Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca

By: Deborah Kogan Ray

            Paiute Princess: The Story of Sarah Winnemucca is a biographical picturebook that details the life of Thocmetony, or Sarah, Winnemucca.  Winemucca was born in Nevada as a member of the Paiute tribe in 1844.  As a child, she had her first encounters with white people under the shelter of her grandfather, Chief Truckee, who fostered good relationships across cultural borders.  Chief Truckee believed that education was the key to success, so he pushed Winnemucca to learn English and develop strong literacy skills.  Through these early experiences, Winnemucca became the voice of the Paiute people; she spoke out about serious issues including poverty, poor living conditions, prejudicial treatment, government corruption, and more.  She remained an incredibly influential, yet controversial, female advocate for the rights of the Paiute people at a time when the oppression of Native Americans through reservations/forced migrations was the norm in American society.

            Throughout the text, Deborah Kogan Ray highlights the fact that Winnemucca was a "child of two worlds- following the traditional ways when living with her parents, but not when accompanying her grandfather for long visits to California, where she lived with his white friends."  By drawing attention to this dual world, Ray creates strong characterization of Winnemucca and allows readers to identify with similar issues of navigating through multiple cultures.  Additionally, Ray details Winnemucca's role as a powerful cultural broker, in that she is able to understand the cultures and customs of both worlds.  One example of the text highlighting the different worlds is evident in what people refer to Winnemucca as; the white people call her "Princess Sarah," while the Paiute refer to her as "Mother."  I think this distinction highlights various values within each cultural group, and show her unique role as a participant in both.

            In terms of increasing authenticity go the text, Ray includes Winnemucca's own words, distinguished by italic text, throughout the book.  One of the most powerful messages shone through this excerpt: 

"For shame! for shame! You dare to cry out Liberty, when you hold us in places against our will, driving us from place to place as if we were beasts … Oh, for shame! You, who call yourselves the great civilization … I am crying out to you for justice."  

These words gave me chills because they draw on the readers humanity and serve to elicit strong emotional reactions to spark change.  Additionally, the book highlights Ray's research on the topic through extensive notes on Winnemucca's life and the Paiute people, an author's not on her legacy, a detailed timeline of her life, and a list of sources.

            The biography also touches on many examples of violence in the history of the Paiute tribe, such as in the presentation of the Mud Lake massacre.  I think Ray skillfully crafted the text revolving around this scene with a sense of the extreme violence and devastation involved in this event,l while keeping the text appropriate for children.  Together, all of these emotional connections to the text encourage readers to wish to seek justice as well.

            Most of the illustrations within the book are full-bleed, watercolor paintings with additional penciled details.  From the first pages of the book, readers are transported to Nevada through the brightly colored painting of the desert landscape.  Ray artfully contrasts the rich, warm yellow and oranges of the desert sand with the cool blue and purple hues of the distant sky.  I think the landscapes are the greatest illustrative feat within this book, as they are stunning works of art.  The people within the story are often portrayed with less clarity, as they are often presented with some unclear features.  There are also examples of real photographs of Winnemucca and various events to add a greater authenticity of historical context.

             Overall, I think this book would make a great addition to the upper-elementary classroom (4th grade and above), because it portrays a fresh perspective on Native Americans.  While we always seem to learn about Sacagawea and Pocahontas in school, this book emphasizes the idea that other historical figures had an impact and deserve our attention as well.  In fact, Ray touches on this briefly in her by commenting that Winnemucca "faced a world where the fate of native people was in the hands of new rulers of the land" to contrast the white man's "dependence on their [Sacagawea and Pochontas] help for survival" (Author's Note).  I appreciated the early feminism present within this biography, and I think it is a story that many young females would find inspiring!

Interested in reading Sarah Winnemucca's autobiography?  She was the first native woman to write an autobiography!  It is called Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims, and the entire text can be found online here: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/winnemucca/piutes/piutes.html

The Seven Silly Eaters

Written by: Mary Ann Hoberman

Illustrated by: Marla Frazee

           The Seven Silly Eaters is a fictional picturebook that follows the lives of the Peters family.  As each of the seven children is born, Mrs. Peters discovers their unique picky eating habits, in which each child will only eat one food prepared in a specific manner.  While Mrs. Peters works hard to meet the demands of each of her children, her patience runs thin since the work never seems to ease up.  At her lowest moment, Mrs. Peters heads to bed thinking that her children will forget her birthday the following day, but the Peters children have a special surprise in store that changes the lives of the Peters family for good!

          Mary Ann Hoberman lays out the text with an AABBCC rhyme scheme that just begs to be read aloud.  She crafts her language with such fluidity that it just naturally rolls off the tongue through her creation of mesmerizing verse.  The language is especially relatable to young readers because of this rhyming and repetitive structure.  The rhyme scheme throughout the text also highlights the humor within the story, while also emphasizing specific words that could be used to teach vocabulary lessons (ex: "mutter feebly").

