Children’s Books

March 22 – Tuskegee Airmen Day

Posted by

0

Wind Flyers by Angela Johnson and Loren Long Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black military aviators in the U. S. armed forces during World War II. The regiment consisted of 996 pilots and more than 15,000 ground personnel who were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field and other locations. These brave pilots have been credited with 15,500 combat sorties and earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. The success of the Tuskegee Airmen paved the way for the integration of the U.S. military under President Harry S Truman in 1948.

Wind Flyers

Written by Angela Johnson | Illustrated by Loren Long

 

With pride a young African-American boy tells the story of his great-great-uncle who was a Tuskegee Airman in World War II. His uncle was “a smooth wind flyer. A Tuskegee wind flyer…” Like a bird, his uncle tells his nephew, he was born to fly, jumping off a chicken coop at the age of five and into a pile of hay from a barn when he was seven. He has his first real flight at the age of eleven, when he pays to be a passenger with a barnstormer.

Flying over lakes and fields, his uncle feels as if he’s in Heaven, among soft clouds that beckon for him to be a wind flyer too. The experience changes him forever, and always there is the desire to fly “into the wind, against the wind, beyond the wind.” As a young adult his uncle contributes his dream and his skills to the World War II effort, becoming a Tuskegee Airman, one of the first black pilots in the United States military.

The boy and his uncle look through old photographs, seeing once more those young and brave pilots—the Tuskegee wind flyers. After the war, his uncle crop dusted in order to fly. Now planes are different, he says, but the clouds remain the same. The boy and his uncle climb to the highest point of the uncle’s barn to watch the jets—and in those moments they once more become the smooth wind flyers, flying into the wind and beyond.

In her soaring, rhythmic language, Angela Johnson captures the dreams and yearning of a young boy whose greatest desire is to fly among the clouds. When he gets his chance by joining the Tuskegee Airman in World War II, Johnson combines straightforward narrative with poetic lines to enhance the sense of achievement and pride the young pilots felt. The structure of the story is well chosen, as the relating of the uncle’s life from childhood through old age through the eyes of his nephew, strengthens themes of strong familial relationships as well as shared dreams across generations.

Loren Long gives Wind Flyers additional power with his strong, vibrant paintings. Two-page spreads provide a sense of the vastness of the skies that so enticed the young would-be pilot. Even the clouds echo the emotion of the page—fluffy, floating, and alive in the flight scenes while linear, flat, and stationary when the plane and the uncle are earthbound. Realistic portrayals of the boy, his uncle, and the other Tuskegee Airmen are reminiscent of the WPA murals of the 1940s while still setting this book firmly in today for a new generation.

Wind Flyers is a wonderful book to share with aviation buffs and dreams of all types.

Ages 4 – 9

Simon & Schuster Books for Young People, 2007 | ISBN 978-0689848797

Tuskegee Airmen Day Activity

CPB - Biplane side

Head in the Clouds Box Biplane

 

If you love airplanes and flying, you’ll have fun making your own plane from recycled materials! Use your creativity to decorate your plane while you imagine yourself flying through the clouds on a beautiful day. Younger children will have fun sharing this activity with an adult or older sibling too!

Supplies

  • Travel-size toothpaste box
  • 3 6-inch x 1/2-inch craft sticks
  • 2  2 1/2-inch x 7/8-inch mini craft sticks
  • 5 Round toothpicks, with points cut off
  • Paint in whatever colors you like for your design
  • 4 small buttons 
  • 2 mini buttons
  • Paint brushes
  • Strong glue or glue gun

CPB - Biplane front

Directions

  1. Empty toothpaste box
  2. Paint toothpaste box and decorate it
  3. Paint the craft sticks and 5 toothpicks
  4. Paint one small craft stick to be the propeller
  5. Let all objects dry

To assemble the biplane

  1. For the Bottom Wing – Glue one 6-inch-long craft stick to the bottom of the plane about 1 inch from the end of the box that is the front of the plane
  2. For the Top Wing – Glue the other 6-inch-long craft stick to the top of the plane about 1 inch from the front of the plane
  3. For the Tail – Glue one mini craft stick to the bottom of the box about ¾ inches from the end that is the back of the plane
  4. For the Vertical Rudder – Cut the end from one of the painted 6-inch-long craft sticks, glue this to the back of the box, placing it perpendicular against the edge and half-way between each side

