Perfect Picture Book Friday – Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

October 25, 2019October 24, 201914 Comments

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

If you can relate it to a holiday at all (which is a bit of a stretch 🙂 ) the book I’ve chosen to share today is a little more Thanksgiving-y than Halloween-y. But even though Halloween comes first and is less than a week away, this book is too good not to share now 🙂

Title: Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Written By: Kevin Noble Maillard

Illustrated By: Juana Martinez-Neal

Roaring Brook Press, October 22 2019, nonfiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-6 (but older kids and adults will find the back matter very interesting!)

Themes/Topics: heritage, tradition, family, community

Opening: “FRY BREAD IS FOOD
Flour, salt, water
Cornmeal, baking powder
Perhaps milk, maybe sugar
All mixed together in a big bowl”

text copyright Kevin Noble Maillard 2019, illustration copyright Juana Martinez-Neal 2019 Roaring Brook Press

Brief Synopsis: A celebration of how this no-single-recipe-fits-all community food draws families and friends together and provides continuity from generation to generation.

text copyright Kevin Noble Maillard 2019, illustration copyright Juana Martinez-Neal 2019 Roaring Brook Press

Links To Resources: the back of the book contains extensive additional information that teachers and parents can use to round out the use of the book at home and in the classroom and that older readers will enjoy. Topics include a recipe for the author’s own unique version of Fry Bread as well as information on Indigenous people, geography, history, and more.

Why I Like This Book: the text is simple, powerful, and accessible to readers of all ages, telling the story of how Fry Bread brings families and communities together and encourages tradition. The back matter adds another layer with a great deal of very interesting information about a wide range of connected topics. The art is warm and appealing, adding its own element to the story with illustrations of Native bowls and baskets, a wide array of physical appearances that can all be Native American, and a map that lacks the usual delineations in order to show how Indigenous people are in every population. Beautifully done, and a wonderful addition to any library!

text copyright Kevin Noble Maillard 2019, illustration copyright Juana Martinez-Neal 2019 Roaring Brook Press

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

And get those Halloweensie entries finished up! The contest opens Monday!!! WOOHOO!!! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Tuesday Tucks Me In

May 26, 2017May 26, 201714 Comments

Good Morning, Everyone!

It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday…and it’s the front end of a long weekend (at least here in the US)… and it’s the psychological beginning of summer (which technically goes from June 21 – September 21, but really seems to be more measured by Memorial Day to Labor Day! 🙂 ) So that’s a pretty extra-special good Friday, wouldn’t you say? 🙂

Since it’s Memorial Day weekend, my choice for today is on a more serious topic, but the book is well written – on a level that kids can understand and appreciate without it being scary/upsetting in any way – and I hope you’ll enjoy it and find it a useful addition to your libraries.

Title: Tuesday Tucks Me In: The Loyal Bond Between A Soldier And His Service Dog

Written By: Luis Carlos Montalvan & Bret Witter

Photographs By: Dan Dion

Roaring Brook Press, May 2014, Nonfiction

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: service/therapy animals, military life, photographic book, love, nonfiction

Opening: “In the morning, every morning, my friend Luis wakes up to . . . this.”

Brief Synopsis: After tours in Iraq left him wounded and distressed, Captain Luis Montalvan returned home to a life he was no longer comfortable living. He reached a point where he was afraid to leave his apartment. But a service dog named Tuesday changed everything for him. Tuesday helps Luis with daily tasks, and he calms and comforts Luis by always being there for him. Tuesday has made it possible for Luis to live a rewarding life.

Links To Resources: Facts About Service Dogs for Kids; Wayside Elementary Schools Special Needs Awareness Program (SNAP) (video); discuss how animals make you feel and what they do for you; discuss whether you have veterans in your family, or members of your family currently serving in the armed forces – how does that make you feel?

Why I Like This Book: Every day, men and women risk their lives overseas for our freedom and way of life. When they return home, it is often difficult to readjust, and to carry on with a life so at odds with what they’ve seen and survived. This book gives kids a glimpse of the difficulties a soldier might face upon coming home at an appropriate and accessible level. It also shows how the love and care of a therapy animal has the power to change a life. It’s written from the point of view of the dog, which makes it friendly and non-threatening. For kids who have a relative or family friend who is a veteran, this book could be very helpful in understanding what they might be going through and in opening a discussion. For any child, this book can encourage empathy and understanding.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Tony

April 7, 201714 Comments

GAH!

