Reading without Words

Ben and I recently discovered the Caldecott-Award winning picture book, Journey by Aaron Becker.  It is the beautifully illustrated story of a lonely girl who takes matters into her own hands and draws her way into a breathtaking adventure.  Plot-wise, it is akin to Harold and the Purple Crayon, but where Harold draws his mode of transport, as well as the simple purple world around him, the girl in this book uses her drawing to transport herself into complex and otherwise existing worlds and adventures.  It is not to say that one is better than the other, but simply that Journey is a book that could probably play to a wider and older audience.

At first, I wasn't sure if Ben would enjoy this book.  There aren't any words, and he has lately prided himself on wanting stories that we can "read" (he's 3.5 and doesn't really read yet).  But, it didn't matter.  He loved asking about where she was going and pointing out what she was drawing and how she was going to get from one place to the next.  When we were done with the book, he jumped up from the couch and said, "Let's go get our crayons and draw our own journey!"  And, of course, that's the exciting reaction I always like to see a book have on a reader.

Other wordless/nearly wordless picture books we've enjoyed include:

• Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman 
• Zoom by Istvan Banyai
• Shadow by Suzy Lee
• Truck by Donald Crews

Children's Author Pick of the Week: Taro Gomi

When Ben was born, an artist friend of mine gave him several books by the Japanese writer and illustrator Taro Gomi.  Given Ben's early and continuing obsession with transportation, he immediately fell in love with Bus Stops - which features a bus dropping off passengers at different destinations on each page.  I fell in love with Gomi's illustrations - which are so rich in detail that it allowed us to read the book over and over again always with new pages to focus on or new little stories to find within the story.  It also provided a jumping off point for discussions with Ben about where he'd like to take the bus and what he thought the people would do when they got off the bus.

This week, Alice has discovered My Friends, which features a little girl demonstrating on each page what she has learned from her friends.  Alice's favorite pages include, "I learned to nap from my friend the crocodile," and "I learned to study from my friends the teachers."  Most of the friends the little girl learns from are animals - and in addition to reading the book over and over, we've also enjoyed acting out what each of the animals is teaching - including running, marching, and singing.  Alice, who is now 20 months, has grown so attached to the book that she insists on sleeping with it so she can read it to herself before falling asleep and in the morning when she gets up.

While I recommend Taro Gomi's books for young readers because the stories are simple and the illustrations are beautiful, I especially appreciate that as a Japanese writer/illusrator, Gomi draws Japanese children in his books.  As I make an effort to expose my children to diversity through literature, and to our own family's Japanese culture, it's nice to have such a talented author out there to turn to.  For those who want more information on the need to increase diversity in children's books, please check out the We Need Diverse Books website and their suggestions for diverse books for toddlers (age 3-5).

World Cup Fever!

Ben recently finished his first soccer season.  Having the World Cup coincide with his introduction to the game has been really fun - and we hope watching a few games here and there will help increase his excitement about playing.

While looking for books about soccer at the library last week, I was thrilled to discover the recently published Maisy Plays Soccer.  Ben, Alice, and Clara all LOVE the Maisy books.  They are familiar with the characters, and the stories are simple with colorful pictures.  Clara, who is more than a little obsessed with soccer herself, also loves that Maisy has a stuffed panda.  I read this one to the girls at least five times today, and in addition to providing a good story, it also helped us talked about why we like to play sports, who we like to play with, what our favorite team colors are, and of course, what we look for in a good post-game snack.

I am not myself a soccer player, nor am I very knowledgeable about the sport, but I have enjoyed a few books about the game over the years.  These include the Young Adult Non-Fiction book, Outcasts United by Warren St. John, and Nick Hornby's chonicle of his obsession in Fever Pitch.  There are so many amazing sports books out there for children and adults, I am sure to have a sport-by-sport round-up at some point.  But, until then, Go USA!!!

Where are you going this summer?

