Come to the Great World

Name of Book: Come to the Great World:  Poems from Around the Globe

Author: Wendy Cooling

Illustrator: Sheila Moxley

Publisher: Holiday House

ISBN: 0823418227

Audience: Ages 4-9

Summary: A collection of thirty-one poems that were written by poets from around the world.  The collection represents an array of cultures and emphasizes the uniqueness of each while celebrating the universality of childhood. The poems bring us into the world of children. How they “think, play, talk and sing.” Kids will be able to see themselves in the poetry and can learn to appreciate the differences in their neighbors from around the world. The illustrations are vibrantly colorful and help to bring out some of the details of the poem. The poems cover a variety of topics including; adults, play, nature, poverty, and hope for the future.

Literary elements at work in the story:  A good book that exposes children to poetry and to the world in terms younger children can easily understand.  A great tool for helping children to further develop their understanding that God created the world and all that is in it and calls humankind to participate with joy and care in the life that we share with others on the earth.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic ability: The collection of poems will speak to all children and provides them with an opportunity to gain cultural insights by looking at the world from a more global perspective.

Theological conversation partners: Genesis 1, Psalm 24:1

Faith Talk Questions:

1.    What are some things that you have in common with your neighbors around the world?

2.    What are some things that are different?

3.    Do you think that the differences matter more than the similarities or vice versa? Why?

4.    Who created us all?

5.    Why is that important to remember when talking about other members of human race?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Susan Wills

Goin’ Someplace Special

Name of Book: Goin’ Someplace Special

Author: Patricia C. McKissack

Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney

Publisher: Antheneum Books

ISBN: 0689818858

Audience: Ages: 6 – 12

Summary: Patricia C. McKissack recounts her own story of growing up in racially segregated Nashville, Tennessee during the 1950’s. Goin’ Someplace Special follows a girl named Tricia Ann as she leaves the protective comfort of her grandmother, Mama Frances, to take a big step. She is going downtown alone, to Someplace Special.

In Goin’ Someplace Special we see the world of Jim Crow through Tricia Ann’s eyes. There are signs on the bus that say “Colored Section,” the bench by the Peace Fountain reads, “For Whites Only” and the Southland Hotel’s grand lobby where Tricia Ann wanders in by mistake, only to be yelled at and put out by the manager. The journey is frightening for Tricia Ann but throughout she is supported by friends and neighbors. On the bus, Mrs. Gannell tells her, “Carry yo’self proud.” Jimmy Lee, a street vendor, helps keep her spirits up. “Don’t let those signs steal yo’ happiness,” he tells her. In the end, Tricia Ann reaches her destination and it is only then that the reader learns that Someplace Special is the Nashville Public Library; a place where all people are welcomed.

Literary elements at work in the story:  The text and illustrations work beautifully together to tell a straightforward story with emotional depth and a strong message. The author speaks clearly through the story to kids about the pride of growing up, the fear and sadness of facing prejudice, and the comfort of finding safe, special places in this world. Because kids will be able to relate to how Trisha Ann is feeling, they will begin to understand just how hurtful discrimination can be and how wonderful it is that we have safe places, like libraries, where everyone is welcome.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic ability:  This would be a great book for generating discussion on racism from either a historical, sociological, or theological perspective for a variety of age groups.

Theological conversation partners: Genesis 1:26-27, Galatians 3:26-29,

Faith Talk Questions:

1.      How do you think Tricia Ann felt as she started off on her adventure alone?

2.      What made her and her grandmother think that she is ready for this trip alone?

3.      Why did she have to sit on the back of the bus?

4.      Why couldn’t she sit on the park bench?

5.      How do you think those experiences made her feel?

6.      Why did she call the library Someplace Special?

7.      Do you have a special place that you go to?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Susan Wills

Amazing Grace

Name of Book:  Amazing Grace

Author:  Mary Hoffman

Illustrator:  Caroline Binch

Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers

Audience:  Ages 4-8

Summary:  Grace has a vibrant creative imagination and she likes to enter into her story world and pretend to be the main character of the stories she encounters.  Grace’s teacher decided that they would do the play Peter Pan.  Grace decided she wanted to be the main character—Peter Pan. She is told by her classmates that she could not play Peter Pan because she is black and a girl.  With the support of her grandmother and her mother Grace realizes that she can be anything she wanted to be.  Grace auditions and is awarded the role of Peter Pan.

