Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Little, Brown & Company

Rating: 5 stars

Last year two books about the origin of Winnie-the-Pooh were published. I saw both at our local library but only selected one, Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, to check out, read, and review. For whatever reason, it was only last week that I got around to checking out Finding Winnie. And it was only yesterday, the day after it won the Caldecott, that I got around to reading it.

I was truly blown away--mostly by Sophie Blackall's artwork, but also by the way this version of the story unraveled. Here's how it goes:

A little boy and his mother sit together. "Tell me a story, a true one, about a bear," the little boy requests. The mother obliges, and she starts this one:

"I've decided to name her Winnipeg, so we'll never be
far from home. Winnie, for short."

Once upon a time there was a soldier, a veterinarian-soldier, named Harry Colebourn, who traveled far from his home in Winnipeg to help in the war. He rode in a train with many men just like him. The train "rolled right through dinner and over the sunset and around ten o'clock and into a nap and out the next day" until it finally stopped at a train station in White River.

Harry got out to stretch his legs. While walking around, he saw a trapper and a bear cub. He knew the bear's fate was dark and the cub tugged at his heart. Harry bought him for $20, thus boarding a train with a bear cub that he argued would be his squad's mascot. The bear, quickly named Winnipeg, which was quickly shortened to Winnie, was a fun mascot and much-needed diversion from the reality of war. Harry and Winnie trained together, slept together, and even traveled across the Atlantic to England together to fight in the war.

But Harry realized a war would be too dangerous for a cub, so he gave Winnie up and signed her over to the London Zoo.

Thirty ships sailed together, carrying about 36,000 men, and
about 7,500 horses...and about one bear named Winnie.

"The story is over?" the boy asked.

His mother answered, in a great, wise, sentence I'll repeat for a long, long time: "Sometimes one story must end so another can begin."

Once upon a time there was a little boy with a stuffed teddy bear who needed a name. The boy and his father walked together to the London Zoo, where a real bear stood behind a gate. It was Winnie. The boy not only named his teddy after Winnie, calling the stuffed bear Winnie-the-Pooh, but he also played with real, yet tame, Winnie--going right inside the fenced yard!

The boy's name was Christopher Robin, and his father's name was Alan Alexander Milne. His father write many books about his son and the bear, books inspired by a real boy and a real bear.

Harry drove all the way to the Big City.

I loved Finding Winnie, then turned the page and was yet again surprised and impressed by it: The mother in the story is the author, and also the great-granddaughter of Harry Colebourne! The boy in the story is named after him--his name is Cole. A beautiful family tree illustrates the connection very clearly. The back pages of the book turn into an album that includes pictures of Harry as a young soldier, the journal in which he writes that he bought a bear, pictures of Winnie and her soldiers. Then, there are pictures of Christopher Robin, playing with Winnie, with his father looking on in the background.

This is a keeper of a book--a lovely reminder of many things. That acts of kindness often reap large, unseen rewards. That loving an animal is a worthwhile endeavor. That inspiration for stories can come from a single trip to the zoo. And my favorite, that sometimes one story must end for another to begin.

Congratulations to Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall, for creating such a fantastic, gorgeous book! Congratulations to Sophie Blackall for winning the 2016 Caldecott!

The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

The Adventures of Beekle The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat
Little, Brown, and Company

Rating: 5 stars

The Caldecott (and Newbery) awards were announced when we were on vacation back in early February. I checked my phone like crazy to see which books (and their authors and illustrators) won... I'm not the only one who does this, right?!

In case you are more laid-back in your approach to children's literature, I'll fill you in: Here's the winner. Right here. Beekle. And it was a shocker! No one saw it coming. The experts thought Draw! or The Farmer and the Clown or Bad Bye, Good Bye or Three Bears in a Boat. But Beekle? It was a surprise win.

But it's worthy for sure. It took me some months to get my hands on it, because I often think that Caldecott winners have gorgeous art, but their appeal to kids is limited, or the story is just so-so. This year, that's not the case.

