Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad

Author: Ellen Levine
Illustrator: Kadir Nelson
Year: 2007
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2008 Caldecott Honor Book

Genre: Picture Book/Historical Fiction
Location: Richmond, Virginia/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Time Period: 1840's

Plot: A retelling of a true story, Henry Brown was a slave in Virginia. When his wife and children were sold by their owner, Henry decided he needed to figure out a way to become free. With the help of a few friends, Henry stowed away in a crate and was mailed to Philadelphia, where he could be free. Because of his journey, Henry earned the name Henry "Box" Brown.

Comments: This is definitely an example of a picture book that tells more through the pictures than it does through the words. Nelson's artwork, inspired by an old lithograph of the actual Henry "Box" Brown, uses very dark, rich colors. In fact, it's sometimes hard to read Levine's simple but well-written text because of the artwork. However, this is a very well told story, and the pencil/watercolor/oil pictures do compliment the mood of the story. My favorite picture is a cross-section of Henry in the box, which shows Henry's forehead and hand as if they are pressed against glass instead of against the side of a crate. Children will enjoy the pictures and the fact that this is a true story.

Themes: Slavery, Underground Railroad, Henry "Box" Brown

Red Flags: Slavery, Children and others sold and separated from their families

Multicultural Elements: African Americans

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

Author/Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein
Year: 2003
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2004 Caldecott Medal, 2004 Horn Book Award

Genre: Historical Fiction/Picture Book
Location: World Trade Center, New York City, New York
Time Period: 1974

Plot: The story of how Philippe Petit snuck into New York City's World Trade Center by night and performed his famous tightrope walk between the Twin Towers.

Comments: Although this story aims to capture an event in history—the famous tightrope walk of Philippe Petit—it also seems like this story is trying to capture the memory of the Twin Towers themselves. The story is told simply and poetically in prose, but the story is perhaps even better portrayed in the ink and oil drawings. The most interesting pages were the depictions of the actual tightrope walk itself, which are done on extended pages to give a sense of how high up Philippe had to be in order to accomplish his task. An interesting book that tries to capture a happy moment related to something that usually is associated with sadness.

Themes: Tightrope Walking, World Trade Center, Entertainment, Momentous Occasions

Red Flags: None

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

Author/Illustrator: Mo Willems
Year: 2003
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8/Preschool)

Awards: 2004 Caldecott Honor Book

Genre: Picture Book/Animal Tale
Series Information: First in the Pigeon series
Location: Anywhere, USA
Time Period: Present (2003)

Plot: When the bus driver leaves the bus in the reader's care for a few moments, he cautions: "Don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" As soon as the bus driver is gone, the pigeon shows up, begging, wheedling, tricking, and trying anything else he can think of to get permission to drive the bus. After repeatedly being told "no," the pigeon throws an all-out temper tantrum. SPOILER! The pigeon is sulking when the bus driver returns and drives off, but he quickly gets over the disappointment when he sees a large semi truck pull up.

Comments: This book is very simply put together. Each page is a simple flat earth-toned color, with the two-toned pigeon outlined in black crayon on each page. Willems does a good job of expressing the actions of the pigeon with a few simple lines. This minimalistic style is perfect for the book because it makes the reader focus on the antics of the pigeon, which are exactly in line with antics of a young toddler (and alas, sometimes the antics of older people as well). Children will sympathize with the pigeon, but they will laugh at him as well.

Themes: Persistence, Behavior, Coping with the word NO, Pigeons, Buses

Red Flags: None

The Hello, Goodbye Window

Author: Norton Juster
Illustrator: Chris Raschka
Year: 2005
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2006 Caldecott Medal Winner

Genre: Picture Book/Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Not Part of a Series
Location: Anytown, USA
Time Period: Present (2005)

Plot: A little girl tells of all the fun things she can do when she visits her grandparents by explaining the different views she gets through her grandparents' kitchen window. She makes silly faces, plays peek-a-boo, counts the stars, and looks for visitors including a T-Rex and the Queen of England ("Nanna is English, you know, so the Queen likes to come for tea"). Most importantly, she says hello and goodbye through the window.

