Tuesday Storytime: Edgar Allen Poe

Our library decided to host a county-wide celebration of Edgar Allen Poe, and there were events across the entire system and in various other locations through the month of October.  We were asked to tie as many existing library programs into the event as possible, so I challenged myself to come up with toddler-friendly books that were both Halloween appropriate and which somewhat referenced Edgar Allen Poe or his thematic legacy.  I think I did pretty well, all things considered.  I chose to hit on gothic architecture and creepy suspense with Eve Bunting's amazing Night of the Gargoyles, I referenced the ubiquitous Raven with the sweetly translated Rosie the Raven, and double-teamed Poe's own pet cat (Catterina, because OF COURSE) and the creepy (and very child-UNfriendly) story The Black Cat with Cynthia Rylant's Moonlight the Halloween Cat, and finished off with a slightly expurgated and modernized rendition of Poe's courting poem about self-esteem and beauty.  Programming readers's advisory level: awesome.

Night of the Gargoyles
Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Wiesner
ISBN: 9780395968871
Gargoyles on a public building creep about and play tricks as they come alive at night.

Wiesner's illustrations really carry the story here, no offense to Bunting.  The graphite work is amazing, and the expressions on the various gargoyle and human faces is a master-class in showing, not telling.  Bunting's perfectly-honed slightly laconic and dry wit keeps the whole thing from imploding into a grotesque macabre sentiment.  Gargoyles have very simple, childlike pleasures: scuttling around the building and peeking into windows, playing in water fountains, and mildly tormenting helpless creatures (the hapless custodian who is the only one who believes they come alive).  It's beautiful and slightly creepy and subversively funny (jokes about bird poop appear well-received by all ages).  A perfect reference to Poe.  

Rosie the Raven
Helga Bansch
ISBN: 9781554518340
Rosie doesn't look like all her siblings, but she is self-confident and loved by her raven parents.

There is a real dearth of decent books about ravens in the picture book arena, and I find that a crying shame.  This is one of the few that I entirely enjoyed, and I decided it would represent all the sweet and innocent (or prosaic) writing that Poe did, most of which is largely forgotten.  Rosie is a miniature human child born to a family of ravens.  When her siblings grow up and leave the nest, her parents realize that Rosie isn't going to be able to do the same, and will need to migrate south with them.  The family works together, and Rosie learns to accept herself and her non-bird limitations with grace and courage.

Moonlight the Halloween Cat
Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
ISBN: 9780060297114
Moonlight is a black cat, and she loves the lights and noises and creepy creatures out on this particular night.

Moonlight stalks around, a black cat with gleaming, almost day-glow green eyes peering out from the various spreads and pages.  She's a black cat, a Halloween cat, and she knows this night from all the other nights because of all the Halloween things that she encounters; trick-or-treaters, jack-o-lanterns, strange lights, bright moonlight.  A sweet and VERY short story.  I probably should have stuck this one in the middle here.

Bonus Poe Poem:
"Thou would'st be loved?  Then let thy heart/"
from Poetry for Young People: Edgar Allen Poe  (2008 edition)
Brod Bagert & Carolynn Cobleigh
ISBN: 9781402754722
A curated collection of child-appropirate poems (and oddly enough some fragments of stories) by Poe.

Even in a collection of poems designed to be available and intelligible to young people, I only found one poem I felt like the kids would even slightly be able to understand, and that's Poe's untitled poem that he would send to girls that he fancied.  The poem itself is chaste enough, and I only slightly modernized and altered the wording to make meanings clear for a very young, very modern listening group.  It's good advice for all ages, and a nice positive note to end on.

Tuesday Storytime: Haiku Trio

I had originally hoped to do all three about pets, but I wasn't quite able to manage it.  Still, these three worked very well together, and it was a nice chance to incorporate some poetry into the storytime routine.

Won-Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku
Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin
ISBN: 9780805089950
Linear, edgy, almost comic-book art, with minimalist backgrounds.

Won-Ton is a shelter cat who's been adopted, and he's ready to tell us all about the process in a series of truly delightful haiku.  I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this is my favorite book from this storytime, and probably one of my favorites in general.  Wardlaw just does such a perfect job capturing the sly and superior tone of a cat, even in undignified moments, and Yelchin's lanky bony angular artwork is just perfect.  I especially love the expressive eyes.


Hi, Koo! a year of seasons
Jon J. Muth
ISBN: 9780545166683
Koo is a panda bear (perhaps related to the panda Stillwater from the Zen books) and this is his year in unmetered haiku.

Unlike Won-Ton and Dogku, the haiku here are more free-form, with the understanding that syllable breaks in the original don't quite match up to what syllables represent in english. So some of these are quite short, and others are much more wordy than expected.  Still, it's a beautiful and interesting way to represent time flowing in little snippets of verse.  We start in autumn, which is a good fit for this time of year, and flow smoothly through to end at the height of summer. Quick, sweet and touching, but the illustrations don't quite manage to carry as much interest.


Dogku
Andrew Clements, illustrated by Tim Bowers
ISBN: 9780689858239
A dog sits on a doorstep, hoping for a home.  Sweet painterly illustrations.  Lots of color.

Like Won-Ton, we have a dog hoping for a forever home in this story.  Unlike Won-Ton, this puppy has invited himself in, and it's a gamble as to whether he'll be allowed to stay.  (Happy endings are not optional in my storytimes, so no worries there.)  Great framing, a good progression through the day, and a nice "cliffhanger" for the little ones.  I'm highly tempted to save this one for another storytime and match it up with Taxi Dog.

New Arrivals: Picture Book: A Leaf Can Be... by Laura Purdie Salas & Violeta Dabija

A Leaf Can Be... ("sequel" to the beautiful A Rock Can Be... reviewed earlier in the year)
Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija
ISBN: 9780761362036
Soft-edged watercolors with bright splashes of natural colors, and lots and lots of green.

I have to admit up front that I didn't like this one as much as I loved A Rock Can Be, but it's still a really lovely book.  I wish it had shown up a week earlier, as I would have used it in my most recent storytime.

Like the previous installment, we're looking at quirky (and rhyming!) uses of leaves, benefits of leaves, characteristics of leaves, and even emotional resonances of leaves.  It's quite lovely, and reminded me strongly of the simple feel of A Tree is Nice.

New Arrivals: Juv Nonfiction: A Rock Can Be... , Laura Purdie Salas, Violeta Dabija

We're just rolling in the natural history goodness over here these days.

A Rock Can Be...
Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Violeta Dabija
ISBN: 9781467721103
A poetic exploration of what rocks can (or could) be, with soft illustrations reminding me of One White Wishing Stone.

I love the sweet simplicity of this rhyming sequence, and the often-surprising contrasts that are created in the adjacent rhymes.  The visual imagery in "desert dune / harvest moon" is stunning, but even more mentally interesting is the concept match between "Harbor protector / Land connector" showing a rock-embraced round harbor, which is echoed in reverse by a sweep of river arced across by graceful stone bridges.

The rhyme itself is short, leaving four pages at the end for a discussion of rocks and of each of the specific call-outs that the rhymes use, of a Glossary, and a Further Reading selection.

Descriptive, evocative, and inspiring.  Nonfiction can be so beautiful!