Picture Book - Under the Bodhi Tree: A Story of the Buddha by Deborah Hopkinson

Illustrated by  Kailey Whitman

2018, Sounds True, Boulder, CO

HC $17.95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.27 - 41 ratings

My rating:  4

Endpapers:  Three shades of simple bodhi leaves floating down the page of cream

1^st line/s:  "In a long-ago time and a faraway place, a baby boy was born.  His name ws Prince Siddhartha."

My comments:  This lovely, simple, peaceful beginning-of-a-biography is a wonderful introduction to the Buddha.  It sets the stage for further inquiry and information, and it sets that stage with a certain mindfulness that perfectly accentuates the entire subject!  I'm a fan, and I want to learn more.

From the Jacket Cover (there is no GoodReads summary):  Who was the Buddha?  Once upon a time in ancient India, a prince was born.  His name was Siddhartha, and one day he would inherit a powerful kingdom.  His father tried to protect him from the suffering and hardship beyond the palace walls, but just like children everywhere, the prince longed to see the world.
     Under the Bodhi Tree is the story of a boy and his journey for understanding that eventually led him to the path of peace.  Told in lyrical language, this excellent introduction to the story of the Buddha is beautifully illustrated and perfect for children who are curious about the real people who made history.

PICTURE BOOK - Dangerous Jane by Suzanne Slade

Illustrated byAlice Ratterree

2017, Peachtree

HC $17.95
40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.19 - 172 ratings

My rating: 4.5  (just a tiny bit too simplistic...)

Endpapers: Beige

1^st line/s:  "Jane was born beside a sparkling creek on an Illinois prairie in a friendly town called Cedarville."

My comments:  Beautifully illustrated and simply told, the story of Jane Addams is intriguing and informative.  Although she was the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she was named by the FBI as "the Most Dangerous Woman in America" just 12 years prior!  Why?  For being a woman, and caring about people and peace - people and peace beyond American borders..  I sure want to read more about her now!

Goodreads:  Jane's heart ached for the world, but what could she do to stop a war? This energetic and inspiring picture book biography of activist Jane Addams focuses on the peace work that won her the Nobel Peace Prize. From the time she was a child, Jane's heart ached for others. At first the focus of her efforts was on poverty, and lead to the creation of Hull House, the settlement house she built in Chicago. For twenty-five years, shed helped people from different countries live in peace at Hull House. But when war broke out, Jane decided to take on the world and become a dangerous woman for the sake of peace. Suzanne Slade's powerful text written in free verse illuminates the life of this inspiring figure while Alice Ratterree's stunning illustrations bring Jane Addams and her world to life. 

PICTURE BOOK - Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah da Costa

Illustrated by Cornelius VanWright & Ying-Hwa Hu

2001, Albert Whitman Co.

Only available new, in paper, $6.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:3.58 - 65 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers:  an illustration:  the walled city, with a golden-domed building on the other side of the wall

Illustrations cover both pages, and the text is on top of the illustration, no white edges!

1^st line/s:  "In the walled old city of Jerusalem, which some call the Center of the Universe, Avi waited."

My comments: I didn't realize there are four ethnic/cultural sections in Jerusalem - Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian.  In this story, two boys from different cultures - Jewish and Muslim - find common ground because of a stray cat who "befriends" them both.

Goodreads:  Avi and Hamudi are two boys who live in Jerusalem's Old City -- Avi in the Jewish Quarter and Hamudi in the Muslim Quarter. To each boy, the other's neighborhood is an alien land. And although neither boy knows it, both are caring for the same beautiful white stray cat.One day the boys follow the cat as she travels the winding streets and crosses the boundaries between the city's quarters. And on this journey something wonderful happens, as unexpected as a snowfall in Jerusalem.

Nelson Mandela - Kadir Nelson

Illustrated by the author

2013, Katherine Tegen Books, Harper Collins

HC $17.99 Carlisle's Bosler Library

40 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.20

My rating: 4/ (the illustrations are a definite 5)

Endpapers: deep cranberry

Title Page: No illustration, bold information on dark brown/tribal design background

Illustrations: Glorious!

