I’m finally getting back into the spirit of checking end-of-year-booklists. NYPL’s is always a solid and thoughtfully curated list. I spent some time at Madison’s Central Public Library on Wednesday to get some work done (check my most recent book review) and talked to one of their selectors (Jody) to see if she has any favorites for the ALA Youth Media Awards in January. We had a really nice convo about how our picks rarely match the committees’ and they rarely align with what kids like…I agree. The winners each year are what those 9-15 people on each committee view as best. I either read or heard this perspective from a past book committee member and it stuck with me because it’s true. We do our best and lean into the books that move us the most, with kid’s sensibilities and passions in mind, and sometimes they align with educators, caregivers, and kids picks and sometimes they don’t. This is a big reason why I love following Mock Book Awards. You can view submitted ALA Mock results here and if you would like to submit mock results from your community/classroom, you can do that here!
I had the pleasure of starting a dive into the life and legacy of Ella Jenkins when I took a class on Material Culture of Childhood last Fall. I knew I wanted to write my final paper on Black women, care, and material objects for children. Around that time I’d just ordered one of Ella Jenkins’ red kazoos from her merch site, and so it felt right to spend more time with her story. My paper ended up being a reflection on Black women, quilts, Mississippi, music, Ella Jenkins, shoebox lunches, and my Aunt Carole’s memories. One of the many things that came out of that work was a blossoming affection for Ella Jenkins and deep appreciation for the impact she left on the world of storytelling and music.
I was delighted to discover the picture book Make a Pretty Sound: A story of Ella Jenkins – The First Lady of Children’s Music by Traci N. Todd and Eleanor Davis. 2025 seems to be a year of honoring her legacy in print; another book (for adults) was also published, titled This is Rhythm: Ella Jenkins, Children’s Music, and the long Civil Rights Movement by Gayle F. Wald.
Make a Pretty Sound takes its time setting up how Ella came to be a storyteller and musician. The story is centered in a vibrant exploration of her Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago and in showing and telling the reader how Blackness, sound, and curiosity were constant parts of her upbringing that shaped her into the woman she’d became.
In January I finished up my third experience on a national book award committee for children’s books. This time, I read books for the Mildred L. Batchelder Awards, established in 1966 in honor of Mildred L. Batchelder, a librarian who cared deeply about international children’s books.
This award is very, very specific, so bear with me:
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is awarded to an American publisher for a children’s book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originating in a country other than the United States and in a language other than English and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States during the preceding year.
Hi y’all. I’m in the last semester of a Master’s Degree in Library Studies at UW-Madison and I’m taking a class on Reference Services. For an assignment, we could choose anyone to shadow or interview who provides reference to a population. I challenged myself to find a professional reference provider of children/youth related-materials who did not work in a public library setting. I started researching institutions with children’s literature collections and was successful in finding this helpful list.
First, I reached out to The Kerlan Collection of Children’s Literature at the University of Minnesota because they are in the same upper Midwest region as I am. I got an email from their curator (who suggested I wasn’t really looking for a collection like theirs and should consider talking to public library reference staff), but she never got back to me about setting up an interview. Next I contacted the de Grummond Children’s Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi and got a very enthusiastic response about setting up an interview.
Sloths are professionals at sleeping, but are they good at sleepovers??
In this delightful story of friendship, snoozes and snacks, Paloma and Sloth experience their first sleepover together. Sloth is initially delighted to receive an invitation to her very first sleepover, but when she arrives at Paloma’s apartment, she realizes she might be a teensy bit confused about what actually happens during a sleepover. Staying up all night?! That’s not what she thought was going to happen…
Paloma guides Sloth through all the customary fun-times of a sleepover, like good food, good games and good movies. Sloth gives it her very, very best and makes it through most of the late-nite excitement, fully alert and ready to party. Paloma doesn’t mind, though, when Sloth slowly starts to nod off. Maybe Paloma overestimated her ability to stay up all night, anyway!
What I enjoy about this story are several things. Paloma makes space for her good friend to be who she is, while inviting her to an activity that she’s enthused to share with her. At no point does Paloma become frustrated that her big, sleepy friend starts falling asleep, in fact she rolls with it and continues on with her task (like painting Sloth’s nails while jammin’ to good music). I also love that Sloth realizes she has to be truthful to her friend about not being able to stay up all night. This book embodies all the good feels of childhood sleepovers and could be a helpful introduction to sleepovers for children who are excited or even nervous to attend their first one.
Image Credit: Viking Books, Blythe Russo
The text of this story has just the right amount of flow to make a great storytime read; it isn’t too wordy and leaves enough room for the illustrations to pick up the task of completing the narrative. Russo does an excellent job of creating an intimate world of late-nite friendship and fun. There is a little stress (on Sloth’s part) involved too, but that’s realistic. Sometimes in friendships we struggle with being honest about our feelings and our abilities, even in the midst of having fun with those we love and trust. I love Paloma and Sloth’s open and trusting relationship.