CPB - Biplane bottom

To assemble the front wheels

  1. Cut 4 painted toothpicks to a length of ¾-inches long
  2. Cut one painted toothpick to a length of 1-inch long
  3. Glue 2 of the 3/4-inch toothpicks to the back of 1 button, the ends of the toothpicks on the button should be touching and the other end apart so the toothpicks form a V
  4. Repeat the above step for the other wheel
  5. Let the glue dry
  6. Glue the 1-inch long toothpick between the wheels at the center of each wheel to keep them together and give them stability. Let dry

To make the back wheel

  1. Cut two ¼-inch lengths of painted toothpick and glue them together. Let dry
  2. Glue two mini buttons together to form the back wheel. Let dry
  3. Glue the ¼-inch toothpicks to the mini buttons. Let dry
  4. Glue these to the bottom of the plane in the center of the box directly in front of and touching the tail

Display your biplane!

March 21 – World Poetry Day

Posted by

0

Nasty Bugs by Lee Bennett Hopkins and Will Terry Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

World Poetry Day, an initiative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, recognizes the important role poetry plays in people’s lives across the world and over time. The day promotes small publishers of poetry as well as oral poetry traditions and works to strengthen the connection between poetry and other forms of expression. Another objective is to “support linguistic diversity thorough poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.”

Celebrations on this day include poetry readings, school lessons focused on poetry and poets, poetry writing sessions, and poetry readings by professional and amateur poets in schools and other venues.

Nasty Bugs

Poems Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins | Illustrated by Will Terry

 

Who in the world can resist bugs? They’re in every country, every city, every town, even every house! And they have so much going for them—lots of legs, pincher mouths, transparent wings, amazing survival skills, and so much general creepy-crawliness! Bugs may be a little (or a lot) icky, but you can’t deny that they’re fascinating.

Nasty Bugs brings together 16 poets to turn the traits of all kinds of insects, from stink bugs to chiggers to water bugs and more, into creative odes that tickle the funny bone as well as teach. Readers learn from Cynthia S. Cotton’s “Stink Bug” that “Some spread their wings in flight, / Some look scary, / some taste bad, / some use camouflage / to blend in just right.”

Rebecca Kai Dotlich exposes the boll weevil: “I am an evil weevil, / a cotton-craving beetle / whose reputation’s rotton / ‘cause I gobble crops of cotton, / yes I do.” And the Colorado Potato Beetle? Among other quirks, X. J. Kennedy reveals its name is a bit of a misnomer: “His other name’s Potato Bug. / This munching desperado / infests our gardens coast to coast. / Not just in Colorado.”

April Halprin Wayland gives voice to the fire ants’ tribal cry “All for one and one for all!” as they jump into action when “Flood waters rise! / Quick, form a ball—/ our larvae, pupae, eggs, and Mother Queen inside! / We roll this writhing globe, / take turns on top / so all breathe air, so all survive.”

“Spoiled Rotton” by J. Patrick Lewis may make grammarians squirm with this pointed description: “I’m a comma / in a drama / of disgusting devastation.” while readers will be itchin’ to know more in Rebecca Andrew Loescher’s “Ode to Chigger” with lines such as “You hatch with six small legs for running, / then grow two more—for leaps most stunning,” Poems about flies (Ann Whitford Paul), wasps (Michele Krueger), fleas (Marilyn Singer), lice (Amy Ludwig VanDerwater), ticks (Kami Kinard), termites (Alice Schertle), cockroaches (Fran Haraway), and bedbugs (Kristine O’Connell George) also contribute to the buzzzzz of this anthology.

But if bugs, well…bug you, you may find these lines in Lee Bennett Hopkins’ “Ode to a Dead Mosquito” most satisfying: “You of little brain / didn’t you know / I felt your sting / the instant you / began to drain? / So— / I whacked you. / SMACK! / You dropped.”

