the Apollo Theatre, playing at Rutgers in summer, and listening to the Boy's Choir sing in the evenings, sharing his joy and pride in his homeplace of Uptown Harlem. I love it specifically for my rural/suburban southern kids because it shows off a joyful and positive impression of city life.
Max and the Tag-Along Moon
Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9780399233425
Truly lovely grainy-textured sepia-washed spreads of color and shadow.
It's early evening, and the moon rises as Max says goodbye to his beloved Granpa, who reassures the sad boy that the moon will "always shine for you" through the night. During the long drive, beautifully illustrated and lyrically narrated, Max keeps a delighted eye on the tag-along moon that follows him around curves, through forests, and waits for him at the end of tunnels. By the end of the trip, clouds have rolled in, and the stars - and moon - vanish from sight. Max feels the loss of the moon keenly, and rolls it up with how he feels missing his Granpa, and is sad and lonely as he arrives home and prepares for bed. But just before he falls asleep, the clouds roll back, and that loyal moon shines bright in his window, just like Granpa said it would. Beautiful, sweet, and expressionistic.
Showing posts with label Floyd Cooper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Floyd Cooper. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
New Picture Book: A Dance Like Starlight, Kristy Dempsey & Floyd Cooper
A Dance Like Starlight: One Ballerina's Dream
Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (A Beach Tail)
ISBN: 9780399252846
Lyrical text and dreamlike sepia-textured scenes show the inspiration of Janet Collins in 1951.
This is a perfect pairing for Firebird, and I foresee an influx of beautiful black ballerinas in years to come, inspired by these two lovely books. (I'm already doing a storytime with these two and Amazing Grace - it's just too perfect not to.)
A young girl stands in the wings and imagines dancing along with the ballet corps, while her seamstress mother creates the fantastic ballet costumes for the dancers. A sympathetic dancing master, and a mother determined to inspire her child bring them to the Met for the debut of Janet Collins dancing - four years before Marian Anderson's debut.
Again, the storyline is beautiful, and the racial issues, while apparent and clear, aren't judgmental or vindictive. The entire work is hopeful and joyful, and I hope that it inspires others to reach for their dreams and to take courage from those who have gone before.
Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (A Beach Tail)
ISBN: 9780399252846
Lyrical text and dreamlike sepia-textured scenes show the inspiration of Janet Collins in 1951.
This is a perfect pairing for Firebird, and I foresee an influx of beautiful black ballerinas in years to come, inspired by these two lovely books. (I'm already doing a storytime with these two and Amazing Grace - it's just too perfect not to.)
A young girl stands in the wings and imagines dancing along with the ballet corps, while her seamstress mother creates the fantastic ballet costumes for the dancers. A sympathetic dancing master, and a mother determined to inspire her child bring them to the Met for the debut of Janet Collins dancing - four years before Marian Anderson's debut.
Again, the storyline is beautiful, and the racial issues, while apparent and clear, aren't judgmental or vindictive. The entire work is hopeful and joyful, and I hope that it inspires others to reach for their dreams and to take courage from those who have gone before.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: African American Dancing Dreams
Chalk another one down for my absurdly specific storytime themes!
It's not my fault, really. I ordered Firebird, and then A Dance Like Starlight came through as a new addition the same week, and I've loved Amazing Grace since forever (blame Reading Rainbow).
We started with Amazing Grace, because that one really is at the length-limit for my age-group, then I put Firebird in the middle, and A Dance Like Starlight at the end. The entire storytime was a little on the long side, but they all went together so well that I felt it was worth it. I did end up "abridging" Amazing Grace and Dance Like Starlight a little bit on the fly.
Amazing Grace
Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Caroline Binch
ISBN: 0803710402
Classic Reading Rainbow book about sexism, racism, and the power of acceptance.
Grace is an imaginative, dramatic girl who loves to act out stories. When her teachers decides to do a class performance of Peter Pan, Grace wants to be Peter - but her classmates disagree - she can't be Peter because she's a girl, and she can't be Peter because she's black. Her mother and grandmother disagree, and take her out to see a beautiful black ballerina performing in Romeo and Juliet. Grace learns her lines, auditions with her whole soul, and the whole class ends up agreeing that she will be a perfect Peter Pan. The final image of her in her costume is one of my favorite illustrations in a picture book.
Firebird
Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers
ISBN: 9780399166150
Reviewed here,
I liked how it was so conceptually different from Amazing Grace, and the way the art and colors are so vivid and wild and surreal, but at the same time, very clear and understandable.
A Dance Like Starlight
Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (A Beach Tail)
ISBN: 9780399252846
Reviewed here.
