scrounge: /skrounj/ informal verb: to actively seek [books] from any available source
A Long Walk to Water tells the story of Salva, one of Sudan's "Lost Boys" who is forced to flee his village when violence breaks out. He then spends years walking through Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya, crossing rivers and desserts, spending some time in refugee camps just trying to survive. This story is fictionalized, but is based on the actual story of Salva Dut.
This narrative is interspersed with an almost-present-day story of Nya, who has to spend her entire morning walking to find water, and cannot go to school because of this. As the story progresses, these two narratives come together in a hopeful and redemptive conclusion. This book is an important look at some of the human cost in the Sudanese conflict, and brings these stories to life in a way that simple news reports cannot.
Scrounged From: PaperbackSwap.com
Format: Paperback
Author: Linda Sue Park
Pages: 128
Content Advisory: Scenes of violence, though not graphically described, include characters being shot (and shot at), and killed in other ways. Loss, especially of family, is a consistent theme.
Adventures with Waffles is a Norwegian tale by a Norwegian author, all about two children who live next door to each other: Trille and Lena. They are nine years old, and get into all kinds of mischief together, because they are best friends -- or at least, Lena is Trille's best friend, but he often wonders whether or not she is his. Lena is the loud one with crazy ideas, while Trille is more subdued, but he follows through on some craziness of his own.
One of the topics in the story, aside from general mischief and close shaves, is the fact that Lena has no dad, and wants to figure out a way to get one. Another topic is death: Trille's "Auntie Granny" dies, and he struggles with his feelings of missing her. There are a couple very sensitive scenes where he talks about this feelings with trusted adults, and I really liked how he was free to express such things -- especially the scene were his father plays him a new song he wrote called "Sad Son, Sad Dad."
As over-the-top as the adventures sometimes are (though nothing too absurd), it's the realistic relationships and caring family that is really at the heart of this book. As an aside, the way the characters are silhouetted on the cover and on the beginning page of each chapter reminds me a little bit of the illustrations in the Bobbsey Twins books. Though there are no larger illustrations in the book, the chapters are fairly short, making it a good read-aloud for early-elementary-aged children.
Scrounged From: Sonlight
Format: Paperback
Author: Maria Parr
Pages: 240
Content Advisory: A death happens in this story (of Trille's "Auntie Granny," but it is handled sensitively.
"Perspective" would be the one word you could use to sum up You Are (Not) Small. It's a short, easy read, with few words, but uses those words and illustrations to communicate quite clearly how eager we are to simply compare everything we encounter to ourselves (and pronounce judgments as well).
While it's geared toward preschoolers (or early readers), adults can also learn something from this simple demonstration of the different comparisons that are possible when you broaden your perspective even a little bit.
Scrounged From: Amazon (Kindle)
Format: Kindle
Author: Anna Kang
Illustrator: Christopher Weyant
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was a very sad but touching story -- simply told, and an easy read, but with clearly drawn characters and a theme that reappears in many ways. For those of us who remember The Velveteen Rabbit, it's not the first time a story about a toy rabbit has tugged at our heartstrings.
Edward Tulane is a proud rabbit who doesn't love anyone, not even his owner who takes good care of him. Over the course of the story, he is taught difficult lessons as he is lost, thrown out, and abandoned to other owners -- many people love him, though some characters do not. He learns how much love can hurt, but also how necessary it is. Can he open his heart one last time? While the ending is satisfying, the story includes enough sadness that it doesn't feel schmaltzy.
Scrounged From: PaperbackSwap.com
Format: Paperback
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Pages: 200
Content Advisory: A child dies of illness, and there are other sad abandonments throughout the story.
Since Mother's Day is coming up, I thought I'd collect a few favorite picture books that feature mothers. Of course, lots of books contain mother characters somewhere, especially books that are family focused. These specifically stood out as making the mother a major character in the story.
Are You My Mother?, by P.D. Eastman, is a classic that's been around since before I was born. I read it to siblings and now read it to my own kids -- several generations have enjoyed this story of the young bird hunting for his mother who, unbeknownst to him, flew off just before he hatched to find a worm for him. He gradually establishes that the hen, cat, dog, and cow are not his mother, and then moves on to inanimate objects, culminating with -- the "snort"! Young readers are often excited when he is finally reunited with his mother at the end.
Is Your Mama a Llama?, by Deborah Guarino, is another fun preschool book featuring lots of different mother/baby animal duos, introduced in well-written rhyming text. Each animal that Lloyd the llama encounters gives him a few clues about who their mama is -- following the rhyme and the pictures will probably make most of them easy for children to guess. This is another one that I've read both to siblings and to my own kids.
A great book for growing families, On Mother's Lap, by Ann Herbert Scott, communicates a mother's unending love not only for a "new baby," but also for the first child to reassure them that they are loved just as much. The older brother in this simple story is a bit unwilling to share his mother's lap with a baby sibling (though this is not explicitly stated, a bit of jealousy can be inferred from his actions). But she reassures him that there is always room on mother's lap as she rocks both of her children together. While also not explicity stated, this story is set in an Inuit village.
This bestseller is a popular read-aloud for children who are going off to kindergarten for the first time. The Kissing Hand is the story of a mother raccoon who helps her baby cope with being away from her by giving him a kiss in his hand. That way, he can keep it with him and bring the kiss out whenever he misses her or needs a little encouragement. Very heart-warming, and even though we homeschool this is still such an important aspect of love to communicate to children.
A Chair for My Mother, by Vera B. William, is geared toward older children than the others on this list, but I like how it captures a realistic situation in a low-income community and shows a mother and daughter working to better their lives, bit by bit. After a fire destroys their home, Rosa and her mother and grandmother collect coins to buy a nice comfortable chair for Rosa's mother. She works as a waitress and spends a lot of time on her feet, so when she comes home at the end of a long day, she wants a nice place to rest. After they save up enough money, they get to reap the benefits of their labors and pick out a chair that is just right for all of them.
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