Discovering Home

Some of the best historical fiction for upper-elementary and middle-school children invites readers to ponder such themes as how culture shapes identity … the significance of friends and family … and how all people have the same essential needs for home, food, shelter, love and acceptance. Students can hear news reports about immigration almost daily, but they might relate more easily to vibrant novels featuring spunky young protagonists who must make their way in a strange new land.

Candace Fleming’s Lowji Discovers America shows just how far it is from Bombay to Hamlet, Indiana. Nine-year-old Lowji is used to …

• a home on the 47^th floor of an apartment building
• the sounds of honking cars, rattling trains and rumbling double-decker buses
• animals, even cows, running free in the city
• lots and lots of relatives – and a best friend

Lowji’s adventures in small-town America start right away with a fainting pig, a potty-mouthed parrot, and a man as big as a mountain. Leave room for a belly full of laughs with this lively, good-natured novel.

In her author’s note, Grace Lin notes, “Growing up Asian in a mainly Caucasian community was not a miserable and gloomy existence. But it was different. I wrote [The Year of the Dog] because it was the book I wished I had had when I was growing up, a book that had someone like me in it.” Pacy and her sisters are the only Taiwanese-American children at school until … Melody arrives. The girls become friends, enter a contest together, share a crush on the same boy, and enjoy the same food. Pacy even finds her true purpose in life. What will you find here? A charming story of friendship, self-discovery and a girl’s connection to her heritage, all told in a direct manner and dotted with amusing ink drawings. The charm continues in Lin’s sequel, Year of the Rat.

For a darker, more dramatic plot, try Donna Jo Napoli’s The King of Mulberry Street. Nine-year-old Beniamino’s mother leaves him on a ship in Naples, believing he will have a better life in America. Sailing into the New York harbor in 1892, the abandoned Jewish-Italian boy has his first and only new pair of shoes and acquires a new nickname, “Dom.” What he lacks, though, would alarm nearly anyone coming to the U.S.: he knows no English, has no one to greet him, and has no place to sleep. He spends his first night in a wooden barrel in an alleyway. Quick-witted Dom soon learns to avoid the cruel padroni, men who force homeless boys into slavery to work off their debts. As he struggles daily, Dom recalls the wise proverbs his Nonna taught him. He makes new friends and creates his own job by selling sandwiches. Based in part on her grandfather’s childhood, Napoli’s novel prickles with conflict, historical context, and unforgettable characters.

Give a Carrot a Chance?

Who knew carrots could be so wacky and wonderful? Creepy Carrots! reaped a 2013 Caldecott honor for its original, way-too-much-fun illustrations by the acclaimed Peter Brown (Children Make Terrible Pets and A Curious Garden and others). Feature this in your story hour, and you’ll harvest a bushel of laughs and a high demand for an original tale that appeals to many children’s taste for slightly scary stories.

A mashup of funny and frightening images done in retro black, white, and orange, Creepy Carrots! features a carrot-obsessed bunny who learns you can have too much of a good thing. The ridiculous nature of the plot — that carrots stalk a rabbit — supplies much of the frisson that sets this picture book apart from others.

The pacing of author Aaron Reynolds’ crazy tale will keep listeners wide-eyed and curious to hear more. Just after relishing his victory snack, Jasper the rabbit is puzzled by a soft, sinister sound: “the tunktunktunk of carrots creeping. He turned … but there was nothing there.”

And what expressions Peter Brown shows on the faces of Jasper and the carrots! Even though Jasper laughs at himself for even thinking carrots might be following him, the illustrator displays a range of conflicting emotions: eyebrows that look bewildered, eyes that seem anxious, and a mouth sporting a shallow smile. As for the carrots, some look like fierce, gap-toothed jack o’lanterns, while others look worried, surprised, intimidating.

The tale ends with a twist that will endear this book to many a reader. Make room for Creepy Carrots! in your story time or on your shelves. You won’t regret it … or will you?