Will Terry lends his distinctive talent to making this book as colorful, bold, and eye-popping as nature itself. Each insect, depicted in its favorite milieu, nearly flies, creeps, or chomps it’s way off the page. Brilliant greens, reds, yellow, oranges, and blues give life to these most prolific pests, and their prominent features – whether pinchers, stingers, gnawing mandibles, or even stinky odor – are inspiringly drawn.

More facts about each bug are given in the back of the book, and are a must read. Whether insects make you squirm with discomfort or squeal with delight, Nasty Bugs is fun.

Ages 5 – 9

Paperback: Puffin, Penguin Group, 2016 | ISBN 978-0147519146

Hardcover: Dial Books for Young Readers, Penguin Group, 2012 | ISBN 978-0803737167

World Poetry Day Activity

CPB - Nasty Bugs magnet II (2)

Rockin’ Bug Magnet or Paperweight

 

On World Poetry Day it’s fun to write a poem of your own. Whether your creation is long or short, you can proudly display it using one of these Rockin’ Bug Magnets.

Supplies

Rocks, small and flat work best for magnets. Larger rocks are great for paperweights. You can find rocks in your yard, at the beach or park, or buy them from craft stores or nurseries.

  • Paint in your favorite colors
  • Paint brush
  • Small to medium round magnets, available at craft and hardware stores
  • Googly eyes
  • Strong glue

CPB - Nasty Bugs magnet (2)

Directions

  1. Wash rocks and let them dry
  2. Create your own creepy, crawly bug on the front of the rock
  3. Paint your bug
  4. Let the paint dry
  5. If you want to give your insect buggy eyes, glue googly eyes to the rock.
  6. Glue a magnet to the back of the rock
  7. Hang it on the refrigerator or any metal surface

 

If you love books, you must have caught the reading bug! Check out another great book and craft on March 2—Read Across America Day and make an “I’ve Got the Reading Bug” Bookplate for your favorite books!

CPB - Reading Bug Book Plate (2)

 

March 20 – International Day of Happiness

Posted by

0

Double Happiness by Nancy Tupper Ling Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

In 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution stating that happiness is a “fundamental human goal” and called for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being on all peoples.” March 20 was chosen by all 193 United Nations member states as the day to remember and honor this goal. The holiday was first celebrated in 2013.

Today you get a free pass to spend the day doing what makes you and others happy—so enjoy! If you’d like to learn more about the holiday visit the International Day of Happiness organization.

Double Happiness

Written by Nancy Tupper Ling | Illustrated by Alina Chau

 

This quiet, thoughtful picture book tells the story of a family’s move from China to America in a series of unrhymed verses that reveal the experience honestly from alternating viewpoints of a brother, Jake, and his sister, Gracie. Each page is dedicated to one or the other sibling with the boy’s poems written in blue and the girl’s in purple. In several poems the children interact with each other, the blue and purple lines acting as dialog tags.

In the first poem, The Move, Gracie stand on her doorstep surrounded by boxes and suitcases and thinks, “I won’t go! / I won’t move / away / from our city house / by the trolley tracks….” Jake is already imagining his new room in the second poem,Train. After considering different décor, he decides what he really wants is something familiar, something outside—“just one long train / that rocks and wobbles / my bed each night. /I can’t fall asleep until the train passes by.”

The siblings are each given a happiness box by their Nai Nai inGrandmother, who wisely challenges her grandchildren to “Find four treasures each, / leading from this home / to your new.” The search is taken up in the next poems—Treasure, Lucky, and Leaf—in which the kids find objects for their happiness boxes. The train and treasures for the happiness boxes are threads that unite many of the poems and the children’s experiences.

In keeping with the long hours of travel from China to the United States, the next 6 poems chronicle the brother and sister’s experience in the airport, waiting for their plane, and during the flight.

In Here the children wake up to see their new city far below them and wonder, “can I found our house / from the sky?” Marble andSadness juxtapose Jake’s happiness at finding a treasure for his box with the apprehension of Gracie.

