#NotYourPrincess

Editors Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale have compiled writings and visual art from over 50 contemporary Indigenous women artists from across North America in their latest book, #NotYourPrincess.

These artists highlight aspects and issues of life as Indigenous women such as identity, assimilation, racism, abuse, murdered and missing Indigenous women, resiliency, connection to the land, hope and change for the future.

Each entry is one or two pages long and vary in format from short essays, poems, interviews, letters, brief quotes, to photographs and drawings.

The writing and images are strong and convey the strength, love and recognition about who they are and where they come from. These are contemporary women connecting past, present and future.

This book is another important resource to make available in high school classrooms for all students.

Charleyboy’s and Leatherdale’s first two compilations are Urban Tribes: Native American in the City and Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices which I also highly recommend.

Doing the Right Thing

I’ve two recommendations for today’s post that promote understanding for what it’s like to be Black in the United States today.

The first one is by Jason Reynolds’, Long Way Down. This story takes place in an elevator as it descends seven floors in an apartment building and Will, the protagonist, is on his way to avenge the death of his older brother Shawn.  He’s struggling with THE RULES that govern the lives of black men and boys in his big city neighbourhood: No Crying – No Snitching – Get Revenge. As the elevator goes down seven floors, seven ghosts who knew Will and his family and experienced gun violence too, visit Will and offer subtle guidance that will help him make up his mind about his next set of actions.

Jason Reynolds is a fantastic writer. This story, told in narrative verse, took me to a place that I had no way of knowing about and gave me a glimpse into the mind of a young man like Will. Reading about gun violence and gang-related murder in the news does not provide much insight as to how this kind of thing continues to be perpetuated.  It’s the strength of a novel like this that allows me to feel the pain and the hopelessness that must consume young black men when they feel that have no choice but to live by THE RULES.

The next book, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas has been getting lots of well-deserved attention in review journals and blogs. It was a National Book Award Finalist. Again, this story puts the news reports that we hear nightly, into a perspective that is totally relatable and gives new resonance for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Starr is a sixteen year-old high school student who lives in a poor, black neighbourhood but goes to a predominately white school in another part of town. She’s working out how to mesh the two people she must be to live in two vastly different universes. When a friend, a young, black man, Khalil is shot by a white police office while with Starr one night, everything changes.

By telling people, school mates, police, journalists and neighbours about what happened that night puts Starr in a precarious situation. Those fighting for the rights of black people see this as an opportunity to create awareness and demand justice. Those in positions of power are cautious about the information Starr provides as it will jeopardize the police officer. Starr fears that if her classmates know she is the witness that will jeopardize her place in the school.The desire to do the right thing is strong and eventually overcomes Starr's fears.

Again, this was a compelling story that opened a world that I will never experience firsthand. There is considerable profanity (tons of f-bombs) used by almost all the characters but this made it feel very authentic. The ending is also very realistic, sadly.

I highly recommend both of these books for grades 9 and up and for adults. Amazing reads!

Importance of Identity

I’ve been pretty wrapped up the last several weeks doing lots of instructional workshops around interdisciplinary teaching. The student teachers are grouped with students from various disciplinary backgrounds. One of the ways I help with this particular course is to speak to conceptual thinking and connect it to resources found in Doucette Library’s collection.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a crucial part of this workshop as I use it as an example of a provocation, a resource that can be used as a hook for engaging student interest. I come back to it, throughout the workshop, as this book epitomizes conceptual thinking. There are so many concepts to be found in this book such as identity, power, conflict, relationships, interdependence, communication, change, movement of people (immigration) and many more.

If you’re keen to learn more about this please visit the library guide that has been develop to support the workshop.

One of the concepts that often came up in the workshop during the discussion period is identity. Identity is one of those concepts that overarches the social studies curriculum from Kindergarten to grade 12. Connecting identity to English language arts, I think, is fairly easy. There are notions of identity found in both science and math, too, which, depending on how the concept is further developed, may be brought in to a unit. Not all content areas needed to be integrated in the units.

Today’s recommendations all touch on the concept of identity. These are just a few of my go-to fiction books when it comes to identity for all ages.

Grades K to 3: Elementary

Hello My Name is Octicorn by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe 

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi 

Red: a Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall 

Ten Birds by Cybele Young 

Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie 

Wolfie the Bunny by Ame Dyckman 

Grades 4-8: Middle school

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle 

George by Alex Gino 

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III 

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

One Half From the East by Nadia Hashimi 

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis 

Grades 9-12 (Books I wish I had more opportunities to recommend.)