A more lovable but still humorous perspective on carrots sprouts in Jan Peck’s The Giant Carrot, illustrated with verve by Barry Root.  Sweet little Isabelle, the youngest in the family, comes up with a special way to deal with a carrot that just won’t budge.

With visions of all the good stuff to come — carrot juice, carrot stew, carrot relish, and carrot pudding — each family member takes turns nurturing a carrot seedling. Papa tends the plant, Mama weeds around it, brother Abel waters it, and Isabelle … sings. And that’s what makes the plant grow and grow and grow.

At last, it’s as tall as Papa Joe, but it seems impossible to pull it out of the ground. Only when they all work together can they harvest the carrot that will supply a bounty of tasty treats.

Some of you no doubt will find this familiar fare, as it’s a riff on the Russian big turnip folktale. While there are many versions of the story, I recommend this charming one for children ages 5 to 8. The Giant Carrot illustrates the value of cooperation, while it also implies we should respect everyone, no matter how tiny. And that’s not all; it offers opportunities for multiple curricular uses. Science teachers can use this title in a unit on plant life, and reading teachers might employ it to teach the skill of predicting, or cause and effect. No matter the intention, you and your listeners will reap plenty of fun.

Another folktale that features sassy veggies is The Talking Vegetables
by Won-Ldy Paye and Margaret H. Lippert. The villagers plant a garden, but Spider doesn’t do his part. Finally, he tires of eating plain old rice and decides to help himself to the vegetables. But they won’t hear of it — and tell him so! This hilarious Liberian folktale, illustrated with exuberant paintings by Julie Paschkis, reveals the importance of working together to accomplish a goal.

Any of these fun read-alouds can be paired with Juanita Havill’s clever poem “The Monster,” from her collection I Heard It from Alice Zucchini: Poems About the Garden. The rhythmic, mostly unrhymed lines explore how the vegetables feel about the scarecrow in their midst. It’s one of twenty fun poems that celebrate the cycle of a garden, from winter’s seeds that “rattle their packets with chattering” to a potato buried in the snow.

And see my previous post, “How Does Your Garden Grow?”

Mothers’ Unending Gifts

What gifts do our mothers pass down to us? With The Granddaughter Necklace, prolific author Sharon Dennis Wyeth has created a masterful tribute to the legacy of a loving family. 

The cover image of a peony-bedecked matriarch holding up a glittering necklace of crystal beads to a pigtailed girl sets the tone for this gracious, bighearted picture book. As we discover why that necklace is so precious, we also learn about each mother and the special context in which the gift was shared.

Drawing from her own family history, the author traces the whereabouts of a fictional necklace and presents a brief, enlightening vignette featuring each of seven generations. The effect of this moving story is heightened by the beautifully rendered paintings done in acrylic-gouache by Bagram Ibatoulline. The reader is never overwhelmed with details, as both illustrations and typography give one time enough to pause and appreciate each descendent and her era. An intelligent design choice, for instance, occurs as each mother bequeaths the necklace; at the bottom of the page that woman’s name is revealed with a large, elegant script that resembles handwriting.

The author brings the story full circle, as she herself awards the necklace to her own young daughter following her big piano recital.

In Wyeth’s interesting afterward, she points out how her family has, to her surprise, been traced to an Irish woman named Frances, who settled down with Theodore Harper, a free man of color who owned a farm in Virginia. The author’s African ancestress, from Cameroon, remains unknown, yet Wyeth asserts “she dwells in my heart with Frances and with my mother and with all of my other grandmothers.”

Don’t miss this stunning tribute to mothers and daughters. Perhaps The Granddaughter Necklace will inspire you, too, to share some of your own family’s stories.

See also …

 

 

Five Alive for Cinco de Mayo

With Cinco de Mayo approaching, why not spice up your story time with a few appealing picture books that incorporate  choice Spanish words?

