Volume IX Issue 4: Notable Global Picturebooks for All Ages
Introduction and Editor’s Note:
What a wonderful number of picturebooks to share in this issue–books filled with delightful illustrations and remarkable stories for readers to savor. The informational texts include A Boy and a Jaguar, Who Built This? Bridges, and A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin. The fiction picturebooks include Flowers for Sarajevo, based on events in the Balkans during the 1990s. Then there are several picturebooks and one book of poetry on immigration, including A Piece of Home, Here I Am, My Beautiful Birds, Somos como las nubes/We Are Like the Clouds, and The Journey, all of which could be read in a text set or as introductions to units on immigration and refugee experiences.
Finally, there are five joyful books that address experiences, such as Malaika’s Costume about a young girl who needs something to wear for Carnival in the West Indies, or Playground, which reminds us that playing within nature and within our communities is often more fun and imaginative than an actual playground! Three universal stories reflect on the condition of the world and are both whimsical and poignant. Applesauce presents readers with the daily life of a family seen through the eyes of a young boy. Don’t Cross the Line, and Pablo Finds a Treasure have more political undertones with Don’t Cross the Line showing readers how easily freedom can slip into oppression, and Pablo Finds a Treasure providing a look at children in poverty.
There is something for everyone in this set of books, and I invite you to read them this summer! I also invite you to submit a review for one of our upcoming issues:
Fall, 2017 (Submission Deadline: August 15, 2017): Open Theme. What are you reading that would be great to share with others? What would you recommend the rest of us read in the next few months? Take advantage of our open theme and send us a review!
Winter (Submission Deadline: October 15, 2017) The World in the Early 20th Century: Review books that present the years between 1900 and 1936 in any part of the world. Books about global topics such as world-wide immigration, the Great Depression, WWI, the Great Migration, the Russian Revolution, Spanish influenza pandemic, opening of the Panama Canal, Chinese Communism establishment, the race to the North Pole, and Hitler’s ascent to power, and open up this time period around the world to readers.
Spring (Submission Deadline: January 15, 2018) – Open Issue. Submit reviews of recent children’s and young adult books that highlight intercultural understanding and global perspectives.
Summer (Submission Deadline: April 15, 2018) – Moral/Ethical Dilemmas: Books that highlight dilemmas of conscience or situations that present aspects of communities and societies that conflict with traditional thinking or ways of behaving.
Happy Reading!
Holly Johnson, University of Cincinnati, OH