Here, they lived and played,
eagerly waiting to be imagined by a real child.

Beekle is an imaginary friend (if you see the title, he and his human believe he's unimaginary, or real) who lives in the imaginary world where imaginary friends live before their humans imagine them and unite with them. While all the other monsters and funny-looking whatevers get beamed up and zipped over to the real world, Beekle remains.

Until he decides to do something about all the waiting and waiting. He "did the unimaginable" and sailed to the real world. (You'll love how dull and drab the real world is compared to the amazingly colorful and exciting unimaginary world. I love, and my kids love, how Beekle is confused why "no kids were eating cake"--just grown-ups. Ha!)

Beekle looks and looks for his friend and climbs up a beautiful big tree to get a better view, but...still can't find the friend. Suddenly, below, a girl starts waving at him. They found each other!

The girl and imaginary friend are two peas in a pod. They laugh at the same jokes no one else gets, they made each other feel confident and comfortable. The book ends with: "Together, they did the unimaginable."

He climbed to the top of the tree and looked out,
wishing and hoping his friend would come.

Isn't the unimaginable possible with the support of one really great friend? I think so.

At the very least, add "Must check out Beekle immediately" to your long end-of-the-year to do list. Or just buy it for your kids or for the next birthday your kid attends. You might end up tucking it away because you just can't part the sweet, bold Beekle.



P.S. This book is SO similar to another recently released book, Marilyn's Monster, that I can't get over it. (Marilyn and her monster also find each other in a tree!) This is such a fun example of how two people could have the same idea, pursue it, and get it published around the same time--it has happened more than once. But if you've read both please comment so I don't feel like I'm the only one on earth chuckling at the coincidence!

Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo

Nana in the City by Lauren Castillo
Clarion Books

Rating: 5 stars


I'm always curious who wins the Caldecott and I like to get in on the prediction excitement with my kids. But while I love good illustrations and am glad there's an award for it, sometimes the story in a Caldecott winner falls short.

But that's not the case with this recent Caldecott honor book. Nana in the City has both: great story and incredible illustrations.

A young boy goes to visit his nana who--you've probably guessed--lives in the city. Specifically, New York City. The boy seems to have the expectation many of us do about grandmothers: they should be in a quiet place, taking care of kids, looking after the grandfather in the picture. Even I agree this stereotype is comforting (though flawed)...

But this boy's Nana is different.

"For you to wear on our walk today," she said.
"You'll see that the city is not scary at all."

When her grandson expresses his concern that "a city isn't a place for a nana," she smiles. She agrees that the city is loud and busy--but thinks it is more extraordinary than dangerous. She doesn't discredit his opinion, but she invites him to go along with her the following day to see the city through her eyes. During a night full of new sounds and not much sleep for her grandson, Nana sits and knits (that's grandmotherly, right?) and watches over him.

Before they set out on their adventure, Nana gives the boy what she's been knitting: a red cape. It makes him feel brave!

With few words and gorgeous illustrations, Castillo shows the boy and the reader the good sides of being loud (a funky breakdancer performing in the street), being busy (a bustling picnic area in the park), and being extraordinary (downtown Broadway area, with bright lights all around).

When it's time for the boy to leave, he agrees: A city is the perfect place for his Nana. And for him to visit. He gives the cape to Nana, so she'll be brave after he leaves.

I can't begin to tell you how talented Lauren Castillo is, but click HERE for a little glimpse of Amazing--there are some of the sketches for Nana in the City, how she uses salt to add depth to a picture, and a five-second video of her flipping through her sketchbook. In my next life, I'd like cool and quirky, warm and sweet characters to come from my fingertips, too...

If this book doesn't leave you with a warm and fuzzy feeling, I'm not sure what will!

Locomotive by Brian Floca

Locomotive by Brian Floca

Rating: 4 stars

I checked this book out easily before it won the Caldecott; after the gold seal shone brightly on its cover, there was a long waiting list both at the library and at the bookstore.  Here's a tiny secret: When I first checked out Locomotive, I didn't read it.  I don't know if any of my kids did.  So we returned it without having read it.  It happens…what can I say?