Comments: I had a bit of trouble with this book at first because the pictures are so bright and detailed and kind of messy. Then I got into the storyline, and the pictures made perfect sense. This is a story told from the point of view of a little girl, and the pictures reflect that—they're supposed to look like a little girl made them, even though they are much more detailed and done in many more mediums than a typical toddler would normally use. I really liked the idea of the story—looking at life through different views of the same window. I just wouldn't read the story to very small children because the pictures might be too distracting.

Themes: Family, Different Viewpoints

Red Flags: None

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale

Author/Illustrator: Mo Willems
Year: 2004
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)/Preschool-1st Grade

Awards: 2005 Caldecott Honor Book

Genre: Picture Book/Realistic Fiction
Series Information: First Book in the Knuffle Bunny Series
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Time Period: Present Day (2005)

Plot: When Knuffle Bunny goes missing after a trip to the Laundromat, Trixie, Mommy, and Daddy search everywhere for Trixie's beloved toy rabbit.

Comments: Willems takes a traumatizing situation that I'm sure many small children have found themselves in—the wash day of their favorite blanket or stuffed animal—and makes it fun and mysterious and exciting and scary all at once. The pictures compliment the realistic situation Trixie finds herself in. Each picture is actually a black and white photograph of different areas of Brooklyn, with ink-drawn characters added in. The text also adds to the situation with bold text when Trixie realizes what is wrong and words like "Aggle flaggle klabble" when Trixie, who cannot talk yet, tries to tell her dad that Knuffle Bunny is missing.

Themes: Stuffed Animals, Missing Loved Ones

Red Flags: None

Flotsam

Author/Illustrator: David Wiesner
Year: 2006
Publisher: Clarion Books
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Beginner (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2007 Caldecott Medal, 2006 Parents' Choice Gold Award, 2007 Quill Book Award

Genre: Wordless Picture Book/Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: The Beach and the Ocean
Time Period: Present Day (2006)

Plot: A boy playing at the seashore finds an old underwater camera has washed to shore. The boy can't believe his eyes when he develops the film inside the camera. SPOILER! The camera has been taking pictures of weird undersea adventures: robotic fish, storytime-reading octopi, aliens on a sightseeing trip, etc. The boy is most astonished when he finds a picture that proves many other people have seen these pictures as well. He takes a picture of himself with the camera, and throws it out to sea again, spreading the story on to other people around the world.

Comments: What an interesting story! Told in a wordless graphic novel format, it is the detail of the pictures that clue one in on the storyline. Because of this, older children who understand the importance of plot and detail will appreciate this story a lot more than youger children who merely look at the odd pictures.

Themes: Cameras, Underwater Adventures, Sending messages to people around the world.

Red Flags: None

My Friend Rabbit

Author/Illustrator: Eric Rohmann
Year: 2002
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginner (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2003 Caldecott Medal

Genre: Almost Wordless Picture Book
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: Not mentioned
Time Period: Present Day (2002)

Plot: When Rabbit gets Mouse's airplane stuck in a tree, Rabbit keeps coming up with new ways to help that just seem to make the problem worse. No matter what trouble Rabbit gets Mouse in, they are friends and Mouse forgives him.

Comments: This cute story about friendship is almost wordless. The pictures tell the story of Rabbit's hare-brained schemes, and the words kind of act like book-ends to the plot told in pictures. Almost the same dialog is used at the beginning of the story as is used at the end. It's a clever means of showing Rabbit's antics is fun and refreshing, and children should enjoy it.

Themes: Friendship

Red Flags: None

Kitten's First Full Moon

Author/Illustrator: Kevin Henkes
Year: 2004
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Beginner (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2005 Caldecott Medal, many others

Genre: Picture Book/Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: Anywhere, USA
Time Period: Present (2004)

Plot: When Kitten sees a full moon in the sky, he thinks it's a little bowl of milk. He tries many different antics to get to it, all to no avail. SPOILER! When Kitten finally gives up and returns home, he finds a bowl of milk waiting for him.