At last the family reaches their new home by taxi. Gracie seems only to see the “piles of snow,” but Jake likes the “windy roads, lots of trees, and the curvy driveway.” In Explore Gracie and Jake walk around the countryside, and while Gracie still determines that she won’t like it, Jake hears a train and is happy. My Roomand Dinner see the kids settling in, with a photograph of the family they’ve left behind accompanying them on the table while they eat. In A Surprise, Gracie finds that her grandmother is still with her through a special scarf, and Paints resolves the move as Jake and Gracie paint their happiness boxes: Jake decorates his with a dragon and a train, while Gracie depicts her and her brother walking in the snow and “they look very, / very / happy.”

While Double Happiness tells the story of a family’s distant move, Nancy Tupper Ling’s gentle verses are appropriate for any situation involving change or uncertainty. She reminds children that happiness can be found wherever they are and all around them if they look for it. The unrhymed poems flow as freely as thoughts, fears, and unguarded moments. As Gracie and Jake resolve their feeling, readers or listeners will also see that feelings of apprehension are common, and that happiness is waiting for them.

Alina Chau’s soft, lovely watercolor illustrations are beautiful representations of Gracie and Jake’s move from the familiar surroundings of their home in China to a new home in a snowy countryside. The children’s emotions resonate as they alternate between sadness and happiness and between concrete places and their own imagination.

Ages 5 – 8

Chronicle Books, 2015 | ISBN 978-1452129181

International Day of Happiness Activity

CPB - Happiness typography

Happiness Is…Game

 

Happiness is all around you! Grab one or more friends to play a game that reveals what things make you happy. Here are two ways to play:

  1. Like the “Geography” game: the first player names something that makes them happy, the next player must think of something that starts with the last letter of the word the previous player said. The game continues with each player continuing the pattern. Players drop out as they cannot think of a word. The last player left is
  2. Within a certain time limit (depending on age), players must think of something that makes them happy. Players drop out if they cannot think of a word within the time limit. The last player left is the winner.

March 19 – National Poultry Day

Posted by

0

Chicken Big by Keith Graves Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Perhaps someone’s too chicken to publish much information about this holiday, but even without the details, it’s certainly an eggsellent day to remember our feathered friends of the barnyard variety, who also happen to feature prominently in picture books of all kinds.

Chicken Big

By Keith Graves

 

Something big is hatching at the teeny little farm. Not only big, but humongous! Chicks aren’t supposed to be that big, so what is it? The small chicken agrees that whatever it is, it’s big; the smaller chicken goes so far as to call it enormous; and the smallest chicken declares it’s an elephant, and warns that indoor elephants are dangerous! The chickens all concur on one thing, though—this creature is too big to stay in the itty-bitty coop. The newly hatched chick, listening to all this squabbling, doesn’t feel like an elephant and wishes he were a chicken.

The next day an acorn conks the smallest chicken on the head, causing the familiar “the sky is falling” panic to hit the teeny farm. While the chickens are running around like chickens with…well, you know, the big chick discovers that acorns are tasty. Seeing the chick eating acorns convinces the smallest chicken that their coopmate is indeed a…squirrel!

When the rains come, the big chick protects the others under his wing, so the smallest chicken decides this barnyard biggie is an….umbrella! It doesn’t take long for the smallest chicken to realize she is wrong, and that the yellow fellow with the chilly wind blocking skills is a…sweater!

When the chickens return to the coop for naptime and discover their eggs have been stolen, they boo hoo hoo into their feathers while the humongous chick scouts out the fox, who is carrying the precious cargo into his den. With a hop and a jump the big chick spans the mile and peeps into the fox’s home just as he is about to fry up some lunch. Frightened by the “hippopotamus,” the fox scampers away.

Big chick brings back the eggs and is proclaimed a hero. Finally the chick’s intelligence, kindness, and bravery convince the chickens that he is one of them (well, most of them believe so anyway), and they welcome him into the coop. There’s just one problem…. But the smallest chicken is the first to say they’ll make room.