I love book lists - whether they come from a friend's book club, from the New York Times, or from a random website.  I also often love to read books in a single category.  A few years ago, I picked a country, and would read five or six books about that country, or by authors from that country, and then move on.  I used it as a way to supplement my own travels, or when I wasn't able to travel, as a cure for my wanderlust.  My favorite book of travel reading lists organized by country is Book Lust to Go.   But now, there's NPR Summer Reading List.  Not only is it a list of suggested books to read, but it is multiple lists and they are categorized by mode of transport.  Each list includes fiction and non-fiction, as well as books for adults and books for children.  Because we are traveling by plane to England next month, I am planning to pick out a few selections from The Fly List.  And because Ben and I just finished enjoying James and the Giant Peach, I think we will also take our chances with a few more from the Dragon, Drugs, or Giant Peach List.  Bon Voyage and Safe Travels to all!

Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg

I was prepared to be a defensive nay-sayer about this book.  I had just grown tired of all the work-life balance debate and everyone judging everyone else for the choices they make and their definitions of success, etc.  But, I found so much in this book worth thinking about.  Sandberg acknowledges from the outset that her thoughts are directed to women in white collar professions, and she acknowledges throughout the book that so much of what she has been able to accomplish is because she has a supportive spouse (if men were paying attention, many of them would be able to admit the same thing).  But, my take-away from this book was also that to really succeed in corporate America, one not only needs a supportive spouse, but they need lots of money for childcare, and they need to be willing to let go of being the primary caregiver who is there for everything.  And I don't necessarily think that is a bad thing (but the over-attentive parent is a whole different discussion).  I think many of the suggestions Sandberg has could work in my workplace, and many of them are totally irrelevant.  But, at the end of the day, I think the main message I got from the book (which I have been trying to embrace) is that we each need to figure out what we want - what we want from our careers, what we want with respect to our families and children - realize that there needs to be some give and take - and then we need to give up our guilt and go for it.  I also like that Sandberg acknowledged the value of people who have made different decisions than her.  One story that stuck out was her thanks for the parents who do all the volunteer work at her kids' schools - she identified them as the SAHMs though in my experience many of them also work outside the home, and some are dads.  But, just that we all benefit from the time and commitment that they give to the schools and to our children when we can't always be there because we're on a business trip or a late meeting - and so while we might not make that same choice for our careers and families, we benefit from their choice and we should recognize that.  Anyway, that was just one small point in a book of much larger points.  I did not agree with everything, of course, and I certainly would not make the same choices as Sandberg, but I appreciated her thoughts - they really got me thinking about what I can do in my life to better find the balance that I want, to be happy, and not to succumb to martyrdom.

And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini

After The Kite Runner, I'm not sure Hosseini could write a book that I wouldn't fall in love with.  Though, I suppose, sometimes I love books so much that nothing else that I read by the same author ever seems to live up (The Lovely Bones comes to mind).  But, there is just something about Hosseini' storytelling that grabs me - and moves me to tears - every time.  And the Mountains Echoed begins with a brother and sister - joined by a tremendous bond - but separated due to circumstance.  The book initially follows the path of the children, but quickly splinters out into myriad stories of family, always questioning why we make the choices we make in the name of love.  At times, the book would go in a direction I hadn't anticipated or necessarily wanted- I wanted to learn more about a given person, but the author had a different plan.  I found myself initially annoyed, but after a few pages suddenly completely invested in the new story being told.  It happened over and over.  I have to admit that I was saddened by the end of this book and felt like it really could have gone in a different direction without being too Hollywood.  But, Hosseini's storytelling ability is like no other I have encountered - I can picture him sitting around a table after a big meal and enchanting adults and children alike - like a modern day Arabian Nights.  I really can't get enough of his words and can't wait for his next novel to arrive!

Ghana Must Go - Taiye Selasi

My brother recommended this book after seeing it listed as one of the best of 2013 in The Economist.  Given the publication, I anticipated a heavy read with global implications.  The novel was not as weighty as I would have expected from The Economist staff, but it certainly introduced some thought-provoking issues. The book opens with the death of Kweku Sai, a renown surgeon.  His children gather in Ghana bringing with them the baggage weighing down the relationships as children, siblings, and as a family.  The book is the story of modern families - how we each establish our own identities as individuals and necessarily in relation to others - and how we hide the darkest secrets from those we purport to care the most about.  I found some of the secrets kept by each of the characters a little too much, but overall, I liked the moving pieces in this book - getting to know each of the characters, learning more than each of the other characters knows about the other.  The author tried, I thought, to be too enigmatic and clever at times, but all in all an interesting read set in a country I could stand to learn more about.