FIVE Minutes – Perfect Picture Book Friday

Posted on November 15, 2019 by Joanna

Title: FIVE Minutes (That’s a lot of time) (No, it’s not) (Yes, it is)

Authors: Liz Garton Scanlon & Audrey Vernick

Illustrator: Olivier Tallec

 Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2019

Ages: 3-7

Genre: fiction

Themes: time, five minutes, abstract thinking, passage of time, emotional intelligence, patience

Opening:

“Five more minutes, please.”
“Back to bed.“

Five Minutes is a lot of time.

Synopsis:

Families everywhere will recognize themselves in this clever, hilarious, and completely irresistible picture book. Five minutes is a lot of time… or is it? Well, it depends on what you’re doing, of course! Follow one little boy and his family on a very busy day, as he discovers that sometimes five minutes feels like forever–like when you’re finishing up at the dentist’s office or waiting in line for the bathroom or in the backseat on a long car ride–and sometimes five minutes feels like no time at all–like when you’re playing your favorite game or at the tippy top of a roller coaster or snuggling up with a book before bedtime. 

Why I like this book:

I picked this up initially because I am a huge Tallec fan, and have interviewed him on the blog. Of course, I was not disappointed and his illustrations are spot on, packed with humor, over the top body language and emotions. Too clever and cute. But that would be telling only half the story, as this power team of Vernick and Scanlon have created another winner, with laugh-out-loud pre-school humor, pathos and punch. I was reading it to myself in our high school library and couldn’t hold back the laughter. This will probably take less than five minutes to read, but then you’ll read it over and over again. It will please caregivers and kids alike, as we all know how flexible 5 minutes can be.

Brilliant pacing helps to stretch out five-minutes for ever, and select juxtapositions are super effective, , as in two contrasting scenes at the dentist’s office.

  • Copyright Olivier Tallec
  • Copyright Olivier Tallec

Activities/resources:

Preschoolers can be guided to explore concepts of patience and the passage of time, and will immediately relate and come up with their own examples of fleeting and interminable “five minutes.” 

Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.

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Soccerverse – Perfect Picture Book Friday

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Joanna

Title: Soccerverse – Poems about Soccer

Author: Liz Steinglass

Illustrator: Edson Îke

 Publisher: Wordsong, 2019

Ages: 4-8

Genre: Poetry

Themes: soccer, poetry, poetic forms, diversity

Example:

THE FANS

I like it when my parents come. I like when they are near.

But when they yell instructions, I pretend that I can’t hear.

Synopsis:

From the coach who inspires players to fly like the wind, to the shin guard that begs to be donned, to soccer dreams that fill the night, Soccerverse celebrates soccer. Featuring a diverse cast of girls and boys, the poems in this collection cover winning, losing, teamwork, friendships, skills, good sportsmanship, and, most of all, love for the game. Elizabeth Steinglass cleverly incorporates thirteen different poetic forms throughout the book, defining each in a note at the end, and Edson Ikê’s bold artwork is as creative as the poems are surprising. 

Why I like this book:

Honestly, you don’t need to be a football fan or poetry afficionado to enjoy this collection, but soccer kids will be especially drawn to it for sure.

Liz Steinglass is a gifted children’s poet (and clearly knows her soccer.) She uses space, form, word-choice, rhythm to terrific effect. For example, dribbling is presented as a list of soccer action verbs—I book, I drag, I dodge, I zag…” This poem has rhythm and perfect layout on the page to mirror all that movement.  

My favorite is a bilingual (spa/eng) poem called Want to Play? Having seen the universal language of soccer across the continents, this one speaks powerfully to me.

I love how Liz covers so many aspects of the game, from playing shinguards, rules and emotions, to fans & disappointment, and much more! The illustrations are bright and diverse, and the poetry is snappy and engaging.

This collection of 22 poems should be in all classroom libraries.