Comments: This book is a great one for young children. The pictures are in black and white, but they are well done, showing the action of Kitten without being too busy or distracting. Kitten is cute and curious and mischievous. The text is also fun, repeating the line: "Still, there was the little bowl of milk, just waiting." I would have thought that picture books need to have bright colors to engage children's interest, but the engaging plot and rambunctious character bring a lot of energy to the story on their own.

Red Flags: None

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

Author/Illustrator: Simms Taback
Year: 1999
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginner (ages 4-8)

Awards: 2000 Caldecott Medal

Genre: Picture Book/Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Not part of a series
Location: Yehupetz,Poland
Time Period: Hard to determine—1900s?

Plot: Joseph is a farmer in the Polish countryside. When his overcoat gets too worn, he turns it into a jacket, then a vest, the list goes on and on. SPOILER! In the end, Joseph is left with nothing, and he ends up writing a book about it "which shows you can always make something out of nothing."

Comments: Based on a Yiddish folk song which is included in the back of the book, this book can work on two levels. The text is very simple and the repetitious pattern of the words and the surprise ending/moral would be enjoyable to beginning readers. The artwork, however, is a very busy collage which would be offputting to young children, but entertaining to older ones.

The thing that appealed most to me was the fact that each time Joseph makes a new piece of clothing, a cutout of the new garment can be found in the page. These holes in the pages are so craftily done that they blend into the pictures, and it's hard to tell where they are. My favorite cutout was probably the first one, possibly because of the surprise element, but also because it would have been the hardest one to make. A rooster and a turkey with tailfeathers splayed out proudly strut across the page. On the next, a woman wearing a shawl with the same pattern as the birds' tailfeathers can be found.

Red Flags: None

Multicultural Elements: Joseph and this friends are Polish Jews.

Yo! Yes?

Author/Illustrator: Chris Raschka
Year: 1993
Publisher: Orchard Books
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Beginning Reader (ages 4-8)

Awards: 1994 Caldecott Honor Book

Genre: Picture Book/Realistic Fiction
Series Information: Not Part of a Series
Location: Anywhere, USA
Time Period: Present (1993)

Plot: Two lonely characters, one black and one white, meet on the street and become friends.

Comments: This book is cleverly put together. Each page has a maximum of two words on it, and most of those words are only comprised of three letters. Despite this, the pictures and text combine to create a cute scenario of two very different people finding things in common and becoming friends. A great book for very beginning readers.

Themes: Friendship

Red Flags: None

Multicultural Elements: African-American

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Author: Brian Selznick
Year: 2007
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 533
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)

Awards: 2008 Caldecott Award

Genre: Mystery/Fantasy/Picture/Chapter Book
Series Information: None
Location: Paris, France
Time period: 1931

Plot: Hugo Cabret is an orphan who tries to survive by living in the train station, stealing what he needs from the station shops. In his spare time Hugo works on an automaton his father had found and was putting together before he died. Hugo hopes the automaton carries a message to him from his father. In his quest for parts for the automaton, Hugo meets an eccentric old toy maker, Papa Georges, and his goddaughter Isabel, from whom he learns a lot about magic, mechanics, the first movies, and what it means to have a friend.

Comments: I was very intrigued by the idea behind this book. The book is set up much like a movie, beginning with instructions to the reader to pretend that they are sitting in a theater, waiting for the curtain to go up. After that, the pictures begin. Most books use pictures to give an idea of what the text is saying. This book uses detailed pencil drawings to depict the action of the story, and only uses words when absolutely necessary. For example, instead of saying, “Isabel collided with an old man as she was running across the station,” four pictures show Isabel running into the man and slowly falling to the ground. Instead of being weird, this medium helps move the story along. Since this is a story about the first moving pictures, treating the story as if it is a moving picture itself adds to the ambience and magic of the tale.

Red Flags: Homelessness, nervous breakdowns