W. Nikola-Lisa Visits My Students!

W.Nikola-Lisa - Author and Storyteller

I want to thank W. Nikola-Lisa, author of over 20 children's books, for coming to speak to my group of teachers this past week. He not only "spoke" to us about his own books and his writing and creative process, but he highly entertained us as he read many children's books - his own and those of others that he likes to share with children.

Rave reviews from all who attended. I must agree - he was very entertaining, had us laughing and singing and chanting along with him and was the perfect "shot in the arm" for my students who are elementary teachers. They appreciated his love of picture books and the fun way in which he shared them and highlighted many ways to use them that would be engaging to children. One teacher told him, "I don't know you, but I know you now through your books."

Here are a few pictures that highlight his dynamic personality! Donning a baseball cap and a rubber pig nose, he is reading The Book of Pigericks: Pig Limericks - written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. Not only did he resemble a pig, he also incorporated pig snorts to punctuate the reading of the limericks written about pigs. He had us all in stitches. Here Nikola shows us the galley page for his first book, 1, 2, 3 Thanksgiving! and illustrated by Robin Kramer and explains the process of how picture books are produced.

Nikola has many personas he takes on when reading books to children (and in this case, to us, teachers). Here are a few he pulled from his traveling suitcase:

One of my favorite books by Nikola:

To learn more about W. Nikola-Lisa and his books, visit his website: http://www.nikolabooks.com/

and read his blog, "Storytelling Tips for Teachers: An Occasional Blog" at: http://www.nikolabooks.blogspot.com/

Stitches by David Small

Jules Feiffer has this to say about the book and it relays my feelings exactly. I couldn't have said it any better, so why not leave it up to the experts:

"Like the boy in this autobiographical novel my first reading of Stitches left me speechless. And in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem. Spare in words, painful in pictures, Small, in a style of dry menace, draws us a boy's life that you wouldn't want to live but you can't put down. From its first line four pages in, "Mama had her little cough", we know that we are in the hands of a master."

Here is a trailer for the book - haunting and appropos. Takes me right back into this "movie" that David Small has created as a memoir of his life.

The graphic novels I have read and experienced have all been dark and gloomy and focus on trauma and social ills. Is this typical for graphic novels? Even the ones published for younger readers/viewers seem to have this feel to them.

The last one I read, Mom's Cancer by Brian Fies, takes the serious and ominous subject of cancer and relays the process of his mother dying of the horrible disease.

This book was cathartic for me and I cried throughout. The mother in the book looked just like my bald-headed, feeble 60 year old mother who experienced so many of the exact same things. I was awed that Fies could portray my own mother's experience and my family's through the visuals he used.

My next reading project will be to read more graphic novels for young people so as to determine if there are any/many that are more uplifting and "fun." I see such potential for developing visual skills from these texts but wouldn't necessarily want to expose young children to only the dark messages that many of them portray.

Reading...Two Year Old Style

Found this old picture of my son when he was two, reading in the rocker in his room. Couldn't resist posting it here. He still loves books - mostly nonfiction.

Oldie but Goodie

What the Dormouse Said: Lessons for Grown-ups from Children's Books - Collected by Amy Gash, Illustrations by Pierre Le-Tan and Forward by Judith Viorst. 1999, Algonquin Books.

A really fun book that I have come back to for many years and that I have flagged with numerous sticky notes highlighting quotes from children's books that are wonderful messages about life.

Some of my favorites include:

There's nothing as cozy as a piece of candy and a book. - from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic by Betty MacDonald (1949).

"What is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?" - from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Trees are very nice. They fill up the sky. - from A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry (1956).

Front yards are boring. Backyards tell stories. - from the poem, Backyards from the book Popcorn by James Stevenson (1998).

Some of these vignettes would be good to use with student writers as prompts. I could take each of these I've listed and write an essay. They really spur my creative juices.

Best Books for Children?

Just read this post by Jennifer, blog owner of Mixed Race America and reposted as an entry for the online blog I am an ardent reader of, Anti-Racist Parent: For Parents Committed to Raising Children with an Anti-Racist Outlook. In this post she questions the list of "Best Kids' Books Ever" as espoused by Nicholas Kristof as written in the New York Times.

She questions the things I have pondered for a long time about "well-meaning" adults recommending THE books that all children should read, yet they often are mostly (if not all) non diverse in nature. These same well meaning adults give high praise to "classics" that are written from a White perspective, and most often, a male perspective.

When I was in graduate school and finding the topic for my PhD, my first passion was to investigate the notion of diverse children not being able to find books written and illustrated that included representations of themselves nor included life situations and experiences that reflected their own. This was fascinating to me, as well as appalling. As a child, I always had books that matched my White middle class self and read about characters who lived similar lives to my own. It's sad that it took me until grad school to learn that other children didn't have this same luxury. Although I didn't end up choosing this to be my life-long main children's literature research interest it still is a issue that is near and dear to my heart, especially as I look for books for my own children that reflect their Asian heritage - a heritage that is not my own, but theirs.

Jennifer's has written an interesting post in response to Kristof's op ed column - well stated, in my opinion. Wish I could have said it as well.

Great Website for a Great Purpose

I just found a great website that allows anyone to trade paperback books of all kinds (and even hardcovers, textbooks, children's board books, audiobooks, etc). It's called paperback swap. Click on the picture to learn more.


I just posted the requisite 10 books to earn 2 credits to begin swapping. I'll keep you posted on how well this works. What a great idea for sharing books and getting books for just the cost of shipping!

Be Boy Buzz by bell hooks

Written by bell hooks and illustrated by Chris Raschka. Love the energy in this book. It is a good reflection on boys and all their moods and activity. Of course, Chris Raschka's typical lively illustrations add to the energy and portray the main character boy in lines done in chalk or crayon (hard to tell which) and solid brown watercolor forms of circles depicting heads and enlongated ovals that form arms and legs.
Few words, but words chosen carefully and in large text, mimicking the "largeness" of being a boy with many personalities and moods. "All Be Boy Buzz."

The day after I read this book to my 6 year old boy, he called me "Be Woman" out of the blue... I didn't know what he meant. Then he said, "Remember the book momma? Be Boy Buzz. You are Be Woman!" I love it! You never know how a book will influence a reader.