2-page information and photo at the end of the book

Note:  I wish there had been a glossary/pronunciation guide, there were enough words to warrant one, perhaps this would be a good thing for my students to create after reading the book...

1^st line: " Rolihahla played barefooted/on the grassy hills of Qunu."

Goodreads:  One day when Nelson Mandela was nine years old, his father died and he was sent from his village to a school far away from home, to another part of South Africa. In Johannesburg, the country's capital, Mandela saw fellow Africans who were poor and powerless. He decided then that he would work to protect them. When the government began to keep people apart based on the color of their skin, Mandela spoke out against the law and vowed to fight hard in order to make his country a place that belonged to all South Africans.

My comments on Goodreads:  Kadir Nelson's illustrations, as usual, are incredible.  The cover is amazing.  This is the story of Nelson Mandela's life, but it seems a little spotty, starting with his earliest years (which was new-to-me information and really interesting), then jumping ahead, flying through his jail years, jumping ahead again....  I read this aloud to my 6-year old granddaughter and will read it to my fourth graders, and there are places that I felt I had to fill in information, or do some extra explaining.  Otherwise, I really loved this book.

Because of You - B. G. Hennessy

Illustrated by Hiroe Nakata
Candlewick, 2005
24 pages
$15.99
Endpapers: Dark blue-aqua watercolors

One person CAN make a difference! This book should be read and shared at my school's next Passport to Peace event. It's simple:

"When you were born, there was a new person for your family to love and care for.

And because of you, there is one more person who can love and care for others."

Back and forth, this story tells how simple acts of kindness can be the beginning of peace in our world. Gentle. Simple.

The watercolors are an excellent model for kids that are beginning to use watercolors carefully and with detail.

Let There Be Peace on Earth - Jill Jackson & Sy Miller

Illustrated by David Diaz
Tricycle Press (Berkeley) 2009
$18.99
24 pgs. & cd
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Batik illustrations - snowflakes and circles, showing different symbols of peace from around the world

This seems to be a year that old folk songs are being turned into lovely picture books. Peter Yarrow's done a couple really recently and tonight I bumped into this one. Who can't love this song -- its simple words and memorable tune? Written in 1955, the words are now renewed in this eye-popping picture book.

The last few pages are informative - about the songwriters, the creation of the song, the actual score of the song, and interesting explanations for 12 different peace symbols. These are fascinating - from the Japanese crane (and mention of Sadako Sasaki) and middle Eastern pslm trees to Scandianvian misteltoe and the Chinese ying and yang - clear and simple information to take in, to share.

David Diaz continues to keep me enthralled. I've drooled over his illustrations before - his pleasing colors and designs completely cover the pge. They were "rendered in Adobe Illustration and Photoshop." How?

Heroes and She-roes - J Patrick Lewis

Poetry
Poems of Amazing and Everyday Heroes
Illustrated by Jim Cooke
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2005
40 pages
for: elementary school kids (and all the rest of us, too)
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Avocado

Poems of heroes in general. Poems about specific heroes. Heroes that I didn't know about. Heroes I never really thought about. There are so many heroes in our lives to consider. This is book to help kids - and us all - remember that!

Each of the 21 poems has information about the person or event that is the subject of the poem, which makes the book even more interesting. The illustrations are portraits: witty, colorful. I can picture an overhead for each page or double page to greet the kids in the morning as they enter the classroom, for reflection, journaling, even handwriting, and of course, for plain old enjoyment!

Heroes and She-roes

Give thanks to the he- and she-roes
Who will turn upon a dime
When occasion calls for action ---
And be there in half the time.

Roll red carpets out for she-roes
And to heroes raise a toast
For extraordinary courage ---
Yet you’ll never hear them boast.

Lend your hand to he- and she-roes,
To the valiant and the brave,
To those simple people know by
Two simple words: The gave.

The Elementary School Teacher

A teacher is a person
Unafraid
To get the third degree
From Second Grade!