So sorry to be late posting Perfect Picture Books!

We had a huge storm yesterday afternoon – icy rain, thunder, lightning – totally weird for early April! My poor little Jem-dog, who hates thunder!, quivered and shook and pressed herself as close to me and Scouty as she could get. She expects it in July and August, but not now!

Anyway, the storm took out the internet… for a change… and it only just came back!

So here, a little late!, is my Perfect Picture Book 🙂

Tony

Title: Tony

Written By: Ed Galing

Illustrated By: Erin E. Stead

Roaring Brook Press, February 2017, fiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-6

Themes/Topics: friendship, days-gone-by/history

Opening: “Tony
that was his name
he was such a wonderful horse”

Brief Synopsis: A sweet simple story of a boy and his horse delivering milk and the friendship between them.

Links To Resources: kids, ask your parents and grandparents about things they remember from their childhood – what things were different? what things the same as today? Do they remember having milk delivered by horse and cart? Getting ice from an ice house? how did they entertain themselves in the days before TV, computers and video games? Ask them to teach you how to play a game they played as a child.

Why I Like This Book: This is such a lovely book. 180 words, it was written as a poem. The story itself is as basic and simple as can be: a boy and his horse go out in the early morning to deliver milk. But Erin Stead’s illustrations bring it to life in the most beautiful way possible. The horse’s loving, kind and patient nature shine through. The companionship and teamwork of the boy and the horse as they set about their daily run at 3 AM comes clearly through the quiet dark when the rest of the world sleeps. It is obvious how much they value each other and how much the narrator of the story (a man to whom they deliver) loves Tony too. If you’re looking for a sweet and very quiet book, this is a gem.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Big Cat, Little Cat

March 17, 2017March 16, 201715 Comments

Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

Oh boy, do I have a gem to share with you today!

Perhaps this lovely book particularly appeals to me because its message of loving, losing, and new beginnings strikes a chord with me right now, but I think anyone and everyone can appreciate what it has to offer! I wish I could show you the whole thing – every page! – but you’ll just have to trot right out to the library after PPBF! 🙂

Big Cat Little Cat

Title: Big Cat, Little Cat

Written & Illustrated By: Elisha Cooper

Roaring Brook Press, March 2017, fiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-6 years

Themes/Topics: friendship, cycle of life

Opening: “There was a cat who lived alone. Until the day a new cat came…”

Brief Synopsis: Two cats become friends and do everything together until one day the older cat has to go…and he doesn’t come back.

Links To Resources: draw a picture of you and your pet; write a story or poem about your pet; how would you describe your pet to someone who had never met it? talk about what love means – is love for a pet the same as love for a sibling or friend or parent? what are some things that let you know you love someone, or that someone loves you? has a pet you loved ever died? how did it make you feel? what did you do to feel better?

Why I Like This Book: I LOVE this book. It is the most beautiful, perfect, sweet book I’ve read in a long, long time. 186 words of sheer genius. The kind of book every writer (well, at least this one!) dreams of writing. A full, emotionally satisfying, complete story arc in less than 200 words. Simple, yet so evocative. Wonder and delight, learning and play, joy, contentment, friendship, love, grief, endings and beginnings – it’s all here. The art is a perfect complement – simple black and white drawings that convey personality, action, expression, and just enough detail, with one page in gray to show sadness, and a soft glow of pale butternut on just three pages to show warmth and contentment. The text and art are also thoughtfully spaced to give time and distance where needed. A lovely book to gently help children understand life, love, loss, new life and new love. And writers, if you haven’t seen this book, rush out and read it – seriously I am not kidding! – a fabulous example of how to do it right! Definitely in the “wish I wrote that!” category 🙂

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

Susanna Leonard Hill

Children's Author

Tag: Roaring Brook Press

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Tuesday Tucks Me In

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Tony

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Big Cat, Little Cat