Keith Graves has hatched up a crazy tale of mistaken identity that will keep kids giggling and groaning with delight as the possible aliases grow more and more ridiculous. The feather-brained chickens are drawn with comic masterstrokes as they frantically try to determine who or what has invaded their farmyard. The big chick is indeed big—dominating the page and towering over his coopmates. Incorporating comic-style conventions on some pages, such as speech bubbles and small panels, as well as mixed typefaces adds to the humor.

Ages 4 – 8

Chronicle Books, 2014 | ISBN 978-1452131467

National Poultry Day Activity

CPB - Chick single

Hatch a Chick of Your Own

 

Chicks are so cute and fluffy—you just wish you could have one of your very own! Now you can! Hatch your own chick with this craft.

Supplies

  • Cotton balls
  • Yellow chalk
  • Orange paper
  • Black paper
  • Egg shell
  • Paper grass
  • Cardboard or poster board
  • Cheese grater
  • Bowl
  • Green paint
  • Glue
  • Scissors

CPB - Chick triple

Directions

To make the shell

  1. Crack an egg and save the two halves
  2. Soak the eggshells in soapy water or wash gently with soap
  3. Dry eggshell

To make the chick

  1. Grate the chalk with the cheese grater into the bowl
  2. Roll the cotton balls in the chalk dust until they are covered
  3. Choose one cotton ball to be the head
  4. Make the beak from the orange paper by folding the paper and cutting a small triangle. The triangle’s base should be along the fold.
  5. Cut two small eyes from the black paper
  6. Glue the beak and eyes to the head cotton ball
  7. Glue the head cotton ball to the body cotton ball
  8. Set the chick into one of the eggshell halves (you can glue it in if you wish)

To make the stand

  1. Cut a 3-inch by 3-inch square from the cardboard or poster board
  2. If you wish, paint the square green
  3. Glue green paper grass to the square
  4. Glue the eggshell halve to the stand.

March 18 – World Sleep Day

Posted by

0

I'll See You in the Morning by Mike Jolley Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Established by the World Association of Sleep Medicine, World Sleep Day raises awareness of sleep problems and the remedies and ongoing research focused on helping adults and children get good, healthy sleep every day. This year’s theme is “Good Sleep is a Reachable Dream.”  The day will be observed with publicity, workshops, and speeches around the world on the important issues related to sleep—including medicine, education, social aspects, and driving—and better prevention and management of sleep disorders.

I’ll See You in the Morning

Written by Mike Jolley | Illustrated by Mique Moriuchi

 

Somehow the world seems different in the dark, making sleep elusive—especially for children. Are Mom and Dad still there if I can’t even see my toys? When will the sun come up again? How long is the night? I’ll See You in the Morning is a lyrical little book about nighttime and sleeping that answers these questions in soothing words that are both concrete and metaphorical and at all times familiar to a child. The reader becomes the comforter with such lines as “Don’t be afraid of darkness. / Don’t be afraid, my sweet. / The night is just a blanket / That helps the earth to sleep.”

The sleepy child can be reassured knowing that they are not alone in closing their eyes and drifting into dreamland: “Creatures great and / Creatures small / Will all be sleeping soon. / Under the same blanket… / Under the same moon.” Elsewhere, the child learns that a loved one, only steps away, stays with them until they go to sleep, and that through the night the twinkling stars keep watch.

The floating rhythm of Mike Jolley’s poem will quickly become a favorite part of any child’s bedtime routine. Mique Moriuchi’s soft, dreamy illustrations of a bright, smiling moon lighting the darkness where sheep frolic, kittens watch, bunnies sleep, and a child snuggles happily with his teddy bear are interspersed with all of these characters dancing and soaring together under the same moon. The palette of blues, purples, greens, and yellows unifies the story and creates a visual environment that invites the best, deepest slumber.

Ages Birth – 3

Chronicle Books, 2008 | ISBN 978-0811865432

World Sleep Day Activity

CPB - Pillowcase

Personalized Pillowcase

 

A Pillowcase all your own makes for a good night’s sleep or a fun storage bag for toys, clothes, or other stuff!