Get the party started with the hilarious Mice and Beans by Pam Muñoz Ryan. A harried grandmother is preparing a birthday party for her young granddaughter, Catalina. So much to do! Several times Abuela misplaces items or forgets details and each time, she muses, “No importa!” Fortunately, she has a little help from an unlikely source — mice, those pesks she has always shooed out of her kitchen whenever she’s spotted them.

The plot’s sly humor and lively details, including the children’s beloved pinata, are captured with Joe Cepeda’s bright, energetic oil paintings. Read this with gusto; Mice and Beans includes a glossary and pronunciation guide to help with the Spanish words and phrases woven into the charming story.

Keep the laughs coming with The Cat Who Came for Tacos, by Diana Star Helmer, another picture book with simple Spanish words and phrases, as well as a lively plot. “Mi casa es su casa,” a man and woman tell a stray cat that comes to their home and stays to share their tacos. Oh, what manners that cat has! Children love hearing how the adults patiently teach the impulsive cat how to eat like a human. Adults will appreciate the subtle message of how we should respect others.

For those looking for a more contemplative tone, consider Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt and illustrated with characteristic verve by David Diaz. Winner of the 2013 Pura Belpre Illustrator Award, this picture-book biography introduces children to the Catholic church’s first black saint in the Americas.

Martin was the humble child of a Spanish conqueror and an African slave. Growing up in the Lima barrios, he had a tender, spiritual nature. Yet, when he wanted to enter the Monastery of the Holy Rosary, the prior insisted Martín could never become a priest because he was “not of pure blood.” So Martín instead worked as a servant, mopping floors, cutting the monks’ hair, sweeping the chapel, all the while submitting to the brothers’ heartless prejudice against him.

Martín began to heal others — wounded dogs, desperate villagers, and eventually, the brothers in the monastery and even the Spanish royals, whom Martín tended after he had helped the poorest in the barrios. After 13 years of such service, Martín’s wish to join to the monastery as a brother came true.

Strange and wondrous stories followed Martín throughout his life. Some said he walked with angels or could appear in two places at once. Others said his lemon and orange trees produced fruit all year long. When he brought bread to the hungry in the barrios, the food seemed to multiply so that he always had enough.

The story of this “rose in the desert,” as his mother called him, is an uplifting tale of compassion and triumph. The author’s note supplies additional background information on Martín de Porres, born in 1579 and canonized in 1962. He is the patron saint of universal brotherhood, interracial relations, social justice, public education, and animal shelters.

See also …

A Fine Day for a Walk

Make room on your bookshelves for one more duckling book this spring. Eva Moore’s Lucky Ducklings: A True Rescue Story has the feel and look of a modern classic. At the same time, the plot derives from events that occurred in Montauk, NY, in 2000, when the community came together to save some hapless little ducks.

As this charming picture book relates, nature does not exist solely in the country. “The Duck family lived in a pretty pond in a green, green park, in a sunlit little town at the end of a long, long island.” The illustrator Nancy Carpenter beautifully evokes the setting with her muted, watery palette, achieved with charcoal and digital media.

“It’s a fine day for a walk!” Mama Duck proclaims. With simple, rhythmic language, Ms. Moore takes us along with Pippin, Bippin, Tippin, Dippin, and Little Joe as they make their way past overflowing trash cans, head off the curb, and follow Mama over the storm grate. Mama steps across easily, but, oh, my, the ducklings fall through! That could have been the end of the story, the author notes, but, thankfully, it didn’t stop there.

Plenty of folks pitch in to help the little ones; an observant bystander notices what happened and calls for help. Firemen and a tow-truck driver are able to save the ducklings and reunite them with their mama.

The afterward, too, shows how the community prevented other small animals from the same predicament: they replaced the storm drain grate with a new one with smaller openings.

Evocative, simple, and memorable, Lucky Ducklings makes for a fine read-aloud for ages 5 to 7.

Also see …

At the Intersection of Poetry and Nature

Poetry, with its eye-opening images, compressed language, and supple forms, provides pleasing ways to teach children about the natural world. Science teachers and others can use a number of fine collections to enrich their curriculum.

In Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems, the poet Kristine O’Connell George has captured a range of perceptions she and her family experienced the year a hummingbird came calling. On a warm day in February a hummingbird dive-bombed near the poet’s face. That’s when they discovered the tiny bird had built a nest in the ficus tree on the patio of their home in California. For the next eight weeks, the acclaimed children’s poet kept a journal, recording her observations and musings on the mother hummingbird and her growing family. With naturalistic watercolor paintings, Barry Moser delineates the show taking place outside. His illustration for “Nest Check” shows a daughter leaning toward the tree to see “Two promises made–/two eggs newly laid.” In “Just Hatched,” the poem is enclosed in an oval shape, accompanied by Moser’s simple, delicate watercolor showing a cracked egg. Readers will linger upon the next image, an aerial shot looking straight down into the “woven walls” of the nest, with one baby bird lying next to an egg just cracking. In time, flying lessons will lead to fledglings taking off, and a mother’s job well done. Author’s note and hummingbird facts included, as well as suggested books about hummingbirds.
This is a lovely book to hold, to share, and to read aloud.

Sidman, Joyce. Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems. illus. by Beckie Prange. Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Spend some time with the interesting inhabitants of a pond, from spring’s peepers to the painted turtles that burrow in the mud for the winter. Original, accessible poems are accompanied by facts about the habitat’s animals, insects, and plants. Glossary included. Prange’s amazing woodcuts won the 2006 Caldecott Honor award. For ages 7 to 12.

Paolilli, Paul. Silver Seeds: A Book of Nature Poems. Viking, 2001. Simple enough for young children, these gentle poems begin with daybreak and end with night, with lovely images of sun, fog, and rain along the way.

Ryder, Joanne. Toad by the Road: A Year in the Life of These Amazing Amphibians. Holt, 2007. Ryder’s engaging poems describe the life cycle of toads, from spring’s tadpoles to adult frogs hibernating in the winter. Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award Winner: Poetry Award (2007)

Singer, Marilyn. Footprints on the Roof: Poems about the Earth. illus. by Meilo So. Knopf, 2002. Older children (ages 9-12) will enjoy Singer’s remarkable poems about Earth’s seasons, weather, land forms, and animals. Use this poetry to foster environmental awareness and to complement the science curriculum. In “Burrows,” for instance, note how she ponders life “under the earth/where rabbits hide from foxes/foxes hide from dogs/full-bellied snakes sleep snugly/worms work uncomplaining. … I try to tread softly:/ a quiet giant/ leaving only footprints on the roof.” Also see her other collections, especially How to Cross a Pond: Poems about Water.

Related articles

• Purposes for Poetry: Ten Ways to Use Poetry in Your Instruction (teachwithpicturebooks.blogspot.com)

Prepping for Fairy Tale Feasts

Stories often serve up scenes rich with food, and the relationship is reciprocal. Who better than Jane Yolen to serve up a spicy stew of both stories and recipes? Yolen and her daughter, Heidi E.Y. Stemple, have concocted an appealing collection of 18 recipes, including latkes, kugel and blintzes, complemented by an equal number of folktales.

A long-awaited follow-up to their charming Fairy Tale Feasts (2006), this collection puts the spotlight on some of the many enchanting and thought-provoking Jewish folktales that have been passed down over the centuries. It gives young and old families an extra incentive to spend time together, creating meals, as well as telling stories. That’s not just nourishing, it’s entertaining!

One of my favorite tales in this collection is “And the Matzo Was Still Warm,” which Yolen adapted from a version by Asher Barash. Long ago in Mainz, a father leaves his son Jacob with a strange dying wish: “Never cross the River Danube.” Years after his father’s death, Jacob has married and has a family, but he yearns to go study the Torah with the revered Rabbi Judah. But, to do that, he must …. . Well, you guessed it.