Literary elements at work in the story:

• Genre: narrative
• Setting: African American girl in an integrated elementary school setting
• Characterization: Grace, an African American girl is portrayed as loving stories and who has the gift of bringing these stories to life through a creative imagination.
• Plot:  Graces uses her God given gift to overcome a gender and ethnic stereotype that her classmates placed on the role of Peter Pan.
• Theme:  You can be anything that you want to be if you set your mind to it and not allow barriers such as gender and race to get in the way.
• Point of View:  The story is written through the lens of Grace. When Grace’s  grandmother introduced her to the black Juliet, she came to her own realization that she can be anything that she wanted to be.
• Style:  Told in a third person voice with vibrant and colorful illustrations showing Grace’s vivid imagination at work in her many roles adapted from different stories.

Perspective on:

• Gender and race: gender and race friendly with no gender or racial stereotyping
• Culture:  culturally non-specific. The author could have easily used any ethnicity to portray Grace.
• Ability:  Grace’s ability to enter into her story world is probably more developed than the average population.  Her ability is not limited by her gender or the color of her skin.

Scripture:  1 Cor12:4

Theology:  Each of us is wonderfully made in the sight of God and each of us are given our individual gifts.  In God’s sight we are all created equally.  It is possible for Grace, an African American girl to believe that she can be anything that she wants to be, with hard work.

Faith Talk Questions:

1)      We are all one body but God gives us different gifts to make up the whole.  How can we be equal if God made us all different?

2)      The play was only possible when each character played his/her part and used his/her gift to the best of their ability.  How do we see this at work in our congregation?  Can you name some different roles that you see in the church?

Review  by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Dee Osbourne-Smart

Elizabeth Leads the Way

Name of Book: Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote

Author: Tanya Lee Stone

Illustrator: Rebecca Gibbon

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Audience: Ages 4 – 10

Summary: This is the remarkable story of a remarkable woman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  From a very young age Elizabeth felt strongly that ALL people should matter, ALL people belonged, ALL people should have rights and protections, and ALL people should have choices.  This is the story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s life, loves, ambitions, and her campaign for a woman’s right to vote.

Literary Elements at Work: There are two important literary elements at work in this story: the extraordinary life and ambitions of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the artistry. Tanya Lee Stone tells the story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton in a straightforward and interesting narrative, unlike many other biographical early readers!  Ms. Stone tells us that Elizabeth learns for the first time at age four that boys are treated and thought of superiorly to girls.  And this injustice will set Elizabeth off on a lifelong journey to prove that girls are just as brave, just as smart, just as physical, and have just as much value as boys.  The climactic moment comes when Elizabeth realizes that the only change that will prove useful for the betterment of all women is the right to vote.  Interestingly, it was Elizabeth Cady Stanton that wrote the initial language that would later become the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote.  It took FORTY-FIVE years from the first time the legislation was introduced in Congress to become law!  Elizabeth did not live to see women obtain the right to vote.  The illustrations are bright and colorful, just as is the woman they portray!  Each illustration gives context for Elizabeth’s life and the injustices she railed against during her various life stages.  Rebecca Gibbon pays particular attention to historical detail, giving each illustration an authenticity to the plight of women and slaves.  Ms. Gibbon uses period dress, lighting, housing, transportation, and other everyday common items consistently throughout this narrative, taking the reader/listener back to the early to late nineteenth century.  Tanya Lee Stone and Rebecca Gibbon make a delightful team in telling the spirited story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Scripture: Genesis 1:27,  Isaiah 43 selected verses : “Thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”  Galatians 3:28 ; Adapted from Matthew 10: Jesus summons his twelve; gives them authority to cast out unclean spirits, cure every disease and sickness; and sends them out with these instructions: go to the lost sheep, proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.  (NRSV)

