Beast feast, book feast -- let's try this again 😉

Can we read? No. 84

EDITED AND UPDATED: Apparently, Substack reverted to a draft of this newsletter that I worked on last week… not the completely written, fully prepared issue I had for you today. I’m resending this, so you get the full post.

Proof positive you can begin again at any moment! 🌀

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Hello there! I have no preamble to today’s issue, just gratitude for being here, alive and well in this wonderful, wild world 🌎

I hope wherever you are, whatever you’re going through, you can find something beautiful, or something to enjoy — however small.

Let’s jump right in.

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Rissy No Kissies by Katey Howes, illustrated by Jess Engle (2021)

Don’t let the seeming simplicity of this rhyming book for toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary kids fool you: Rissy’s predicament — she’s a lovebird who doesn’t like kisses — is serious, and she lets everyone know how she feels by repeatedly squawking, “NO KISSIES!”

People — some of whom are in her family — are worried about her. Is she sick, her dad wonders? She needs better manners, her grandma insists. Her new friends in class think she’s being mean. Under this pressure, Rissy begins to doubt herself. She asks her mom, “Am I mean… or confused, or rude, or sick? Are you certain I’m a lovebird? Are you sure that I’m your chick?”

And (along with Engle’s colorful and warm watercolor illustrations) this is the beautiful part: her mother reassures her that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with her, that she’s a lovebird no matter what, telling Rissy, “Your body and your heart are yours, and you choose how to share. You get to pick the ways you want to show us that you care.”

This is my absolute favorite book about consent for the youngest of children (and my own can’t get enough of it). It’s an empowering story they can understand and put to use to not only decode their feelings about their body boundaries but communicate clearly about them in their own lives. In a world that has yet to fully respect this — some lovebirds and some people don’t like kissies! — that’s nothing short of priceless.

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Oh No, Gotta Go! by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (2003)

In this fast-paced, bilingual tale, a little girl embarks on a car ride with her parents only to inquire shortly after departure, “Where is un baño? Dónde está?”

Thus, the family races around town in search of a bathroom, finally arriving at a restaurant where, in desperation, they skip the long line. Afterward, they enjoy a nice meal before departing for home, where the little girl says, the minute they take off: “Where is un baño? Dónde está?”

This title goes above and beyond the usual Spanish-English fare, packing every rhyming couplet with both languages, but in a way that still makes it possible for young readers to understand what’s happening. Karas’ characteristic illustrations help with this, of course — rendered here in gouache, acrylic, and pencil with collage, they are full of all of the verve this title has to offer.

Preschoolers will understand this little girl’s predicament perfectly (especially if they are connoisseurs of ignoring you when you say, “Go potty before we leave, please” — not that I speak from personal experience). Any caregiver who has ever been in this situation will immediately recognize its urgency, even if you’re not far enough away from it to find it funny — yet. One day it will be, I promise, and until then, read this book.

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Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts, illustrated by Noah Z. Jones (2007)

All Jeremy wants is a pair of those shoes — the black ones with two white stripes, that almost everyone else has — but his grandmother only has enough money for the winter boots he needs, not the fancy shoes he wants.

Stuck with a pair of knock-off hand-me-down shoes from the guidance counselor, Jeremy and his grandmother manage to find a pair of those shoes at the thrift store. They’re too small, and his grandmother won’t spend good money on shoes that don’t fit, but Jeremy decides to buy them with his own money and hobble around in them anyway, wishing all the while that his toes would just fall off.

Meanwhile, he notices that his friend Antonio — the only kid at school who doesn’t have a pair of those shoes, as well as the only one who didn’t laugh at Jeremy for having shoes from the guidance counselor — has smaller feet than he does. He wrestles with this fact, trying to talk himself out of giving Antonio his pair of those shoes.

In the end, he does the kindest and most generous thing he can, giving away those shoes that he wants so badly, putting shoes on the feet of someone who can use them, and in the process, gaining a new friend.

Jones’ soft illustrations here — created with watercolor, pencil, and ink, then assembled digitally — offer a glimpse into the interior landscape of the characters, so even young readers understand the feelings behind what’s happening. And while Boelts’ story sends a remarkably powerful message about poverty (or, at the very least, what it’s like to have less than those around you), there’s an event more impactful one but an even more impactful one: you don’t have to have a lot to give what you’ve got.

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Beast Feast by Douglas Florian (1994)

Wait, didn’t I just review a Douglas Florian collection a few weeks ago? Yes, yes I did. But I love Florian, his zany poems and his unique, gestural paintings (done in watercolor on rough French watercolor paper, here).

I mean, this is one entire poem, titled “The Rhea:”

The rhea rheally isn’t strange —
It’s just an ostrich rhearranged.

Whatever mind thought that up, I’m a fan.

If this silly, super fun wordplay appeals to you — and I know it does to at least some of you — you won’t be disappointed in Beast Feast, which offers 21 poems about, well, beasts. Some are animals, some insects, other crustaceans, but Florian manages to capture the essence of them all with enormous energy, humor, and cheer, making this a hit with kids who like animals and kids who like entertaining ideas and words.

“The Kangaroo” (also in its entirety):

The kangaroo loves to leap.
Into the air it zooms,
While baby’s fast asleep
Inside its kangaroom.

See?

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Thanks for reading today, and always! I appreciate you.
Sarah

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