He crosses the river and winds up spending three years studying with the pious rabbi. But on Passover Eve, Jacob’s heart is heavy as he longs to return home to his wife and son. Rabbi Judah reads his mind. Alas, it’s impossible for Jacob to reach Mainz in time to be with his family for the seder.

Unexpectedly, the rabbi proposes that Jacob help bake the matzo. “After that, we will see what I can arrange to get you home.”

And what a short, strange trip back home, thanks to the rabbi’s miraculous gift.

Paired with the story is Heidi’s recipe for matzo brei. As with all the book’s recipes, she offers simple instructions, preceded by a list of ingredients and of necessary equipment.

Folks of all ages and faiths can find something to savor in this playful collection. As the authors note, “Recipes and stories are made more beautiful, more filling, more memorable by what you put into them.”

See also …

Related articles

My post on egg stories, perfect for Easter

Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop: Enter to Win “Troll Bridge: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fairy Tale”! (susanheim.blogspot.com)

Getting By With a Little Wit

Give it up, you baby boomers. You had a favorite Beatle, didn’t you? You cherished some bubblegum card or poster or magazine photo because it featured John or Paul or George or Ringo. Veteran children’s nonfiction writer Kathleen Krull has teamed up with her husband, author/illustrator Paul Brewer, to bring the band back to the spotlight for a generation too young to have experienced Beatlemania in all its craziness.

“From the time they got together

as lads until they became superstars, the Fab Four made music, made history, and made people laugh,” the authors relate on the first page of The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny). That last component—the band’s sense of humor—supplies a creative spin on the oft-told history of the iconic band that blew in from Liverpool and swept the charts here, there, and everywhere.

The authors adopt a breezy, lighthearted tone throughout this spirited romp through Beatlemania. They employ a bevy of jokes and quips to show how the Fab Four used laughter to help them cope with life’s highs and lows. Entertaining quotes from each musician advance the story and reveal the quirky charm and resilience of each musician. Although adoring fans and ambitious reporters impinged on their private lives, the Beatles showed remarkable creativity in dealing with pesky people.

The authors devote a page of engaging Q’s and A’s culled from interviews with each musician. We learn, for instance, that when a journalist told John, “Some people think your haircuts are un-American,” John replied, “Well, it was very observant of them, because we aren’t Americans actually.”

When someone asked Paul, “Is your hair real?” he inquired, “Is yours?” George told a reporter if he stopped being a Beatle, he might “train elephants in the zoo.” And in response to the doltish question, “How did you find America?” Ringo quipped, “We went to Greenland and made a left turn.”

The star atop such quips is Stacy Innerst’s acrylic paintings full of personality, redolent with thick brush strokes, and rich with relevant details. Mr. Innerst, who illustrated the writing team’s Lincoln Tells a Joke, again shows what it means to be in synch with the authors’ intent.

Early in the story, Mr. Innerst shows readers a drum sporting the goofy names the band considered before choosing the one that made them laugh. As the authors describe the band’s heady taste of fame, the illustrator depicts a chunky golden hit machine with 45s popping out of a funnel, one smash hit after another. Later, on the page relating their wildly popular 1964 American tour, Mr. Innerst shows a huge black guitar case displaying the names of the cities where they performed. On top of the curvy case, the Beatles whiz along in a miniature roller coaster.

Such touches go a long way in adding crowd appeal to this confection, as sweet and as filling as the jelly beans fans flung at the Beatles. A timeline and bibliography serve to direct young fans to more substantive sources.

Reprinted with permission from The New York Journal of Books.

NOTE: I’m offering one free hardback copy of The Beatles Were Fab to a random U.S. reader! Just tweet, post this on Facebook, or become a new email subscriber, and you’ll be entered in the contest. Then leave a comment to let me know you’re entering the contest. The deadline is April 1, April Fool’s Day — but it’s no joke. I’ll announce the winner on the 2nd.

See also … my post on my favorite Beatle, John  and Yoko Ono’s site, “Imagine Peace,” with audio clips, photos, interviews, and details on Yoko’s current projects for peace. The couple married 44 years ago, on March 20, 1969.