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Aristole and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz 

Ms Marvel by G, Willow Wilson

Nation by Terry Pratchett 

Scythe by Neal Shusterman 

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 

Odd Octopus Out …and Bob

Today’s post is all about acceptance and finding one’s true self.

And me wondering, “What’s with octopuses?”

Not that I’m against octopuses. In fact, my fascination with giant squids has extended to octopuses after reading a very interesting book last summer called, The Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery. (She’s also the author of many of books in the series, Scientists in the Field, a fantastic series worth checking out.) 

Cephalopods rock!

Anyways…

Let’s start with Hello, My Name is Octicorn by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe. In this book, we meet Octi. Octi is half unicorn and half octopus. A rare breed, indeed. And he has a difficult time fitting in but really, really wants a friend. He has so much to offer, too: tons-o- fun at parties, excellent at juggling and various sports especially swimming, light on his tentacles when he hits the dance floor and an exceptional hugger. Things to know about octicorns include: how much they love s’mores, recess, and the colour blue as well as cupcakes (because who doesn’t like cupcakes?).

The humour comes across in the illustrations particularly well with simple blackline drawings on white pages. Some of my favourites include Octi break dancing and spinning on his horn; Octi toasting a s’more over a campfire also speared onto his horn; and Octi’s tentacles entangled around the bars of a merry-go-round. The book is a gentle exploration of how differences, whether in looks or interests, shouldn’t be impediments to making friends. The book ends with Octi inviting the reader to be his friend and he eagerly awaits our reply.

Then there’s The Octopuppy by Martin McKenna. 

“Edgar wanted a dog. But Edgar didn’t get a dog. He got Jarvis.”

And Jarvis is an octopus which was major disappointment, to say the least.

But Jarvis can do so much more than a dog. He’s multi-talented and exceptional in a multitude of ways and so, so eager to please Edgar.

But what he can’t do is ‘be a dog’ and after disappointing Edgar once too often Jarvis decides to run away from home or should I say ‘flush-away’ from home.

And this is exactly the moment when Edgar realizes how much more Jarvis has to offer than a dog. Why, he’ll rescue a kitten stranded high in a tree instead of chasing it; he prefers smelling roses to smelling poop; and he’s more likely to create a delicious meal rather than make-off with your food.

“He’s the best OCTOPUPPY in the world!”

Edgar then searches high and low and is finally able to get the word out about how sorry he is and desperately wants Jarvis to please come home.

Jarvis is not an octopuppy to hold a grudge and home he comes to be reunited with Edgar and live happily-ever-after.

I loved it for its premise and the colourful, zany illustrations. This one is just so much fun.

And then there’s Bob.

Bob, the Artist by Marion Denchars is about a bird who is teased about his super, skinny legs. He tries to fit in by trying to make them bigger but it’s just not possible. Rather despondent,he goes for a long walk and passes by an art gallery. He goes in and is---

INSPIRED!

 After viewing many beautiful, colourful and patterned pieces of art he realizes that this will be the answer to his problems. He will paint his beak in beautiful patterns like Matisse or Jackson Pollock. And those who had mocked him for his skinny legs? Well, they are so impressed with Bob’s talent that they change their tune to one of praise and admiration. Bob no longer worries about his legs and comes to feel more comfortable in his own skin confident enough to be who he really is.

The illustrations work well with the narrative with a crow-like Bob strikingly displayed on mostly white backgrounds. The font is loose and splashy (maybe done by hand?) that adds to the overall appeal of the books.

I recommend all three books for Kindergarten to grade 3.

 And look forward to seeing more octopuses in picture books.

Zero Shades of Grey

The recent arrival of Black Cat, White Cat by Silvia Borando got me thinking about other picture books that have a black and white theme and how most of them can be tied into the bigger concept of perspective.

Take Black Cat, White Cat. Black cat only goes out during the day and wonders what he’s missing at night. White cat (as you might expect) only goes out at night and also wonders what might be going on during the day. The two meet and show the other the best part of their own awake-time. The two become close companions.  Very close companions. Any guesses as to the colour of their kittens?

This one speaks very nicely to the concept of perspective – seeing how the other half lives, that’s perfect for primary grades.

What Color is Caesar? by Maxine Kumin is a romp as a dog tries to figure out whether he’s a black dog with white spots or a white dog with black spots. Asking other various black and white creatures their opinions isn’t all that helpful. Regardless of the fact that they, too, are black and white, they seem to perceive themselves as a different colour altogether. The black and white woodpecker sees himself as mostly red because he has a brilliant red crest. The black and white pony sees herself as green based on the important things in her life such as grass and trees.  And so on. It’s not until a make-believe circus guru helps Caesar find his own true colours that he finds some understanding about who he is.