          While the text has a musical rhythm that pleases the readers ears, the book would not be complete without Marla Frazee's fantastic illustrations.  Frazee also illustrates the currently popular Clementine Series, one of which I reviewed earlier (The Talented Clementine).  In The Seven Silly Eaters, Frazee utilizes a muted color palette to draw attention to the family within each picture, as opposed to these setting, which allows the picturebook to take on a relatively timeless quality.  Frazee specializes in drawing humans, especially children, and pays great attention to facial expressions and body positioning in each illustration.  As I was reading this story, I realized that the illustrations are integral to the story, because there would be minimal character development and connection without Frazee's action-packed illustrations depicting the ever-increasing chaos of the Peters family.

           With respect to the illustrations, Frazee also utilizes a variety of illustration sizes and styles throughout the book.  On the early pages of the book, she draws smaller pictures that seem calm, which serves to give readers some distance before drawing us completely into the story with her first larger-scale drawing that takes up a full page.  Once the story picks up, the full-page drawings take control, and are occasionally interrupted by a sequence of small vignettes (Ex: Mrs. Peters dancing excitedly with each of her children late in the story) to depict movement and time passing quickly.  Overall, there is so much going on in every drawing that the readers eye will always be drawn to different aspects of the illustrations, making this an exciting book to read repeatedly.

          As I mentioned earlier, I think it would be a crime to not share this text aloud because the rhythmic structure of the text becomes clear and engaging when read aloud.   I think this book is perfect for young readers (K-3rd grade), and is especially great as a humorous way to deal with the topic of picky eating or nutrition.  It could also be used in connection to studies of families or just as a great story to share with your family!  

Some examples of teaching resources to go along with this book: http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=21686&a=1#ActivityGuides

Miracle Mud: Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud that Changed Baseball

Written by: David A. Kelly

Illustrated by: Oliver Dominguez

          Lena Blackburne loved to play, watch, and even coach baseball, but sadly he never seemed to be good enough at any one thing to become famous in his beloved sport.  Miracle Mud is an informational picturebook that details Lena's discovery of a special type of mud that finally fixed the problem of dealing with slippery and shiny new baseballs without making them smell bad and look gross.  Through the mud, Lena was finally able to find his true place in the sport of baseball, so read the story to see how the legacy of the mud lives on today.

          Summer always brings my attention to many things, but there is one specific thing that I always get excited about: baseball!  There is nothing quite like going to a baseball game during the summer, so I wanted to choose a book on the sport since I have not been able to physically attend any games recently.  This book provides an interesting look at baseball, as it focuses on an unusual subject within the sport (someone who is not a star player), a creative thinker who changed the sport of baseball and even made his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame in a unique way.

          Beginning with the end pages, Oliver Dominguez's sporty illustrations shine through; each end page is filled with illustrations of baseballs in front of newspaper clippings.  Not only does this introduce the use of perspective used throughout the book, but it also serves as an instance of foreshadowing with the idea of making baseball news and history.  In addition to the end pages, Dominguez's work shines in this picturebook, as sports are one of his biggest passions, so his skill in creating a sense of motion within each of the baseball-action shots is especially impactful for readers.

           Once Lena discovers the magic mud that will take the shine off of baseballs without damaging them, his legacy is confirmed with David Kelly's text.  Kelly states that "Lena's mud is the only thing that's allowed on major-league balls. Players can't use water or spit or shoe polish. Just mud. Lena's mud."  Not only has Lena finally found his place within baseball, but the illustration also complements the text by detailing boxes of mud to be shipped to all of the larger baseball stadiums in the US (Ex: Yankee Stadium, Tiger Stadium, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, etc.).  Furthermore, I really like the message that failure is alright, because it gives you a chance to try again and find a new place to thrive.

           The accuracy of the narrative story of Lena's mud discovery is strengthened by the author's note, which include detailed presentations of Lena's life and the rules of baseball with respect to the miracle mud.  Additionally, Lena's statistics are listed on an illustration of a baseball card, making one final connection to his dream of staying involved in baseball that remained present though out Lena's life.  Additionally, both the author and illustrator claim to have/had a passion for baseball, making their connection to the book more genuine and exciting for readers.  I think this would make a great read for younger elementary readers, as the text is fairly simple.  Additionally, it would be great to incorporate in any sports studies to show that you do not have to be a fantastic athlete to love and be involved in sports or other activities.

Link to the Baseball Rubbing Mud website: http://baseballrubbingmud.com/

Neighborhood Sharks

By: Katherine Roy

          I have always been simultaneously fascinated by and terrified of sharks, so I decided that an informational book on Great White Sharks would be an interesting fit for me.  Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands is an informational picturebook that received a Robert F. Sibert Honor.  This book is framed with the narrative story a great white shark trying to have a meal of seal, while the middle of the book is filed with more informational chunks of text detailing the great sensory strengths of great whites when hunting.  