50th Anniversary of The Beatles Album. Please Please Me 22nd of March 1963. (Photo credit: Jimmy Big Potatoes)

Leading the Way to the Library

How did the public library evolve from a hushed book repository for adults to the vibrant heart of communities? And when did children get to join the party? Jan Pinborough’s picture-book debut highlights a woman who defied customs and expectations and wrought a transformation that continues to this day.

Brightly illustrated with Debby Atwell’s playful acrylic paintings, Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children sprinkles colorful little details that reveal a likable, somewhat lively heroine. The child from Limerick, ME, who loved heart-thumping toboggan rides as well as the stories her father read aloud would one day pack her bags to attend the Pratt Institute library school in Brooklyn. She chose one of the few professions open to women in the early 20th century: library studies.

She first worked at the local Pratt Free Library, which had, to her mind, a delightful new feature: a library space just for children. In an era in which other librarians cultivated the reading interests of only adults, “Miss Moore thought otherwise”—a refrain Ms. Pinborough uses to delineate how her approach differed from that of the majority.

Word spread about Anne Carroll Moore’s abilities, and in time she was hired to oversee the children’s departments in all 36 branches of the New York Public Library. Finally she was in a position to make changes that would have an impact on thousands of families.

To her dismay, she found many librarians still did not allow children even to touch books, let alone take them home. She set about changing that. Unlike her contemporaries, Miss Moore did not believe the library was meant to be as quiet as a tomb. One cheerful, full-page painting shows Miss Moore in her floor-length skirt helping to take down a huge black sign with the word “silence.” She urged librarians to talk to children, to tell them stories. And what about those dull books no one wanted to read? Out with them! Instead, she brought in the likes of Tom Sawyer and The Swiss Family Robinson to satisfy children’s taste for adventure.

Then came a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A grand new library would be built at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Annie Moore had the chance to create the very best children’s library for New York City’s youth.

The innovations she introduced at the New York Public Library have now been adopted around the world. Such logical features include child-size furniture, bright, attractive artwork and displays; the inclusion of cozy seating; and kid-pleasing book collections. Reading clubs and visits by talented performers, artists, and authors enlivened the children’s room, then and now.

In her interesting afterward, Ms. Pinborough notes that in reality, Anne Carroll Moore was one of a number of strong, independent women librarians who revolutionized children’s library services. For that, we can all be grateful.

Reprinted, in slightly altered form, with permission from The New York Journal of Books.

Jeanette Winter’s important picture-book biography, The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq, should be read and discussed in every upper-elementary school library. Here’s a unique opportunity to meet a real hero, Alia Muhammad Baker, chief librarian of Basra’s Central Library. As war approached, she set about protecting her community’s precious books. When the government refused to help, she found a nearby restaurant owner who helped her store the books — just nine days before the library burned. Then she moved the 30,000 volumes to her own home and to those of her friends, hoping that peace would soon come. Winter based this picture book on the July 27, 2003 New York Times article by Shaila K. Dewan. She deftly describes and illustrates the events without overwhelming children with the horrors of war. This book can lead to thoughtful discussions of the vital role the library plays in a community and to an analysis of the characteristics of a hero.

The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos by Lucia Gonzalez is a tender tribute to Pura Belpré, New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian, whose name was given to the American Library Association’s annual award that honors Latino authors and illustrators.

Readers encounter Hildamar and her cousin, Santiago, as they enter the library in Manhattan’s El Barrio. Recently arrived from Puerto Rico, they are struggling to navigate new customs in a bewildering big city. Fortunately, the children find a creative and caring librarian, who lights her storyteller’s candle, speaks in both English and Spanish, and sparks imagination in her listeners. Soon, the children lead their family, friends, and neighbors to the public library, where they create a holiday play and, in the process, create a stronger community. Lulu Delacre’s oil and collage illustrations add warmth to this inspiring story, just right for ages 8-10.