Though the story addresses the idea of identity, it also presents perspective in an interesting way; Caesar seeks to understand himself better by asking others about their perceptions of themselves and of him. This one is good for grades 1-4.

Then there’s the classic, Black and White by David Macaulay. This one is a terrific picture book for older readers (middle school) as four seemingly separate stories unfold at the same time. Each double page spread presents a single frame of each of the four stories: a boy traveling on a train, two children wondering why their parents are acting so oddly, commuters delayed in getting home, and finally a masked robber caught up in a herd of black and white cows as they escape their paddock. Working through the storylines, the reader can take up the different perspectives offered and create their own narrative. Eventually, certain elements begin to overlap between the frames and thus, the stories. What the reader comes to learn is that this is a single story but told from different perspectives. Each storyline has been illustrated in a distinctive style and colour palette that helps the reader distinguish each story.

The last one in my retrospective in also titled Black and White written by Dahlov Ipcar. Originally published in 1963 this was reproduced in 2015 with the illustrations restored and remastered to the quality of the original work.  In this book, a black dog and a white dog are the best of friends, irrespective of their differences. (Think 1963 and civil rights.) The little black dog lives in a black house and dreams in black of dark jungles whereas the little white dog lives in a white house and dreams in white of starkly coloured Arctic landscapes. They share their dreams as best buddies do and get ready to frolic their way through the day, yet again. This one also would work well with the early grades.

So, it's just a matter of perspective whether you see the world in black and white or more like me, in a multitude of grey's. But it's something to talk about and kids, no doubt, will have one they may want to share.

Sense and Perceptions (a lost manuscript by Jane Austen – just kidding)

They All Saw A Cat

by Brendan Wenzel is a new favourite of mine.

What an interesting way to explore perception, senses and even identity.

So, we start with an intrepid cat who engages with the world with those parts of its body that help it sense what is around; its whiskers, ears and paws but not, funnily enough, its eyes.

But what about how other creatures perceive this cat?  This is what the book is really about.

There is the child who sees a friendly, smiling creature with big eyes and a heart-shaped nose with invitingly, touchable soft fur. However, the dog sees a cat as a skinny, slinking, sneaking creature with narrowed eyes and a too large bell hanging from its neck (all the better to hear it coming, I suppose). 

My favorite image is how the goldfish perceives the cat through the glass of his bowl: large and looming, a fuzzy, grey lump with huge yellow eyes peering intently at him.

Some of the images seem to convey a more of the feeling a creature might have when encountering a cat such as in the case of the mouse. This double-page spread displays a ferocious beast that is all tooth and claw with a whip-like tail and body against a vibrant, danger –signaling red background.  A teeny tiny mouse would be overwhelmed with fright.

Looking at this cat from the perspective of a bee, a snake, a bat, and a worm gives us unique ways of ‘seeing’. The bee’s multifaceted composite eye constructs a multicoloured mosaic whereas a worm’s perception is based on vibrations. The snake differs yet again as it sees the cat in infrared in a vibrant, somewhat lurid shade of yellow with glowing red eyes. A bat uses echolocation to ‘see’ the cat.

The illustrations are terrific at capturing the various ways all the animals perceive this cat.  Sometimes bright colours or muted shades in a range of mediums (“in almost everything imaginable” – author’s words) are used to aptly create the perceived image of the cat or to convey a feeling.  A single image sometimes fills two pages or might only be on one page but be juxtaposed with the image on the opposite page such as between the worm and the bat. Sometimes Wenzel uses zig-zag lines (vibrations) or dots (mosaic) to represent the cat.

I would recommend this book for elementary grades especially in grade 1 science for senses. There might be some use for this title in grade 2, science for the small crawling and flying animals unit. For the older grades I would look at the cadence of the language which reads almost like a poem making it great for a read-aloud. Co-worker Paula (and sometime guest blogger) suggested this as a writing prompt for the older grades, too. 

Pairing this with the Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin would make for an interesting combo for looking at perception. Both books take an unusual look at a ‘thing’, one a cat and the other colour in atypical ways.

Highly recommended.

Living Your Dream

It takes courage to follow your own path and ignore those who try to dissuade you from pursuing your dreams.

This thought really hit home last week when I was listening to CBC reporters recalling their favourite moments from the Olympic Games in Rio.

Paul Hunter was describing the impact of swimmer Kylie Moss' (bronze medal winner) comments about wanting to inspire other young Canadians to follow their dreams, to ignore those who say you can't win an Olympic medal. That really resonated with him. That’s when it struck me about how much gumption it takes to just keep on going when you’ve taken on such a huge challenge. That takes a lot of courage, in my opinion.

