Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge - Are You an Echo?

Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge and has a roundup every Wednesday. I love the encouragement to explore more nonfiction. My plan is to read at least 100 nonfiction picture books this year. So far I've read 84.

Today I want to highlight an incredible new book. Betsy Bird wrote a very thorough review that led me to purchase the book.  I am so glad she wrote that review so I could get to know this book and Misuzu Kaneko. I hope her review also convinces you.

Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko is a fascinating book that had me reeling. It's beautiful in both illustration and in the narrative and poetry. It's also unique. It's part biography and part poetry anthology. The first part of the book is a picture book biography, but when the narrative author David Jacobson describes Misuzu Kaneko he uses her own poetry to help tell about her. He knows Japanese, but there were two translators, Sally Ito and Michiko Tsuboi, who also worked to make Kaneko's poems accessible to readers who would need the poetry to be in English. I don't know if the translations are accurate, but the poems spoke clearly and beautifully to me.

The biography portion of the book is moving and powerful as readers get to know Kaneko and then learn about the difficulties she faced in her married life. Suicide is not something that is dealt with often in picture books, but Jacobson told about this aspect of her life. We often seek to protect children from the ugliness and pain in the world, but Jacobson has included this in a way that honors the truth without making the book become focused on that one aspect of her life.

The illustrations of Toshikado Hajiri are warm and inviting. There are moments when I see glimpses of manga type facial features, but there are also more traditional nature scenes that are simply gorgeous. 

To see some of the interior pages and to learn more about Kaneko, visit the website for the book.

Here's Janet Wong's interview with the narrative author David Jacobson and one of the translators, Sally Ito.

Here's Julie Danielson's Q&A with David Jacobson.

Here are some of Kaneko's poems included in the book.

Review: Electa Quinney: Stockbridge Teacher

Title: Electa Quinney: Stockbridge Teacher
Author: Karyn Saemann
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Pages: 112
Availability: First published March 4, 2014
Review Copy: Publisher

Summary: Electa Quinney loved to learn. Growing up in the early 1800s in New York, she went to some of the best boarding schools. There she learned how to read, write, and solve tough math problems—she even learned how to do needlework. Electa decided early on that she wanted to become a teacher so she could pass her knowledge on to others. But life wasn’t simple. Electa was a Stockbridge Indian, and her tribe was being pressured by the government and white settlers to move out of the state. So in 1828, Electa and others in her tribe moved to Wisconsin. Almost as soon as she arrived, Electa got to work again, teaching in a log building that also served as the local church. In that small school in the woods, Electa became Wisconsin’s very first public school teacher, educating the children of Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Indians as well as the sons and daughters of nearby white settlers and missionaries. Electa’s life provides a detailed window onto pioneer Wisconsin and discusses the challenges and issues faced by American Indians in the nineteenth century. Through it all, Electa’s love of learning stands out, and her legacy as Wisconsin’s first public school teacher makes her an inspiration to students of today. -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Review: Last summer I attended the American Indian Studies Institute and while I was there found out that the Wisconsin Historical Society was planning to publish this biography. Since I was able to visit the museum on the Mohican reservation and learn a little about Electa Quinney, I was eager to finally read the finished product. This is a great addition to the Badger Biographies series. I appreciate that the people chosen for the series are from so many different walks of life and there is a fairly even mix of male and females.

Though this may appear to be a book written only for Wisconsin readers, Electa was born in New York and the book traces the path she took to Wisconsin and then to Indian Territory and back again so it covers a lot of ground. Saemann explains the reasons for the movement of the Mohican Nation and the includes history of other nations as they were forcibly moved into the Indian Territory too. This book would be a great overview of American Indian history regardless of a reader's geographical location. 

Another positive aspect of the book is how the author explains that, "Understanding Electa's life is like working on a jigsaw puzzle." This is a great analogy. The research that was done for the book helped to uncover some of the details of her life, but much is missing. Saemann fills in some of the missing pieces with possibilities, but lets the reader know when there are holes. I think students will benefit from knowing that we can't always "google" something and know all of the answers. Sometimes in history there are gaps that may never be filled.

Like the other books in this series, the layout of the book is much like a textbook. There are many photos and other images scattered throughout and the text has a sufficient amount of white space around it so that young readers won't be overwhelmed. There are also many words in bold text that include definitions at the bottom of the page.

Electa's childhood is explained in addition to her positive boarding school experience at a Quaker school. Included with this is a history of the Stockbridge tribe and its move to Wisconsin. Readers will find that the Stockbridge families were living in houses made of logs with barns and farms. Once Electa moved to Indian Territory, we also find out about the first Indian newspaper in the United States - The Cherokee Phoenix which was a bilingual paper. Details of this kind have the potential to challenge beliefs that readers may have about American Indians.

Electa Quinney seems to have been a woman who valued learning and teaching and I am glad we have this record of her life. More than that though, I am happy to see the broader history of the Mohican and Cherokee Nations that the book encompasses. This will be an excellent addition to libraries throughout Wisconsin and beyond. I am eager to share it with my staff and students.

Review: Profiles #6: Peace Warriors

Title: Profiles #6: Peace Warrriors

Author: Andrea Davis Pinkney
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
Pages: 144
Genre: Non-fiction
Review Copy: NetGalley
Release Date: July 30, 2013

Summary: Meet six heroic social activists.

The next book in our six-in-one, full-color bio series will focus on Peace Warriors. Featuring men and women who have worked passionately to pioneer peaceful solutions to violent conflicts throughout history. Our peace warriors will include Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Dorothy Day, and Ellen Sirleaf Johnson. Find out about their childhoods, where they went to school, what their families were like, and their major accomplishments. Six inspiring tales of courage and conviction. -- Cover image via IndieBound & summary via Goodreads.

My thoughts: It is nice to see a book focusing on people who are heroes based on something other than physical strength or celebrity. Readers quickly see that these are strong individuals who worked for change through influence. There were many commonalities with these six people as they made incredible change happen without violence.

These were some amazing heroes. I do wish that we saw a bit more of their foibles though. In a biography, I like to see that a person is definitely not perfect because then they seem more real. Also, when I can see their everyday issues, then their deeds seem more attainable for a common person. That said, it is still incredibly inspirational. It encourages that spirit of working for peace because readers will see how much one voice can do.

Though teachers are often looking for lengthier biographies for reports, I think this format, a collection of related biographies, would be a great mentortext for a similar project - one that could shake up the old and a little tired biography assignment of reading one 150+ page book about one person and writing a report. It might be nice to have students find people who have something distinct in common like this.

Pinkney's narrative is interesting and full of rich detail.  I especially appreciated learning about Dorothy Day and Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, two women I was unfamiliar with before reading this book. I will be happy to add Peace Warriors to our collection.