Theology: God creates us, forms us, redeems us, calls us by name, honors us, and loves us.  Why?  Because we are precious in God’s sight.  This good news seems throughout history to be relegated only to a few, sometimes whites only, sometimes males only, sometimes Germans only, sometimes heterosexuals only, sometimes Americans only, sometimes the rich only, sometimes the healthy only, etc.  And…yet…the Bible tells us that God created ALL people—male, female, black, white, short, tall, rich, poor, sick, healthy, American, African, on and on in the image of God.  Thus, we need a constant reminder that God creates, forms, calls, honors and loves us and EVERYONE else.  We are to go and do likewise.  Or, as Jesus says, we are to go to the lost sheep, proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

Faith Talk Questions:

Sit down beside your child, let her hold the book and turn the pages.  Ask her to point to Elizabeth as you read.  Repeat this process on each page, considering the following:  In the story, Elizabeth wants to ride horses, raft across a river, learn French, religion, math and science, earn money, and vote.  What does her father tell her? What do her friends tell her?  What does her husband tell her?  What does her school tell her?  What does her culture tell her?  What does the law tell her?  What does Elizabeth do?  How does Elizabeth answer her father?  Her husband?  Her friends?  Her school?  Her culture?  The law of her land?  What if someone told you, “No; you cannot learn to read!  No; you cannot ride horses!  No; you cannot run fast, jump high!”?  And you ask, “Why?”  And the answer is, “Because you are a girl!”  What do we do when the Bible tells us one thing (that we are created, formed, called, loved, honored by God and precious to God), and the world tells us something else (that we are not honored, valued, precious, loved, called)?  Does that mean God does not love you?  Form you?  Call you?  Honor you?  That you are not precious to God?  Wait for responses.  LISTEN (without interrupting) to what your child thinks. Can you think of other people that God loves and values but the world does not?  Consider African Americans, Native Americans, folk with mental illnesses, folk with physical illnesses and/or deformities, homosexuals.  List others.  Say, “God creates, forms, loves and calls all people all the time because you and I and they are precious in God’s sight!”  Say a prayer thanking God for all those that God forms and loves and calls.  Say a prayer of intercession for those who hear so often from the world, “NO; you cannot!”  What did Jesus say?  What did Elizabeth do?  What can we do?  Who does God love, form, call, honor?  Who is precious in God’s sight?

Additional thoughts:

Terezin

I was once a little child

Three years ago,

That child who longed for other worlds.

But now I am no more a child

For I have learned to hate.

I am a grown-up person now,

I have known fear.

By Hanus Hachenburg, a teenager imprisoned at the Nazi camp, Terezin[1]

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Kim Lee

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[1] Qtd. Rubin, Susan Goldman. Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Fiedl Dicker-Brandeis and the Children of Terezin. Holiday House: New York, 2000, p. 25.

Don’t Laugh at Me

Name of Book: Don’t Laugh at Me

Author: Steve Seskin & Allen Shamblin

Illustrator: Glin Dibley

Publisher: Tricycle Press

Audience: All ages

Summary: Don’t Laugh at Me is the poignant tale of children and adults who wear braces, are chosen last for teams, beg on street corners and yet plead for acceptance and understanding.  The story gives voice to our human condition: the desire to know that we belong, no matter how small, slow, sick, different, or poor we are.

