Picture books can jazz up story time with kids
Nashville Reads selection Dreamers makes for colorful and thoughtful reading, recommends Lipscomb literacy educator.
Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078 |
Now several weeks into the stay-at-home orders that have been issued across the nation, the books on your bookshelf may be looking a little stale to you and your children.
One of the coordinators of Lipscomb University’s annual Lipscomb Literacy initiative Julie Simone has a suggestion for you to jazz up your family’s quarantine reading: try award-winning picture books.
One of the best to start with is Dreamers, by Yuyi Morales, which was designated as the 2020 Nashville Reads selection back in January, she said. While the community-wide Nashville Reads events, including a planned gathering of 850 public school students to hear Morales speak at Lipscomb and get a free copy of the book, have now been delayed due to social distancing measures, that’s no reason you and your family cannot discover the joys of reading and discovery itself in this brightly colored children’s book.
In fact, the Nashville Public Library is holding a virtual storytime on Facebook Live with Morales reading Dreamers on Tuesday, May 19, at 10:30 a.m. The event will be hosted by weekly host "The Professor" Brian Hull and you can access it at the appointed time here.
Born in Xalapa, Mexico, where she currently resides, Morales lived for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. For Morales, her library, the Western Addition Branch of San Francisco Public Library, was a gateway to a new way of life. This experience of being an immigrant to the United States, and how her library helped her learn English, form the basis for her illustrated children’s book.
Yuyi Morales
“The pictures depict the author taking her son to the library and all the books they read is a powerful message of how all families are an important part of their child’s literacy development and that libraries provide access, connection and support,” said Simone.
Simone, an instructor with Lipscomb’s College of Education who originally included Dreamers within her stable of books recommended to teachers across the state as part of the state’s Read to be Ready education initiative (2016-2019) and who also promoted the book to city officials, said “there is something magical when you see pictures and read at the same time.”
“There is a misconception that picture books are just for kids, but they are for everyone,” she said “They have really big themes, so there is a lot to discuss with your children. You can read the book all together as a family, you can read it virtually over FaceTime or practice partner reading, where children take turns reading and discuss what they read.”
But you don’t need to stop there. Here are some additional picture books Simone recommends, and she also encourages readers to support their local bookstores, like Parnassus in Nashville:
A Wish is a Seed
By Jessica Young (a Nashvillian)
When a child makes a wish, where does it go? Like a tiny seed carried on the wind, a wish journeys through adversity, takes root and grows.
My Blue is Happy
By Jessica Young
A lyrical ode to colors — and the unique ways we experience them — follows a little girl as she explores the world with her family and friends. Young suggests that colors may evoke as many emotions as there are people to look at them — and opens up infinite possibilities for seeing the world in a wonderful new way.
Nino Wrestles the World
Written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Señoras y Señores, put your hands together for the fantastic, spectacular, one of a kind . . . Niño! Fwap! Slish! Bloop! Krunch! He takes down his competition in a single move! No opponent is too big a challenge for the cunning skills of Niño—popsicle eater, toy lover, somersault expert, and world champion lucha libre competitor!
Ladder to the Moon
By Maya Soetoro-Ng, Illustrated by Yuyi Morales
Little Suhaila wishes she could have known her grandma, who would wrap her arms around the whole world if she could, Mama says. And one night, Suhaila gets her wish when a golden ladder appears at her window, and Grandma Annie invites the girl to come along with her on a magical journey. Evoking fantasy and folklore, the story touches on events that have affected people across the world in our time and reaffirms our common humanity. Yuyi Morales’s breathtaking artwork illuminates the dreamlike tale, reminding us that loved ones lost are always with us, and that sometimes we need only look at the moon and remember.
The Undefeated
By Kwame Alexander
The Newbery Award-winning author of The Crossover pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree. Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes.
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
By Kwame Alexander
Out of gratitude for the poet’s art form, Alexander, along with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth, present original poems that pay homage to twenty famed poets who have made the authors’ hearts sing and their minds wonder. Stunning mixed-media images by Ekua Holmes complete the celebration and invite the reader to listen, wonder, and perhaps even pick up a pen.
Lipscomb Literacy: Equity and Engagement is an effort of the Lipscomb College of Education to bring award-winning authors to campus to speak to Nashville’s students and to provide each child with a copy of their book. In the past few years, this effort has been part of hosting Kwame Alexander, Jason Alexander and Margot Lee Shetterly, bringing hundreds of Nashville’s school children to Lipscomb’s campus to see the authors.