Supplies

  • Pillowcase
  • Fabric markers
  • Cardboard, as large as the pillow case or area you will decorate

Directions

  1. Iron the pillowcase
  2. Slip the cardboard inside the pillowcase to keep the markers from bleeding through to the other side
  3. Decorate your pillowcase in any design you like

March 17 – Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

Posted by

0

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Every kid is incredible! This special day, established by Camp Fire USA in 1997, gives adults an opportunity to tell the kids in their life how much they mean to them. Whether you write your special young person a letter or just sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk, your words of encouragement and appreciation will make a difference.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy

By Oliver Jeffers

 

Henry is a little boy who loves books. He loves them for dinner, he loves them with French fries…Wait! What? Yup! Henry loves to eat books! This quirk all began by mistake when Henry isn’t paying attention. But his love of words grows until he’s eating a sentence then a page and finally a whole book!

Henry doesn’t have a favorite kind of book either. He’ll eat anything—even math books and dictionaries. And he’s eating them as if they’re going out of style! Henry discovers something amazing about his diet—with every book he devours, he gets smarter. He digests every bit of information, which comes in handy when helping his dad with the crossword puzzle or his teacher in school.

If a few books can make him smart, thinks Henry, then a lot of books can make him smarter—possibly the smartest person in the world! And so he tests his hypothesis. He eats every book he sees. But things begin to go wrong. He has nightmares; his stomach hurts; and in a frightening twist everything he knows gets jumbled up. Suddenly, Henry doesn’t feel so smart anymore.

After getting some advice, Henry gives up books cold turkey. He feels lost and out-of-sorts. Then he spies a half-eaten book on the floor of his room and picks it up. Instead of eating it, though, he opens it and begins to read. And that book tastes was sooo good! Henry discovers that he loves to read, and figures if he reads enough he may still become the smartest person on earth. Besides…broccoli is actually pretty tasty.

In this picture book about the love of reading, Oliver Jeffers has created a feast for the eyes as well as an extended pun. The story of Henry devouring book after book in the quest for brilliance is played out in typewriter text on a backdrop of various colors of notebook paper, book pages, graph paper, book bindings, maps, ledger pages, and more. Henry is as adorable as all of Jeffers’ kids, and the story is funny and as satisfying as your favorite meal. The page (and cover) cut at the end of the book leaves the reader happy that maybe, just maybe Henry didn’t give up his favorite snack entirely.

Philomel Books, Penguin Young Readers, 2006 | ISBN 978-0399247491

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day Activity

CPB - Bookend 1

 Absolutely Incredible You Bookend

 

Do you devour so many books that they’re falling off your shelves? Keep them neat with a bookend that’s as incredible as you are!

Supplies

  • Wooden initial of your first and/or last name, available at craft stores
  • Chalkboard paint in your favorite color
  • Paint brush
  • Chalk

CPB - Bookend 2

Directions

  1. Paint the wooden letter with the chalkboard paint
  2. Let dry
  3. With the chalk, write words that describe what makes you absolutely incredible!

March 16 – Freedom of Information Day

Posted by

0

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America Picture Book Review

About the Holiday

Freedom of Information Day is observed today to honor James Madison, who was born March 16, 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia. Madison is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and was the 4th President of the United States. He was a leading proponent of openness in government. The Freedom of Information Act, which took effect on July 4 1967, was enacted to promote transparency in government, but the idea of openness and inclusion can pertain to all aspects of society and relationships.

Today we remember all those who work to provide free and honest information and portrayals of government as well as other conditions and situations around the world.

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America

Written by Carole Boston Weatherford | Illustrated by Jamey Christoph

 

When the 15th child of the Parks family is born, he has neither a heartbeat nor a name. But the doctor is able to revive the nearly dead infant in an ice bath, and the appreciative mother gives her child his name—Gordon. Gordon Parks’ dramatic entry into the world may have given him the unique perspective he used in becoming a renowned photographer and the first black movie director in Hollywood.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-gordon-parks-how-the-photographer-captured-black-and-white-america-gordon-works

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2015, text copyright Carole Boston Weatherford, 2015. Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.

Gordon rides a horse across the wide open fields of Kansas to school, but once there his prospects narrow with a white teacher who tells her all-black class that their education will go to waste as they are destined to work as waiters and porters. When he is 14 Gordon’s mother dies, and Gordon moves to Minneapolis. He soon must make his own way, and he finds jobs as a busboy, a piano player, and the predicted waiter and porter.