Activities/resources:

As well as this being a great read-aloud, it is a cool tool to teach poetry forms. Thirteen different forms (Concrete, Couplet, Haiku, Metaphor, Quatrain, Reverso, etc.) are used to present the world of soccer. At the back of the book is A Note About Poem Forms and an Answer Key identifying which poem is constructed in which poem form.

Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.

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YA Book Recommendation – The 57 Bus

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Joanna

Title: the 57 bus, a true story of two teenagers and the crime that changed their lives

Author: Dashka Slater

 Publisher: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2017

Ages: 12-18

Themes: crime, burning, race, justice, gender, morality, identity, class, hate crime, white privilege, aspergers, lgbtqia+, agender, nonbinary, homophobia, diversity

Genre: nonfiction YA

A Favorite Quote:

“Binary

There are two kinds of people in the world.
Male and Female.
Gay and Straight.
Black and White.
Normal and Weird.
Cis and Trans.
There are two kinds of people in the world.
Saints and Sinners.
Victims and Villains.
Cruel and Kind.
Guilty and Innocent.
There are two kinds of people in the world.
Just two.
Just two.
Only two.”

Synopsis:

One teenager in a skirt.
One teenager with a lighter.
One moment that changes both of their lives forever.

If it weren’t for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Both were high school students from Oakland, California, one of the most diverse cities in the country, but they inhabited different worlds. Sasha, a white teen, lived in the middle-class foothills and attended a small private school. Richard, a black teen, lived in the crime-plagued flatlands and attended a large public one. Each day, their paths overlapped for a mere eight minutes. But one afternoon on the bus ride home from school, a single reckless act, left Sasha severely burned, and Richard charged with two hate crimes and facing life imprisonment. The case garnered international attention, thrusting both teenagers into the spotlight. 

Why I like this book:

I am late to the party as I bought this last year for my high school library and have only now gotten around to reading it. But I cannot recommend this book enough. Its scope is large and above all it embraces the stark limitations of looking at the world through a binary lens. Slater’s book is important because it deals with so many charged issues in a sensitive and illuminating way.

It examines what it means to be a privileged non-binary white teen with Aspergers.
It examines what it means to be an African-American male teen from a rough part of Oakland. It examines the criminal justice system particularly where it involves juveniles being tried as adults. It looks at the complexities and problems of assigning a criminal act as a “hate crime”.

The author looks in detail beyond the headlines, dissecting and exploring every part of the tale. Sasha was more than just the victim, and Richard was more than just the perpetrator. We get to know both of the youths as people, dive deep into their lives, and see how different they are. Sasha is white, lives in a wealthier neighborhood, and has Aspergers. They love playing games and inventing languages. We get to know their relationships with their friends, how one came out to them as trans, the games they play with their friends at Maybeck, and even become privy to some texts and IMs that their friends send to each other when Sasha is in the hospital. Richard, on the other hand, is black, lives in East Oakland, and attends Oakland High, described by many as “a tough place”. His mother, Jasmine, had him at 14 years old. He has lost multiple family members to gun violence. He is surrounded by crime and becomes both subject and perpetrator to it. He has a strong relationship with one of the counselors who helps troubled kids.

Both kids lead such different lives, and the detailed analysis of them makes the book incredibly compelling. We also delve into the legal system and restorative justice after the event occurs. One of the most emotional moments in the book is when Sasha’s family at last receive the letters that Richard wrote to them in apology. “I’m not a monster… I’m a young African American male who’s made a terrible mistake. I hope you heal correctly. I just wanted you to know that I’m deeply sorry for my actions.”

While nonfiction, the narration has a story-telling feel and I felt swept up immediately into the lives of the two main ‘characters.’ As a novelist, I found the prose mesmerizing. The book is empathetic, and subtle, and cuts through the binary narrative woven by the media to look at the actual people involved and the far more complicated truth that exists for something that most people only learned about through headlines.

An utterly compelling an important read.

Resources:

A class discussion guide.

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