Heart and Soul tells the story of America from another perspective

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson; published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York; 2011.

I didn’t think Kadir Nelson could outdo his We Are the Ship, but he has done just that in this book.  Once again, he uses an “everyman” (well, “everywoman” in this case) narrator which made me feel like a child sitting at the feet of a grandparent sharing treasured family history.  The rhythm of language reflects the pride and anger in the story of African Americans in American history.  Nelson’s words are so well-crafted that images would only serve to put a face to the stories, right?  Well, no.  Like in We Are the Ship, Nelson’s paintings express so much emotion that they could tell the story on their own.  It’s no wonder that Nelson got the Coretta Scott King Award for the words and the CSK honor for his art.

I’ve already used this in a display for African American History Month.  It definitely is a book that needs to be displayed, to be studied.  But it also belongs on pathfinders about American history, African American history, and teacher resource lists.

Newbery, Caldecott winners announced

ALA and ALSC announced the winners and honorees for the 2012 Youth Media Awards.  The most famous of these are the Newbery and Caldecott medals.  A complete list of winners, honorees, and descriptions of the criteria for all awards is available at the ALSC website: http://www.ala.org/alsc/2012-alsc-book-and-media-award-winners.

Newbery Medal:

Dead End in Norvelt written by Jack Gantos, published by Farrar Straus Giroux

Newbery Honor Books

Inside Out & Back Again written by Thanhha Lai, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, a division of HarperCollins Publishers

Breaking Stalin’s Nose written by Eugene Yelchin, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Caldecott Medal:

A Ball for Daisy illustrated and written by Chris Raschka, published by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Caldecott Honor Books

Blackout illustrated and written by John Rocco, published by Disney/Hyperion Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group

Grandpa Green illustrated and written by Lane Smith, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing

Me…Jane illustrated and written by Patrick McDonnell, published by Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

2013 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture:

Michael Morpurgo

Batchelder Award:

Soldier Bear written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson, published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Batchelder Honor Book

The Lily Pond written by Annika Thor, translated by Linda Schenck, published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award:

Kadir Nelson, author and illustrator of Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, is the King Author Book winner. The book is published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

King Author Honorees

Eloise Greenfield, author of The Great Migration: Journey to the North, illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist and published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; and Patricia C. McKissack, author of Never Forgotten, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon and published by Schwartz &Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

 Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:

Shane W. Evans, illustrator and author of Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom, is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book is a Neal Porter Book, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishing Holdings Limited Partnership.

King Illustrator Honoree  

Kadir Nelson, illustrator and author of Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans, published by Balzar + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement:

Ashley Bryan

Storyteller, artist, author, poet and musician, Bryan created his first children’s book in first grade. He grew up in the Bronx and in 1962, he became the first African American to both write and illustrate a children’s book. After a successful teaching career, Bryan left academia to pursue creation of his own artwork. He has since garnered numerous awards for his significant and lasting literary contribution of poetry, spirituals and story.

Pura Belpre (Illustrator) Award:

Diego Rivera: His World and Ours written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh, published by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS

Belpre (Illustrator) Honor Books

The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illustrated by Rafael López, written by Samantha R. Vamos, published by Charlesbridge

Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/Marisol McDonald no combina illustrated by Sara Palacios, written by Monica Brown, published by Children’s Books Press, an imprint of Lee and Low Books Inc.

Pura Belpre (Author) Award:

Under the Mesquite written by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, published by Lee and Low Books Inc.

Belpre (Author) Honor Books

Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller written and illustrated by Xavier Garza, published by Cinco Puntos Press

Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck written by Margarita Engle, published by Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Carnegie Award:

Children Make Terrible Pets produced by Paul R. Gagne and Melissa Reilly Ellard, Weston Woods Studios, Inc.

Theodore Seuss Geisel Award:

Tales for Very Picky Eaters written and illustrated by Josh Schneider, published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Geisel Honor Books

I Broke My Trunk written and illustrated by Mo Willems, published by Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group

I Want My Hat Back written and illustrated by Jon Klassen, published by Candlewick Press

See Me Run written and illustrated by Paul Meisel, published by Holiday House

Sibert Medal:

Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Sibert Honor Books

Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene “Bull” Connor written by Larry Dane Brimner, published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, Inc.

Drawing from Memory written and illustrated by Allen Say, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

The Elephant Scientist written by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, illustrated by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer, published by National Geographic Society

Congratulations to all winners and honorees!

We Are the Ship sails the sea of Negro League Baseball

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball words and paintings by Kadir Nelson, foreword by Hank Aaron; published by Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group, New York; 2008.

Kadir Nelson’s first attempt at writing a children’s book is a home run.  Coupled with his illustrations, he has captured the story of Negro League Baseball in a way that will appeal to young and old alike.  It is unusual for a nonfiction book to be narrated but in the case of We Are the Ship, it seems the only way to tell the story.  Nelson’s narrator is the voice of every man that played the great game of baseball during the segregated years. Immediately, I envisioned a grandchild sitting on the sofa next to Granddad, who has a photo album in his lap.  He is expressing his joy, frustration, and victories as a ball player and as a man.  Aside from the remarkable story-like appeal of the book, the facts are fascinating.  Do you know who created the first shin protectors worn by a catcher?  Or who wore the first batting helmet (bonus points if you know what that first helmet was used for originally!)?

To talk about a Kadir Nelson book without discussing the illustrations is unthinkable!  Images in We Are the Ship express the strength, smarts and skills of the players in remarkable realistic detail.  The paintings are based on photographs from collections at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.  Prints are available for purchase at Kadir Nelson’s website: http://www.kadirnelson.com/we-are-the-ship-store.html#page1.

This book’s brilliance was rewarded with the 2009 Coretta Scott King Award for an author and the 2009 Robert Sibert Medal for nonfiction.

I have loved baseball since I kept a transistor radio under my pillow in elementary school.  My favorite childhood vacation was to Cooperstown, New York.  I thought I knew a great deal about the game.  I was wrong.  Like much of history, there is a subculture that is usually left out.  I highly recommend “sitting at Granddad’s knee” and listening to the story of Negro League Baseball.  Although the story is very accessible, We Are the Ship is told in great detail (the chapters are named for the 9 innings of the game, plus an extra innings chapter as an epilogue), therefore I recommend it for older readers (upper elementary and even into middle and high school) and even adults.

As a librarian, I would add this book to a spring training or baseball display.  I’d include it in pathfinders about the game, paired with fiction (like Mike Lupica’s Heat) and a list of Web resources, especially the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Play ball!

ALSC publishes 2011 Youth Media Award winners and honorees

ALSC has posted the winners of the 2011 Youth Media Awards (in the children’s categories) on their website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/2011medawardwin.cfm

Congratulations to all winners and honorees!

All that Jazz

Jazz by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers; published by Holiday House, New York; 2006.

Stunning.  From the vivid colors in the end pages and first few pages of the book to the amazing motion drawn into the illustrations, this book is dazzling.  The illustrations were done by painting black ink outlines and shadows on acetate then overlaying those on acrylics.  The sense of movement, like the rhythms of jazz, are in-your-face on every page.  Perspective varies from page to page, as does the tone of the images, just like jazz changes from song to song and musician to musician.  The poetry of Walter Dean Myers helps define the varieties of jazz, but really it’s in the images that you get the sense of what each genre sounds like, and feels like.

I would be sure the music teachers are aware of this book—imagine pairing it with a lesson on Dixieland vs. Swing vs. Be-Bop!  Perhaps a program for families could be built around this book by inviting local jazz musicians, high school jazz band or the community jazz band to participate!