Showing posts with label wind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wind. Show all posts

Sunday, November 11, 2018

Picture Book Review: Storm by Sam Usher


Storm by Sam Usher. unpgd. Templar Books/ Candlewick Press, August, 2018.9781536202823. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Our favorite little redheaded boy and his doting granddad are back in another lovely flight of fancy. This time, the boy awakens to wind rattling the windows and he just cannot wait to get outside. When he suggests all the things the two could do in the wind, granddad suggests that "It's the perfect day to fly a kite! But we'll have to find it first." While the wind blows mightily, the two search high and low for the kite and stop to reminisce about everything they do find, like a cricket bat. When the kite is finally found, they bundle up and head out to the park where the wind gathers all the kite fliers and whisks them into the sky for a swirling, twirling adventure.

The ink and watercolor art is glorious from cover to cover. Funny little details are embedded on most pages and invite lingering. Every child needs imaginary play and a granddad like this. Share this one and all the "Granddad" books, Snow, Sun, and Rain widely.


Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Teen Tuesday: Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford


Becoming Billie Holiday by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 116 p. Wording/ Boyd's Mills Press, October, 2008. 9781590785072. (Own)

This fictionalized biography in verse covers Billie Holiday's life from her birth, through her troubled childhood to age 25, when she cemented her stature as a premier interpreter and singer of jazz. Holiday's life was not easy. Weatherford does not sugarcoat it, but stops the novel at a high point in the singer's life. The accompanying illustrations are beautiful, sepia toned and compelling. Readers will want to pause to savor the portraits as well as the words. Cooper's subtractive art is a marvel.


Thursday, February 15, 2018

#tbt: Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper


Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper. 320 p. Simon & Schuster, May, 2001. 9780756916299. (Own)

#tbt features Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper. This retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette is set in the present day Cincinnati, Ohio and was published in 2001. New student Julio catches Romi's eye after he moves to Cincinnati from Texas. The two start a romance even though Romi is African American and Julio is hispanic and there is racial tension between the two groups. Readers familiar with the Shakespeare play will get a kick out of the many parallels.