Literary Elements at Work: There are two important literary elements at work in this story: artistry and the driving undergirding plea: don’t laugh at me. The illustrations depict the differences that these younger and older persons feel set them apart—glasses, braces, size, mental and physical coordination, wheel chair, race, etc.  A child could easily retell the tale by following the artistry.  The illustrator tells us that he himself wanted to be a basketball player but was too short.  The storytellers introduce each character and spotlight a stigma or stereotype—nerd, geek, slow, glasses.  This is followed by the refrain, “Don’t laugh at me.  Don’t call me names.  Don’t get your pleasure from my pain.  In God’s eyes we’re all the same.  Someday we’ll all have perfect wings.  Don’t laugh at me.”  Additionally, this is a song and the book comes with a CD.

Scripture: Isaiah 43 selected verses: “Thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”  (NRSV)

Theology: God creates us, forms us, redeems us, calls us by name, honors us, and loves us.  Why?  Because we are precious in God’s sight.  This good news seems too good to be true.  Thus, we need constant reassurance.  That may be one of the reasons why the Bible says so many times, “Do not be afraid.”

Faith Talk Questions:

Sit down beside your child, let him hold the book and turn the pages.  Ask him to point to the characters as you read.  Repeat this process on each page, considering the following:  In the story, the boys and girls and men and women notice their differences.  Other people notice their differences as well.  These differences make the boys and girls and men and women sad and feel left out.  Sometimes people laugh at others who are different.  BUT, are not we all different?  And the same?  Talk about differences.  Some people are big; some people are little.  Some people walk on two legs; some people ride in wheelchairs.  Some people wear glasses; some people wear freckles.  Some people like to read, some people like to jump.  Talk about sameness.  Short people and tall people are still people.  Everyone has a mom and a dad.  Everyone was created by God and in God’s image.  Ask your child, “Who loves girls with glasses?  Who loves girls with freckles?  Who loves boys who walk on two feet?  Who loves boys who ride in wheelchairs” Wait for responses.  Ask follow up questions, “Does God love people who are fast?  Does God love people who are last?  Does God love people who are poor?  Does God love people who are rich?”  Say, “God loves you when you’re slow AND God loves you when you’re fast.  God loves you when you walk on two legs AND God loves you when ride in wheelchairs.  Why?  Say, “God loves all people all the time.”    Because you and we and they are precious in God’s sight!”  End with a prayer thanking God for all short, tall, black, white, rich and poor boys and girls that God forms and loves.

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Kim Lee

Henry’s Freedom Box

Name of Book: Henry’s Freedom Box

Author: Ellen Levine

Illustrator: Kadir Nelson

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Audience: 3 – 99

Summary: Henry’s Freedom Box is the poignant, harrowing and true story of Henry Brown, an African American slave, who in the mid-nineteenth century escaped slavery by mailing himself to freedom.  Henry traveled 350 miles in a large box, sometimes upside down and always cramped, from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, garnering national and international attention for the plight of slaves.  Henry’s story is not his alone.  The impetus for Henry’s escape is the selling off of his beloved wife and children.  His story is illustrative of the horrors families in slavery faced and the ways in which these families longed to love and grow together in peace and freedom and yet most often, if not always, encountered violence, degradation, humiliation, and separation.  The story gives voice to our human condition: the desire to know that we belong, that our lives matter, that the lives of our loved ones matter no matter how seemingly insignificant we or they are.

