Poems from the Caribbean

Recently I purchased two picture books of Caribbean poetry for children. The illustrations for each book are very different from each other but both beautiful, in my opinion anyway. 

The first book, A Caribbean Dozen (1994), colorfully illustrates collections of poetry by Caribbean poets, not necessarily specifically for children.

The second book, Down by the River (1996), is a wonderful glimpse into the life of children in the Caribbean.  While some of the clothing is a little outdated now, it still really captures the spirit of the islands.

Happy Easter

Here is one of my favorite Easter books from childhood, The Easter Bunny That Overslept by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich, illustrated by the wonderful Adrienne Adams.

The Easter Bunny oversleeps one year, waking up in May.  He decides to become the Fourth of July Bunny and paints his eggs red, white, and blue.  But no one wants Easter eggs for Fourth of July.  He tries the same with Halloween, but again no one wants them.  A gust of wind picks up and drops him at the North Pole, where he meets Santa Claus.  Santa lets him help paint all the toys for the kids and deliver them through the chimney.  As a Christmas gift, Santa gives the bunny a golden alarm clock so that he'll never oversleep again.

For more Easter (and Passover) books, visit my Pinterest board here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here is my Pinterest board of St. Patrick's Day/Irish children's books.

I also love this collection of Irish books and movies for girls at A Mighty Girl.

I'll leave you with some great Irish illustrations.

Fog Island by Tomi Ungerer

Guleesh: A Picture Story from Ireland by Joseph Jacobs, illustrated by William Stobbs

Fiona's Luck by Teresa Bateman, illustrated by Kelly Murphy

African American History Month

I love this blog, The Brown Bookshelf.  For their project 28 Days Later, they highlight some of the best African American children's authors and illustrators, one for each day in February. It's a great resource for learning more about some wonderful children's book creators, some well-known and some not as much.

I believe it's so important for kids to read about all different diverse experiences and see all different types of people in illustrations.  What is equally important, I think, is to have stories coming directly from people of color, and show kids that anyone can be a writer/artist.

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has spoken about the danger of a single story. She says that when she was young, she used to write stories about white people, because that's what she was used to reading. And she's not the only one.  I've heard stories from teachers whose students, no matter what their color, only write or draw white people. This is indicative of what we are reading to our kids, both at home and in school.  It's not a realistic view of the world and makes some people feel excluded from literature, which is a real shame.  We should be exposing our kids to diversity at an early age.

You can watch Adichi's TEDTalk below.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are a few of my favorite Valentine's books from my childhood. For more recommendations, see my Pinterest board here.

Under the Moon & Over the Sea: A Collection of Caribbean Poems

Edited by John Agard and Grace Nichols.  Illustrated by Cathie Felstead, Jane Ray, Christopher Corr, Satoshi Kitamura, and Sara Fanelli.  Published by Candlewick Press in 2002. 

My mom sent me this book and I absolutely love the illustrations and poems.  The editors are poets originally from Guyana, now living in England together as partners. They have compiled a great collection of poetry here.  As far the illustrations, Jane Ray is one of my favorites and I also love the illustrations by Christopher Corr.  They are all so fun, though.

Christopher Corr

Cathie Felstead

Jane Ray

Satoshi Kitamura

Sara Fanelli

Bright April

Written and illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli.  Published by Doubleday in 1946.

Marguerite de Angeli lived from 1889 to 1987 and won the Newbery Award in 1950 for The Door in the Wall.  She is known for portraying children from different ethnic backgrounds in her picture books.  Bright April was the first children's book to address the issue of racial prejudice. It's the story of a young African American girl in Philadelphia.