They've Created Quite the Picture(book)

Title: The Rough Patch

Author/Illustrator: Brian Lies
Award(s): Caldecott Honor Book (2019); Massachusetts Book Award Honor (2019); Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award (2019); Charlotte Zolotow Award Nominee for Highly Commended (2019)
Genre(s): Fiction, Picture book, Children's Literature
Age: 4-8

    This book is about a fox, Evan who created a beautiful garden and maintained it with his best friend, his dog, They did everything together, went on many adventures, loved listening to music and lost of delicious treats. In Evan's garden everything grew as tall and beautiful as the sky. Everything was fine, until Evan's dog died one day. He buried his furry friend in a corner of the garden, and since things weren't the same, the garden became a lonely place full of sadness. One morning he destroyed the entire garden out of anger, and threw all of it into a large pile. The garden quickly started to grow weeds, they were itchy, prickly, spiky, and smelled bad, and Evan just let them grow, and started to take care of them. It became a very sad space, and reflected how he was feeling inside.

    One afternoon he saw a pumpkin vine sneaking under the fence, and he was about to chop it, but since it was prickly it fit with the rest of the "garden". The vine started to grow and he cleared the weeds from the path, and started to take care of the pumpkin, and it started to grow. It was Fair Week, and he started to feel a sense of rekindled excitement. He took his pumpkin to the fair, and enjoyed the fair like he always did, just missing his best friend. His pumpkin won third prize, and he had a choice of $10 or one of the pups that was in the box on the table, He originally chose the money, but once he planned to just to take a look in the box, and ultimately changed his mind and went with the puppy.

My Thoughts on This Book...

Brian Lies words and pictures seamlessly told a story. When Evan was happy the colors and pictures reflected it, and when he was sad, it was a darker tone and portrayed differently. I think even without the words, the story is conveyed and the messaged could still be felt. The pictures/illustrations were wonderfully done and flowed cohesively to tell a beautiful story.

Title: Going Down Home with Daddy

Author/Illustrator: Kelly Starling Lyons/Daniel Minter
Award(s): Caldecott Honor Book (2020); ALSC Notable Children's Book List (2020)
Genre(s): Fiction, Children's Literature
Age: 4-8  

 This book is about one African Americans' family reunion traditions. Alan and his family are heading to their great-grandma Granny's house. They get up before the sun is up and head to Granny's house, where they will all celebrate their family's history. As they arrive at her hose they see her standing outside as she always did when they left or arrived, scattering corn for her chickens. A parade of cars starts pouring in, as the family arrives from their various homes, and soon there's aunts, uncles, and cousins scattered about. The children grew up doing something for the celebration, and Alan's cousins all had something prepared, but he didn't know what he was going to do. They go on a tractor ride where they are presented with a history of the land from Alan's dad, telling them that their family once used to be slaves on this land, even though their Pa was gone, this was a time for them to come together and remember. This ride inspired Alan to speak even more so, but he still was unsure of what to say, but his dad told him to think with his heart and let it flow from there. It was now dinner time and the family was coming inside to eat their dinner.

    On Sunday morning, they attend a church service, and Alan is wishing he had more time to spend with his family, since the celebration is almost over. Once they returned home and they changed into their reunion shirts. Alan remembered everything he had seen since being here and that gave him his inspiration for what he was going to say. One by one the children share their presentations, and finally it was Alan's turn, he talked about the cotton his grandmother used to make quilts to keep her children warm. The pecan trees his grandpa planted, are now trees the kids love to climb. The land is theirs as far as their eyes can see. they were a mighty, resilient family. They try to make the night go on forever so they don't have to leave, the adults play cards and dominoes, and the kids discover old memories in trunks around the house. In the morning it's time to go home, and everyone hugs as long as possible, until they leave and Granny's house shrinks in the rear view, thinking about when they will all come back next year.

My Thoughts on This Book...

    Daniel Minter matched Kelly Starling Lyons words beautifully with his watercolor artwork. This book qualifies as a picture story book, because the pictures and words went seamlessly with the words. They helped tell the story of this family's reunion, by including pictures of them at church, traveling to get to and from, and giving their presentations. these pictures told the story of what an African American family reunion is like, from playing cards, to family t-shirts, and sharing moments they were grateful for. The color contrast flows with how we felt when we read certain portions of the story, whether it was warmer colors or cooler colors. He captured the emotion a child might feel when they are unsure of what they're going to share at the reunion. I think many young students would be able to relate to this book, and we could talk about how their traditions are similar or different and what they include.

Title: Tuesday

Author/Illustrator: David Wiesner
Award(s): Caldecott Medal (1992)
Genre(s): Fiction, Picture book, Adventure Fiction, Fantasy Fiction
Age: 4-7

    This book is about the events surrounding a group of frogs on a Tuesday evening. On this night, there are frogs that are going around town on an adventure flying on lily pads. One man noticed them while eating a sandwich at 11:21 pm. We see these frogs get caught up in people's drying laundry outside, as well as going through people's houses and through their open windows. While one old lady was sleeping, they even went and watched her television and were able to leave unnoticed. Early the next morning, they are find a frog being chased by a dog, and then the tables are turned when all the frogs show up and start chasing the dog. As night turns into morning, the frogs' journey comes to an end and they return to the water, with their lily pads, getting back to life as usual. The next day, detectives see lily pads in the street, and are trying to piece together what could've happened the night before. But the next Tuesday the frogs are back at it again, on a new journey, but so are the pigs!

My Thoughts on This Book...   

 I feel this book tells a wonderful story without any words. I think the illustrations leave it up to the students to create the tory of what happened with these frogs and where they went on Tuesday night. This book lets students tell the story with minimal words and let the pictures tell the story of the journey of these frogs on a Tuesday evening. It opens the conversation of why they think this is happening to the frogs, and what caused them to fly and what caused the pigs to fly on the next Tuesday.