Literary Elements at Work: There are two important literary elements at work in this story: artistry and the straightforward narrative of Henry’s life and plea as representative of all life and everyone’s plea: I am a human being, and I long to be free. The paintings throughout this book are inspired by a mid-nineteenth century anti-slavery artist, Samuel Rowse.  Mr. Rowse’s original paintings of Henry were used to raise funds for the abolitionist movement.  Mr. Nelson uses crosshatch pencil lines, and layers of watercolor and oil paint for each painting, giving an aged, almost folk art feel to each scene.  These paintings are visually stunning; this is a beautiful storybook. Mr. Nelson’s facial expressions, use of color, and scene context provide a thoughtful engagement with the emotion of Henry’s story as well as a thoughtful understanding and interpretation of the word story Ellen Levine tells.  Ellen Levine tells the story of Henry’s life, from a young boy in his mother’s lap to his rending away and separation from his boyhood family when he is given to another master; and again in his later life, from his courtship and marriage to Nancy, resulting in three children, to his own family’s rending away and separation from him.  Throughout Henry’s tale, Ellen Levine cleverly gives voice to many of the atrocities that all slaves faced: agelessness, slaves did not have birth dates; namelessness, slaves did not have ancestral or recorded names; disconnectedness, slaves’ marriages were not honored and families were separated; powerlessness, slaves had no human voice, no economic voice, no political voice, no social voice, and yet, in the midst of social, political, economic, and personal isolation, slaves scratched, clawed and created a cultural and spiritual identity and network that enabled some to escape to freedom.  Interestingly, Henry gives himself a birth date when he arrives in Philadelphia.  Henry’s freedom date becomes his birth date, giving Henry in particular, and therefore slaves in general, a beginning grounding point. 

Scripture: Exodus 20:2 , Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Galatians 3:23-29

Theology: It is clear from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible that the Lord God has created us (all of us—red and yellow, black and white) for freedom—freedom to worship, rest, provide hospitality and live faithfully.  Worship, rest, providing hospitality and living faithfully are not ways we seek to be free, rather we are free.  In freedom, we live as citizens of God’s kingdom and citizenship implies participation.  We participate in God’s kingdom when we worship, rest, provide hospitality and live faithfully.  The truth about Henry’s life and all life is that God intends, wills, and works for us to be free!  When we enslave one another, then no one is free.  I heard Bill Clinton say at Rosa Parks’ funeral that when he and his friends heard that black people no longer had to sit at the back of the bus, then he and his friends knew that they no longer had to sit at the front of the bus.  The old saying is true: as long as one human is not free, then all humanity is not free.  And that is not the way God intends our lives, wills for our lives, and works for, in and with each of our lives.  In Christ, we are heirs of the promise—freedom.

Faith Talk Questions:

Sit down beside your child, let her hold the book and turn the pages.  Ask her to point to the characters as you read.  Repeat this process on each page, considering the following:  In the story, Henry does not have a birth date; ask your child, “Can you imagine that?  Not having a birthday party?  Not knowing how old you are?”  You can ask a lot of “what if” questions about birthdays, imagining no presents, no parties, no friends or families to sing and celebrate with.  Tell your child, “Think about Henry’s mom, Henry, Henry’s wife, Henry’s children, Henry’s trip,” ask, “What do you think his mother is feeling?  Henry?  Henry’s wife?  Henry’s children?  What do you think about Henry’s trip?” Read other books on slavery and slavery’s after effects—Coming On Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson, Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport, Coming Home: from the life of Langston Hughes by Floyd Cooper—just to name a few.  Take a trip to the Harvey Gantt Museum for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte, or look for a local museum or African-American cultural center in your community.  Consider and list other groups of people who have been treated this way in the past or are currently treated this way. Some groups who may appear on the list could include: Native Americans, children, Jews, homosexuals, and women. Explore our world with reference to slavery.  Talk about intercessory prayer.  What would an intercessory prayer look like, sound like, feel like for these—the enslaved?  Think of someone you would like to pray for.  Imagine that person.  Close your eyes and say a prayer from your heart.  Ask your child to say a prayer from her heart.   Paint, draw, write, sing your prayers from the heart.  This could prove to be a lifelong conversation.

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Kim Lee

Jubilee

Name of Book: Jubilee

Author: Ellen Yeomans

Illustrator: Tim Ladwig

Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

Audience: Can be used with all ages

Summary: Jubilee paints a beautiful picture, through words and illustrations, of what Heaven will be like, but also speaks to the glory of the Kingdom of God and our need to strive for justice, equality, and joy (jubilee) here on earth.  In this story, all people are equal and live in joyous celebration of the wonder of God’s creations.