The illustrations in this picture book are a mix of watercolors with digital lines manipulated in Photoshop. There is an openness to Russo’s illustrations that invites readers in. Sloth’s design, with her big body and massive open arms, is simultaneously comforting and impressive. Sloth has a natural grace to her movements and Paloma’s energy accurately mimics that of an excited and extroverted little girl. I love the detail of watercolor stripes in multiple shades of brown for Sloth’s fur. I also love how, throughout the book, Russo allows the bleed of the watercolors to flow outside of the confines of the bold digital black lines. It gives her illustrations a very relaxed feel. She uses brighter colors in moments of high emotion or activity, but most of the palette for this story are comforting browns, blues, purples and greens.
There is a real sweetness and relatability to the story of Paloma and her friend Sloth. I hope you take the time to enjoy Sloth Sleeps Over with your little ones! WONDERFUL job, Blythe!
Recommended for: All ages Great for: Sleepovers, Friendships, Read-alouds, Honesty, Sleep Book Info: Sloth Sleeps Over by Blythe Russo, 2022, Viking Books – Penguin Random House, ISBN: 9780593350959
Check out my recent interview with Dr. Shawnta Barnes on her show EdGems. We chat about libraries as rich resources, book banning, audio books and more!
May 2nd is the Book Birthday of Angeline Boulley’s next thriller, WARRIOR GIRL UNEARTHED. Be sure to head out to your local bookstore or pick up a copy from a Black-owned online retailer like Brain Lair Books through their Bookshop page or through a Native-owned bookshop like Birchbark Books.
I can’t wait to give my mind and spirit some rest this summer. I look forward to picking up books I haven’t had time to enjoy due to a busy school year.
I haven’t been blogging but I have been doing bookish things, my friends.
On April 8th, at Mystery to Me Bookstore in Madison, WI, I had the pleasure of hearing Kevin Henkes speak about his new book THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING IN IT. It was a lovely talk and he is a lovely person. My friend Caitlin and I noticed how the children in the audience were completely engaged the entire presentation. He talked about his craft, brought some process paintings and read his new book aloud to us. He even signed my childhood copy of OWEN! Check out my review of OWEN here. 🙂
Kevin Henkes holding up his tiny book “dummy” which is his favorite part of book-making
The New Book!My Childhood Copy of Owen!!
On April 24th, I had the pleasure of seeing Tommy Orange speak at the Madison Public Library Central branch about his book THERE THERE. It was another wonderful talk and he is very kind person! I especially enjoyed how he talks about the craft of writing and the sovereignty of Indigenous nations. I was so happy to hear his love and respect for Toni Morrison. It was such a great chat.
Me (on the far left) with my 2022 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury!
Back in June of 2022 I wrapped up one-year of service on the 2022 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury. We were tasked with the responsibility of reading through children’s books published in 2021, for ages 0-18, that were written or illustrated by Black creators. The purpose of the award is to highlight books that “reflect the Black experience.” As any Black person knows, that is a difficult task, as there is no one “Black experience.” This is something we had to discuss time and time again as we broke down every book that made it to our final discussion list.
If I’m to be honest, for most of 2021 I struggled with making sure I gave my full time and attention to this award. Life doesn’t stop just because you’re on a book committee! Anyone who has served on a book committee knows how much work it takes to read, review and judge books for the purpose of an award. It was no easy task reading everything from baby board books to Young Adult literature. I was confident in my ability to review, evaluate and clearly discuss books, though. I know kids books. I understand the complex interplay between quality illustration and text. But the challenge for me was time management; I wanted to give each book a fair shake. For anyone looking to join a book awards committee, especially one for ALA, find comfort in the fact that you have your committee to fall back on. There’s a reason why we give feedback, share thoughts, deliberate and discuss. Life is bound to get in the way of reading and sometimes you just can’t give your all to every book. That’s why you have other people to fill in the gaps. I’m so grateful for my committee. We did the damn thing. We poured our hearts into our discussion and chose our winners with care, consideration and pride.
I’ve done this book-deliberation-thing twice now, in two very different ways, and there are pros and cons to both. If you look back through this blog, you’ll see that I was on the 2020 Caldecott Committee. For that process, since it was before COVID shutdowns, deliberation was done the old way, in person, in a big room where we were sequestered for an entire weekend. Because my committee experience for CSK (Coretta Scott King) was well into the COVID 19 pandemic, we shifted to a new virtual deliberation model. In January 2022, just a few weeks before the virtual Midwinter Conference, our committee “met” via Zoom for several days. There was lots of talking, laughing, reflecting, snacking and stretch-breaks. In some ways it mimicked the in-person deliberation experience (both were exhausting) and in other ways it was completely foreign. For example, we couldn’t pass the books around the table like we did with Caldecott. We weren’t able to go out and get lunch and dinner together. We had to have all our books ready at our tables/desks to pull out when discussion time was ready. By the way, major kudos to our Jury Chair Jason Driver for leading us through the virtual deliberation format with grace and ease. We were all so tired but also deeply energized by the end as we looked at our slate with pride and joy.
Screenshot from French figure skater Surya Bonaly’s Instagram.
Super excited that there’s a new picture book about Surya Bonaly in France! It will be translated to English next year. I grew up watching Surya skate and I can’t wait to read this book & share it with little ones.
Wonderful! Check out her Instagram page for more information.
Read It Real Good 