At the age of 25 Gordon reads about the plight of migrant workers and, inspired, buys a camera. Gordon has discovered his natural talent—a unique eye on the world. After only a month he exhibits his photographs in a camera store and is soon engaged in fashion and portrait photography. His work takes him to Chicago, where he documents the struggling families living on the South Side and wins a job with the government in Washington DC. Encouraged by his boss to find a subject for his work, Gordon focuses his lens on the black families living in the back alleys and in the shadows of the Capitol’s great monuments.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-gordon-parks-how-the-photographer-captured-black-and-white-america-gordon-sees-a-camera

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2015, text copyright Carole Boston Weatherford 2015. Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.

Through his photographs Gordon vows to expose the racism blacks face in housing, shops, restaurants, and other institutions. Looking for a personal subject, Gordon talks to Ella Watson, a cleaning lady in his office building. Ella supports five children on only $1,000 a year and knows hardship. Gordon accompanies her and her grandchildren, taking pictures wherever they go and of whatever they are doing. They become the inspiration for his greatest work.

Over his lifetime Gordon Parks will break barriers in the publishing and entertainment industries, becoming the first black photographer for Vogue and Life magazines and the first black director in Hollywood. He writes novels and poetry and composes music. But the work that becomes his most famous is a photograph of Ella Watson standing in front of the American flag, with her broom in hand. Called “American Gothic,” this picture fulfills Park’s determination to expose segregation and the hopes of all people struggling under its inequality.

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-gordon-parks-how-the-photographer-captured-black-and-white-america-gordon-in-washington

Image copyright Jamey Christoph, 2015, text copyright Carole Boston Weatherford, 2015. Courtesy of Albert Whitman & Company.

Carole Boston Weatherford’s portrayal of Gordon Parks’ life is as starkly revealing as her subject’s photographs. With her writer’s skills, however, she deftly contrasts the facts of his life and turns his story into a universal metaphor for freedom and the struggle to attain it: “When young Gordon crosses the prairie on horseback, nothing seems beyond reach. But his white teacher tells her all-black class, you’ll all wind up porters and waiters. What did she know?” Weatherford’s pacing also adds to the story’s power. Although Parks attained wide acclaim, this biography ends with one of his earlier photographs—a picture of Ella Watson, a cleaning lady, who inspired Parks and came to symbolize the hopes of her generation and beyond. This is not only Parks’ story, but the story of millions of others.

Jamey Christoph continues and strengthens the metaphorical force of this biography in his illustrations. Readers first see Gordon Parks as a much-loved, smiling infant. He goes to school and grows up, his expression changing, slightly but importantly. He acquires his camera, and the pages are filled with drawn representations of his black-and-white photographs. Alternating dark and light pages further emphasize Parks’ world. The darkroom contrasts with Parks’ new bright office and prospects; the shadowed back alleys of Washington DC contrast with the city’s gleaming white marble monuments. Later photographs are also depicted, and “American Gothic” is represented on two pages. Christoph provides readers with much to see and ponder.

Ages 5 – 8

Albert Whitman & Company, 2015 | ISBN 978-0807530177

Ages 5 – 8

Albert Whitman & Company, 2015 | ISBN 978-0807530177

Freedom of Information Day Activity

CPB - New Professionals Picture

News Professionals Clothespin Figures

Make one of these clothespin figures that honors the men and women who work to keep the world informed.

Supplies

Directions

  1. Draw a face and hair on the clothespin
  2. Cut out the clothes you want your journalist or photographer to wear
  3. Wrap the clothes around the clothespin. The slit in the clothespin should be on the side.
  4. Tape the clothes together
  5. Cut out the camera
  6. Tape one end of a short length of thread to the right top corner of the camera and the other end of the thread to the left corner. Now you can hang the camera around the figure’s neck.

Idea for displaying the figures

  • Attach a wire or string to the wall and pin the figure to it
  • Pin it to your bulletin board or on the rim of a desk organizer