But then the Caldecott team deemed it worthy of a win, and it became wildly wanted.  We were number 60 on the waiting list!

Finally, it's our turn with the library's copy of the book and we all understand easily why it is Caldecott-worthy.  The book is a huge lap size picture book, with illustrations that resemble a wide screen TV.  Somehow, Brian Floca created a hundred masterpieces in this big, long book--masterpieces of illustration, not just beautiful pictures, but pictures that tell a story of a long-ago way of life.

Slowly, slowly the engineer drives--
the train is so heavy,
the bridge is so narrow,
and rickety rickety rickety!

After a brief show of how the rails were built, we see the iron horse chug up to the station.  In familiar prose, where Floca writes directly to you ("She pulls her tender and train behind her, she rules up close, to where you wait, all heat and smoke and noise.")  That noise of the train jumps out from the page at you with larger and fancier font than the rest of the words.  We, the readers, follow along as one family (a mother and two children) travels from east to west; we also observe and learn all the different people required to run the train smoothly.  Because, of course, it takes a team.

There's a whole lot that works in this book for me and my trio: The illustrations are spell-binding.  Floca's research shines through on every page: from the close-up details of the gaskets or that coal car to the historical map of the United States that shows the path of the train.  (I am curious how many pictures he took of real-life trains to take back to his studio with him.  Surely thousands…)  The family we see travel on the train are excited throughout; we experience what they experience, including going to the bathroom, (which was definitely a highlight for Ben in the book) but not when the train stops!  For there is "no plumbing here, there is only a hole in the floor."

The facts taught in the book easily earn my approval: and not just the team members' roles and responsibilities…  That's important, but so are the little, anecdotal things: For example, the switchman's job is dangerous; the train cars lurch and slam up against each other quickly.  They say "You can tell he's new to the job if he still has all his fingers." Or the mighty Sierra Nevada that "rise like a wall on the edge of a basin" requires an extra engine to pull the train up and over them.

Through the night the engine runs.
Those up late hear her whistle,
her wild and lonesome cry.

The ending works for me, too.  I love it: the mother and two children arrive to their father, who came out west before them.  There's nothing like a homecoming to warm your heart at the end of a story!

What doesn't work for me are all the words.  Oh my gosh even I am thrown off by all the dozens of words on each page.  Lorelei sat and read the book quietly in one sitting but Ben couldn't sit through the whole thing, despite his normally curious mind and the gorgeous pictures that go along with it.  Even I found myself skimming it.  My eyes were more interested in the illustrations than the words.  Because of the number of words, this book is better for an older age group--first grade or older.  It would be great to read right after finishing a chapter book from the same time period, such as Little House on the Prairie or Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Still, it is a masterpiece despite my silly gripes.  If there's a locomotive enthusiast in your family--of any age, your son or your mother or your grandfather!--this is a book for him.  Or her!

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

Rating: 5 stars

Delightful.  Delight-filled!

Here's a feisty, silly bathing beauty, happy to mimic a regal, haughty flamingo while he dances regally, ignorant of his human shadow.  Using lift-the-flaps, Idle brilliantly shows the girl mock the flamingo and then--pull the flap down!--she looks away innocently when the flamingo looks back at her accusingly.  The reader shares the secret of the feisty little girl; the two know what the flamingo doesn't!

Flora copycats the flamingo...

Six pages in and the flamingo has the girl figured out.  One loud squawk leaves the girl tumbling, humbled from her little joke.  But just a few turns later and the flamingo forgives, forgets, and reaches for Flora.  And then...and then!...a lovely duet between the master leading his pupil through a complicated, beautiful dance.  The girl is ecstatic--the look of delight on HER face is so precious.

They dance beautifully until they cannonball into the water in one joyous, silly splash!