The sepia tones in this story felt much more drab compared to Firebird and Amazing Grace, but I don't think it detracted from the story. The text doesn't seem very long on the page, but when reading, it goes a lot more slowly, and it isn't very intuitive and flowing (at least it wasn't for me). I ended up eliding or abridging sections, especially because it was the last book and the wiggle-worms were out in full force.
It's not my fault, really. I ordered Firebird, and then A Dance Like Starlight came through as a new addition the same week, and I've loved Amazing Grace since forever (blame Reading Rainbow).
We started with Amazing Grace, because that one really is at the length-limit for my age-group, then I put Firebird in the middle, and A Dance Like Starlight at the end. The entire storytime was a little on the long side, but they all went together so well that I felt it was worth it. I did end up "abridging" Amazing Grace and Dance Like Starlight a little bit on the fly.
Amazing Grace
Mary Hoffman, illustrated by Caroline Binch
ISBN: 0803710402
Classic Reading Rainbow book about sexism, racism, and the power of acceptance.
Grace is an imaginative, dramatic girl who loves to act out stories. When her teachers decides to do a class performance of Peter Pan, Grace wants to be Peter - but her classmates disagree - she can't be Peter because she's a girl, and she can't be Peter because she's black. Her mother and grandmother disagree, and take her out to see a beautiful black ballerina performing in Romeo and Juliet. Grace learns her lines, auditions with her whole soul, and the whole class ends up agreeing that she will be a perfect Peter Pan. The final image of her in her costume is one of my favorite illustrations in a picture book.
Firebird
Misty Copeland, illustrated by Christopher Myers
ISBN: 9780399166150
Reviewed here,
I liked how it was so conceptually different from Amazing Grace, and the way the art and colors are so vivid and wild and surreal, but at the same time, very clear and understandable.
A Dance Like Starlight
Kristy Dempsey, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (A Beach Tail)
ISBN: 9780399252846
Reviewed here.
The sepia tones in this story felt much more drab compared to Firebird and Amazing Grace, but I don't think it detracted from the story. The text doesn't seem very long on the page, but when reading, it goes a lot more slowly, and it isn't very intuitive and flowing (at least it wasn't for me). I ended up eliding or abridging sections, especially because it was the last book and the wiggle-worms were out in full force.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Tuesday Storytime: Going to the Beach
Back to picking my own topics for storytimes again!
August is pretty much the height of summer here in SC, so I'm celebrating my free choice of topics by spending some time focusing on boats, beaches, and swimming.
Today, the beach!
A Beach Tail
Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9781590787120
An expressive black boy explores a beachfront, tethered to his dad by the long tail of a "sandy-lion" he's drawing in the sand.
Gorgeous illustrations, and a great story, and always so very nice to see POC in picture books without that being made a part or a focus of the story. Gregory and his dad (just the two of them) are at the beach, and while dad rests in the shade of an umbrella, Greg draws a lion in the sand. Dad warns him not to leave "Sandy" behind, and Greg complies by drawing the lion a long tail as he wanders along the beach. Eventually the boy realizes he's gone too far from home base, but his "tail" is right there to guide him back, where his dad gently chides that "Sandy has a long tail" before they both head out for a swim. This is my first read of this lovely book, but it certainly won't be the last.
All You Need for A Beach
Alice Schertle, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
ISBN: 0152167552
Roly-poly people with odd profile outlines populate a slowly-developing beach along with rollicking rhymes.
This is a fun one because of the language. The rhymes and rhythm are so much fun to play with, and the conceit of only needing one simple thing for a beach - a grain of sand - AND a few trillion more AND some trees AND birds AND ocean... really makes the pages fly. I've done this one a few times before, and it's always been a hit.
One White Wishing Stone
Doris H Gayzagian, illustrated by Kristina Swarner
ISBN: 0792251105
A National Geographic book, with a doll-like girl playing on a soft-edged, muted, calming beach.
This one is a very beautiful, and very soothing book. A girl plays on the beach, collecting items starting with One white wishing stone, then Two periwinkle shells, and so on, until she has enough collected to build and decorate a sandcastle. Once the waves reclaim her treasures, she keeps the periwinkles and the wishing stone and uses them as talismans that night to recall a beautiful day and anticipate others like it. I love that it ends with the people home and remembering a happy time, and that it shows her leaving most of her collected treasures at the beach where they belong.
August is pretty much the height of summer here in SC, so I'm celebrating my free choice of topics by spending some time focusing on boats, beaches, and swimming.
Today, the beach!
A Beach Tail
Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9781590787120
An expressive black boy explores a beachfront, tethered to his dad by the long tail of a "sandy-lion" he's drawing in the sand.