Also see …

My previous post on librarians and

• Talk: Exploring the Role of the City’s Public Libraries (wnyc.org)

Let’s Hear It for the Women

Have you checked out the third annual KidLit project on Women’s History Month? This year’s theme is “Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics,” and diverse and divine writers are contributing posts on women who used their brains to accomplish great things. Feed your adventurous spirit over at http://kidlitwhm.blogspot.com/ 

The post I contributed to the 2011 celebration focused on the artist who invented the picture book. Wanda Gág’s story is beautifully rendered for children in Deborah Kogan Ray’s Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw. The author/illustrator uses evocative excerpts from Gág’s diary to great effect, weaving in highlights of the family’s roots in the German-speaking area of Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic).

Ray’s bright, lively paintings exude color and a full range of emotions. She shows the seven imaginative Gág children drawing and putting on their own plays, inspired by the folktales told by their imaginative parents. Ray also shows a quiet Wanda in the attic studio, observing her father, “happy in his soul” as he allowed himself the freedom to paint for pleasure on Sundays. Then there is the somber death-bed scene, with Wanda holding her father’s hands as he urges her to pursue art: “What Papa couldn’t do, Wanda will have to finish.”

His death from tuberculosis, when Wanda was just 15, might have precluded any chance that the eldest daughter would become an artist. Instead, her resolve strengthened. To reach her goal, she would have to battle poverty, pressure from her provincial neighbors to work as a store clerk, her friends’ conventional expectations for marriage, as well as sexism in the art world and in society at large.

Not only did Wanda and all her siblings finish high school, Wanda won a scholarship to study art, first in St. Paul, Minnesota, then at the prestigious Art Students League in New York City. That’s where a children’s book editor, taken with her vivid images, asked Wanda if she had ever considered writing children’s books. In fact, Wanda had a box full of ideas for children’s stories.

Gág’s success with Millions of Cats, considered the first picture book, led to ten other inventive children’s books, ranging from The ABC Bunny, the first alphabet book to tell a story; to her still-beloved picture books The Funny Thing, Gone is Gone, Nothing at All, and Snippy and Snappy, as well as Tales from Grimm, which she translated from her native German.

Suggested Discussion Questions

for Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw

Teachers, parents, and librarians can use Ray’s picture-book biography (for ages 7-10) to enhance children’s appreciation of creativity, community, and perseverance.

1.  Hold up the two-page spread showing the children acting out a play. Ask, “How did the family encourage the children’s creativity?”

2.  Wanda spoke only German until she went to school. How do you think it would feel to enter a school where you were expected to learn a new language?

3.  What did Wanda mean when she said her father was “happy in his soul” while painting in the attic? What kinds of activities make you feel this way?

4.  Why did Papa urge Wanda to look at the world in her own way?

5.  At bedtime, Wanda’s mom read her Grimms’ fairy tales. What kinds of books do you like to hear read aloud?

6.  Wanda wrote that many of her childhood memories centered on the “Grandma folks.” How did those experiences with older relatives contribute to her development as a person or as an artist?

7.  Wanda described her “drawing fits.” Have you ever been so engaged in an activity that you lost track of time? What were you doing? How did you feel?

8.  Why do you think Papa told Wanda she would have to finish what he could not do? What effect did this have on her goals?

9.  Why did the neighbors urge Wanda to quit school and get a job? Do you think you would have resisted, as Wanda did? Why or why not?

10.  How did Wanda manage to help her family survive while at the same time developing her artistic talent?

11.  Wanda’s motto became “Draw to live, and live to draw.” What did she mean by that?

12.  How did the art school and the culture of New York City assist Wanda in developing her own artistic style?

13.  Wanda was able to take advantage of the opportunity to create children’s books partly because she had a “Notebook of Ideas.” Do you have some kind of notebook or journal where you keep some of your ideas? What do you enjoy about that?

14.  How did Papa’s advice that Wanda see the world in her own way help her to succeed? What other qualities helped her?