THE MONKEY TRIAL: JOHN SCOPES AND THE BATTLE OVER TEACHING EVOLUTION by Anita Sanchez, Clarion, March 2023, 192p., ISBN: 978-0-35-845769-5

Richie’s Picks: SMALL PLACES CLOSE TO HOME: A CHILDREN’S DECLARATION OF RIGHTS by Deborah Hopkinson and Kate Gardiner, ill., HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray, October 2023, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-06-309258-7

“You've got to try a little kindness

Yes, show a little kindness

Just shine your light for everyone to see

And if you try a little kindness

Then you'll overlook the blindness

Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets”

– Glen Campbell (1970)

SMALL PLACES CLOSE TO HOME by Deborah Hopkinson is rich in history and incredibly significant for today’s young readers:

“I am part of my family 

and the human family.

I was born free and equal, 

like each and every person 

in the world.

I deserve to live in freedom, 

in a just and peaceful place, 

and to be treated equally and fairly 

no matter what I look like, 

how I speak, dress, 

or wear my hair, 

who I love, 

or where I live. 

And it’s up to me to respect the rights 

of others to do the same.

I have the right to my own 

private thoughts. 

I am free to choose what I 

think and believe. 

And it’s up to me to listen 

and respect how others think 

and believe too”

This excellent piece of illustrated nonfiction is inspired by–and depicts the power and sanctity of–the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Back in 1948, in the aftermath of the Holocaust and WWII, this Declaration was a potent document. Its crafting and adoption by the General Assembly of the then-brand-new United Nations, was overseen by Eleanor Roosevelt. Ms. Roosevelt, the recently-widowed former First Lady, was one of America’s first delegates to the international body.

SMALL PLACES CLOSE TO HOME focuses visually on a young child of color from a mixed-race household. In illustrating the rights of the universal child, the book is organized into sections of “Me,” “My School and Community,” “My Country and World.”

“I have the right to peace,

in a world where all human beings,

as well as animals, birds,

insects, fish, plants,

and trees are treasured.

I have the right to live on Earth

and to work with others to 

restore and care for our planet

and its wondrous mountains,

wildlands, rivers, and seas.

I have the right to dream

of what I want to do in this world

to make life better for all living things.”

Kate Gardiner’s muted gouache and colored-pencil illustrations depict a broad diversity of people and critters on the planet.

Seventy-five years after its adoption, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights remains far more an aspirational dream, rather than reality, for far too many of our fellow humans. Hopefully, teachers, librarians, and parents will share this book and point out how these rights can and should, indeed, begin at home, in the classroom, and in the community. Learning to express respect for and kindness toward the diverse people and creatures in our own spaces–as opposed to bullying, name-calling, and scorning differences–is great practice for growing up to empathize with those whose appearances, cultures, and beliefs are foreign to us.

This all makes SMALL PLACES CLOSE TO HOME an essential purchase and read.

Richie Partington, MLIS

Richie's Picks  http://richiespicks.pbworks.com

https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/    

richiepartington@gmail.com  

Richie’s Picks: TOMORROW’S LILY by Chris Raschka, HarperCollins/Greenwillow, February 2024, 32p., ISBN: 978-0-06-304937-6

“Half a mile from the county fair

And the rain came pourin' down

Me and Billy standin' there

With a silver half a crown

Hands are full of a fishin' rod

And the tackle on our backs

We just stood there gettin' wet

With our backs against the fence”

– Van Morrison (1970)

Fifty-plus years ago, back in high school, Jamie, a dear friend, sadly now long-gone from this world, turned me on to Van Morrison. I can still see myself riding shotgun in his parent’s maroon Pontiac 442, as we cruised around suburbia listening to the Moondance album on the cassette player. Since then, it has always made me happy (sometimes with a real touch of wistfulness), to hear Van the Man’s distinctive pipes on the radio, or Pandora, or pouring out of a shop doorway down on Haight Street. 

“Monday’s lily blooms for the baby.

Tuesday’s lily blooms for the cat.

Wednesday’s lily blooms for Mommy.

Thursday’s lily blooms just like that.”

And that’s how it feels for me to discover a beautiful, new, Chris Raschka picture book in the mailbox. Raschka’s style is as distinctive and recognizable as Mr. Morrison’s.  My fond memories of Chris’s work date back a generation-plus to my life and times at the childcare center. 

Nowadays, after two Caldecott Medals and a Caldecott Honor, Raschka is at least as well-known in our children’s lit world as Van Morrison is in his. And the evocative, just-published TOMORROW’S LILY is a classic in the making. 

“We’re all like lilies.

We bloom for others.

Just like lilies,

we come and we go.

But the memories of lilies lasts forever,

like the memory of friends we know.

Pretty lily, a joy to see.

Precious lily, 

bloom for me.”

In TOMORROW’S LILY, Raschka’s lovingly familiar animal, slug, and bug buddies populate a yard in which a colorful septet of daylilies each bloom, in turn, for a day. 

So, you have the concept of the seven days of the week. And you have the complex concept of impermanence, and how it relates to us, our friends, our family members, and others who come and go over the course of our journeys through life.

And that is just right. Beautiful enough visually to keep everyone watching the page-turns. Just enough abstraction to fire up those chemical and electrical signals in the minds of pre-Ks and kindergarteners at circle time, and cause them to subsequently mull over these concepts as they move on with their days to art projects, wooden blocks, dramatic play, and the jungle gym. 

TOMORROW’S LILY is a perfect, lyrical read, and a stunning work of art that the kids will delight in paging through it individually, and close up. What more can one ask for?

And for whom will you bloom today?

Richie Partington, MLIS

Richie's Picks  http://richiespicks.pbworks.com

https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/    

richiepartington@gmail.com