Teachers are pathfinders, guides, truth-seekers, champions, role models, and guardians. Some of the greatest heroes and she-roes can be found in classrooms.


(I had to include this. It makes me feel really good...and reminds me of the many teachers and mentors that have helped create the teacher that I am today.)

The Organizer

Cesar Chavez
Migrant Labor Organizer, 1927-1993

Cesar was a peaceable fighter
With his back against the wall.
He was the David to Goliaths,
One worker against them all.

Up from the Mexican culture,
He rallied migrants to unite
And challenged consumers to boycott
Five years for the grape pickers’ plight.

Cesar won and lost many battles
But never resorted to arms,
And the carried the torch for La Causa
Across California farms.

Poor migrants, whose harvest was hunger,
Depended on him to be strong,
To ignite the fight and fight for right
And everywhere right the wrong.


Here are the other subjects included:

The Seeker (Helen Keller)
The Explorers (Meriwether Lewis & William Clark)
The Unknown Rebel (Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, June 5, 1989)
The Wonder Dog (Togo, Alaska, 1925)
The Little Angel of Colombia (Alabeiro Vargas, Columbia South America) REALLY INTERESTING!
The Peacemaker (Mohandas Gandhi)
The Nun (Sister Jeannette Normandin)
The Great One (Roberto Clemente) Includes some unknown-to-me information
The Bareback Rider (Lady Godiva) No kidding - talk about fascinating...
The Preachers (MLK, Jr. & Mahalia Jackson)
The Riveter ("Rosie the Riveter)
The Journalist (Ida Wells-Barnett)
The Soldier (Joan of Arc)
The Steadfast (Rosa Parks)
The Immigrants
The Child Laborer (Iqbal Masih) Whoa! This'll make me dig deeper...


Wonderful. Should be in every 3-6th grade classroom!

14 Cows for America - Carmen Agra Deedy

In collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah
Illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez
Peachtree, 2009
36 pgs.
Rating: 4
Endpapers: (front) blazing sunset, (back) dusky sky

Kimeli comes home to his remote native village in Wesern Kenya from his studies at Stanford University. It's been most of a year since September 11th, and he tells the devastating story to his village. To these Masai people, the cow is life. They invite the U. S. Ambassador to their village and present him with 14 cows they've specially blessed - as an offering for the future. The book ends, "Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort."

There's a two-page explanation at the end by Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, for this is his story. The full-page deeply-colored illustrations accentuate the uniqueness of these Masai people artistically showing their customs and life in lovely detail - a beautiful story.

Note: The 14 cows are being cared for in Kenya. They are blessed, sacred, and can never be slaughtered. The herd now numbers 35.

There are reviews at 5 Minutes for Books, the Scrub-a-Dub-Tub Blog, and at School Library Journal.

Brother Juniper - Diane Gibfried

Illustrated by Meilo So
Clarion Books, 2006
32 pgs.
Endpapers: Bright orange

Based on the true story of a friar and friend of St. Francis of Assisi, Brother Juniper joined St. Francis in 1210 and died in 1258. He was extremely generous, anf from the knowledge of that generosity comes this story.

Brother Juniper would give someone in need the clothes off his back. Literally. The other brothers would find him naked. One day, when he was left in charge of the chapel, many people came to the door asking for help. He gave away eveything - and when the other friars returned, naked Brother Juniper was standing in an empty hole in the ground! All is redeemed on Sunday when a huge happy crowd all come to say thank you.

A neat story of generosity and giving. Illustrations are fun and compliment the story beuatifully.

Americans Who Tell the Truth - Robert Shetterly

Puffin, 2005
Paper $7.99
for: middle grades

To open a book and be greeted by Samantha Smith -- well! And then a few pages along comes Howard Zinn! Be still my heart! Throw in 48 other very special Americans....many of whom we don't see written up for kids....and we have this fascinating book.