This book is so very worthy of the Caldecott honor it received just a few weeks ago.  And it reminds me of the great opportunities wordless picture books provide.  All three of my kids--Lorelei (6 1/2) who is reading advanced chapter books, Ben (5) who is reading solidly, and Kiefer (2 1/2) who is delighted (word of the post) to identify "his letter" K--like this book and all of them can get something out of it.  As a wordless picture book, it is accessible to all of them.

...and is found out in this adorable picture.

Here is a sampling of activities you can do with a wordless picture book:

• Have the child tell the story--even Kiefer can look at a picture and describe what is going on, and then he sometimes pretends to read by adding imaginary stuff or adding tidbits from his day or another book.
  
• Use Post-It notes (Ben's favorite thing right now) to write a story.  You can stick them right onto the pages!
  
• Have your child tell you more about the character. Why is the girl dancing?  How does she feel when the flamingo pushes her away?
  
• Look at the structure behind the book--Lorelei is ready to do this.  What happens in the beginning? What is the problem/conflict?  How is it resolved?  Words don't get in the way in wordless books...
  
• Challenge your reader to write or draw or think up a sequel to the book.  What other animals could this girl dance with or, for breakdancing Ben, what animal could best breakdance with him if he was in a storybook?

Some other great wordless picture books (including my all-time favorite, Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie dePaola, can be found on my blog here and even more here).

Hooray for Flora, the Flamingo, and Molly Idle!

Journey by Aaron Becker

Journey by Aaron Becker

Rating: 5 stars

Lorelei is now in first grade.  When I started this blog, she was not yet three (click here for the first time she appeared in a blog post).  Back then, we shared books that we found together in the library.  I'd order a bunch that I'd found on some list somewhere, and she'd just look around the library and grab ones that looked pretty neat.

These days, we share books in a different sort of way.  She often tells me about books and, since she knows I have a children's book blog, she suggests books for me to write about.  She searches on her own, in her own school library.  She brings them home for me or points them out at our local library when we go together.

Journey is one of the books she recommended to me.  She told me, in a gushing, girly sort of way: "Oh MOM!  You've just GOT to read this book!  Well, not read.  There aren't any words.  But the pictures are just AMAZING!  You've just GOT to put it on your blog."

Well, okay then.  I will!

I understand why Journey captured her imagination.  It makes me want to gush and use annoying all-caps to explain what a MASTERPIECE it is!  The book was recently awarded as a Caldecott Honor book...and it is so, SO worthy of the award.  It is one of the most magical books I've ever had on my lap.  It is an invitation to jump in and dream of what could be possible if you turned on the light switch to your imagination.

Take a minute (actually only 52 seconds) to watch this:

The girl seems frustrated that no one will play with her, so she creates and enters a magical world.  That you probably already know.  But let me tell you what the best part of the book is so that you parents who want to use books to teach will make sure to put this one on your list.

The girl enters a magical world in which she finds a purple bird that is in a cage, seemingly as lonely as the girl was in the first few pages of the book.  She takes a risk and rescues, then releases the bird, only to be imprisoned in the same cage herself.  And, to make things worse, she's dropped the magical red marker that she's used to create this world.  It is a low moment for her.

(I love that the low moment appears in the book--what a lesson for our kids to realize that life has these, too!  And that the challenge becomes: well, what now?  I like books where the characters rescue themselves and get themselves out of the low point, but...Journey has a neat resolution, too.)

And then, the bird appears.  With the red marker held gently in its beak.  The girl helped the bird escape, and now the bird has turned around to help her.  The bird then leads the girl through its magical world, and back to its creator: a boy, with a magical purple marker.  A friend.  Who also believes in magic.

Like the recent book Oliver, this book is about finding a friend that gets you.  And it's a story with sprinklings of self-determination and kindness and karma-filled goodness.  Definitely one to buy for the shelf, definitely award-worthy, definitely a great recommendation from my fellow bookworm and daughter, Lorelei.

The Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

The Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

Rating: 4 stars

I am normally in a good mood.  I am a smiley individual, and I look for reasons to laugh.  But last Monday night, I was in a poopy mood and needed a reason to laugh.  I was simultaneously gulping down tears and the reality that I might not be able to run a super fast marathon next month.  All because I had stubbed the bajeezus out of my toe by trying to prevent Kiefer from stopping the washing machine.  What a moron!

