CCBC-Net Archives
[CCBC-Net] Two CSK-Honored Books: The Moon over Star + Bird
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:15:19 -0500
[CSK: Illustration Honor Book: Jerry Pinkney] It's been a while since I've held THE MOON OVER STAR written by Dianna Hutts Aston with artwork by Jerry Pinkney (Dial) in my hands. So details escape me, but even so, I remember how effective this picture story is. Jerry Pinkney's paintings express a particular African American family's experiences on the day of Apollo 11's lunar landing in 1969. Young Mae is the narrator, and her exchanges with her grandfather move the text through the events of that significant event. Mae's grandfather has had a very hard rural life near the town called Star. The story takes a fulfilling turn when he realizes that this event does represent hope, perhaps even change. Mae's name is very likely a reference to Mae Jemison who later became the first African American woman to travel in space. Details of family life and children's activities are true to the time, and each individual pictured is unique. Using graphite, ink and watercolor, Pinkney pictured people being themselves, watching television in the way they would have done then. Even as their elders were telling the young folks that History was being made, the kids weren't going to be inside glued to a screen. Pinkney's artwork shows the children building their own spaceship out of scrap lumber, which would also have been true to the time. Aston's story and Pinkney's artwork beautifully express the wonder of that historic lunar landing. They also unfold a portrait of a family who becomes Every Family among the millions who also witnessed that breathtaking event while it was happening.
[CSK John Steptoe New Talent Award: Shadra Strickland] Although I do have the book BIRD written by Zetta Elliott with artwork by Shadra Strickland (Lee & Low) at hand, its complexity challenges anyone who wants to do it justice with mere words. Despite the fact that his parents had named him Mehkai, his Granddad called him Bird. Although Bird's older brother Marcus is spiraling away from his family of origin, he has a gift for his little brother. It's a bird book. At one point, readers see that Marcus was a graffiti artist; one of his public works is a fierce bird. Bird's conflicted responses to Marcus's anguished need to satisfy an addiction are tempered by the elders who become his mentors, his family. Granddad and Uncle Son empower Bird by telling him about their people, further connecting him to a larger African American family. The illustrations effectively suggest a visual narrative for this moving collection of unrhymed poems. In this picture story for readers of elementary school age and older, the artwork is rendered in watercolor, charcoal, gouache and pen. Bird's challenging journey toward understanding is clarified because the artist used color to differentiate Bird's experiences from the boy's own drawings always shown in black and white. By seeing an urban landscape and reading about a boy who begins to soar by using his evolving gifts of observation, astute readers might also notice multiple meanings in words and pictures for Bird, birds and flight. All deepen the impact of this stunning debut for both the author and the artist.
Peace, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse Emerita Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) gmkruse at wisc.edu phone: 608.238.9225
Received on Tue 31 Mar 2009 06:15:19 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:15:19 -0500
[CSK: Illustration Honor Book: Jerry Pinkney] It's been a while since I've held THE MOON OVER STAR written by Dianna Hutts Aston with artwork by Jerry Pinkney (Dial) in my hands. So details escape me, but even so, I remember how effective this picture story is. Jerry Pinkney's paintings express a particular African American family's experiences on the day of Apollo 11's lunar landing in 1969. Young Mae is the narrator, and her exchanges with her grandfather move the text through the events of that significant event. Mae's grandfather has had a very hard rural life near the town called Star. The story takes a fulfilling turn when he realizes that this event does represent hope, perhaps even change. Mae's name is very likely a reference to Mae Jemison who later became the first African American woman to travel in space. Details of family life and children's activities are true to the time, and each individual pictured is unique. Using graphite, ink and watercolor, Pinkney pictured people being themselves, watching television in the way they would have done then. Even as their elders were telling the young folks that History was being made, the kids weren't going to be inside glued to a screen. Pinkney's artwork shows the children building their own spaceship out of scrap lumber, which would also have been true to the time. Aston's story and Pinkney's artwork beautifully express the wonder of that historic lunar landing. They also unfold a portrait of a family who becomes Every Family among the millions who also witnessed that breathtaking event while it was happening.
[CSK John Steptoe New Talent Award: Shadra Strickland] Although I do have the book BIRD written by Zetta Elliott with artwork by Shadra Strickland (Lee & Low) at hand, its complexity challenges anyone who wants to do it justice with mere words. Despite the fact that his parents had named him Mehkai, his Granddad called him Bird. Although Bird's older brother Marcus is spiraling away from his family of origin, he has a gift for his little brother. It's a bird book. At one point, readers see that Marcus was a graffiti artist; one of his public works is a fierce bird. Bird's conflicted responses to Marcus's anguished need to satisfy an addiction are tempered by the elders who become his mentors, his family. Granddad and Uncle Son empower Bird by telling him about their people, further connecting him to a larger African American family. The illustrations effectively suggest a visual narrative for this moving collection of unrhymed poems. In this picture story for readers of elementary school age and older, the artwork is rendered in watercolor, charcoal, gouache and pen. Bird's challenging journey toward understanding is clarified because the artist used color to differentiate Bird's experiences from the boy's own drawings always shown in black and white. By seeing an urban landscape and reading about a boy who begins to soar by using his evolving gifts of observation, astute readers might also notice multiple meanings in words and pictures for Bird, birds and flight. All deepen the impact of this stunning debut for both the author and the artist.
Peace, Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse Emerita Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) gmkruse at wisc.edu phone: 608.238.9225
Received on Tue 31 Mar 2009 06:15:19 PM CDT
