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Naomi Shihab Nye's Picture Books
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 11:02:23 -0500
Cathy and Katy's valuable remarks about Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry and their references to the matchless anthologies of poetry she's compiled have led me to reflect on the texts of her picture books.
I'm convinced that the text of "Benito's Dream Bottle (Simon & Schuster, 1995)" - one of my all-time favorite picture books written by anyone - is a poem. This text is pure NSN. Here's an excerpt from CCBC Choices 1995: "Naomi Shihab Nye brings her vision and voice as a poet to the creation and telling of this story in which nothing is too small or too ordinary for dream-making. When Benito finds out his grandmother doesn't dream, he lovingly guides her through memories and observations of the world around her so that she can fill her Dream Bottle. 'It's inside every body, between the stomach and the chest,' he tells his mother. 'At night, when we lie down, it pours the dreams into our heads.' Yu Cha Pak's watercolor art echoes the grace of Nye's words: dream images, realized with clarity, are whimsical but never silly in this eloquent book about the wonder of imagination and the power of a small boy's love." Would I know that if I hadn't seen her name on the book? Perhaps. Nye's "take" on life's small and yet big matters is so open and optimistic, and her ability to translate these insights into poetry seems recognizable to me.
What about "Lullaby Raft" (Simon & Schuster, 1997)? It's a poem. Absolutely! Here's an excerpt from the CCBC Choices annotation for this picture book lullaby: "When the day feels short and the night feels wide / Little stars go run and hide / I'll make me a lullaby raft to ride / to the other side." All children should be fortunate enough to be lulled to sleep with Nye's soothing images requiring nothing of them other than dreamy awareness: a chicken sleeping with her head tucked low, a bunny climbing into a dresser drawer, a turtle folding into its walls, and a lizard licking the darkness clean. "On the river of the sky...The stars will drift and gently soar...The moon will float like a little rowboat / Without an oar." Wow!
Her text for "Sitti's Secrets" (Four Winds, 1994) won the 1995 Jane Addams Children's Book Award (Picture Book Category). It's easy to see why this annual award honoring books with peace or justice themes formally acknowledged "Sitti's Secrets." From CCBC Choices 1995: "Mona's grandmother, Sitti, lives 'on the other side of the earth' in a Palestinian village on the West Bank. Despite their uncommon language, she and her grandmother share daily life and special moments together when Mona and her father take a trip to visit Sitti. Upon her return to the United States, Mona writes a letter to the president: 'If the people of the United States could meet Sitti, they'd like her for sure. You'd like her, too.' ...Naomi Shihab Nye's poetic text explores a child's feelings and fears about a grandparent living far away in a part of the world that most children in the United States know only one-dimensionally, if at all, through reports in the news." "Sitti's Secrets" is more topical than Nye's latest picture book texts, but the promise of poetry is absolutely present throughout the text.
And how about "Radar Baby" (Greenwillow, 2003)? It's probably altogether too new for most of the CCBC-Net community to have discovered it on behalf of the toddlers in their lives. I'm still reeling with delight from my first hour with this delightful book. I'm eager to read it to someone small enough to have a stroller-level eye view of the world. Is it poetry? What do you think about this, and about Naomi Shihab Nye's other picture books as poetry or lyrical writing?
Incidentally, although you'll notice that Naomi Shihab Nye's exceptional picture books were published by three different publishers, I think - notice "think" - that Naomi has had the good fortune to have the same editor for all of her children's and young adult books, i.e., the always exceptional Virginia Duncan.
(The above excepts from editions of CCBC Choices can be found, along with much much more in the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) www.children'slit.com ).
Cheers, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Wed 24 Sep 2003 11:02:23 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 11:02:23 -0500
Cathy and Katy's valuable remarks about Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry and their references to the matchless anthologies of poetry she's compiled have led me to reflect on the texts of her picture books.
I'm convinced that the text of "Benito's Dream Bottle (Simon & Schuster, 1995)" - one of my all-time favorite picture books written by anyone - is a poem. This text is pure NSN. Here's an excerpt from CCBC Choices 1995: "Naomi Shihab Nye brings her vision and voice as a poet to the creation and telling of this story in which nothing is too small or too ordinary for dream-making. When Benito finds out his grandmother doesn't dream, he lovingly guides her through memories and observations of the world around her so that she can fill her Dream Bottle. 'It's inside every body, between the stomach and the chest,' he tells his mother. 'At night, when we lie down, it pours the dreams into our heads.' Yu Cha Pak's watercolor art echoes the grace of Nye's words: dream images, realized with clarity, are whimsical but never silly in this eloquent book about the wonder of imagination and the power of a small boy's love." Would I know that if I hadn't seen her name on the book? Perhaps. Nye's "take" on life's small and yet big matters is so open and optimistic, and her ability to translate these insights into poetry seems recognizable to me.
What about "Lullaby Raft" (Simon & Schuster, 1997)? It's a poem. Absolutely! Here's an excerpt from the CCBC Choices annotation for this picture book lullaby: "When the day feels short and the night feels wide / Little stars go run and hide / I'll make me a lullaby raft to ride / to the other side." All children should be fortunate enough to be lulled to sleep with Nye's soothing images requiring nothing of them other than dreamy awareness: a chicken sleeping with her head tucked low, a bunny climbing into a dresser drawer, a turtle folding into its walls, and a lizard licking the darkness clean. "On the river of the sky...The stars will drift and gently soar...The moon will float like a little rowboat / Without an oar." Wow!
Her text for "Sitti's Secrets" (Four Winds, 1994) won the 1995 Jane Addams Children's Book Award (Picture Book Category). It's easy to see why this annual award honoring books with peace or justice themes formally acknowledged "Sitti's Secrets." From CCBC Choices 1995: "Mona's grandmother, Sitti, lives 'on the other side of the earth' in a Palestinian village on the West Bank. Despite their uncommon language, she and her grandmother share daily life and special moments together when Mona and her father take a trip to visit Sitti. Upon her return to the United States, Mona writes a letter to the president: 'If the people of the United States could meet Sitti, they'd like her for sure. You'd like her, too.' ...Naomi Shihab Nye's poetic text explores a child's feelings and fears about a grandparent living far away in a part of the world that most children in the United States know only one-dimensionally, if at all, through reports in the news." "Sitti's Secrets" is more topical than Nye's latest picture book texts, but the promise of poetry is absolutely present throughout the text.
And how about "Radar Baby" (Greenwillow, 2003)? It's probably altogether too new for most of the CCBC-Net community to have discovered it on behalf of the toddlers in their lives. I'm still reeling with delight from my first hour with this delightful book. I'm eager to read it to someone small enough to have a stroller-level eye view of the world. Is it poetry? What do you think about this, and about Naomi Shihab Nye's other picture books as poetry or lyrical writing?
Incidentally, although you'll notice that Naomi Shihab Nye's exceptional picture books were published by three different publishers, I think - notice "think" - that Naomi has had the good fortune to have the same editor for all of her children's and young adult books, i.e., the always exceptional Virginia Duncan.
(The above excepts from editions of CCBC Choices can be found, along with much much more in the Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) www.children'slit.com ).
Cheers, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Wed 24 Sep 2003 11:02:23 AM CDT