I was looking for something to lighten my leaden mood and remembered that I hadn't read this book yet, despite the fact that a wonderful retired-principal-friend had recommended we check it out.  She said that she observed a class during which the teacher had read this book and the whole class was in stitches.  I didn't want stitches, but did need a laugh so...during dinner I grabbed this book.

Here's the story: Grandpa chicken wants to read a book to his grand-chicken but, after the first paragraph of each classic tale, the little hen blurts out the ending in order to warn the characters of what is coming.  Gramps chides him each time, but...to no avail.  The little guy is just TOO EXCITED and can't keep his mouth shut.  I'm sure you know of someone like this in your family.  Gramps is frustrated because the books are causing excitement, not sleepiness.

In the end, the little chicken writes his own book about his grandpa, who is fast asleep by the last pages of the book.  It's a cute ending to a cute book.

I needed a laugh more than the kids last week, and the book provided a much-needed chuckle.  I can definitely see how you can get a crowd of 4 year olds worked up over this book, even if you've got a throbbing toe and a preoccupied brain.  Children's books are great for this reason--they often take my mind off of the big picture and bring me back to the present, to this little moment of laughing with my kids.

Thanks, Ann, for the recommendation!


P.S. After a trip to the doctor and a few x-rays of my little piggies, I escaped real damage and suffered only a tiny, hairline fracture in one of my toes.  One week off and then it's back to marathon training for me.  No break from Crossfit, I'm happy to say!

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

 Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Rating: 4.5 stars

It isn't everyday that the books I'm reading correspond with the books my children are reading.  This one might be the first.  I just finished Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, about a World War II bombardier's incredible struggle against all odds.  It was fantastic: moving, gut-wrenching, horrifying, shocking and, in the end, uplifting and incredibly inspiring.  I loved every page.

Therefore, when I read this book to Lorelei and Ben last week, I could feel the stories behind the simple one that Say tells.  His grandfather comes to the United States from Japan and soon falls in love with the mountains, the deserts, the farm fields, and huge cities.  Everything impresses him and he stays in California to raise his family.  When his daughter is nearly grown, he misses Japan, and takes his family back to live.  His daughter meets and marries a young man, and they have a son.  The grandfather tells the boy stories of California and they plan on going there, but a war began and the old man dies before he can return.  So the boy travels alone to California...for himself, but in order to know his grandfather a little better.

The endless farm fields reminded him of the
ocean he had crossed.

It's a serious story for a children's book, especially for this house--we like the funny ones that make us giggle and smile most of the time.  But it's an important tale and I love how Say writes it.

But it's his pictures that are the best.  Huge, elegant illustrations brighten the simple prose and draw in the reader.  They really made me pause as I was reading, to appreciate each and everyone (and yes, the one of the mountains was my favorite).  They are quiet and serene pictures, serious but beautiful.  Very worthy of the Caldecott on its front.

Lorelei and Ben asked me what a war is some time ago, I can't remember when.  It was one of those shoot-I-didn't-realize-this-question-was-going-to-come-so-soon moments.  I thought about it for a minute, then asked them to go get the world map that we often look at.  It's a placemat, so it's not very intricate but they can get an idea of how much (land and people, mostly) there is in the world.

I asked how many kids they had in their classes--it was around 14.  I asked if they all got along together all of the time.  "No," was the clear answer.  "Right, I said.  Of course not.  Everyone argues about things some of the times."  Then I showed them the map and explained how many people there are in the world--billions!--and said that all of us argued about things some times, too.  Sometimes we can work it out and "meet in the middle" (what we always say for compromise) but other times they fight about it.  When countries fight, that's a war.

I give myself a B+ or so for the answer.  Not perfect, but what I came up with on the fly.  Such a big concept for little minds, but important and...I wanted to be truthful.  Books like this raise questions, of course, but, as parents, we can't be afraid of those questions.  Ready or not, they will come.