          Katherine Roy studied many great white sharks in the Farallon Islands prime hunting location to learn about their patterns of life.  As detailed in the book, the Farallon Islands shark hotspot is about 30 miles away from the Golden Great Bridge, as depicted by an absolutely stunning front end page that shows Roy's mastery of painting and artistic abilities.  Within her paintings, Roy also plays with motion and perspective by changing the focus of each illustration to create a sense of drama.  For example, in the beginning narrative when the shark is starting to hunt, the illustrations show clam waters and peaceful scenes until the shark attacks the seal suddenly by jumping out of the water with teeth barred.  This sudden change in perspective and motion send the reader into shock at the unexpected silent attack of the the shark.

          While much of the book details the shark's killer body build, warm blood, high-definition vision, sharp and numerous teeth, and projectile jaw, the text still draws upon the idea of sharks being susceptible to humans.  Roy states that "white sharks have circled the oceans for 11 million years- 10.8 million years longer than people have walked on the earth … can they survive another 200,000 years of humans?"  By turning around the common perspective of sharks as evil and terrifying enemies of people, Roy points out that humans often cause significant harm to sharks.  She then uses this change in perspective to draw upon reader sympathy and to serve as a call to action and information.

           Roy inserts a detailed author's note, a discussion of what she choose not to include great detail of (ex: shark sense of smell), and an bibliography that she continues to add to on her website.  I really enjoyed this book, because I believe that the brief narrative aspects of the shark's hunt for its seal connected beautifully with the illustrations to create an interesting, cohesive whole.  Additionally, all of the information seems accurate, and was presented with great (but not overwhelming) detail.  I would recommend this book for elementary schoolers and any students that are interested in ocean life, and sharks specifically.  There is a lot of information in this book, including Roy's other suggestions for shark books, which could be implemented in the classroom through various themed activities or classroom backpack activities.

For more information on great white sharks: http://ocean.si.edu/great-white-shark

Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight for Desegregation

By: Duncan Tonatiuh

          What do you think of when you hear the term desegregation?  Brown v. Board of Education is always one of the first things that comes to my mind.  However, this court case was not the only one that had a major impact on desegregation of schools, and this information is often overlooked when studying history.

           Separate is Never Equal is an informational picturebook that was honored with a Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor and a Robert F. Sipert Informational Book Honor.  Telling the important story of Sylvia Mendez, a young American girl with family ties to Mexico and Puerto Rico, who was rejected from attending a fancy "Whites Only" school in California in 1944.  When she and her siblings were forced to attend the poor "Mexican School," her parents took action and filed a lawsuit that went to court and became the Mendez v. Westminster case.  By working towards desegregation, the family gained a large following within various communities of different backgrounds that wanted to support the Mendez family.  Eventually, the Mendez family won the case and appeals, and played a huge role in working towards the end of segregation in schools.

          The book opens with a full-bleed illustration in Duncan Tonatiuh's unique style of artwork, which involves drawing in a traditional, cartoonish, Mexican style, but adding mixed-media images (such as photographs of hair on the characters heads) through computer collages.  Through this mixed media, Tonatiuh works to incorporate both the traditional and the contemporary when engaging children in his work.  The first illustration depict little Sylvia Mendez crying and isolated in Westminster School (the previously "Whites Only" school), which immediately draws upon readers emotions.  The illustration is accompanied by textual evidence of Sylvia being bullied by a boy who tells her to "Go back to the Mexican School! You don't belong here!" (p. 2).  By starting the book with an example of racism and bullying, the book is instantly relatable to so many readers who know what it is like to interact with mean kids.

          The book involves powerful discussions of race and uses many thought-provoking quotations.  At one point, Sylvia thinks, "Why do I have to go to the Mexican school? … She was not Mexican-she was American. She spoke perfect English" (p. 9).  For me, this was a heartbreaking moment in the story because so many people can relate to being incorrectly labeled as something they are not based on appearance.  Later, Sylvia's mother states "When you fight for justice, others will follow," first in Spanish and then translated into English (p. 33).  In contrast to the first quotation, this flipped to the other end of the emotional scale for me, because it was inspiring to read about how much support various organizations offered to the Mendez family in their lawsuit.

           The book is bursting with information through an extensive glossary, author's note on Sylvia Mendez, and a list of sources used.  Interestingly enough, most of Tonatiuh's information came from his interviews with Sylvia Mendez herself and court files or news accounts, because there have not been many stories discussing this topic prior to his work (front flap).  I really loved reading this book, because I think it covers such an important topic that I felt my education in history was missing- desegregation on a larger scale and in different cases and perspectives.  As such, I think this would be a great resource in elementary school (or any age) classrooms, because it does present a forgotten side of the story that many readers would be able to relate to.

More information about Sylvia Mendez: http://sylviamendezinthemendezvswestminster.com

More information on the Mendez v. Westminster case: http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/background-mendez-v-westminster-re-enactment