So here are a few recommendations of books with characters (real and otherwise) who do have the courage to achieve their dreams:

TheAbsolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Junior is an American Indian growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. With encouragement from one of his teachers he decides to go to an all-white school off of the rez. This takes tremendous courage as he receives little support from those on the reservation who see him as a traitor nor those at the school in town who see him as if he was “Bigfoot or a UFO”. This is an opportunity to make a better life for himself but it isn’t easy. Recommended for grades 9 and up.

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

A little girl who loves to act is excited to take on the role of Peter Pan in a school play. But she’s told that because she’s a girl she can’t be Peter Pan. Then she’s told that because she’s black she can’t be Peter Pan. But with some help from her Nana she puts her mind to doing the best she can in auditions and is given the part. Recommended for grades 1 to 3.

Echo by Pam Munzo Ryan

I so enjoyed this book of three different characters in three different places from slightly different but contiguous time periods. Each of the children in these stories have musical ability with ‘potential’ to be great. But their circumstances (wartime Germany, homeless orphans in America, and migrant workers in California) don’t easily allow them to pursue them. However, due to their own tenacious characters (plus some lucky breaks) their futures do result in opportunities allowing them to live their passion. Recommended for middle grades.

Firebird by Misty Copeland

A young girl dreams of becoming a ballerina and Misty Copeland, a real-life African-America ballerina encourages her to follow her heart and shows that hard work and determination can make it happen. Recommended for grades 1-4.

For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai’s Story by Rebecca Langston-George

Malala Yousafzai is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Her persistent canvasing for the rights of children, especially girls, to education put her life in great danger. Despite being shot by Taliban supporters because she refused to quit school and spoke out against the Taliban, she continues endorsing and fighting for children to go to school. Recommended for grades 3 to 6.

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang & Sonny Liew

This graphic novel is about a wanna-be super hero. Well, he’s a reluctant wanna-be at best as it’s his mother who really pushes him to step up to the plate. But eventually Hank grows in to the role of “The Golden Man of Bravery”. This one really connects persistence, ability and courage with pursuing your dreams. Lots of wry humour, too. Recommended for grades 7 and up.

An Urban Jungle: through the eyes of an artist

The London Jungle Book by Bhajju Shyam is an amazing and beautiful piece of art published by my favorite publisher – Tara Books.

When Gond tribal artist Bhajju Shyam is offered a job to paint murals on the walls of a tony London restaurant, it’s an opportunity that raises questions, anxieties, and excitement.

As we learn from a lengthy editors’ note (Gita Wolf and Sirish Rao), people of the Gond tribe are often marginalized in India, thought of as ‘primitives without culture’. They often live in poverty with few opportunities to improve their lot in life.

Also, as artists, their style is based on community beliefs and has a very structured aesthetic.  Images, icons, and symbols represent their everyday lives or their beliefs and are conveyed more as perceptions from the mind’s eye. Realism, perspective, light, or three-dimensionality are not significant factors.  Images are filled with detailed, intricate, geometric patterns. Traditionally limited to four earth tones, Gond artists now living and selling their work in urban centres are using colourful, commercial paints and inks to expand their art form.

So, with this introduction, how does an artist who has never travelled or flown in an airplane to a foreign world perceive what he sees and experiences?

The London Jungle Book allows us a chance to see ourselves in new way (“reverse the anthropological gaze”) playing on Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. A travelogue filled with creatures (animal and human) based on Gond traditions to represent a modern city and how an artist from a very different culture would experience life here.

Each image is accompanied by a ‘story’ that relates to an observation or experience.  His flight from India to London is depicted as a winged elephant leaping into the air, the elephant being the biggest and heaviest thing he can relate to that corresponds to an airplane.

Or, that Londoners remind him of bats who come out at night, dressed in black, going out to eat and socialize.  Bhajju has observed that, though, some streets can seem deserted during the day, evening is a different matter when they are filled with people on their way to restaurants and pubs.  The pub is represented as a Mahua tree, a sacred tree symbol for the Gond, its flowers used to make alcohol  and its trunk inhabited by many black bats readying for their nightly social rounds.

“I show English people as bats not to make fun of them, but because I like to think of them as creatures that come to life in the evening.”

The illustrations always feel balanced with beautiful colours and detailing.  The patterns fill every animal, bird, human, and object with small repetitive lines, circles, or dots.