Gorgeous illustrations, and a great story, and always so very nice to see POC in picture books without that being made a part or a focus of the story. Gregory and his dad (just the two of them) are at the beach, and while dad rests in the shade of an umbrella, Greg draws a lion in the sand. Dad warns him not to leave "Sandy" behind, and Greg complies by drawing the lion a long tail as he wanders along the beach. Eventually the boy realizes he's gone too far from home base, but his "tail" is right there to guide him back, where his dad gently chides that "Sandy has a long tail" before they both head out for a swim. This is my first read of this lovely book, but it certainly won't be the last.
All You Need for A Beach
Alice Schertle, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
ISBN: 0152167552
Roly-poly people with odd profile outlines populate a slowly-developing beach along with rollicking rhymes.
This is a fun one because of the language. The rhymes and rhythm are so much fun to play with, and the conceit of only needing one simple thing for a beach - a grain of sand - AND a few trillion more AND some trees AND birds AND ocean... really makes the pages fly. I've done this one a few times before, and it's always been a hit.
One White Wishing Stone
Doris H Gayzagian, illustrated by Kristina Swarner
ISBN: 0792251105
A National Geographic book, with a doll-like girl playing on a soft-edged, muted, calming beach.
This one is a very beautiful, and very soothing book. A girl plays on the beach, collecting items starting with One white wishing stone, then Two periwinkle shells, and so on, until she has enough collected to build and decorate a sandcastle. Once the waves reclaim her treasures, she keeps the periwinkles and the wishing stone and uses them as talismans that night to recall a beautiful day and anticipate others like it. I love that it ends with the people home and remembering a happy time, and that it shows her leaving most of her collected treasures at the beach where they belong.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Summer Reading Program 2014. Week 2: Mad Science (special program) & Moon
Our official Summer Reading Program this afternoon is a special event - a performer is coming in and doing a Mad Science Magic Show for us, and that means I'm off the hook for doing that program this week - but I still have to do a Space-themed program for my little ones this morning. However, we're picking Space up again later in the summer for our make-up week, so I went off on a slight tangent for our little ones today, and we read about the moon today.
Footprints on the Moon
Mark Haddon, illustrated by Christian Birmingham
ISBN: 9780763644406
This book is so pretty. I think the overall message is a bit sophisticated for this age-group, but they enjoyed the beautiful pointillist paintings, and the surface story is simple enough - a young boy longs for the moon, and even when he grows up, he loves knowing that the footprints on the moon are nearly eternal.
(Side note, the author also wrote the middle-grade/YA book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which also recently got a National Theatre adaptation by Simon Stephens and Marianne Elliot.)
Happy Birthday, Moon
Frank Asch
ISBN: 0689835442
An old but excellent read, and fairly short and straightforward, with simple line and color to balance the richness of the other two. Bear wants to give the moon a birthday present, so he first tries to figure out when it is and what to give, and then later a mishap occurs, but all is forgiven. Bonus points for having an echo as a key plot point - I love doing echoes.
Max and the Tag-Along Moon
Floyd Cooper,
ISBN: 9780399233425
Max has to leave his grandpa's house one night, and he already misses him, but grandpa assures him that the moon will always shine for him "on and on" through the night. And it's true, as Max travels the (very long way) back home, the moon sticks with him all night, until clouds roll in and cover it up. Max is sad, now missing grandpa AND the moon, but as he settles in to sleep in his bed, the clouds fade away and the moon is still there, reminding Max of his grandfather, and helping him sleep peacefully. African American family and a lovely lullaby story with exceptionally beautiful painterly illustrations.
Footprints on the Moon
Mark Haddon, illustrated by Christian Birmingham
ISBN: 9780763644406
This book is so pretty. I think the overall message is a bit sophisticated for this age-group, but they enjoyed the beautiful pointillist paintings, and the surface story is simple enough - a young boy longs for the moon, and even when he grows up, he loves knowing that the footprints on the moon are nearly eternal.
(Side note, the author also wrote the middle-grade/YA book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time which also recently got a National Theatre adaptation by Simon Stephens and Marianne Elliot.)
Happy Birthday, Moon
Frank Asch
ISBN: 0689835442
An old but excellent read, and fairly short and straightforward, with simple line and color to balance the richness of the other two. Bear wants to give the moon a birthday present, so he first tries to figure out when it is and what to give, and then later a mishap occurs, but all is forgiven. Bonus points for having an echo as a key plot point - I love doing echoes.
Floyd Cooper,
ISBN: 9780399233425
Max has to leave his grandpa's house one night, and he already misses him, but grandpa assures him that the moon will always shine for him "on and on" through the night. And it's true, as Max travels the (very long way) back home, the moon sticks with him all night, until clouds roll in and cover it up. Max is sad, now missing grandpa AND the moon, but as he settles in to sleep in his bed, the clouds fade away and the moon is still there, reminding Max of his grandfather, and helping him sleep peacefully. African American family and a lovely lullaby story with exceptionally beautiful painterly illustrations.
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