The sparkling picture book, Mommy’s Khimar by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow with illustrations by Ebony Glenn, is a delightful, warm story about an African-American, Muslim family. The girl who tells the story celebrates her love for her mother and the khimar that her mother wears. On the first page she tells us, “A khimar is a flowing scarf that my mommy wears. Before she walks out the door each day, she wraps one around her head.” The girl loves to play dress-up or pretend games wearing her mother’s yellow khimar. She becomes a queen with a golden train, a shooting star, a mama bird or a super hero in a cape, “dashing from room to room at the speed of light. Daddy snatches me up and I fly. Mommy can’t stop laughing when his bristly beard tickles my cheek with a kiss.” Sometimes Mom-Mom (her grandmother) visits after her Sunday service when the girl wears the khimar, Mom-Mom “sings out ‘Sweet Jesus’ and calls me Sunshine. Mom-Mom doesn’t wear a khimar. She doesn’t go to the mosque like Mommy and Daddy do. We are a family and we love each other just the same.” Continue reading
WOW Recommends
WOW Recommends: Book of the Month
WOW Recommends: Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix
In this spicy picturebook biography, Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix, authors Jacqueline Biggs Martin and June Jo Lee and illustrator Man One celebrate immigrants and offer a love letter to the remix of cultures through food in Los Angeles. The first lines offer a promise of the zesty text to come. “Chef Roy Choi can chop an onion in an instant, carve a mouse out of a mushroom. He’s cooked in fancy restaurants, for rock stars and royalty. But he’d rather cook on a truck.” Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Escape from Aleppo
Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai serves as a primer on the horrible war that has raged in Syria for 7 years. The novel seems right out of the headlines, but also gives the reader a background of the history of Syria and why its people cherish their country. The story is about 14-year-old Nadia who is separated from her family after their home and neighborhood is bombed. She knows that her family is trying to escape to Turkey, but she is not certain how to get there through the destroyed city. The family leaves messages that help her. Senzai fleshes out the story with flashbacks that fills in Nadia’s background and experiences. I marvel at the characterizations, especially the elderly, mysterious man, Ammo Mazen, who takes on the responsibility of guiding Nadia to find her family. Ammo makes stops as they travel through the city that are intriguing. In one place, he and Nadia encounter people trying to save and preserve artifacts from the city’s libraries and museums. Nadia’s character is also well-drawn. Her growing grit and courage make the reader root for her. In spite of the difficulties Nadia suffers, she helps other–even protecting and taking along on the journey an orphaned 8-year-old boy she finds abandoned. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Mary’s Monster
Writing in free verse and illustrating in stark black-and-white watercolors for Mary’s Monster, Lita Judge tells the story of Mary Shelley, the pregnant teen runaway who authored the first Gothic horror story, Frankenstein. Lord Byron’s challenge to write a horror story may be the often-cited reason Shelley wrote her book, but Mary’s Monster demonstrates the way the author drew on elements of her own difficult life to create the story of an experiment gone awry. Judge tells the story through Mary’s voice. Her sparse verse weaves the story of Mary’s own rejection with her creation of a monster rejected by society. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Freedom Over Me
In Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life, Ashley Bryan created a treasure of a book that deeply moves the heart, informs and influences our humanity. Following the January publication of Teaching Hard History: American Slavery by the Southern Poverty Law Center, multiple articles looked into the need for students to learn more about the experience of slavery. Bryan’s book, which appeals to ages 11 and up, helps accomplish this. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: The Book of Dust
If you were enthralled by Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series, you will welcome his new book, The Book of Dust: Volume One La Belle Sauvage. It is a prequel to the first book in the previous series, The Golden Compass. When I read the first chapter of this new book I relished the feeling of reentering Pullman’s familiar fantasy world. Pullman is a master storyteller. In this story, he weaves another powerful and fantastic adventure saga. The star of this book is Malcolm, an 11-year-old boy whose parents run an Inn in Oxford. Malcolm helps out there and in the Priory across the river from the Inn. At the Priory, Malcolm meets the baby, Lyra, whose father, Lord Astrial, left her there to be protected by the nuns. After he meets the 6-month-old Lyra, he becomes “her servant for life.” Later Malcolm saves Lyra from a danger that threatens her life. To keep her safe he undertakes a heroic journey in his canoe. When a terrible flood changes the landscape, Malcolm battles against horrific odds to protect Lyra. Along the way, Pullman strews nuggets of wonder that enthrall the reader. When we reach the end of that journey and the book on page 450, there is a promise: “To be continued.” Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to re-enter the world of Pullman’s Dark Materials, since two more books are planned. -Recommended by Marilyn Carpenter, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Washington University, Spokane, WA Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Emily Carroll’s Graphic Novelization of Speak
Speak: the graphic novel, written by Laurie Halse Anderson and illustrated by Eisner Award-winning artist Emily Carroll, takes a probing look at sexual assault and its consequences for adolescents. Melinda Sordino, a freshman at Merryweather High, is raped at a party and unable to speak out against her attacker. Instead, she expresses her feelings in the haven of art class, where her teacher challenges her to dig deep and voice her feelings artistically. Her struggle to cope with and communicate her depression is echoed in the stark, unforgiving greyscale of Carroll’s artwork. Melinda finds comfort in creating a space all her own, regains her confidence with the help of new found friends and is ultimately able to speak up against her attacker. This emotional novel challenges the reader to understand the reality and repercussions of sexual assault and the difficulty of seeking justice. –Recommended by Angel Stone, WOW Intern, University of Arizona Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Bronze and Sunflower
This December WOW Recommends Bronze and Sunflower written by Cao Wenxuan and illustrated by Meilo So as our book of the month. The book won the Hans Christian Anderson award in 2016 and is translated from Chinese into English by Helen Wang. Wenxuan is a best-selling author for children in China and a philosophy professor at Peking University. Bronze and Sunflower is set during the Cultural Revolution in China. Continue reading
WOW Recommends: All the Way to Havana
The colorful picturebook, All the Way to Havana by Margarita Engle with illustrations by Mike Curato, is set in modern day Cuba. It focuses on a family celebration and how Cuban resourcefulness keeps American cars from the 1950s running. A boy narrates the trip his family takes from the country to Havana in their precious old car, Cara Cara, a 1954 Chevy. Before they can take off, Papa and his son have to fix the car. They try and try to fix the silly noises. “The rattling parts have ben fixed with wire, tape and mixed-up scraps of dented metal.” Finally, “Cara Cara once again begins to sound like a chattering hen!” Continue reading
WOW Recommends: Refugee
Refugee by Alan Gratz is a poignant, unforgettable novel that effectively interweaves the stories of three 11 and 12-year-old refugees. Josef flees from Nazi Germany to Cuba in 1938, Isabel flees from Cuba to the U.S. in 1994, and Mahmoud flees from Syria in 2015. Their traumatic journeys across landscapes of danger and their sacrifices highlight struggles of freedom and responsibility. This hard-hitting novel thoughtfully raises global and intergenerational issues and invites empathy for those involved in current refugee crises. This is a book that will reverberate in your mind long after you put it down. -Recommended by Kathy Short at the University of Arizona Continue reading