Literary elements at work in the story: If you could imagine a picture-perfect day, not too hot and not too cold, where the grass is green and the sky is blue, and you are surrounded by beautiful trees, that would be the image Ladwig has captured in his illustrations in Jubilee.  In this picture book, the words are poetic and take on a rhythm or song-like quality as soon as you start reading, with each section ending in the word “jubilee”.  There is not a story or plot per se…the reader simply gets a glimpse of a world through the eyes of an observer, where people of all ages, races, genders, ethnicities, and interests, live together in harmony and rejoice in the splendor of their blessings and their surroundings.  

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability: Jubilee celebrates equality and social justice (like the Year of Jubilee found in the Old Testament).  Every person, no matter his age, race, gender, economic status, ability, etc. is valued and loved.  All are happy to see one another as together they celebrate the glory of God’s kingdom.

Scripture: Leviticus 25:10b , Numbers 36:4, 1 Peter 4:10

Theology: The Jubilee represents a return to the concept of equality before God.  In the Old Testament, the year of Jubilee was a reaction against oppression and poverty based on the idea that the land is from God and must be restored.  The Jubilee year was intended to be a joyous celebration of the sovereignty of God in which God’s people were emancipated and lived as partners for social justice.  This book represents this joyous celebration through beautiful words and illustrations.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Look closely at the pictures.  What do you see people doing?
2. How are the people in this book treating the earth God has created?
3. When you look at these pictures, how do they make you feel? Do they remind you of how we tend to interact with others and enjoy God’s creations?  How is the “real world” similar to these pictures? How is it different?
4. Do you think human beings have trouble treating each other as equals? Why?
5. At the end of the story, you are invited to join them…to “come along”.  What can you do everyday to create “jubilee”?

Review prepared by Erin Mills, MACE, Entering cohort Fall 2007

Whoever You Are

Name of Book: Whoever You Are

Author: Mem Fox

Illustrator: Leslie Staub

Publisher: Voyager Books, Harcourt

Publisher’s Intended Audience: Ages 3 – 7

Summary: Whoever You Are is the powerful, and yet simply told tale of our common humanity—“Whoever you are; wherever you are.”

Literary Elements at Work: One of the most effective literary elements at work in the story is an oft-repeated refrain: “Whoever you are; wherever you are, whoever they are; wherever they are.”  This is the underlying theme holding together the idea of our common humanity in the midst of a wide and diverse world.  The illustrations are bright, contrasting oil paintings on gessoed paper, highlighting the different skin colors, home lands, homes, and schools found all over the world.  Yet, through all the differences “joys are the same, and pains are the same.”

Scripture: Exodus 19:5b “Indeed, the whole earth is mine [says the LORD]…” (NRSV)

Theology: It matters not where or in what condition we find ourselves.  Whether our skin is brown, black, or white, whether we live in houses of stone or houses of leaves, whether we go to school inside large brick buildings or outside sitting on logs, whether we speak Farsi or French, whether we eat knishes or hummus, the whole earth and all that is in it is God’s.  Thanks be to God.

Faith Talk Questions (Intended for use with children ages 4 – 7): Sit down in the floor beside your child.  Go through the book slowly just looking at the pictures.  Talk about the big wide world and all that is in it—the different kinds of trees, the different kinds of people, the different kinds of houses, the different kinds of foods, the different kinds of words.  Each page is filled with rich and vibrant pictures depicting life all over the world.  Point out that even though the children in the book live in different places, speak different languages, and go to different schools, they are still children.  They like to play, sing, dance, color, hug, and love.  Now read the story slowly, pausing to talk about different places but similar faces (we all have two eyes to see with, two ears to hear with, etc…).  Point our different places on the globe.  Ask your child, “Is God here?”  “Is God there?”  “Is God everywhere?”  Tell your child that God is definitely everywhere.  Remember the words from Exodus, “Indeed, the whole earth is mine [says the LORD]…”  (NRSV).  Sing He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.

Review prepared by Kim Lee, MACE, Entering Cohort 2007