The portraits of each person are etched with one of their own quotes. (I DO with the quotes were a little easier to read.) At the back of the book there's a short biographical blurb about each of them. But the fifty pages depicting the "celebrites" are hand drawn, hand etched, and beautiful.

(I met Robert Shetterly years ago at the Northeast Harbor Library AND at Oz Children's Bookstore in Southwest Harbor.... both on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. He's from Brooksville, ME, and he and his wife, also a writer, are lovely people.)

He says that after Sept. 11 he was "inspired to draw strength from this community of truth tellers." Cool way to put it.

Add more to the list. Create your own anthology with a different theme. Art, quotes, and information....just like Amelia to Zora.

The fifty:
Jane Addams
Muhammed Ali
Susan B. Anthony
James Baldwin
Wendell Barry
Rachel Carson
Cesar Chavez
Chief Joseph
Noam Chomsky
William Sloane Coffin
Dorothy Day
Frederick Douglass
W. E. B. DuBois
Marian Wright Edelman
Dwight Eisenhower
Emma Goldman
Amy Goodman
Woody Guthrie
Doris Haddock
Jim Hightower
Zora Neale Hurston
Molly Ivins !!
Mary "Mother" Jones
Helen Keller
Kathy Kelly
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Jonathan Kozol
Dorothea Lange
Lewis Lapham
Frances Moore Lappe
Perry Mann
John Muir
Ralph Nader
Rosa Parks
Paul Robeson
Eleanor Roosevelt
Frank Serpico !
Margaret Chase Smith
Samantha Smith
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Louis "Studs" Terkel
Henry David Thoreau
Sojourner Truth
Mark Twain
Ida B. Wells
Walt Whitman
Judy Wicks
Jody Williams
Terry Tempest Williams
Howard Zinn

Hard to top THEM!

Somewhere Today - Shelley Moore Thomas

A Book of Peace
Photos by Eric Futran
Copyright: 1998
Rating: 4
Endpapers: White

Somewhere today...
...someone is being a friend instead of fighting
...someone is visiting a friend who is old
...someone is planting a tree where one was cut down

In all, ten simple ways to make the world a better place. This is a gentle book - with wonderful photos of kids. This will be a great model for classes of every level. Make your own book!

Can You Say Peace? - Karen Katz

For: Babies and Toddlers (even though some reviews say 4-8)

Published: 2006
Rating: 5
Read: Feb. 2007 and yesterday

Endpapers: Purple

Laura says that Ella asks for this book every night. I gave it to her for Valentine's Day, 2007. It's a beautiful book with colorful, large illustrations in happy colors, each surrounded with a frame of another bright color. We meet eleven different children from eleven different cultures who say "PEACE" in eleven different languages. Ella (who's two) will even point to each of the eleven children on the cover and say their name. She repeats the word for peace as it is read to her, and knows most of them by heart. It's pretty cool to see and hear.

Hana lives in Iran. Hana says sohl (sohl).
Stefan lives in Russia. Stefan says mir (meer).
May lives in China. May says he ping (hey ping).

A really special book.

The Peace Book - Todd Parr

For: Kids
Genre: Poetry (It's an "IS" poem!)
Pub: 2004
Rating: 5/5
Finished: Aug. 10, 2008

I purchased this book on June 26th from the gift shop at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. That in itself makes this book special for me, since I was so moved by the museum. And I love this book. It is simple, the artwork is bold and colorful and reminds me somewhat of Keith Haring's work. For many years I've taught fifth graders how a simple "is" poem can be very meaningful and paint pictures with words. This book shows how beautifully it can be done, without triteness or sappiness. It makes you look at our world in a positive way.

"Peace is making new friends
Peace is keeping the water blue for all the fish
Peace is listening to different kinds of music
Peace is saying you're sorry when you hurt someone
Peace is helping your neighbor
Peace is reading all different kinds of books".... and so it goes

I can think of many ways of sharing this book, but I'm really looking forward to making a segment of my school's PASSPORT TO PEACE Day an activity using this book. Maybe Todd Parr could make a quick trip from Berkeley to Tucson to help us out???