Each image also includes a small artist’s note explaining the Gond aesthetics that is attributed to each modern London scene. The cover image is a good example of this traditional and modern aesthetic that combines Big Ben, London’s iconic clock tower with a rooster.  The clock face and rooster’s eye are the one and the same. The rooster is a symbol of time in Gond art.  He says,

 “Symbols are the most important thing in Gond art, and every symbol is a story standing in for something else. So this painting was the easiest for me to do, because it had two perfect symbols coming together.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this blending of traditional folk art with trappings from modern life, like the bus with the head of a dog representing how Londoners travel through the city. These paired images offer a sense of something very familiar, comforting, and loyal much the way a dog can imbue these qualities.   Or, how apt is it that the ‘tube’ system is represented as an earthworm which in Gond tradition rules the earth below?

I felt quite humbled reading through these stories and working through the illustrations.  I was given an inside look at how this man experienced London and worked to convey something meaningful for us and himself. All travelers compare their home countries with the new ones being explored.  Sometimes we marvel and sometimes differences just make us grumpy. Bhajju is kind in his observations about life in London.  I didn’t feel he was being judgmental but rather was acknowledging differences and similarities and creating an understanding of his experiences.  This is an artist filled with wonder and generous in his assessment of life in London. This new venue offers him the opportunity to become a storyteller as well as an artist.

I am who I am

Red: a crayon’s story by Michael Hall is one of ‘those’ books.  You know, the books you read and go “Oh!” then a few goose bumps race up and down your arms. Your brain is telling you that this book is going to be great in the classroom!

This is a story about Red.  He’s a crayon who is red.  Except he isn't very good at being a red crayon.  Everything always turns out blue. Red ants are blue. Strawberries are blue. Cherries, hearts and foxes all come out blue.

Even with help from his parents, teachers, and friends, all his pictures turn out to be the wrong colour.  No one quite knows what to do but all have an opinion as to why Red is the way he is.  Some crayons are more understanding than others.  He becomes very frustrated when practice and hard work doesn't make a bit of difference

.

But wait! 

A new crayon hits the scene and asks Red to make a blue ocean for her boat.  And, voila! A perfect ocean is drawn by Red. He does a good job.  No one criticizes him or makes excuses.  It  is easy!  So is making blue birds, blue berries and blue whales.  He has finally found out what he was good at doing.

This is a terrific book that looks at identity and individuality in a fun way.  No one has to be stuck with a label.  Finding what each person (or crayon) is good at changes the game and allows for everyone to shine.

Recommended for preschool to grade 3, but why stop there?  Take it to any level and see what happens.

Books to think about pairing with:

Ten Birds by Cybele Young is also about labeling.

This is a Moose by Richard T. Morris about following your heart’s desire and not letting anyone but you in a box.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt keeps with the crayon theme though the story is about appreciating things we take for granted.

All recommended for the primary grades.

An apology

Dear Former Student Who-is-Now-Teaching and stopped by the Doucette recently,

I’d like to offer you an apology for not having read the novel-in-verse, Crossover by Kwame Alexander sooner.

I just finished reading this year's Newbery winner two days after you came to the Doucette looking for poetry that would engage junior high boys and satisfy the conservative leanings of your school administration and community of parents.

Your idea for using hip-hop sounded very intriguing but I could understand your reluctance to bring it into the classroom because you were worried what the parents of your students would think.  I know you felt a little stymied by this, and had hoped that we at the Doucette Library would be able to come up with something else that might work instead.

I, too, felt a little hindered by this though I’m glad you liked my suggestions of two books of concrete poetry by John Grandits, BlueLipstick and Technically, It’s Not My Fault. I love these books and hope that they’ll work for you.

But I really, really wished I had read Crossover just a little sooner. Take a look at the very first page of this story.

Even I, who am totally disinterested in basketball, can feel the movement, passion and intensity this character brings to his game.  The formatting is brilliant as it captures the moves of the player when he’s in the zone. 

So, Dear Former-Student, I think this book would have fit-the-bill for you.  I think the story would engage your grade 9 boys and satisfy the powers-that-be at the same time. 

There wouldn't be anything too objectionable in the storyline which is about twin brothers who are slowly coming into their own identities causing rifts between them.  Basketball, a passion for the whole family because the dad had been a former basketball star, always drew the boys together. But once one of the brothers starts dating and basketball becomes less of a priority, friction develops.  There is a lot of growth on the part of both boys and this family as a whole

. 

Not all the poems are written as dynamically as the one above but a few are interspersed throughout the book and each carries that strong urban, contemporary vibe without becoming too edgy.

Again, in closing, please accept my apologies for not having read this book just a wee bit sooner.

Sincerely,

Tammy